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Published for the first time in Faber paperback, this is Potter's first novel dating from 1973. It tells the story of Daniel Miller. His wife has left him, his doctor can't understand him and he is tortured by the certainty that he is a character in a book. Potter has also written "Blackeyes".
Paperback
First published January 1, 1973
65 people want to read
About the author
Dennis Potter
61 books35 followersDennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English dramatist, best known for The Singing Detective (1986). His widely acclaimed television dramas mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. He was particularly fond of using themes and images from popular culture. Such was his reputation that he convinced BBC 2 and Channel 4 to co-operate in screening his final two works, written in the months he was aware of his impending death.
Potter's career as a television playwright began with The Confidence Course, an exposé of the Dale Carnegie Institute that drew threats of litigation. Although Potter effectively disowned the play, it is notable for its use of non-naturalistic dramatic devices (in this case breaking the fourth wall) which would become hallmarks of Potter's subsequent work. Broadcast as part of the BBC's The Wednesday Play strand in 1965, The Confidence Course proved successful and Potter was invited for further contributions. His next play, Alice (1965), was a controversial drama chronicling the relationship between Lewis Carroll and his muse Alice Liddell. Potter's most celebrated works from this period are the semi-autobiographical plays Stand Up, Nigel Barton and Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton; the former the tale of a miner's son going to Oxford University where he finds himself torn between two worlds, the latter featuring the same character standing as a Labour candidate—his disillusionment with the compromises of electoral politics is based on Potter's own experience. Both plays received praise from critics' circles but aroused considerable tension at the BBC for their potentially incendiary critique of party politics.
Potter's Son of Man (The Wednesday Play, 1969), starring the Irish actor Colin Blakely, gave an alternative view of the last days of Jesus, and led to Potter being accused of blasphemy. The same year, Potter contributed Moonlight on the Highway to ITV's Saturday Night Theatre strand. The play centred around a young man who attempts to blot out memories of the sexual abuse he suffered as child in his obsession with the music of Al Bowlly. As well as being an intensely personal play for Potter, it is notable for being his first foray in the use of popular music to heighten the dramatic tension in his work.
Potter continued to make news as well as winning critical acclaim for drama serials with Pennies from Heaven (1978), which featured Bob Hoskins as a sheet music salesman and was Hoskins's first performance to receive wide attention. It demonstrated the dramatic possibilities old recordings of popular songs. Blue Remembered Hills was first shown on the BBC on 30 January 1979; it returned to the British small screen at Christmas 2004, and again in the summer of 2005, showcased as part of the winning decade (1970s) having been voted by BBC Four viewers as the golden era of British television. The adult actors playing the roles of children were Helen Mirren, Janine Duvitski, Michael Elphick, Colin Jeavons, Colin Welland, John Bird, and Robin Ellis. It was directed by Brian Gibson. The moralistic theme was "the child is father of the man". Potter had used the dramatic device of adult actors playing children before, for example in Stand Up, Nigel Barton.
The Singing Detective (1986), featuring Michael Gambon, used the dramatist's own battle with the skin disease psoriasis, for him an often debilitating condition, as a means to merge the lead character's imagination with his perception of reality.
His final two serials were Karaoke and Cold Lazarus (two related stories, both starring Albert Finney as the same principal character, one set in the present and the other in the far future).
Potter's work is distinctive for its use of non-naturalistic devices. The 'lip-sync' technique he developed for his "serials with songs" (Pennies
Potter's career as a television playwright began with The Confidence Course, an exposé of the Dale Carnegie Institute that drew threats of litigation. Although Potter effectively disowned the play, it is notable for its use of non-naturalistic dramatic devices (in this case breaking the fourth wall) which would become hallmarks of Potter's subsequent work. Broadcast as part of the BBC's The Wednesday Play strand in 1965, The Confidence Course proved successful and Potter was invited for further contributions. His next play, Alice (1965), was a controversial drama chronicling the relationship between Lewis Carroll and his muse Alice Liddell. Potter's most celebrated works from this period are the semi-autobiographical plays Stand Up, Nigel Barton and Vote, Vote, Vote for Nigel Barton; the former the tale of a miner's son going to Oxford University where he finds himself torn between two worlds, the latter featuring the same character standing as a Labour candidate—his disillusionment with the compromises of electoral politics is based on Potter's own experience. Both plays received praise from critics' circles but aroused considerable tension at the BBC for their potentially incendiary critique of party politics.
