Look At Me by Anita Brookner - rerun
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, it's John.
It's Andy. And Nicky, hello.
Hello, everyone. Hi, and as you probably guessed, this is another one of our rerun shows. And this is from a long time ago, September 2017, when we recorded our first show on Anita Bruckner. Not the first time Anita Bookman was mentioned on this show. Certainly not. The book that we'd chosen was Look at Me by Anita Bookman, which I seem to remember, Andy, I only discovered about two hours before the recording of the podcast. I'd read a completely different novel. Which one did you read? Can you remember? What's her very first one called? A Start in Life.
Did you then just power read this just before the show ended?
I sat outside and power read, cancelled everything and just read. If John sounds quite ramped up on this particular episode, now you know why. But we had two brilliant guests who, of course, brilliant guests who've become absolute kind of friends of the show. And in Una McCormick's case, a co-presenter with us. So, but Una and Lucy's Goals.
I feel like Anita Bruckner is like a kind of an icon of Backlisted. Those longtime listeners of Backlisted will know that she gets, not only does she get quoted, she gets mentioned, you know, this probably, what, once every four episodes, five episodes. Was this the first sort of real coverage of Anita Bruckner then?
Anita Bruckner died in 2016.
What is the significance of Anita Brookner's novel 'Look At Me'?
Is this all on the record if people go back? And I read shortly after she died. I'd read her before, but I read her novel Latecomers, which I talked about in the What I've Been Reading slot. And I was so blown away by it that it began my own personal, I don't know what you call it.
Journey.
Bruckner journey. My whole life seems now to have become an acted out homage to Anita Bruckner. But anyway, I think she's the author whose books have brought me the most undiluted pleasure in the last 10 years of my life, I guess. Isn't that marvellous?
We've got an update for this. So this was done in 2017. If you want to hear more Bruckner, where can you go?
It's like that hashtag, isn't it? It's like a social media hashtag, never enough Bruckner. Yeah, we're returning to the well again. on our Patreon, every month on the Patreon, we select at random a winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction. We pull a name out of a hat. We literally pull a name out of a hat.
What do you know who it was this month?
At the end of last month's meeting, as people who were there will know, one piece of paper literally leapt out of the hat onto the floor, and it was Anita Bruckner and Hotel Dulac. winner of the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1984, an exceptionally good year, which we will be talking about in the show on Patreon. Anyway, if you would like to listen to us talking about Hotel Delap by Anita Bruckner, with the benefit of hindsight of a decade of talking about Anita Bruckner and thinking about Anita Bruckner and... And I'm actually I'm saying these words that John was talking there about behind the scenes. I have a signed, not by Bruckner, but by the photographer framed portrait of Anita Bruckner on the wall of the room where I am.
How did the hosts prepare for discussing 'Look At Me'?
Marvelous. So she is looking down at me with what can only be described as fascination. thorough disapproval for us having done any of this but anyway we're very glad to have done so you can hear that on our Patreon and we hope that you enjoy this trip back to 2017 for Anita Bruckner's Look At Me So, tell us about your band reforming. Okay, yeah. So, my friends and that was the list. In fact, happy birthday, gentlemen. Neil and Tim had a joint 50th birthday party. And I used to... Tim? Was that... Neil and Tim. I thought that was the name of your band. Neil and Tim. Good name.
Good name.
Yeah. Tim, I used to play in a band with Tim called the Jean Clark Five, which is an extremely esoteric joke. And we split due to lack of interest. But then when we got back together last weekend, for the first time, rather than two of us, there were actually five of us. What did you play it's the best drummer that i've ever played with it's a guy called brin and he used to be the drummer in the band's uh the fabulous poodles and frer and frer went on to become underworld so imagine imagine someone who i can't play the guitar very well right but i'm playing with a really good drum
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:01–1:33
2
What is the significance of Anita Brookner's novel 'Look At Me'?
1:33–3:43
3
How did the hosts prepare for discussing 'Look At Me'?
3:43–7:44
4
What themes are explored in 'Look At Me'?
7:44–12:36
5
How does Anita Brookner's life influence her writing?
12:36–18:30
6
What insights do the guests provide about Brookner's characters?
18:30–24:31
7
How does the narrative style of 'Look At Me' affect the reader's experience?
24:31–31:36
8
What parallels can be drawn between Brookner's work and contemporary issues?
31:36–1:05:04