Alexei Sayle: Stand-up Communist
Eventually, when Alexei forms his own circle of friends in the bohemian clubs and radical circles of Liverpool, his parents begin drinking in the same pubs as him, and start going to the same parties: “I would climb the fetid stairs to some student flat in Liverpool 8 trying to act all cool and hard when, looking across the room, I would see Molly telling a group of pretty anarchist girls some anecdotes about my potty training or how as a child I used to think that I might be kidnapped by bananas. ‘That’s him over there in the leather jacket,’ Molly would say, pointing in my direction.”
Karl Whitney on Alexei Sayle‘s Stalin Ate My Homework.
Self Obsessed
Reviews of Will Self’s latest book link it to a record number of literary figures, from Hunter S. Thompson to Iain Sinclair to, less predictably, Bruce Chatwin. One name missing from this list is that of Christian Kracht: the only explanation that comes to mind is that the Swiss author is, sadly, still relatively unknown in the English-speaking world. Indeed, were his travel essays and novels, particularly Faserland, widely available, both the admirers and opponents of Self’s writing would be having a field day. As things stand, they have to restrict themselves to talking about Gonzo journalism, psychogeography and ridicule of declining Western morals.
By Anna Aslanyan.