Potter's Son of Man (The Wednesday Play, 1969), starring the Irish actor Colin Blakely, gave an alternative view of the last days of Jesus, and led to Potter being accused of blasphemy. The same year, Potter contributed Moonlight on the Highway to ITV's Saturday Night Theatre strand. The play centred around a young man who attempts to blot out memories of the sexual abuse he suffered as child in his obsession with the music of Al Bowlly. As well as being an intensely personal play for Potter, it is notable for being his first foray in the use of popular music to heighten the dramatic tension in his work.
Potter continued to make news as well as winning critical acclaim for drama serials with Pennies from Heaven (1978), which featured Bob Hoskins as a sheet music salesman and was Hoskins's first performance to receive wide attention. It demonstrated the dramatic possibilities old recordings of popular songs. Blue Remembered Hills was first shown on the BBC on 30 January 1979; it returned to the British small screen at Christmas 2004, and again in the summer of 2005, showcased as part of the winning decade (1970s) having been voted by BBC Four viewers as the golden era of British television. The adult actors playing the roles of children were Helen Mirren, Janine Duvitski, Michael Elphick, Colin Jeavons, Colin Welland, John Bird, and Robin Ellis. It was directed by Brian Gibson. The moralistic theme was "the child is father of the man". Potter had used the dramatic device of adult actors playing children before, for example in Stand Up, Nigel Barton.
The Singing Detective (1986), featuring Michael Gambon, used the dramatist's own battle with the skin disease psoriasis, for him an often debilitating condition, as a means to merge the lead character's imagination with his perception of reality.
His final two serials were Karaoke and Cold Lazarus (two related stories, both starring Albert Finney as the same principal character, one set in the present and the other in the far future).
Potter's work is distinctive for its use of non-naturalistic devices. The 'lip-sync' technique he developed for his "serials with songs" (Pennies
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 13, 2019
A difficult but rewarding experience, made bearable by knowing and greatly admiring Potter's TV work.
I wasn't sure I was going to continue with this after the first chapter or two: it felt like Potter didn't know how to move action onwards, almost like he was stuck inside his own scene spinning his wheels and flashing back for want of anything else to do, it was bordering on unbearable.
Ironically, I think this is probably what he intended. It certainly fits with the narrative, a man stuck in a story he can't control. Once the second segment began, where we leave Daniel Miller's exhausting cycle of suspicion and enter the world of the author, the book became more readable.
This segment, which starts out implying its own brevity and ends up taking up most of the rest of the book, has more than a hint of A Confederacy of Dunces about it. The author - the author within the story - has such delusions of his own superiority and such a pompous way of assuming they're shared by everyone else that he is perversely enjoyable to read.
It's a style recognisable from many of his characters, not least his Singing Detective, with whom both Daniel Miller and the Author share many traits. The medical conditions, the debilitating obsession with sex, the belief that someone external is controlling their lives. Overall, I prefer watching his excellent TV productions to reading this, but I found the experience worthwhile.
I wasn't sure I was going to continue with this after the first chapter or two: it felt like Potter didn't know how to move action onwards, almost like he was stuck inside his own scene spinning his wheels and flashing back for want of anything else to do, it was bordering on unbearable.
Ironically, I think this is probably what he intended. It certainly fits with the narrative, a man stuck in a story he can't control. Once the second segment began, where we leave Daniel Miller's exhausting cycle of suspicion and enter the world of the author, the book became more readable.
