Guardian on Adam Thirlwell
From the Guardian books section: "In his yet to be published first novel, Politics, Adam Thirlwell asks, 'Why is it never enough simply being dirty?' The immediate context is a love scene between two characters in a flat in Finsbury, north London; the wider context is the inclusion of Thirlwell on the Granta list of best young British novelists. Since the novel is not to be published until the summer, the only clue we have to 25-year-old Thirlwell's talents is a 12-page extract in the literary magazine, Areté, most of which is taken up with an account of Nana and Moshe's punt at anal sex."
I read The Cyrillic Alphabet in Granta and thought it was a wonderful piece of writing. Thing is being twenty-two and working on my first novel it's daunting to come across such a mature voice only two years my senior. But it's more inspiring than anything. It was very well weighted. The aesthetic, the snow, the steel surfaces and the olive skin created something warm but beautifully balanced, at times perilous, at others tranquil . A very tender piece and perhaps the most well weighted use of the word "foccaccio" in literary history.
