The Indispensable Julian Rathbone by
Julian Rathbone
pbk out July 03
(Do Not Press)
at £9.5
This attractively presented collection is a worthy tribute to a novelist who has long
worked within, as well as on the fringes of, the crime genre, besides picking up a
couple of places on the Booker Prize shortlist. In a brief introduction, Mike Phillips
makes the point that Rathbone belongs 'to a tradition of English writing that has
always been consistently radical, thoughtful and endlessly inquisitive' and there is
much in this substantial volume to justify that view. The book opens with an
autobiographical note, followed by the full text of the novel 'Lying in State'. The rest
is quite a mixture, including erotic fiction, poetry, travel pieces, reviews (including a
scathing analysis of the flaws in a novel by Robert Harris), essays and historical work
(Rathbone argues that 'all historical fictions, including mystery stories, invariably
betray and portray the time they were written in as much as or more than they
accurately present the time in which they are set'). This book is a worthwhile
purchase for anyone unfamiliar with Rathbone's writing and a must for his admirers.
(
Martin Edwards
- author of the highly acclaimed Harry Devlin Mysteries)
The Indispensable Julian Rathbone by
Julian Rathbone