This segment, which starts out implying its own brevity and ends up taking up most of the rest of the book, has more than a hint of A Confederacy of Dunces about it. The author - the author within the story - has such delusions of his own superiority and such a pompous way of assuming they're shared by everyone else that he is perversely enjoyable to read.
It's a style recognisable from many of his characters, not least his Singing Detective, with whom both Daniel Miller and the Author share many traits. The medical conditions, the debilitating obsession with sex, the belief that someone external is controlling their lives. Overall, I prefer watching his excellent TV productions to reading this, but I found the experience worthwhile.
January 7, 2019
I liked the beginning and the end but the middle was boring and gruelling
January 25, 2015
Definitely worth reading if you can stomach the grotesque elements. I love the way it steps two layers out of the narrative and then head back in, but never quite tells you how far back you've gone. Surprised the Cronenberg didn't adapt this into a film on the 90s.
September 20, 2022
"Es obvio que permanece en mi conciencia. Y está ahí, en mi trabajo, si la gente quiere verlo. Muchos de los personajes son los que sufren abusos, los indefensos… "
(Dennis Potter, 1983)
Dennis Miller se encuentra en plena caída libre y trata de escapar. Su esposa le ha abandonado a causa de sus maltratos, su adicción a la pornografía y a las prostitutas le carcome, su doctor piensa que su problema es de tipo psicológico… Pero Miller está convencido de que es una personaje de una novela y que el Autor está detrás de todo. Siente la necesidad de volver al bosque de Dean donde se crió y de refugiarse en una destartalada cabaña que le transportará al ayer, y así, encontrará un punto de fuga para escapar del Autor…
Pero el propio Autor se convertirá en el narrador del libro una vez Miller llegue a la cabaña. Y a partir de ahí intentará por todos los medios extrapolar todos los miedos, todas las filias, toda la oscuridad que le asolan a otros: a su agente, a su amigo Robert, de nuevo al propio Miller. Escribirá y escribirá con la intención de esconderse a si mismo como el verdadero protagonista de la sórdida narración…
Dennis Christopher George Potter nació en 1935 en Berry Hill, una pequeña localidad situada en el bosque de Dean. Trabajó como crítico televisivo para el Daily Herald entre 1962 y 1964, año en el que su carrera como político se vio truncada al perder unas elecciones como miembro del partido Laborista por la alcaldía de Hertfordshire East y se le detectó una soriasis aguada que le provocaba artritis en los dedos. Comenzaría entonces una carrera en el medio televisivo que daría sus primeros pasos con obras como "The Confidence Curse" (1965) o "Stand Up, Nigel Burton" (1965) y que culminaría con prestigiosas mini-series o telefilmes como Casanova (1971), "Brimstone and Teacle" (1976, censurada en su día por la BBC por su violencia explícita) o "Pennies From Heaven" (1978), que sería llevada al cine en 1981 por Herbert Ross (Dinero caído del cielo, con Steve Martin dando vida al personaje que interpretara Bob Hoskins en la serie) y que aunque cosecharía un sonoro fracaso en taquilla daría a Potter su única nominación al Oscar. En 1986 se estrenaría en la BBC El detective cantante (The Singing Detective, 1986), quizá su obra más popular A lo largo de tres décadas escribiría novelas, ensayos, obras de teatro y películas pero su mayor foco de atención fue la televisión, y solo en los años finales de su vida se lanzaría a la dirección adaptando sus propias obras, como "Blackeyes" (1989) y "Secret Friends" (1991, editada en España en DVD por Cameo en su colección B-Side). Crítico contra la religión (a la que definió como la herida, y no la venda), la prensa sensacionalista (sentía una especial animadversión por el magnate Rudolph Murdoch y su prensa y televisión amarillista), enormemente culto pero con una sensibilidad que le permitía conectar con el gran público sin ser complicado ni pedante, y amante de usar la música como elemento narrativo en su obra (es habitual que sus personajes canten temas de los años 40 en playback), fallecería en 1994 por culpa de un cáncer de páncreas. Consiguió que las cadenas rivales Channel 4 y la BBC, con la que se había enfrentado en su última época, emitieran sus dos obras finales conectadas entre si "Cold Lazarus" y "Karaoke" (ambas protagonizadas por Albert Finney) por deseo expreso suyo. La British Academy of Film and Television Arts (los BAFTA) tienen un premio con su nombre, el que se entrega al mejor guion televisivo.
