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Malcolm Bradbury (1932–2000)

Author of The History Man

62+ Works 5,231 Members 42 Reviews 14 Favorited

About the Author

A professor of English literature and American studies who has published numerous critical works, Malcolm Bradbury is also a novelist whose protagonists are academics who make muddles of their personal and professional lives. He maintains that his main concern is to explore problems and dilemmas of show more liberalism and issues of moral responsibility. The targets of Bradbury's satires include intellectual pretension, cultural myopia, and official smugness. His protagonists are largely sympathetic, if comic, failures at mastering their own fates in a world of absurd rules and regulations. His major novels include Eating People Is Wrong (1959), Stepping Westward (1965), and The History Man (1975). This last, a novel of intellectual and political conflict at an English university in the late 1960s, was made into a successful television minidrama. More recent novels include Rates of Exchange (1983) and Cuts (1987). (Bowker Author Biography) Malcolm Bradbury is a novelist, critic, television dramatist, & satirist. His many books include "Rates of Exchange", which was short-listed for the Booker Prize, & "The Modern American Novel". (Publisher Provided) show less

Works by Malcolm Bradbury

The History Man (1975) 831 copies
The Penguin Book of Modern British Short Stories (1989) — Editor — 429 copies
Eating People Is Wrong (1959) 416 copies
The Atlas of Literature (1996) — Editor — 397 copies
Rates of Exchange (1983) 322 copies
To the Hermitage (2000) 302 copies
Doctor Criminale (1992) 186 copies
Stepping Westward (1965) 155 copies
Cuts (1987) 144 copies
Cold Comfort Farm [1995 film] (1995) — Screenplay — 123 copies
Who Do You Think You Are? (2000) 103 copies
The Modern British Novel (1993) 87 copies
Unsent Letters (1988) 80 copies
Why Come to Slaka? (1986) 41 copies
No, Not Bloomsbury (1987) 35 copies
New Writing 1 (1992) — Editor — 15 copies
New Writing 2 (1993) — Editor — 8 copies
Inspector Morse 32: The Wench Is Dead [Videorecording] (2003) — Screenplay — 7 copies
E.M.Forster: a Passage to India (Casebook) (1970) — Editor — 6 copies
Evelyn Waugh (1964) 5 copies
Victorian poetry (1972) 2 copies
Composition 1 copy

Associated Works

The Great Gatsby (1925) — Introduction, some editions — 71,678 copies
Animal Farm (1945) — Introduction, some editions — 59,633 copies
Catch-22 (1961) — Introduction, some editions — 39,816 copies
A Farewell to Arms (1929) — Introduction, some editions — 22,287 copies
A Room with a View (1908) — some editions — 11,114 copies
The Red Badge of Courage (1894) — Editor, some editions — 11,079 copies
Howards End (1910) — Contributor, some editions — 8,674 copies
Crome Yellow (1921) — Introduction, some editions — 1,995 copies
Parade's End (1925) — Introduction, some editions — 1,741 copies
Scenes from Provincial Life and Scenes from Metropolitan Life (1950) — Introduction, some editions — 48 copies
A Distant Cry: Stories from East Anglia (2002) — Contributor — 12 copies

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Reviews

As I was reading a masterful short story by Salman Rushdie, he was being stabbed on stage. I had just talked about how certain authors in this collection (and in literature, generally) operate on a different level than others who are still very good, then I read about the contemptible attack. I hope he will recover as soon and as completely as possible.

I found this to be a very strong collection, with absolutely no weak points, and some real gems. Each short story was at least fine, but some were simply outstanding:

Samuel Beckett: Ping - I have a soft spot for the nonsense which of course does have sense and such a strong rhythm in all its minimalism that it is positively enjoyable

Dylan Thomas: The Burning Baby - nightmarish as its title, intense and skilful, with all due respect, trying to purge my memory of it

Ted Hughes: The Rain Horse - a tad less nightmarish but still very much in that territory, also very intense and skilful

Salman Rushdie: The Prophet's Hair - this is where I had to pause to acknowledge how certain authors produced works that were not better but on a completely different level of quality than others, and those others were also very good. (for me, authors of this different quality include Auster, Nabokov, Esterházy) I intend to use this in ESL lessons as I did with the following one.

Kazuo Ishiguro: A Family Supper What a twist! I loved how he built up the readers' expectations very clearly towards one final outcome and then provided an utter anticlimax. This is a short story I already used with my C1-level students. As I was making photocopies for them to read, I accidentally dropped the last page, which gave me the idea to make them write their own ending to the story. (Some loved the idea, others detested it.) I only gave them the last page when they handed in their versions. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and would definitely repeat with other groups.

