The Brooknerian

There was always something facile, even hysterical, about these [early] reviews (I should know; I wrote one). The annual Brookner offered a cheap shot to young critics, eager to savage a scandalous bearer of bad tidings about ageing and loneliness. Yet now she agrees with those snapping puppies. 'I hate those early novels. I think they're crap. Maybe I needed to write them. I far prefer what I'm doing now.' Yes, she does use the Ratner* word. It's like hearing a duchess cuss. Why are they crap? 'They're morbid, they're introspective and they lead to no revelations.' Has she a favourite among her works? 'I don't like any of them very much.' Boyd Tonkin, Independent interview, 2002 Elsewhere Brookner said she wrote only a first draft. There were no revisions. There just wasn't time . There just wasn't time. This is significant. She came late to fiction. She was fifty-three when A Start in Life was published. Had she sta...