David Bowie, Enid Blyton and the Sun Machine

(Paperback)

Available Formats

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

In this one-of-a-kind book, novelist and academic Nicholas Royle brings together two remarkably different creative figures: Enid Blyton and David Bowie. His exploration of their lives and work delves deeply into questions about the value of art, music and literature, as well as the role of universities in society.

Blending elements of memoir and cultural commentary, Royle creates a tender and often hilarious portrait of family life during the pandemic, weaving it together with musings on dreams, second-hand bookshops and unpublished photos of Bowie. He also shares previously unrecorded details about Blytons personal life, notably her love affair with Royles grandmother.

David Bowie, Enid Blyton and the sun machine offers a singular perspective on the cultural significance of two iconic figures. In doing so, it makes a compelling case for the power of storytelling and music to shape our lives.

Reviews

David Bowie, Enid Blyton and the sun machine is a new species of book: a dazzling act of literary-critical rebellion, a portrait of pandemic family life and an intimate exploration of personal history. This book illuminates the recent cultural past, casting new light on the lives of David Bowie and Enid Blyton, and infuses the future with the brightness of its invention and wit. Royles work has much in common with some of the most successful and daring writing of recent years, such as Patricia Lockwood's no one is talking about this and Max Porter's Grief is a Thing with Feathers, which entrance the reader with their inventiveness as well as their moving explorations of the wildest and most intimate experiences of love.
Naomi Booth, author of Swoon: A Poetics of Passing Out

This is a fascinating book. Harassed academics will immediately relate to it, and so will all Enid Blyton and David Bowie fans, but it is much more than a book about any of those topics. It is an evocation of a time and a place, South London in the mid-twentieth century, the world that produced two such disparate figures as Blyton and Bowie, but also the author himself. I read it with great pleasure and interest.
Gabriel Josipovici, author of Forgetting

The books appeal and strength is the very unusual melding of Royles own story, Enid Blyton, Beckenham, David Bowie (including Memory of a Free Festival), which all coalesce by pivoting time and geography.
Stephen Finer, painter

Author Bio

Nicholas Royle is Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Sussex. He is the author of numerous books, including Hlne Cixous: Dreamer, Realist, Analyst, Writing (2020), An English Guide to Birdwatching: A Novel (2017) and The Uncanny (2003).