Novel argument
Sir: Further to Martyn Harris's attack on me (Letters, 13 June), I discover I owe him an apology. When I claimed he had said he found stretching his idea a big problem while writing his first novel, I was quoting from memory. What Mr Harris actually wrote (New Statesman & Society, 6 October, 1989) was that he `didn't have the first clue how a novel actually worked'.
I am surprised that Mr Harris has not heard of David Nohhs, but my point still stands: Harris's Saul is very like Nobbs's Jimmy (in the Reginald Perrin novels). And of course there is no natural childbirth class in Jake's Thing. Much less did I say there was. What there is is a section on alterna- tive cures for sex problems and the like, the mood and tone of which are recalled by Mr Harris's childbirth chapter.
Mr Harris claims that one of the jokes I slammed did not appear in The Mother-in-
'If you're taken ill at night, switch on Morris Cerullo.'
Law Joke. I refer him to page 60 of the book: `there was Loos in the loo and Barthes in the bath.' I seem to be being charged with not having read his novel; since he is a little shaky on what is actually in it I wonder whether Mr Harris really wrote it.
Readers will be pleased to see that The Spectator is far from being the cosy back- scratching book-reviewing club which parts of the press have recently labelled it. Nonetheless, I would repeat that I have always liked Mr Harris's journalism and have found both his novels pleasantly diverting. That is why I gave The Mother-in- Law Joke a good notice (the kindest review it received, I think). Anyway, I hope Mar- tyn is given the chance to maul my first novel.
Christopher Bray 55 Nevill Road, Stoke Newington, London N16
Previous page
