sufi

lala
Never ready anything by him but I found this good


Made me want to read the book he's sortareviewing

It also depressed me but awakened me
He had a crap piece about post 2012 Stratford in the ft last weekend that I cut out to infuriate Luke.
But @catalog is going to get him to write the foreword to the book of pre Olympic photos
 

Corpsey

bandz ahoy
i was very much skimreading all the stuff about occult centres of power

which is probably the stuff dissensus really enjoyts
 

sufi

lala
I didnt read the lrb piece yet but if it's more of just wandering around having random deep thoughts that may be boring too.
The ft piece was very disjointed, seemed like not enough overall structure or narrative to be more than the sum of its quirky observations and anecdotes

I sent him one of Luke's books and we invited him to Edmund's launch so he is primed for your approach @catalog
 

catalog

Well-known member
I've not read anything by him in a while but the one to read is orbital. Perhaps Corpsey can have a go at it and tell us all what he thinks.
 

version

Well-known member
I saw someone describe him as the "most enlightening sometime-commentator on the counterculture writing today" recently and was a bit taken aback.
 

luka

Well-known member
orbital is hack work, avoid that one. already spinning his wheels by that point.
 

catalog

Well-known member
Why's that?
Its the one of his that I liked the best, I think it was one of the first things I read by him, so for someone who's not read much by him, I reckon it's the best introduction.

Cos to me, the earlier stuff like eg downriver is a bit too sludgey. Was inaccessible to me. Whereas orbital is nice and simple. Strong central idea, covers alot of ground. Much better than any of the other walking ones I would say. The others are diminishing returns of orbital.

Orbital is like the perfect balance between the heavier stuff and the more lightweight stuff.

I've not read the poetry though. Lud heat etc. I did try, couldn't get into them. The format of non-fiction is my preferred sinclair format.

I've not read lights out for the territory, I might get hold of it.
 

luka

Well-known member
Lights Out is the original and best walking one. It's the one that makes him a success and, consequently, the one he is doomed to repeat, with, as you say, diminishing returns.

I agree Downriver is a mess.
 

jenks

thread death
I was with him all the way to the John Clare book but I wearied of his style after awhile. I think Lights Out is probably his most balanced book. I also liked the collaboration he did on Rodinsky’s Room with Rachel Lichtenstein. I think the first one I decided not to read was his Hackney book and I’ve not bothered much with him since - there a collection of reviews he did 2017/18 which is probably as good as any intro to his world - My Favourite London Devils
 

sufi

lala
I didnt read the lrb piece yet but if it's more of just wandering around having random deep thoughts that may be boring too.
The ft piece was very disjointed, seemed like not enough overall structure or narrative to be more than the sum of its quirky observations and anecdotes

I sent him one of Luke's books and we invited him to Edmund's launch so he is primed for your approach @catalog

this https://newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/crossed-rails on the other hand is excellent - full of tales and factoids but still with direction and intention, great job @owen
 

version

Well-known member
Picked up White Chappell, Scarlet Tracings earlier. It's cool. Reminds me of Gibson. The stream of consciousness fragments and the rapid fire nerdy-macho descriptive thing.
 

version

Well-known member
Were Sinclair and Alan Moore in contact at this time? Seems too much of a coincidence they'd both be publishing occulted takes on The Ripper in the late 80s.

There's some stuff about The Ripper in Against the Day which I wouldn't be surprised was a nod to those two,

"Hundreds, by now thousands, of narratives, all equally valid - what can this mean?"

"Multiple worlds," blurted Nigel, who had floated in from elsewhere.

"Precisely!" cried the Professor. "The Ripper's 'Whitechapel' was a sort of momentary antechamber in space-time . . . one might imagine a giant railway-depot, with thousands of gates disposed radially in all dimensions, leading to tracks of departure to all manner of alternate Histories. . . . "

There's also a character who thinks 'Jack' assassinated Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria on contract and made it look like a suicide.
 

version

Well-known member
Have to say, I don't have a clue what's going on at times and get a bit fed up with what feels like pages and pages of formless description, but the ideas are good and there are some nice lines.

Difficult to get a handle on who's who and the overall structure of the thing; think there are three stories going on at once? The weird book dealers, the flashback stuff with the bloke writing the letters and "Sinclair" and Joblard? Can't work out whether "the narrator" is also supposed to be Sinclair, is just some nameless narrator or if that's just what he's called and he isn't narrating at all.
 
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