Jean Sprackland and Francis Spufford
Francis is the author of I May Be Some Time, The Child That Books Built and Backroom Boys. He and Jean dive into a conversation about his 2012 novel Red Plenty, a book about “the moment in the mid-20th century when people believed that the state-owned Soviet economy might genuinely outdo the market, and produce a world of rich communists and envious capitalists.”
Spufford’s 2012 novel, ‘Red Plenty’
He believes that religion is receding and so he turned to writing as a place where ‘books do what books do’ and bring into focus Christianity and its properties. Francis knew that his first task for this book was to condense and sum up the whole of the New Testament into 30 pages, for those who know little about the content of the bible. ‘It was an interesting technical challenge,’ he says wryly.
Francis tells the story of The Return of the Prodigal Son in this cut down form. The younger son is ‘all flash and leather trousers’, easy to dismiss and cast out for doing wrong. But as the son’s father realises, we all need someone to accept us even after doing something wrong. ‘This is my son. He was lost and now is found.’ His ending sentence gathers an applause that fills the room.
Later, Francis explains how ‘comfort zones are for pink stuffed things’ and how he is always trying to attempt new writing challenges. Fiction, he explains is something he had to ‘creep up on’ and had to learn in stages. The Child that Books Built and Red Plenty are a credit to his versatility. He also writes memoirs and engages in science and travel writing.
Featured image: Mexican Pets, Nobody’s Working Title – Blunt Records Pinning down a genre as sprawling as indie-rock is as futile as painting your living room with gravy instead of emulsion. However, we can at least set some boundaries. We can drill down through layers of subgenres and microgenres, but ultimately, a broad definition of…
Punk Rock Factory have gained a growing following over the years for their punky covers of well-known Disney songs. The lovingly named ‘Sausage Army’ turn up en-masse, clad in Motörhead and Ramones merch for a night of silly, classic rock and roll. Bringing the pop back to the punk, Bronnie brings the warm-up stretches in…
Featured image: Jackie Lee Young / Shorefire Media Houston trio, Khruangbin, headed to the Apollo on Monday to play a double set, starting with running through their latest, more stripped-back album A La Sala in full. From the first hum of Mark Speer’s guitar, the swarming audience prepared to be baptised with a night of…
Featured image: Sonic PR Ahead of their three-night residency at the Apollo in December, music journalist Leah Small takes a look at the evolution of IDLES across their five studio albums. With fists raised and a rambunctious energy like no other, self-proclaimed ‘angry’ ensemble IDLES burst forth from Bristol in 2009, possessing a raw and…
Leave a reply