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| Stephenie Meyer turns rainy little Forks – and the world – into a Twilight zone For millions of teenagers around the globe, next Friday is the most exciting day of the year: New Moon, the second film in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga about a sexy vampire, debuts in UK cinemas.In less than four years, Meyer, a Mormon mother of three from Arizona, has become one of the world's bestselling authors, despite Stephen King saying she "can't write".Every two seconds this year, someone in the UK has bought one of her books. Since her first novel, Twilight, was plucked out of an agent's slush pile and published in 2005, Meyer has sold more than 85m copies worldwide. Almost 5m of those were snapped up in the UK.Twilight the film, released last year, took £11m in the UK, and its soundtrack sold more than 200,000 copies. If advance ticket sales are anything to go by, New Moon, the second book in the four-strong saga to be filmed, will surpass box office figures for the last Harry Potter film.It is no exaggeration to say that Meyer has sparked an entire Twilight industry, not to mention a dubiously titled literary genre called Fang Bang fiction.When she decided to set her books in the town of Forks (population 3,120) on the basis that it is one of the rainiest places in America, she inadvertently changed the town's fortunes. Last month 16,000 Twilight tourists alighted on the Washington state town, twice as many visitors than it received the entire previous year. Fans eat at Twilight restaurants, drink at Twilight bars and can have their photographs taken by a truck purporting to belong to the novels' heroine, Bella.On the internet, you can buy Twilight jewellery, clothing, board games and even contact lenses. But it is the book world that has been the biggest beneficiary of Meyer's success.Neil Denny, the editor-in-chief of the Bookseller, said: "The Twilight saga is the most successful series for young adults since Harry Potter. It's even spawned its own genre. It has been great for the publishing industry and has transformed Meyer's publisher, Little, Brown. They are sitting on the hottest property in publishing. The recession isn't hitting them."Meyer's success has had a positive knock-on effect on the rest of the market, said Sarah Clarke, Waterstones' children's buyer. "Twilight is the most exciting new children's property this decade," she said. "Vampires, werewolves and the like now dominate teen publishing and authors such as PC Cast, Alyson Noel and LJ Smith have benefited enormously from the interest in Twilight. One unlikely beneficiary has been Emily Brontë – a paperback edition of Wuthering Heights with a Twilight-themed cover was been Waterstones' bestselling classic for months."There is one more sign Meyer really has arrived: she's been spoofed. Nightlight, by The Harvard Lampoon, tells the story of Belle Goose, a vampire-obsessed girl who looks for love in all the wrong places.FictionUnited StatesWomenYoung peopleHelen Piddguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
Duke Bluebeard's Castle by Béla Bartók John Crace boils down Bartók's blood-spattered operaA dark Gothic hall, with seven closed doorsBluebeard: Here we are now / See before you Bluebeard's Castle / It doesn't look very nice / Are you coming?Judith: Yes, I'm coming / Dearest.Bluebeard: Everything is very bad / Everyone is very sad / Are you coming?Judith: Are you deaf? / Or something? / I just said / I'm coming / Dearest.Bluebeard: Are you frightened? / Child.Judith: Why do you call me child? / I'm meant to be your wife.Bluebeard: There's no avoidin' / It's all quite Freudian.Judith: Very well then / Daddy-y-y / No, I'm not frightened.Bluebeard: Well if you listened / To the music / You would know / You ought to be.Judith: Darling, Bluebeardy / Don't ever leave me / Though my parents don't like you / I just adore you.Bluebeard: Then let's close the door-r-r.Judith: It's really quite roomy / But terribly gloomy.Bluebeard: I am too depressed / And messed / Up, for daylight / Wouldn't it be better / If you went home / To your real daddy?Judith: Never-r-r! / I long to make Bluebeard / Just a little less weird / But why are all the doors closed?Bluebeard: So you can make a drama of opening them up / You fool.Judith: Though the strings are well chromatic / The action sounds quite static.Bluebeard: Your voice becomes a little bolder / Count your blessings, this ain't Tristan and Isolde / Yet do not expect me much to move / My legs are as frozen / As my soul.Judith: These doors must open to the sun / So we can have tremendous fun.Bluebeard: Naught