The Brooknerian

 Part of Everyman's Library Contemporary Classics Series, to be published later in the year:

I haven't yet been able to find the covers, but these are apparently the fresh spines of some Brookner novels to be republished in June: An intriguing selection, focusing on the 1980s ( A Start in Life , Look at Me* , Latecomers ) and the 2000s ( The Bay of Angels , The Next Big Thing ). I am pleased to see The Next Big Thing , a late masterpiece and as raw and edgy as anything she ever wrote. I should perhaps reconsider The Bay of Angels . But what of the great, settled, magisterial novels of the 90s - A Family Romance, A Private View, Visitors ? *Disappointing to see the continuing capitalisation of the preposition, inaugurated in the cover refresh of ten years ago.

On the tenth anniversary of Anita Brookner's death, Hermione Lee gives an insightful portrait of the author (see here ). Professor Lee's forthcoming biography was an exercise in life-writing not without its difficulties: Brookner was an intensely private person who made away with most of her archive, kept her friends in separate compartments, and had secrets she never revealed.

The photograph, taken by Peter Campbell in 1982, featured on a cover of the London Review of Books in 1982. See an earlier Brooknerian post here . Peter Campbell's son tells the story of the photo's rediscovery here . The image, not previously in wide circulation online, shows Brookner in her mid-fifties in the early days of her second life as a novelist. She has published A Start in Life and Providence . Her hand-to-head pose, a go-to for portrait photographers, will become a signature. For Brookner it likely refers to Ingres's painting of Mme Moitessier in the National Gallery ( here ). Hermione Lee's biography of Anita Brookner will be published in September.

Another delightful vouchsafement: on YouTube, the full 1984 Booker ceremony:

What do you do when you've finished Henry James? You reread, of course - recommended for many authors, though usually I leave at least ten years. With James there is an added dimension: the presence in print of two distinct versions of most of his novels and many of his tales. The New York Edition, a grand magnum opus collected works, afforded him the opportunity in late career and having written all his major work to review and amend. He set to with enthusiasm, taking everything line by line and penning prefaces that, though often impenetrable, represent the foundation of twentieth-century criticism. James's focus was at the level of the sentence and the word. No major text-level changes were made, though there are instances of the New York Edition developing and embroidering paragraphs. The ending of The Portrait of a Lady is an example. I read The Princess Casamassima some years ago, in the original 1886 version published by Penguin. Tracking down the 1909 revised edition...

A welcome arrival on YouTube: a recording of the 1984 Booker Prize dinner at which Anita Brookner learned of her win. Brookner's surprise is genuine; it was a strong year. The clip includes Julian Barnes (see last week's post) and Brookner's future biographer Hermione Lee.