Book Notes: From heros to porcupines

Replacements, replicas and readings

 A First-Rate festival

The 2007 Dublin Writers Festival, which is taking place at numerous locations around the city between the 13- 17 of June, promises to be one of the most exciting literary events in Europe and boasts an outstanding assembly of new and established talent. There will be readings, interviews and panel discussions featuring noted novelists, poets and critics both from Ireland and all over the world.

Novelists Rose Tremain, Gerard Donovan and Lionel Shriver will be presenting their new books. Nell McCafferty will chair a workshop on childhood. Rageh Omaar will discuss war reportage. Another panel will debate Ireland's position on immigration and John Waters will prove the existence of God. This year's highlight is an evening celebrating the life and work of Thomas Kinsella. For more go to www.dublinwritersfestival.com.

Brown's Heroes

He may have been at Tony Blair's side these past 10 years but it is going to take some time to adjust to Gordon ‘Dour' Brown being the new occupant of Number 10 Downing Street. Despite being made the victim of every ‘Miserable Scot' joke, the present Chancellor has kept his personality well hidden. When he finally assumes the reigns of power it will be interesting to see if we come any closer to finding out what manner of man Brown really is. Until then political hacks will have to content themselves with poring over Courage: Eight Portraits, Brown's first foray into literature, for clues.

In Courage: Eight Portraits Gordon Brown profiles the individuals who represent his ideal of human courage. Some, Martin Luther King, Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela, are well known. Others like Raoul Wallenberg, who gave up great wealth and security to make possible the escape of thousands during World War Two, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a priest who refused to permit brutality during the same conflict, are less familiar. Together Brown believes these people show how ‘sacrifice and determination for a higher purpose' has always stood in the way of evil.

Porcupines and Doppelgangers

Anyone involved in the shabby-genteel world of journalism cannot help but look back with affection on the age of the great Grub Street writers. The Life and Adventures of William Cobbett, is Richard Ingram's biography of the legendary 19th Century controversialist who began his career by exposing corruption in the British Army and was forced, not for the last time, to leave for America, where he became embroiled with revolutionaries. Back in Britain his crusading newspaper, The Porcupine, had so many official actions taken against it that he went to goal for two years. Undaunted, Cobbett campaigned against poverty, censorship, child labour and the mistreatment of the Irish, as well as running a private press, pig farm and seed business. Although branded an “Apostate, Spy, Incendiary, Ruffian, Traitor, Prevaricator and Liar” by one enemy, he eventually became an MP and greatly increased the freedom of the press.

Booknotes second paperback selection for June is The Year of Henry James: The Story of a Novel by David Lodge. In this curious volume Lodge tells of how he worked carefully and discreetly on Author, his novel about the much-revered American master, only to discover that it was one of  at least four new novels all on the same subject. The real and imaginary competition between all these writers soon becomes farce and Lodge uses the many peculiar coincidences that arose as the starting point for a characteristically penetrating set of essays on the relationships between history and fiction, and life and art.