When teaching undergraduates about the postmodern novel, I give them clues what to look for. One of the easiest ways to test for postmodernism is to ask whether a novel is constantly pointing at itself, shouting ‘Hey! Look at me. I’m a work of fiction!’ So Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer […]
Tag: jelly
Pimm’s jelly – or what to do when you’ve only grown five strawberries
When your entire strawberry crop amounts to five, an effortlessly bountiful bowl of fruit and cream isn’t going to work. The general rule is the fewer of something you have, the harder you have to try – unless you’re talking about kidneys, in which case just be very relieved. The five fruits I’ve managed to […]
Plum jelly and hot baths
It’s village fete season – the time for jam-buying, second-hand book swapping and cake-making.I bought grapefruit marmalade and quince jam – a jar of blackcurrant jelly was thrown in for good measure. My neighbours, who know I can’t be trusted with anything in the garden, got to the fete early and bought me two courgette […]