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| Books of The Times: A Cool Pilot, but the Plane Was Cooler Advances in aviation and digital technology have made pilots almost superfluous, argues William Langewiesche in his new book. feeds.nytimes.com |
All-female shortlist for BBC National Short Story award Naomi Alderman, Kate Clanchy, Sara Maitland, Jane Rogers and Lionel Shriver contend for ÂŁ15,000 prizeFrom the story of a family clash over cash by Lionel Shriver to Naomi Alderman's tale of a Jewish man who discovers an unforeseen devotion to the Hindu deity Ganesh, an all-female line-up has been announced for the BBC National Short Story award.Judges for the ÂŁ15,000 prize, who include the singer Will Young and the author Margaret Drabble, deliberated over 600 short stories before coming up with their final shortlist of five. "There was a fair degree of consensus," said broadcaster Tom Sutcliffe, who chaired the panel. "Will Young was very good – he was really thoughtful and had absolutely done all the work. He didn't just come in and be the celebrity."Along with the Orange prize-winning Shriver's Exchange Rates, and Alderman's Other People's Gods, judges also selected Kate Clanchy's tale of the relationship between a dying boy and his mother, The Not-Dead and the Saved, Sara Maitland's story of a botanist's encounter with a witch, Moss Witch, and Jane Rogers's look at a confused old woman, Hitting Trees with Sticks."I slightly thought beforehand that we would get lots of Joycean epiphanies and that all the entries would be similar, but there were a huge range of approaches," said Sutcliffe, also joined on the panel by Orange prize winner Helen Dunmore and BBC Radio 4's readings editor Di Speirs. "I think the short story is freer to explore than the novel – it can be more daring."He praised Alderman – winner of the Orange prize for new writers – for her "lightness of touch for a potentially very serious, volatile subject", and Clanchy for the "huge scope" of her story, which he said was "like a novel in a short story form". Maitland's tale "enchanted" him – a surprise, as he is usually "allergic to magical realism and the supernatural as a subject matter", while Rogers took the issue of Alzheimer's and dealt with it "very empathetically – it's not a preachy story, and is done in a very controlled way". Shriver, he said, took "a banal, everyday subject of petty cash" and showed how much it can reveal about family relationships.The shortlist was announced this evening on BBC Radio 4's Front Row, with the winner to be revealed on 7 December. The award, funded by the BBC and administered by books charity Booktrust, was set up as part of a UK-wide campaign to highlight the short story, and has been won in the past by James Lasdun, Julian Gough and Clare Wigfall.The shortlist:Naomi Alderman's Other People's GodsKate Clanchy's The Not-Dead and The SavedSara Maitland's Moss WitchJane Rogers's Hitting Trees with SticksLionel Shriver's Exchange RatesFictionAwards and prizesAlison Floodguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Word for Word | First Couplets: A History of Odes to the Chief Lincoln was Whitman’s “captain.” Byron lionized Washington. Even Harding lives on in poetry: “He wasn’t a bad egg, / Just weak. He loved women and Ohio.” feeds.nytimes.com |
Elizabeth Fallaize obituary Professor of French at Oxford University who was an authority on Simone de BeauvoirElizabeth Fallaize, who has died aged 59 of motor neurone disease, was a woman of many parts. She had a brilliant career both in research and academic management, becoming, in 1990, the first female fellow of St John's College, Oxford, then professor of French at the university, and, in 2005, its pro-vice-chancellor for education. She was a fine teacher and supervisor of research students, a mentor for colleagues at Oxford and well beyond; and she was a wonderful family person. To me and many others, she was a great friend; she had a gift for friendship. This makes her sound like a paragon, and I don't think she would have wanted that – of course her human frailties were part of what made her company so enjoyable and made her a conceivable role model for so many younger women.Elizabeth attended Dame Allan's school, Newcastle, and went on to study at the University of Exeter. Her earliest work there, for her PhD, was on the 19th-century journalist and photographer Étienne Carjat and Le Boulevard magazine – a topic that in the 1970s and 1980s was rather unfashionable, and would paradoxically be more to today's tastes, as cultural history is flourishing. Indeed, her 1987 book on Carjat is still available. As she moved to teaching, first at