Cultural Amnesia - Clive James

Having already declared my love for this book, I will save all the gushing and restrict my compliments to one – this is a great book for people who want to know what went on in the 20^th Century in the Arts, without all the jargon.

That said, it has also been written by someone who lived through much of that time, and who therefore has a sense of belonging in a way that I don’t. That could also have something to do with the fact that I’ve never been to Paris, am not a well respected published author, have not read even half of the things mentioned within the covers of the books, nor do I spend my spare time rifling through second hand bookstores around the world in an everlasting search for that book. That’s not to say I don’t go rifling through second hand bookstores. Of course I do – they’re kind of like an bookworm’s lucky dip – but it’s never for that book since there are so many good books out their I have yet to read, and I’m almost always guaranteed to find at least one gem along with the dregs (momentarily ignoring the fact that I am in Bangladesh).

It starts off with the letter ‘A’ (Anna Akhmatova, no less, one of my favourite Russian poets) and goes all the way to ‘Z’, stopping along the way to devote a paragraph to the who’s who of the 20^th Century. Hitler and Trotksy get a chapter, as does Thomas Mann, Jean Peal Satre (scathingly so) and Margaret Thatcher. I won’t spoil to by giving a complete list, but rest assured there is someone in here you will have heard of, and someone you wont have.

I could have underlined a sentence a page. It’s that kind of book, and I drove people crazy I am sure by demanding they listen to various bits and pieces I’d pulled out and written about in my journal. Lots of stuff to make you think, and as a very vocal supporter of liberal democracies, and equally critical of both extreme left and right wing politics, it is interesting to read the issues raised on multiculturalism, the Tampa incident, World War II, feminism, and fame to name a few.

Definitely recommended reading.