A new biography is being lauded as an “intimate and inspiring narrative that helps us at last understand Paul Simon”. But is that possible when there’s no sign of Art Garfunkel? Before starting Robert Hilburn’s Paul Simon: The Life, I was reading Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa Fa: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the 20th … Read more
Guy Somerset compares the new novel by Jennifer Egan to Winona Ryder’s performance in Stranger Things. It’s not a compliment. Historical fiction is a friend to no novelist. As if the challenges and perils of writing a novel weren’t mountainous enough already: character, plot, place; voice, perspective, psychology; pace, shape, language; closely observed worlds — … Read more
On the eve of his appearance at a Victoria University event in Wellington, comic book author Fumio Obata talks to Guy Somerset about his ongoing project chronicling the aftermath of the Fukushima tsunami and nuclear disaster. At art school, Fumio Obata was taught the importance of “the theme, having something of your own, something only … Read more
Guy Somerset reviews Goodnight and Good Riddance: How 35 Years of John Peel Helped Shape Modern Britain by David Cavanagh When I was a boy, culture was delivered on a Thursday by Mr Pavitt. Or was it Pavett? Perhaps even Pavit or Pavet? If you had a name like Pavitt/Pavett/Pavit/Pavet, you’d be used to people … Read more
Guy Somerset takes on the new novel by Julian Barnes. Martin, Ian, Julian – those Brits, how they like to dabble in Eastern Europe. For the most part, it’s been reviewing the latest Bohumil Hrabal or Ivan Klima in one of the weekend newspapers or an approving nod to Milan Kundera or Josef Skvorecky in … Read more
Wellington arts festival dude and former book pages editor guy Guy Somerset chooses short story collections by Joy Williams, Lucia Berlin, and the king of the asterixes, Bill Manhire. This year, via new collections of their stories, I discovered two wonderful American writers who had somehow escaped my attention entirely during the past 35 years of my reading life, which … Read more
Elvis Costello’s autobiography doesnt seem to know when to STFU. ‘Death wears a big hat,’ Elvis Costello once sang, ‘because he’s a big bloke.’ No doubt Death would write a big memoir, too. But he’d probably stop short of the 670 pages of Costello’s Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. True, Costello is the best songwriter … Read more
Guy Somerset reviews The Nearest Thing to Life, a collection of essays by writer and critic James Wood. Good writing rubs off. When a good writer notices something, it helps us notice too. Good criticism also rubs off. When a good critic notices the noticing, we notice the noticing as well. It’s an almost virtuous circle. … Read more
Whatever happened to Guy Somerset? As long-serving books editor of the Listener, he was a knowledgeable, alert presence on the literary scene. He fled the magazine a year or so ago and has fished up as PR trout – actually, contents editor – for the New Zealand Festival, in Wellington. He’s continuing to apply his keen … Read more