KEN COCKBURN assesses the art of Ian Hamilton Finlay for the experience of warfare it incited and represents
You don't need it but you want it
ANDY HEDGECOCK admires a virtuoso collection of short stories that chronicle 21st century alienation and the cruelties of consumerism
Anti-consumerist graffiti ‘Consume yourself’
The bard gives us advance notice of his upcoming medieval K-pop releases
GORDON PARSONS steps warily through the pessimistic world view of an influential US conservative
HENRY BELL takes issue with the assertion that basic income is a remedy for poverty when it doesn’t address the inbuilt inequality of capitalism
RON JACOBS welcomes an investigation of the murders of US leftist activists that tells the story of a solidarity movement in Chile
RITA DI SANTO surveys the smorgasbord of films on offer at this year’s festival
Reviews of A New Kind Of Wilderness, The Marching Band, Good One and Magic Farm by MARIA DUARTE, ANDY HEDGECOCK and MICHAL BONCZA
The Universe Delivers the Enemy You Need
Adam Marek
Comma Press, £10.99
ADAM MAREK is a virtuoso of the bizarre short tale. In this collection, his third, he tackles the absurdities and philosophical conundrums of modern life with elegant sentences, bleak wit and experimental flair.
In Poppins, a machine intelligence addresses its owner. Initially presenting itself as a user manual, it veers into a sales pitch before adopting a more sinister role. One of the collection’s most disturbing pieces, and one of its funniest, it challenges our assumptions about agency, empowerment and consumer choice.
Opposing attitudes to AI-based Magic Reality threaten an already fading friendship in It’s a Dinosaurooorph Dumdum. Things get worse when the excruciating small talk of an ill-starred dinner party is interrupted by a shocking revelation. Marek mixes restrained dissection of middle-class manners with speculation about the tension between what is real and what is bearable. It works brilliantly.
Similar stories
ANDREW HEDGECOCK relishes visual storytelling with no respect for genres, movements or styles
ANDY HEDGECOCK recommends the application of ‘Gothic Marxism’ for its memorable portrayal of the physical violence done to working people
ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes a novel by a dazzling prose stylist and a subtle player of literary games