Es de agradecer la iniciativa de Libros Walden de traer algo del material inédito (esto es, prácticamente todo) de Potter traducido al castellano. El escondite se publicó en el Reino Unido hace casi 45 años, cuando el prestigio del autor como uno de los guionistas de televisión más importantes del mundo ya estaba totalmente asentado (un año antes de fallecer dijo acerca del medio esta cosa situada en los salones de la gente… Yo pensaba entonces “que maravilloso podría ser”. Ahora tenemos que decir “que maravilloso podría haber sido…”) pero por su forma y contenido probablemente el formato novela le iba mucho mejor. Se trata de una especie de auto-exorcismo personal del autor donde intentó plasmar obsesiones y aflicciones que le habían corroído pero lo hace extrapolándolo en diferentes figuras -primero Dennis Miller, después el Autor, una figura situada por encima de Dios, pero a medida que se va rascando la superficie por debajo del propio Potter) que van adoptando diferentes demonios del creador de Lipstick at your Collar. En muchos sentidos es un precedente director de El detective cantante y hasta diría que se complementan la una con la otra. Los problemas de salud del autor, las diferentes experiencias traumáticas que vivió en su infancia en el bosque de Dean -aunque en "El escondite" sitúe unas concretas en el centro y el "El detective cantante" otras, diferentes obras, diferentes demonios, mismo autor-, la conflictiva relación con su esposa, sus problemas de salud causados por la soriasis aguada que le atenazaba… donde acaba la novela prácticamente empieza la serie de televisión, aunque esta lleve el juego de caja de muñecas rusas entre realidad y ficción a otro nivel, debido a su formato y mayor extensión.
El tema de los abusos sexuales sufridos en su infancia, que termina siendo la piedra lanzada al rio que genera ondas y ondas de filias, tormentos y complejos en el Miller/el Autor/Potter, también lo reiteró en el que hasta ahora el único libro publicado en castellano del autor, "Ojosnegros" (publicada en España por Alcor-Martínez Roca en 1990): pero mientras que en El escondite se palpa en su narrador una sincera necesidad de expresarse y confesarse hacia el lector, en aquella Potter se mostraba mucho más expeditivo y con deseos de venganza, no solo hacia el tío-abusador de la protagonista en la infancia -reflejo del suyo propio-, sino de la misma sociedad vouyerizada que la había convertido -una modelo de anuncios- en un objeto de deseo y comercio, estableciendo un paralelismo entre ambos conceptos. La dura visión de la sociedad de Potter en "Blackeyes" probablemente tuvo bastante que ver para entender su fracaso en su conversión en mini-serie en 1989 (en el Reino Unido, se entiende, por estos lares ni ha estado ni se la espera ya, por desgracia).
Merece la pena introducirse en el mundo de Dennis Potter. Es complejo y es duro, sí, pero nunca por su forma -ni caso a lo que lean por ahí al respecto: usa un lenguaje al que se puede acercar cualquier hijo de vecino-, siempre por su contenido. Y en "El escondite"se ha de atravesar por esa madeja de aparente arrogancia y duro cinismo, las primeras capas de la coraza que parece necesitar el escritor para poder pulsar el botón de planta baja en su ascensor personal para comenzar a descender hacia su mundo personal. Y ahí se pueden vislumbrar momentos de belleza y tristeza, como intentando atrapar con el puño los breves momentos de felicidad que atesoró en una infancia donde ese estado no fue al parecer precisamente la constante.
