SHORT STORY ADAPTATIONS: this month, Dr. CHRIS MACHELL looks at decaying masculinity in John Cheever’s ‘The Swimmer’: ‘The Swimmer is as much as an attack on the self-involved counter-culturalism of Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation as it is on self-satisfied wealthy suburbia…’
NICOLE MANSOUR looks at the tradgedy and comedy in Donald Antrim’s debut collection, The Emerald Light in the Air: ‘Antrim’s prose is vivid yet uncluttered, bringing to mind the economy of John Cheever, as well as the fairy tale surrealism of Donald Barthelme…’
NEIL CAMPBELL pauses for thought in the world of David Constantine: ‘The contemplation of those moments helps our humanity, and it helps Mr Carlton, provides solace. Constantine, like Hemingway before him, has a naturalist’s eye for observed detail.’