Wolverhampton, and then for 13 years at the University of Birmingham, she turned her attention to the 20th century (far more popular among students) and published two books on the novelist AndrĂ© Malraux, one in French and one in English.Her greatest contribution to research (and supervision and teaching) is undoubtedly her work on women's writing. Her book The Novels of Simone de Beauvoir (1988) has become a reference point in the field, as has her Simone de Beauvoir: A Critical Reader (1998). She also published numerous pieces on contemporary women's writing, including the book French Women's Writing (1993), which helped to bring new fiction to the attention of an English-speaking audience. When Elizabeth started to work in this field in the 1980s, it was an exciting time, but also an uphill struggle professionally for women, never mind women who chose to work on what were regarded as writers of rather marginal interest.A major part of her contribution to French studies was work in collaboration with others, setting up and helping to develop various networks to support female colleagues, notably the groups Women in French and Contemporary Women Writers in French. When Women in French was set up more than 20 years ago, almost all of us involved were junior lecturers. Jill Forbes, a rare example to show that it could be done, was the only one with a chair (at what was then South Bank polytechnic). We swapped stories about the problems encountered and slights received – Birmingham did not want to promote Elizabeth to a senior lectureship as, she was told informally, her work lacked gravitas; why not work on a serious writer such as Sartre rather than a minor one such as De Beauvoir?To our amazement, in Elizabeth's case, professional advancement came from a most unexpected source, from what many of us regarded as a closed shop. St John's might have opened membership of the college to women in 1979, but, in 1989, it had still not managed to appoint a single woman to a (tenured) fellowship. And, as the 20th century was about to enter its final decade, this was becoming a little embarrassing to at least some of the fellows. Although Elizabeth had no Oxbridge connections whatsoever and her work was on (say it very quietly) women's writing, she was approached, she was interviewed, and her many qualities shone through. Elizabeth was not content to rest on her historic laurels as the first female fellow at St John's (and the only one for some years to come), and to its credit Oxford saw in her someone who had the kind of sharp mind that could be turned to senior managerial roles as well as research and teaching ones.She willingly accepted taking on many committees in the name of gender balance (one of the mixed blessings of being a rare creature), and had a serious impact on the university's affairs, including matters relating to equal opportunities. She was appointed to the very demanding role of junior proctor in the university, and then became chair of the modern languages faculty board – negotiating the difficult intern- al politics with inimitable charm and grace which seemed utterly natural (and putting in a great deal of hard work in preparation behind the scenes). Finally, she would take on the role of pro vice-chancellor for education in 2005 – the first full-time female pro vice-chancellor at Oxford, I believe (they have been rare enough elsewhere).And of course she did an outstanding job again, which points to just one of the great sadnesses in that word "finally", for it should not have been so. It was so clear that Elizabeth would move on again to another "first". She might have been chosen as head of a college or been appointed a vice-chancellor.But just over two years ago, when she seemed to be in her prime professionally and personally, she, and her family, were struck down with a frightening diagnosis from out of the blue: motor neurone disease. This is not an illness that receives as much publicity as some, and less research is done on MND than on many other diseases. It brings a cruel physical degeneration, yet for visitors Elizabeth seemed always herself: smart outfits with matching earrings; witty and wise, even when communicating on a tiny whiteboard; enjoying some wine, even when all nourishment came through a feeding tube.Elizabeth is survived by her third husband, Alan Grafen, whose incredible support throughout her illness bore witness to their bond; his daughters Rosie and Tessa, whom she cared for very much; and last, but quite certainly not least, her own two adored children, Alice and Jack Driscoll.