(Dennis Potter, 1983)
Dennis Miller se encuentra en plena caída libre y trata de escapar. Su esposa le ha abandonado a causa de sus maltratos, su adicción a la pornografía y a las prostitutas le carcome, su doctor piensa que su problema es de tipo psicológico… Pero Miller está convencido de que es una personaje de una novela y que el Autor está detrás de todo. Siente la necesidad de volver al bosque de Dean donde se crió y de refugiarse en una destartalada cabaña que le transportará al ayer, y así, encontrará un punto de fuga para escapar del Autor…
Pero el propio Autor se convertirá en el narrador del libro una vez Miller llegue a la cabaña. Y a partir de ahí intentará por todos los medios extrapolar todos los miedos, todas las filias, toda la oscuridad que le asolan a otros: a su agente, a su amigo Robert, de nuevo al propio Miller. Escribirá y escribirá con la intención de esconderse a si mismo como el verdadero protagonista de la sórdida narración…
Dennis Christopher George Potter nació en 1935 en Berry Hill, una pequeña localidad situada en el bosque de Dean. Trabajó como crítico televisivo para el Daily Herald entre 1962 y 1964, año en el que su carrera como político se vio truncada al perder unas elecciones como miembro del partido Laborista por la alcaldía de Hertfordshire East y se le detectó una soriasis aguada que le provocaba artritis en los dedos. Comenzaría entonces una carrera en el medio televisivo que daría sus primeros pasos con obras como "The Confidence Curse" (1965) o "Stand Up, Nigel Burton" (1965) y que culminaría con prestigiosas mini-series o telefilmes como Casanova (1971), "Brimstone and Teacle" (1976, censurada en su día por la BBC por su violencia explícita) o "Pennies From Heaven" (1978), que sería llevada al cine en 1981 por Herbert Ross (Dinero caído del cielo, con Steve Martin dando vida al personaje que interpretara Bob Hoskins en la serie) y que aunque cosecharía un sonoro fracaso en taquilla daría a Potter su única nominación al Oscar. En 1986 se estrenaría en la BBC El detective cantante (The Singing Detective, 1986), quizá su obra más popular A lo largo de tres décadas escribiría novelas, ensayos, obras de teatro y películas pero su mayor foco de atención fue la televisión, y solo en los años finales de su vida se lanzaría a la dirección adaptando sus propias obras, como "Blackeyes" (1989) y "Secret Friends" (1991, editada en España en DVD por Cameo en su colección B-Side). Crítico contra la religión (a la que definió como la herida, y no la venda), la prensa sensacionalista (sentía una especial animadversión por el magnate Rudolph Murdoch y su prensa y televisión amarillista), enormemente culto pero con una sensibilidad que le permitía conectar con el gran público sin ser complicado ni pedante, y amante de usar la música como elemento narrativo en su obra (es habitual que sus personajes canten temas de los años 40 en playback), fallecería en 1994 por culpa de un cáncer de páncreas. Consiguió que las cadenas rivales Channel 4 y la BBC, con la que se había enfrentado en su última época, emitieran sus dos obras finales conectadas entre si "Cold Lazarus" y "Karaoke" (ambas protagonizadas por Albert Finney) por deseo expreso suyo. La British Academy of Film and Television Arts (los BAFTA) tienen un premio con su nombre, el que se entrega al mejor guion televisivo.
