BRIAN ALDISS - Bury My Heart at W. H. Smith's. A Writing Life

London England, Hodder & Stoughton, 1990. First Edition, Binding: Cloth, Fine/Very Good. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall 0340536616 Hardback Hardback. First Edition. Whether meeting a Cotswold poet of declamatory style or searching Jugoslavia in quest of black olives, Aldiss, as might be expected, has a numer of good stories to tell. The book is, however, more than a string of anecdotes. it also discusses the complext question of what makes and unmakes a writer, why so many writers are strange, and why literature remains necessary. The story begins with Aldiss working in an Oxford bookshop where his first novel. The Brightfount Diaries, was set, and ends as he undergoes one of the most gruelling experiences of an author's life: the publication of a new book - in this case his much-lauded contemporary novel, Forgotten Life. Anyone at all who reads should but this volume and help Aldiss through the painful processes of writing, which makes him want to bury his heart in that mecca of literacy, W. H. Smith's. 221 pp.