The Fighter: Literary Essays Tim Parks Harvill Secker, 304pp, £17.99
D H Lawrence once wrote that “the proper function of a critic is to save the tale from the artist who created it”. A combative and visionary critic himself, Lawrence was no doubt covering his own back, yet the observation has since proved sadly accurate for readers of his fiction.
Tim Parks opens and closes his new collection of essays with two pieces in which he performs a recovery operation on this oft-maligned figure, but without trying to suppress or excuse the unsavoury aspects of his character. As Parks makes clear, the best of Lawrence’s writing draws on the same confrontational spirit that frequently marred his personal life.
Confrontation is the theme of this impressively cogent book and Parks is especially good on writers such as Thomas Hardy and Giorgio Bassani, whose uncompromising artistry signalled nothing less than a passionate involvement in life. There are also pieces on Italy, Parks’s adopted home, including a compelling precis of the volatile world of Italian football.
He falters only once, with a brief celebration of the Romanian philosopher Emil Cioran, whose dubious wartime activities are never mentioned. But this is an uncharacteristic slip. For a writer so fascinated by conflict, Parks is a model of critical reason and clarity.
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