can glitter here.Judith: But if we don't open the doors / The opera has already run its course.Bluebeard: Verily-y-y / You have a point / With this key / I thee anoint / But be careful / The locks are a bit stiff / Like me.Judith: Oh thank you, thank you / Darling heart / You won't regret it.Bluebeard: You haven't got / The hang of this / At all / Have you?Judith: Don't be such a misery / Let me shine a light on thee / Oh-h-h ...Bluebeard: What do you see?Judith: In your first room / A torture chamber / With blood-stained walls!Bluebeard: Don't be such a fearful prude / Let not female sensibilities intrude!Judith: Quite right, my clever man / The blood stains / Are a bit like / The crimson sunrise / When you think about it / A bit / Let's open some more doors / Because I love you.Bluebeard: I just wondered / If you had noticed / I've never said / I love you too.Judith: No-o-o / I hadn't / And I don't care / Because I am so co-dependent / I only exist / To make you gleam / In the bright light stream.Bluebeard: Behind the second door?Judith: Your blo-o-o-ody weapons / And blo-o-o-ody armour / How terrible / Though when you think / About it / A bit / They do make you look / Quite tough / And handsome.Bluebeard: Very well / My bride / Three more keys I give you / Just don't ask me / Any awkward questions / About what you see / Can you guess what is behind the doors?Judith: No-o-o / Because I am naive / And stupid!Bluebeard: You're going to regret / This.Judith: But I-I-I will / Always love you-u-u.Bluebeard: You're really / Going to regret / This.Judith: Mountain of gems! / Ingots of gold!Bluebeard: My treasury is thine.Judith: But all covered / With blood.Bluebeard: Are you noticing / A theme / Here.Judith: Behind the fourth door / A secret garden / Yet the soil is / Blood-red.Bluebeard: You still don't get it / Do you?Judith: And here the fifth / Your kingdom / With lots of red bits / Too / Surprisingly.Bluebeard: How the castle starts to shine / Come and place your lips on mine!Judith: First we must open / These last two doors.Bluebeard: They must / Stay closed.Judith: You know / That's not / An option.Bluebeard: OK then / If you must / What se-e-e-est thou?Judith: It's rather disappointing / Just some tranquil water.Bluebeard: My vale of tears / My dearest dear / Now kiss me sweet / Ere the last door you greet.Judith: Tell me / Tell me / Dearest man / Whom you have loved / Ere I came along?Bluebeard: It's all a bit much / I'm losing my touch / I really didn't see / That one coming.Judith: Then the rumours are true! / You murdered all / Your previous wives / And they are behind / The seventh door.Bluebeard: Isn't it a bit late / To be bringing up / All that crap? / Shouldn't you have mentioned this / Before we got married?Judith: Don't be such a bore / Open up that door!Bluebeard: Take the key / All my wives await thee!Judith: Joyously dazzling / Living and breathing!Bluebeard: Matchless beauties / Forever immortal / Standing silent / Behind the portal.Judith: See the three / So much prettier than me!Bluebeard: Ne'er mind, she's so shallow / Her body I hallow / Then to be fair / I felt pretty much the same / Way about the others.Judith: They are rich and so pretty / I feel rather shitty.Bluebeard: You are the fourth ...Judith: You're acting all queer / Can't you see I'm still here?Bluebeard (placing crown on her head): Thine is now / The crown of diamonds.Judith: It feels awful heavy / Making my neck ache / So I can talk no more.The seventh door closes behind her.Bluebeard: I love my wives so much / That I lock them up! / I'm not quite so sure / Why they love me / But still / Four is enough / So henceforth, darkness / Unless I meet / A total babe.• Duke Bluebeard's Castle is in rep at English National Opera until 28 November 2009.OperaClassical musicJohn Craceguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |
'Money' talks, because Dominick Dunne listened Too Much Money, Dominick Dunne's final novel, is familiar turf for Dunne fans the Upper East Side of New York, the corner booth ... rssfeeds.usatoday.com |
Books of The Times: Laughing All the Way to the Bank A rigorous but also literate and wickedly funny explanation of the global financial crisis from the novelist John Lanchester. feeds.nytimes.com |