Es de agradecer la iniciativa de Libros Walden de traer algo del material inédito (esto es, prácticamente todo) de Potter traducido al castellano. El escondite se publicó en el Reino Unido hace casi 45 años, cuando el prestigio del autor como uno de los guionistas de televisión más importantes del mundo ya estaba totalmente asentado (un año antes de fallecer dijo acerca del medio esta cosa situada en los salones de la gente… Yo pensaba entonces “que maravilloso podría ser”. Ahora tenemos que decir “que maravilloso podría haber sido…”) pero por su forma y contenido probablemente el formato novela le iba mucho mejor. Se trata de una especie de auto-exorcismo personal del autor donde intentó plasmar obsesiones y aflicciones que le habían corroído pero lo hace extrapolándolo en diferentes figuras -primero Dennis Miller, después el Autor, una figura situada por encima de Dios, pero a medida que se va rascando la superficie por debajo del propio Potter) que van adoptando diferentes demonios del creador de Lipstick at your Collar. En muchos sentidos es un precedente director de El detective cantante y hasta diría que se complementan la una con la otra. Los problemas de salud del autor, las diferentes experiencias traumáticas que vivió en su infancia en el bosque de Dean -aunque en "El escondite" sitúe unas concretas en el centro y el "El detective cantante" otras, diferentes obras, diferentes demonios, mismo autor-, la conflictiva relación con su esposa, sus problemas de salud causados por la soriasis aguada que le atenazaba… donde acaba la novela prácticamente empieza la serie de televisión, aunque esta lleve el juego de caja de muñecas rusas entre realidad y ficción a otro nivel, debido a su formato y mayor extensión.
El tema de los abusos sexuales sufridos en su infancia, que termina siendo la piedra lanzada al rio que genera ondas y ondas de filias, tormentos y complejos en el Miller/el Autor/Potter, también lo reiteró en el que hasta ahora el único libro publicado en castellano del autor, "Ojosnegros" (publicada en España por Alcor-Martínez Roca en 1990): pero mientras que en El escondite se palpa en su narrador una sincera necesidad de expresarse y confesarse hacia el lector, en aquella Potter se mostraba mucho más expeditivo y con deseos de venganza, no solo hacia el tío-abusador de la protagonista en la infancia -reflejo del suyo propio-, sino de la misma sociedad vouyerizada que la había convertido -una modelo de anuncios- en un objeto de deseo y comercio, estableciendo un paralelismo entre ambos conceptos. La dura visión de la sociedad de Potter en "Blackeyes" probablemente tuvo bastante que ver para entender su fracaso en su conversión en mini-serie en 1989 (en el Reino Unido, se entiende, por estos lares ni ha estado ni se la espera ya, por desgracia).
Merece la pena introducirse en el mundo de Dennis Potter. Es complejo y es duro, sí, pero nunca por su forma -ni caso a lo que lean por ahí al respecto: usa un lenguaje al que se puede acercar cualquier hijo de vecino-, siempre por su contenido. Y en "El escondite"se ha de atravesar por esa madeja de aparente arrogancia y duro cinismo, las primeras capas de la coraza que parece necesitar el escritor para poder pulsar el botón de planta baja en su ascensor personal para comenzar a descender hacia su mundo personal. Y ahí se pueden vislumbrar momentos de belleza y tristeza, como intentando atrapar con el puño los breves momentos de felicidad que atesoró en una infancia donde ese estado no fue al parecer precisamente la constante.
August 22, 2023
First I’m going to give you two passages...
‘Everything I read, everything I hear, everything I see informs me that doubt, disease and distress in all the subtlest malignancies of their forms have at last invaded the cropped lawn and the sleepy garden wall. Stress it is which poisons the innocent spangles of daisies, dissonantly warps the song of the idiot birds or leers gibberingly over the useless privet. I can hear it like the constant traffic noise below my window.’
‘You know as well as I do that we can too easily by intonation or facial expression or (the prose equivalent of those signals) by the precise positioning of a single word in the surrounding thicket of language make the simple statement 'I love you' mean 'I own you', I despise you, exploit, deceive or hate you' just as the equally plain 'I hate you' can be picked up as 'I fear, envy, respect, despise, own, exploit, deceive or love you, love, love you.' This inherent ambiguity of all language lies coiled at the root of my present troubles.’
There's a little Larkin in these pages.
