Ian Jack on the unsteady British

Posted on | February 27, 2010 | No Comments

A twitterishly short post as I wait for A to arrive by train in Oxford. I’ve read through half of Ian Jack’s collection of writings The Country Formerly Known as Great Britain and — at this point — the words of the unsteady, the unstable, the unhinged — are peeking out at me from the pages.

Maybe they are my words peeking in and amplifying their announcements: the way that you notice more peugeots on the road the few weeks after buying one. That is: I am currently unhinged, a little unstable, recognising the ‘unsteadiness’ with which Jack characterises the British.

Anyway, a couple of reviews for me to return to — Jennie Blake’s at BookGeeks, and the Guardian’s own Giles Foden.

And today, a quick google, and Jack is in the Guardian writing about the Falklands — another challenge to understand what we mean when we say the British.

As a writer, Ian Jack is highly recommended. Come and hear him talk, as well, if you can. Weds 10th March in Newcastle at the Centre for the Literary Arts.

Comments