From Neverland to the nether world

Published on Friday 4 January 2008 14:46

THE BROWSER

As well as being the International Year of the Potato, 2008 brings with it a significant number of interesting literary commemorations. It's the 400th anniversary of the birth of John Milton, the 250th of the death of Allan Ramsay and the 100th of the births of James Bond creator Ian Fleming and French feminist Simone de Beauvoir (one of the very few things they share, I shouldn't wonder). It's also the year when authors who died in 1937 come out of copyright: HP Lovecraft, Edith Wharton, the wonderful Don Marquis and JM Barrie.

Barrie's works leaving copyright does not just mean lots of reissues of The Little Minister and The Admirable Crichton. It also means that UK readers can finally obtain copies of Alan Moore's graphic novel Lost Girls. Sixteen years in the writing, Moore's avowedly "pornographic" work describes the sexual awakenings of Dorothy, Alice and Wendy after their trips to Oz, Wonderland and Never-Never Land. Great Ormond Street Hospital, which was gifted the copyright of Peter Pan, refused permission for Moore to use the character. Now, Lost Girls can legally be published.

What will the literati make of the high-brow smut? We'll soon find out – though it's worth noting that Moore married the illustrator, Melinda Gebbie, after completing it.

Scott of the prolific

What book do you get a literary editor for Christmas? My family have long since given up trying and just stockpile socks and DVDs instead. Mrs Browser managed a triumph this year though with William Todd and Ann Bowden's Sir Walter Scott: A Bibliographical History 1796-1832. Now, if you think that sounds a bit dusty, you'd be right. Even the bookseller never thought he'd get rid of it. But it does have statistics that stagger. The Lady Of The Lake spawned 132 dramatic versions. When a satirist parodied Marmion, it was front page news. 'Comic book' versions of the novels – illustrated chapbooks – appeared within months. Pirated editions, from Calcutta to Savannah, thrived. More than just the extent of Scott's fame, it shows how hard-working he was. In one single year, he published 14 separate books and reviews. How did he go bankrupt?

The strange case of Edinburgh and London

Following the success of the One Book – One Edinburgh campaign, the Unesco City of Literature turns from Kidnapped to The Strange Case Of Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde for 2008. It's a bit of a strange choice. Yes, Stevenson was inspired by the schizophrenic architecture of the capital; yes, Edinburgh's Deacon Brodie, respectable craftsman by day and house-breaker by night, is a possible model for Jekyll. But the book is not set in Edinburgh. It's a London novel – imbued with pea-soupers, the hum of traffic and anxieties about immigration and class. Maybe London's tourism officials could bung a few quid to Edinburgh for promoting their city for them? Perhaps instead of a Scots language edition, we could have a Cockney version? None the less, it will be heartening if people actually read Stevenson's story again, rather than relying on the pop-culture versions. Mr Hyde – who has been played by everyone from Kirk Douglas to James Nesbitt – doesn't meet either Bugs Bunny or Abbott and Costello in the original.

A lack of class

Browsing some of the book blogs, I was taken aback by Giles Foden summarising the 'Noughties' so far. "What is needed now is a novelist from the underclass," he opines. I'm sure he's willing to donate some of his own cash to buy a lucky member of the underclass time off earning a living to write for his delectation.

Counting the Costa war

Congratulations to AL Kennedy for winning the Costa Novel of the Year – and rightly so. She's written 11 books, just won her second Saltire Award, and there's a critical study of her books recently published, though according to the Daily Mail she's a "Scottish comedian". Her novel Day, about the Second World War, is a masterpiece – but it's hardly Carry On Rear-Gunning.