The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE recommends an impressive impersonation of Bob Dylan
Rediscovered working class novel
ANDY HEDGECOCK applauds the reissue of a 1935 classic that offers frank and incisive insights into working-class life in 20th-century Britain
The Star's critic MARIA DUARTE reviews Here, Vermiglio, William Tell and Wolf Man
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Emphasising his continuous engagement in labour movement struggles, ALISTAIR FINDLAY salutes John Foster’s contribution as activist, strategist, intellectual and defender of the Morning Star
ANDY MIAH advocates the use of AI to assist people by expanding access to global literature and culture
EWAN KOTZ relishes a veteran Glasgow band that have lost none of their verve for live performance
Caliban Shrieks
Jack Hilton, Vintage Classics, £16.99
BILLING a novel as “the rediscovered classic” makes it a hostage to fortune: there’s a danger readers will focus on the literary detective work implied by that strapline at the expense of the book itself. In this new edition of Caliban Shrieks, a book first published in 1935, the risk is exacerbated by two absorbing introductions.
In the first, poet Andrew McMillan situates Jack Hilton’s work in the traditions of experimental and working-class fiction, lamenting the capricious nature of literary reputation and the enduring influence of regional and class inequalities in the arts.
In the other, Jack Chadwick focuses on his serendipitous encounter with a copy of the original edition in Salford’s Working-Class Movement Library. His fascination with this yellowing volume led him to delve into the author’s life and, ultimately, to bring the book back into print. Chadwick’s quest amplifies one of Hilton’s major themes — the crushing limitations imposed on working-class culture by capitalism.
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