A Double Entry II
“But the joke is that Christie becomes his own political party, a one-man anarcho-terrorist movement — a parodic composite of Angry Brigade / Baader-Meinhof Group / Red Army Fraction. By playing the system, by wanting to fit in as a consumer, while at the same time getting his own back against anybody who crosses him, Malry brings society to its knees. The novel operates like a great satiric fable, a anonymous Everyman or latterday Pilgrim whose Progress is one of selfish regress. There’s a nihilism and a knockabout glee to this book which is pure punk.”
By Paul Tickell.
A Double Entry
“To me the culture and the art that’s interesting is stuff that, even if it doesn’t have an overt political message, has a poke in that area. It’s about making you think about where we are and where we might go. And even when some of that work is miserable it’s utopian because at least it has an idea about the future and that means an idea of change. And I think so much stuff that comes out now isn’t interested in that idea. Maybe I’m some weird and washed-up post-Enlightenment madman but I still believe in an idea of the future, a utopia and change. Not in an airy-fairy way. It’s just that we are here, how can it be better? Why isn’t it better? This society works as it does at the expense of the many for the glory of the few. And I think that should change and I think I want to make entertainment out of that.”
Richard Marshall interviews Paul Tickell.