Mollie Panter-Downes, a wartime voice to treaure Virtually forgotten these days, her work provides an unforgettably vivid impression of life in the second world warIn 1939, Mollie Panter-Downes was 33. She had written her first novel at 16, and quickly established a living for herself from her writing. During the 1930s, she sold poems and stories to the New Yorker. At the outbreak of second world war, realising they had access to a valuable voice of England, they asked her to write their "Letter from London". These letters write to us now from a past that we think we know. Descriptions of pillar boxes chequered with a yellow paint that changed colour if the air became poisonous, "as sensitive as a chameleon". Sandbags everywhere. The balloon barrage "spread over the sky like some form of silvery dermatitis". Evacuated pets! We are informed of the little ways in which life had changed. There is the Englishness that we would expect: "Yesterday, people were saying that if there wasn't a war today it would be a bloody shame … In the general opinion, Hitler has got it coming to him." But there is also an understanding observation that doesn't just accept that stereotyped stoicism at face value. It is an aspect of wartime England that she closely examines in the numerous short stories she wrote during the same period. Looking at what lies behind the stiff upper lip, it becomes less of a naturally stoical way of approaching life and more of a necessity for psychological survival. In rural and suburban living rooms, personal fear underpins all of the characters. Putting lives indefinitely on hold, war creates a gap where the "I" should be. In the "we" that is left, there is no room or time for emotion. It's not so much the British reserve, as the only way that terrified people facing the unknown could vaguely appear to cope. This cannot be maintained indefinitely though, and sometimes the guard slips, even if just for a moment. In Goodbye, My Love, Ruth and Adrian are waiting for Wednesday, when Adrian will leave for the front line. When Wednesday arrives, their goodbye is not a grand, emotional one but an understated moment: "They said goodbye in the hall, a tiny cupboard built for a man to hang his hat in, for a woman to read a telephone message in – not for heroic partings." Hours after Adrian's departure, Ruth starts to accept she must deal with the fact that her husband has gone off to war. She must get on with the everydayness of life. Then the telephone rings: Adrian's call-up has been postponed and he is returning home for 10 days. Whilst parting is awful, the anticipation of it is worse and the possibility of having to deal for a second time with the deafening sound of the ticking clock counting down to a separation that they both know might end in death, is too much to bear. Ruth falls apart.Panter-Downes also see the humour in the reserve. In Date with Romance, Helen Ramsey – who has held a candle for Gerald Spalding during the five years he has been in Malaya – has to endure a lunch during which he talks only of the much younger Monica, whom he plans to marry. With nauseating sentimentality he boasts that Monica's hair is so long that she can sit on it. "Mrs Ramsey, deciding that she would find no difficulty in sitting on Monica's hair either if Monica's head were included, said that she really must be running along now."And whilst it may be true that everyone pulled together, these stories challenge the idea that people were happy about that. Repeatedly her characters resent the intrusion of evacuees in their homes, constantly hoping for their departure. In Combined Operations, desperate to oust their house guests, Gregory and Laura unconvincingly declare they have family coming to stay. As it turns out, Roger and Madeline have been looking for an excuse to leave, finding the pressure of living under someone else's roof so intolerable that they would rather return to London and risk the horror of air raids.Panter-Downes rarely wrote short stories after the war, preferring to be known for her journalism. She modestly claimed "I'm a reporter. I can't invent." But as with the very best modern fiction, she doesn't invent, but rather frames reality in new ways. In the letters we are shown the outer world of the home front. In the stories, its interior. All but one of her novels – One Fine Day – are out of print, and she is virtually unknown in this country now. It seems to me a terrible shame to risk losing a writer who makes searingly accurate yet poignantly subtle observations about human beings and how they deal with life. Thankfully, when Persephone Books launched in 1999, the stories were among the first things on their list, and the wartime stories have since become a "Persephone Classic". In The Guardian's obituary of Mollie Panter-Downes in 1997, Nicola Beauman (who later founded Persephone Books) wrote that she was a writer "who will, no doubt, be rediscovered." It's high time.FictionAnnabel Wynneguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds feeds.guardian.co.uk |