A character in a novel becomes aware that he is at the mercy of an author. Harrowing thing to discover. Existence shaking!
And so, in the tradition of Lispector, Ende and Fforde and others... the meta-novel amuses itself with grand pronouncements and minor puns.
But I really loved this one. It was frantic and melodramatic - but in that way that sometimes a really gaudy decoration on a Christmas tree can entice you out of your usual humbugness... this novel really pulled me into it.
Inspiring. Gorgeously composed. Worth experiencing. Had a touch of folk horror and suburban decay about it.
‘Everything I read, everything I hear, everything I see informs me that doubt, disease and distress in all the subtlest malignancies of their forms have at last invaded the cropped lawn and the sleepy garden wall. Stress it is which poisons the innocent spangles of daisies, dissonantly warps the song of the idiot birds or leers gibberingly over the useless privet. I can hear it like the constant traffic noise below my window.’
‘You know as well as I do that we can too easily by intonation or facial expression or (the prose equivalent of those signals) by the precise positioning of a single word in the surrounding thicket of language make the simple statement 'I love you' mean 'I own you', I despise you, exploit, deceive or hate you' just as the equally plain 'I hate you' can be picked up as 'I fear, envy, respect, despise, own, exploit, deceive or love you, love, love you.' This inherent ambiguity of all language lies coiled at the root of my present troubles.’
There's a little Larkin in these pages.
A character in a novel becomes aware that he is at the mercy of an author. Harrowing thing to discover. Existence shaking!
And so, in the tradition of Lispector, Ende and Fforde and others... the meta-novel amuses itself with grand pronouncements and minor puns.
But I really loved this one. It was frantic and melodramatic - but in that way that sometimes a really gaudy decoration on a Christmas tree can entice you out of your usual humbugness... this novel really pulled me into it.
Inspiring. Gorgeously composed. Worth experiencing. Had a touch of folk horror and suburban decay about it.
September 16, 2025
Dennis Potter is my favourite writer, and the most important literary figure in my life. He is the greatest television playwright of all time - of that there is no doubt. What he isn't, is a good novelist, as Hide and Seek (his first and best novel) illustrates. Many of Potter's regular themes are here, but they just don't work in this format. Go watch Pennies From Heaven or The Singing Detective or Blackeyes or Lipstick On Your Collar if you want the best of what Potter can do. I cried when he died. He was my inspiration.
August 2, 2017
enjoyed overall - start heavy going but worth persevering.
January 30, 2021
This is a remarkable book. The story opens with the protagonist, Daniel Miller, insisting to his doctor and two medical students that he is a character within a story and is being plagued by the author. And, of course, this is absolutely true. From that point on the point of view shifts and the author delivers a paranoiac diatribe against his publisher, his best friend, and various strangers before venturing into the even murkier waters of childhood memory and sexual obsession.
If this sounds like heavy sledding, it is not....exactly. Weighing at 166 pages it hardly qualifies as a novel. But what it delivers in 166 pages are some truly remarkable prose and brilliant analysis of the human thought process. This book is decidedly not everyone's cup of tea as indicated by the fact that it is no longer in print. Dennis Potter is known mainly as a screenwriter (The Singing Detective, Brimstone and Treacle). That skill shows in the sparseness of the prose, and yet the style is so elegant and insightful. I typically don't react to a book thinking "I wish I could write like that." Well, I wish I could write like Dennis Potter.
If this sounds like heavy sledding, it is not....exactly. Weighing at 166 pages it hardly qualifies as a novel. But what it delivers in 166 pages are some truly remarkable prose and brilliant analysis of the human thought process. This book is decidedly not everyone's cup of tea as indicated by the fact that it is no longer in print. Dennis Potter is known mainly as a screenwriter (The Singing Detective, Brimstone and Treacle). That skill shows in the sparseness of the prose, and yet the style is so elegant and insightful. I typically don't react to a book thinking "I wish I could write like that." Well, I wish I could write like Dennis Potter.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews