Anita Brookner

[jean]

Until I read her obituary this morning, I did not know that

... Anita was born in London, the only child of an unhappy Polish couple who had arrived with the name of Bruckner, tweaked into Englishness to escape the ignominy of bearing a Germanic name during the first world war...

[Stanfordian]

I only know Anita Bruckner for her novel 'Hotel du Lac' which appeared on school reading lists nicknamed by students as 'Hotel
du Lack of Interest'. But she had won the 1984 Booker Prize with it and I enjoyed reading it.

.

[french frank]

I only know Anita Bruckner for her novel 'Hotel du Lac' which appeared on school reading lists nicknamed by students as 'Hotel
du Lack of Interest'. But she had won the 1984 Booker Prize with it and I enjoyed reading it.

.

I have several of her novels, but Hotel du Lac is no longer among them: I think I gave/lent it to someone else. I think it was possiby her best - though that may just be that the location was very familiar to me and much visited.

[Pianorak]

Sad to see Anita Brookner has died. Ever since her first novel, A Start in Life, I have been a fan, but must admit that Hotel du Lac I found rather dull. Probably my loss. I also greatly admire her monograph on J L David. RIP

[Conchis]

Anita Brookner: 1928-2016

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35808651

Late news, but I suspect I am one of her few male 'fans'.

The criticism that her early novels are basically the same novel repeatedly re-worked probably holds (as she herself conceded) but she was a very precise and accurate observer of a certain type of life.

[Richard Tarleton]

Jean has already started a thread on her here. I only read Hotel du Lac....

[Conchis]

Ah, yes, sorry - I didn't see Jean's thread.

I'm not familiar with her later novels but she apparently developed - began to use male protagonists, etc.

Hotel du Lac is a great novel of its kind - and the television film with Anna Massey and Denholm Elliott was near perfect, imo.

I must make an effort to explore her late works. She sounded like an attractive, serious-minded person, from her obituaries.

[french frank]

Interesting in being what the Telegraph says was her last interview - seven years ago:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/authors/anita-brookner-the-final-interview/

[Conchis]

Interesting in being what the Telegraph says was her last interview - seven years ago:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/aut...nal-interview/

I remember reading that interview a few years back.

Her attitude to her work reminds me, oddly enough, of Wood Allen's attitude to his work: both were/are utterly unsentimental about what they do.

[jean]

Little vignette of her seminars at the Courtauld on Last Word last Friday - books and materials all neatly laid out in readiness, Woodbines for chain-smoking throughout, birdseed on the windowsill to keep the pigeons quiet...

[vinteuil]

... I did read Hotel du Lac when it came out; from what I recall (not much) I didn't get a lot out of it.

I'm afraid that for me there always seemed an element the prissy side of precise about her - in my mind she was the Angela Hewitt of writers.

[french frank]

I'm afraid that for me there always seemed an element the prissy side of precise about her - in my mind she was the Angela Hewitt of writers.

Still just a matter of taste: I really don't like E Bronte (who is hardly prissy) nor G Gould playing Bach (still less Mozart ).

I also see no demerit in 'writing the same novel' over and over again - unless it's actually word for word each time. Unless one only reads novels for the story .

[vinteuil]

I also see no demerit in 'writing the same novel' over and over again - unless it's actually word for word each time...

... what, and you a fan of Pierre Menard???!







.

[Richard Tarleton]

I'm afraid that for me there always seemed an element the prissy side of precise about her - in my mind she was the Angela Hewitt of writers.

Not the first time you've come out with that comparison, M. v....(mind you I'm sure I repeat myself regularly on this forum ) - slightly gratuitous in this instance if I may say so - thinking about it, last time it was Angela Hewitt that was the Anita Brookner of pianists It still mystifies me, having just spent a weekend in Ms H's musical company, and met her on previous occasions....my good friends who were also at these concerts attended her Trasimeno festival.....nothing prissy about her or her playing, IMV, a most spirited, gutsy and engaging character in every way. She's a verbal communicator of rare ability too (something she has in common with the late Ms Brookner - I'm not qualified to opine on how well the prissy cap fitted the latter). I'm currently getting to grips with AH's version of the Art of Fugue, with the help of her useful notes.

[french frank]

... what, and you a fan of Pierre Menard???!

But he was writing someone else's novel, word for word! And possibly only tried it once …