I really appreciate the following as well:
Graham Greene: The Invisible Japanese Gentlemen - another one up for ESL lessons
William Golding: Miss Pulkinhorn
Alan Sillitoe: The Fishing-boat Picture
Doris Lessing: To Room Nineteen
Muriel Spark: The House of the Famous Poet
John Fowles: The Enigma - started as a detective story but turned out to be something even better
Malcolm Bradbury: Composition - with its 3 different endings
Beryl Bainbridge: Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie - very powerful
Ian McEwan: Psychopolis - turning so suddenly from a constant mood, and capturing the shock perfectly
Julian Barnes: One of a Kind
Clive Sinclair: Bedbugs
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blueisthenewpink | 3 other reviews | Jan 3, 2024 |
I tried for more than 200 pages on this book but I could not get into it. I'm even obsessed with Russia and visiting this May but my interest was not held. The writing was well-done but I didn't care what happened to anyone...too many books on my TBR pile to stick with one that bores me.
 
Flagged
sgwordy | 2 other reviews | Dec 31, 2022 |
If you're amused by stories centred on women's breasts (David Lodge) or about compulsive masturbation (Martin Amis), if you'd be intrigued by an author's language deficit ( Malcom Lowry), i if you think writing is nothing without hard-gained metaphors and the personal touch* (example from Angela Carter biut a fair few of the stories have those qualities) , if you would welcome reminders that even the most competent woman can be a victim imprisoned by a man's sharp glance and failure to share housework (Fay Weldon's tale of elective martyrdom) and that Chinese people dress in silly clothes and are incapable of speaking English properly** (Malcolm Bradbury), well, then, this is the book for you.
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I read at least the first few pages and far more often all of each sory but gave up on one because it was unreadable and on several others because the writing inspired no confidence in the author and/or because they bored me so. Only one of the stories seemed in any way original (and that, not by a British author), some were enjoyable, and none was memorable.

Malcom Bradbury was also the editor of this book. And as should be apparent from the quote below he obviously shares the not-uncommon casual English attitude of superiority to other peoples. Not surprising then that he he appropriates non-British authors from a formerly-occupied country for the anthology. To call Beckett, Edna O'Brien, William Trevor British is not just wrong: it's wrong and offensive.

*Of walking in a city at night: 'And I moved through these expressionist perspectives in my black dress as though I was the creator of all and of myself, too, in a black dress, in love, crying, walking through the city in the third person singular my own herione, as though the world had stretched out from my eye lke spokes from a sensitized hub that galvanized all to life when I looked at it.'

** 'The little oriental who met him stands there, in shortie pyjamas. "You must close lindow . Water coming . . . into my loom. . . Also, offplint of article for loo to lead." ' ( I must acknowledge though that 'loo' for 'you' though is admirable writersmanship,)
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bluepiano | 3 other reviews | Sep 7, 2022 |
An entertaining read, but can't say it's a character type I really recognise in recent academic environments, even if the social dimensions remain.
½
 
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sfj2 | 8 other reviews | Mar 15, 2022 |

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Associated Authors

Chris Seager Director of photography
Richard Broke Producer
Alison Gilby Producer
E Mottram Editor
Kenny McBain Creator
Judy Cooke Editor
Jack Gold Director
Ian McEwan Tribute to author, Contributor
David Lodge Biographical essay, Contributor
B. S. Johnson Contributor
Adam Mars-Jones Contributor
Gwen John Contributor
Graham Greene Contributor
Clive Sinclair Contributor
Emma Tennant Contributor
Beryle Bainbridge Contributor
Angus Wilson Contributor
Salman Rushdie Contributor
V. S. Pritchett Contributor
Ted Hughes Contributor
Angela Carter Contributor
Alan Sillitoe Contributor
Kingsley Amis Contributor
Dylan Thomas Contributor
Muriel Spark Contributor
John Fowles Contributor
Jean Rhys Contributor
Julian Barnes Contributor
J. G. Ballard Contributor
Graham Swift Contributor
Martin Amis Contributor
William Trevor Contributor
Fay Weldon Contributor
Samuel Beckett Contributor
Elizabeth Bowen Contributor
Edna O'Brien Contributor
Kazuo Ishiguro Contributor
Rose Tremain Contributor
William Golding Contributor
Malcolm Lowry Contributor
Doris Lessing Contributor
John Thaw Actor
Julian Mitchell Screenplay
Colin Dexter Original Story
Chris Burt Producer
Quentin Blake Cover artist
Henny Corver Editor, Translator
Marijke Versluys Translator

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Works
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Rating
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Reviews
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ISBNs
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Languages
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Favorited
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