Books - Dundee disclaimer

Emotionally Weird
Kate Atkinson, Doubleday: London. (2000)
ISBN 0385 40882X

The University of Dundee portrayed in this book (and especially the Departments of English and Philosophy) bears little resemblance to real life, past or present. Neither are any of the characters portrayed based on anyone real, either living or dead."

So says the disclaimer at the front of Kate Atkinson's latest novel, Emotionally Weird. It's that word "little" that sticks. Not "none", one notices with a little spike of stress hormone and a slight drying of the saliva. Little.

The long awaited campus novel - plans for which were first revealed in the University's alumni magazine GC as long ago 1996 - follows the overwhelming success of Kate's first two books, Whitbread Prize winner, Behind the Scenes at the Museum and Human Croquet. Between them they have sold some 800,000 copies world wide.

When she talked about the novel then, Kate said: "No you should not expect to see university people you know appearing in the book. Absolutely not." This was qualified by the slightly less comfortable: "The genesis of characters is often real people but then they change in the process of writing so they become unrecognisable." Hmm. It makes you feel, well, emotionally weird.

Emotionally Weird has been a long time in the writing. Set in 1970s Dundee, when Kate herself was a student of English at the University - she graduated in English Literature in 1974 - it follows the story of Effie who "lives a lethargic relationship with Bob, a student who never goes to lectures, seldom gets out of bed and to whom Klingons are as real as the French and the Germans (more real than the Luxemburgers)".

We asked Dr David Robb, head of today's department of English - a department which was recently named number one in the UK for the teaching of English - for his reaction to the book:

"First I skimmed through it rather nervously to check that I didn't find myself appear as a character. Then I flicked through it again to see if I thought that any other people in the department in the 1970s (when I was an extremely young and new lecturer!) were in it - but couldn't see anything that might stand up in a court of law. So then I relaxed, read the book properly, and greatly enjoyed it. It strikes me as the most light-hearted of her novels so far, an entertainment in which the sheer fun of writing is uppermost. That fun will be most readily appreciated by anyone who knows Dundee and (even more) by anyone who remembers the University in those days. The novel will clearly have many more readers than that, however, and will be enjoyed by anyone who responds to Kate's lively wit."

The St. Petersburg Imperial Theaters. Stage and State in Revolutionary Russia, 1900-1920 Murray Frame
McFarland & Company Inc. (2000)
ISBN 0 7864 0688 7

In the first study of its kind Dr Murray Frame of the department of history has examined the institutional setting in which famous performers like Fyodor Chaliapin, Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky had to work. The opulent St Petersburg Imperial theatres were subsidised and administered by the Russian court from the 18th century until the collapse of the tsarist order in 1917. This close association raises many questions about the uses of these theatres and where their loyalties lay in the complex shifting power structure of early 20th century Russia. Photographs and diagrams of the theatres are included, along with photographs of the central historic figures and contemporary cartoons referring to the theatres.

Russia and the Wider World in Historical Perspective. Essays for Paul Dukes. Cathryn Brennan & Murray Frame (Eds.)
Macmillan Press. (2000)
ISBN 0 333 68300 5

A second book to come from Dr Murray Frame of the history department, this time as joint editor, is a new collection of essays by leading scholars from Britain and Russia who explore the major issues in Russia's relations with the wider world since the 17th century. Produced in honour of distinguished historian, Professor Paul Dukes, the book looks at the different levels of interaction between Russia, its immediate neighbours and the wider global community and is designed to put current dilemmas with Russia's global position in an historical framework.

...With Sottsass. Catching up.
Richard Carr
The Lighthouse: Glasgow. (1999)
ISBN 0 9536533 0 7

Richard Carr, design journalist and design historian at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, has produced the very first publication of The Lighthouse museum in Glasgow. Based upon conversations between the author and Italian designer Ettore Sottsass, this captivating monograph takes you from a formal Ducal palace in 1970s Milan to a 19th century third floor flat 25 years on and its with a sense of loss that you reach its conclusion with Sottsass reassuringly advising: "Don't worry, not everything works out".

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