Kraken, by China Miéville; Ballantine Books; 509 pp.; $26.By Chauncey MabeWhy is it that genre writers, just when they are about to step onto a wider stage of literature, tend to lose heart – or nerve?I first noticed this in 1998 when Stephen King, after almost a decade of increasing critical acceptance, retreated to the comforts of Bag of Bones, an … [Read more...]
ArtsPaper Books: Miéville’s brave new novel remarkable, and a page-turner, too
By Chauncey MabeAdmirers of China Miéville’s brave new novel, The City and the City, are advised to take care lest they hurt themselves straining for comparisons to describe – to begin to describe – this amazing literary performance. Raymond Chandler meets Franz Kakfa? Philip K. Dick collides at a busy intersection with Georges Simenon? A mad scientist sews George Orwell’s head … [Read more...]