• Elizabeth Anne Fallaize, French scholar, born 3 June 1950; died 6 December 2009Simone de BeauvoirUniversity of Oxfordguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Why we need celebrity autobiographies If we can't hear the voices of celebrities such as Kerry Katona, we will hate them – because we won't understand themThe celebrity autobiography has a knife at its throat. HMV, which owns ÂWaterstone's, has Âannounced it will stock fewer celebrity confessions, partly because of books such as Ant & Dec's Ooh! What a Lovely Pair: Our Story not doing as well as expected over Christmas. And I can only scream, "Noooooooo!"For those who have never read Jim Davidson's Close to the Edge – "What if I just stay in this toilet for the rest of my life?" – I must explain that the Âcelebrity autobiography is a vital Âcoping mechanism for the celebrity age. If you deny the celebrity its voice, it will grow pale and spectre-thin, and die, because there are only so many covers in Fabulous magazine the Âhuman brain can tolerate. And if the public cannot hear the celebrity voice, it will hate the celebrity, because it does not understand it.I am not speaking of Anne Frank's diaries, or Elie Wiesel's Night, or the new batch of cat biographies, although I do like them. I particularly recommend Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, which is rumoured to be in development in ÂHollywood. I can respect a person so damaged they want to put themselves in the brain of their pet, and pretend that the pet saved them from some terrible personal catastrophe. I do not have a pet for that very reason.No, I speak of TV celebrities. I need to hear them; only then can I bear them. Take, for instance Fern: My Story, the memoirs of Fern ÂBritton of This Morning and Soapstar Superstar. "I did a weekend course called An ÂIntroduction to Livestock Farming," says Fern. "I'm qualified in pig husbandry." I see an image of Fern hugging a pig, and I Âforgive her everything.And then there is Kerry Katona of Atomic Kitten. Kerry used to be the woman in the Iceland adverts, whom I wanted to feed into a meat-grinder. But then I read Too Much, Too Young: My Story of Love, Survival and Celebrity. How does it feel when your Auntie Josie tells the tabloids your secrets? Katona is dependent on her husband, Mark. She writes like a woman down a well, with only her bra for Âcompany. "Mark looks after me now," she Âwhispers from her well. Can you read it and not love?Even Richard Hammond of Top Gear becomes human when you realise he has dedicated his autobiography On The Edge to "everyone who has Âsuffered brain injury in any form". (I hope Jeremy Clarkson thanked him.) On The Edge is Dostoyevsky cut with Fabulous: "It's now 11 months since I sat on a bench in ÂScotland and wept."Even Bill Oddie, who I used to think was really a Teletubbie in disguise, emerges as a dark anti-hero from the genre. In the last chapter of One Flew into the ÂCuckoo's Egg he says, "They is no such thing as 'they'. Who are 'they'? 'They do not exist.'" It is much darker than Follow That Bird. It is redemption.Why I don't prefer blondesSome things I don't need to be told, I just know. An academic study has Âexamined the relationship between confidence and aggression in 156 fÂemale undergraduates in California, and the results have exploded like shampoo out of a bottle of L'OrĂ©al's You're Not Worth It. (But I Am.)It concludes that blondes are more aggressive than brunettes and Âredheads. They are more "war-like", if you want an image of blondes Âmassacring non-blondes and eating their flesh with fennel, because rice is fattening after all. Why? Because they have been Âalways treated better than non-blondes, and so they have grown a sense of entitlement, like an extra foot.I knew this when I was four. The blonde girls in the class at school sat together, away from the rest of us. We had rat- or tomato-coloured heads. But they lived on an invisible blonde pedestal. They knew they were hot. We knew we were not. They didn't even really belong there. They should have been down the road at the boys' school, getting engaged to rich five-year-olds and smoking scented fags.Now whenever I see a blonde, I run; it never occurs to me to fight. Not that you really see them – they disappear into happy-and-loved land at 23, never to return. I don't know anything about happy-and-loved land, but I suspect it involves ear-muffs and controlling men. Each woman to her own battlefield, as it says in My Fair Lady. On this one I haven't got a prayer.Why don't I dye my hair blonde? (The study suggests that dyed blondes inherit the war-like trait.) Because you know what you get when a woman with very dark hair dyes her hair blonde. Myra Hindley.CelebrityTanya Goldguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |