Tag: writing

The Nose by Nikolai Gogol - part of Petersburg Tales
Posted in Fiction

Nikolai Gogol: The Nose

Posted on by Mr. Wapojif

Greetings! After a delay of half a year, I’m back for 2019 with a review of the classic short story by Nikolai Gogol – The Nose.

These posts take a fair old while to put together and, wrapped up working for Barnes Film Festival in London (along with my full-time day job), and running Professional Moron, it’s tricky to fit in these long-form reviews.

But here’s the latest. It’s a famous short story that was likely a major inspiration for Franz Kafka. I’ll follow it up with a review of his famous novella The Metamorphosis sometime soon.

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Post Office by Charles Bukowski
Posted in Non-Fiction

Charles Bukowski: Post Office

Posted on by Mr. Wapojif

Right, my last three reviews have encompassed a lot of serious philosophising and whatnot. Charles Bukowski’s Post Office (1971) isn’t quite in the same league there, but what it does represent is a fine instalment in addiction, and down and out, literature, as well as something genuinely funny to read.

The former sprung forth through the likes of Thomas De Quincey in the 19th century, who candidly discussed his addiction to opium. The latter, down and out literature, I first came across when I read several of George Orwell’s works, which dealt with poverty and social and economic injustice – a sad situation which hasn’t advanced a great deal since Orwell’s day.

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Venedikt Yerofeev - Moscow Stations
Posted in Non-Fiction

Venedikt Yerofeyev: Moscow Stations

Posted on by Mr. Wapojif

Welcome to the wild, unhinged, mental, and quite brilliant world of Venedikt Yerofeyev’s Moscow Stations.

The Russian writer (whose surname is also written as Erofeyev, Yerofeev, and Erofeev – there seems to be a tremendous amount of confusion about this) penned it in 1969, but it was first published 20 years later as a warning to the population about heavy drinking.

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George Orwell - Down and Out in Paris and London
Posted in Non-Fiction

George Orwell: Down and Out in Paris and London

Posted on by Mr. Wapojif

For the first Moonshake Books post, I’m covering Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell. This was a vital text for me as I first read it when I was 17 and, emerging from childhood and teenage years reading Brian Jacques’ wonderful Redwall series, it introduced me to an exciting and grown-up literary world.

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