Exeposé
| 5 FEBRUARY 2013
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Books Playlist In preparation for Valentine’s Day we take a look at 5 of our favourite romantic novels. 1. Wuthering HeightsEmily Brontë
Brontë’s only novel is well known for its unlikely romantic couple, a Gothic hero and an unruly heroine. It certainly doesn’t have the happy ending of stereotypical romantic fiction, but nonetheless it remains one of the greatest romances. We can forgive its broodiness when it has quotes this beautiful: “If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be; and if all else remained, and he were annihilated, the universe would turn to a mighty stranger.”
2. For Whom The Bell TollsErnest Hemingway
This tells the story of a young American in a republican guerrilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. Against this unlikely backdrop unfolds a young romance, drawing on those old favourite themes of literature: love and war.
3. Tender is the NightF. Scott Fitzgerald
This is Fitzgerald’s last completed novel, written at a time of personal crisis. An intense novel of obsession and the tragic descent of the protagonist, Dick Diver, this is about a love that is destructive. A parasitic relationship ebbs and flows on the French Riviera as loves are created and destroyed.
4. Norwegian WoodHaruki Murakami
Set in Tokyo in the late 1960s, the narrator Toru Watanabe nostalgically recalls his days as a student and his relationships with two very different women. This erotic tragedy finishes on a precarious cliffhanger ending that leaves Toru’s fate hanging in the balance.
5. One DayDavid Nicholls
Now also a popular film, the novel differs from the film, but still follows the developing relationship between two old friends. Dexter and Emma’s chance meeting on their graduation night leads to a friendship that lasts despite the odds through locations both exotic and mundane.
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Travels, tribes and Timepiece Tom Elliott interviews intrepid Exeter alumnus Jamie Alexander about his new book WHAT kind of student would go half way across the world to stir up a tribal independence movement in his summer break? Exeter alumnus Jamie Alexander would. Just after releasing his first book, Nowhere Like Home, Exeposé spoke to Jamie about getting in contact with tribal organisations, took notes on his top survival tips for travellers and asked him if he has found an equivalent of Timepiece during his travels. Tell us a bit more about your new book Nowhere Like Home. It’s a humorous travel book about how the world’s changing, the direction it’s going in and how modernisation is affecting certain parts of the world. Basically, I studied International Relations and I think I was a bit too lazy to do the course reading so I just went to the places instead of reading about them! What sparked your interest in travelling? Have you always been adventurous? Yeah, I was pretty adventurous as a kid but it wasn’t until I went on a school trip to Malaysia that I started to appreciate travelling. At first I hated Malaysia, I hated the food and the heat and the smell. But then after a few weeks, something just clicked and I absolutely loved it. When I went to Kalimantan for the first time that kicked everything off. Nothing has been the same since. Have you returned to Exeter since graduating? I’ve been back a couple of times. I’m planning to go back with my housemates and cycle the canal and drink all the way along! There’s something great about the place. I haven’t really managed to find anywhere better. It’s such a great city it’s got Timepiece!
Nowhere Like Home Jamie Alexander
Did you find an equivalent of Timepiece during your travels around the world? Not in terms of debauchery, no! I think that place is unrivalled. I loved studying at Exeter. If you take advantage of the opportunities that are there, you can meet a lot of really good people.
“Trying to get into a secret organisation as a student is pretty difficult. It started when an exiled rebel leader visited the university” Have you got any tips for budding writers studying at Exeter now? Just get stuck in. The best tip I can come up with is to start early… local publications, newspapers, university newspapers. Try and do something that sets you apart. That could be becoming an expert or doing something unique or original. Recognise what you’re really interested in and then pursue it relentlessly. How did the Nowhere Like Home project begin? For my dissertation I thought why not go and do it on something completely obscure? I went off and tried to make contact with a tribal organisation in New Guinea and that had quite a knock on effect. I travelled from then on. Thinking back now, New Guinea stands out definitively. Trying to get into a secret organisation as a student is pretty difficult… there were a lot of risks involved. It started when an exiled rebel leader came to visit the University and gave a talk. I went to the talk and decided to do BEFORE reading Jamie Alexander’s non-fiction travel memoirs I must admit that I was expecting a fairly run of the mill but enjoyable travel story, so I was pleasantly surprised when I received much more. Crucially, instead of the typically hum-drum protagonists often found in this genre, who consistently affirm how they ‘found themselves’ in some part of Asia, Alexander gives full disclosure into his humorous and interesting mind and remains far away from the genre’s tired clichés as well poking fun at them. Any person who has travelled will find it easy to relate to his strong desire for purpose and frustrations with the harsh unfairness of the world. It is these two components that make Nowhere Like Home an essential read for anyone even contemplating travel. However, this book is also a coming of age novel that can be enjoyed even by those who have little interest in backpacking (although after this read you may find yourself booking flights to Asia).
my dissertation on it. It was a really good excuse to go and have an adventure. Any top survival tips for those heading off travelling? Don’t worry. All of the threats are probably much bigger in your mind than in reality. But that said, always have a back-up plan for everything. Think what can possibly go wrong and mitigate against that. For instance, plan for someone potentially stealing your wallet by hiding some money that you don’t touch in your shoes or a belt. Then, have a normal wallet with enough money in for the day and a few expired credit cards that a potential mugger could take before leaving you alone. You’ll then still have your life savings behind you. My final tip would be to tell someone where you are, where you’re going and arrange for them to raise the alarm if you don’t get in contact. I’d say that’s pretty important.
The most exciting feature of these memoirs is the varying nature of Alexander’s travel experiences. We are treated to his personal accounts of numerous different countries coupled with varying styles of travel. From hunting wild boar to sipping tea with terrorists, Alexander shows the reader just how inaccurate preconceived perceptions of the world can be. His no-nonsense approach to travel and engaging mentality provides unique and fascinating experiences to read about and learn from.
“From hunting wild boar to sipping tea with terrorists, he shows how inaccurate preconceptions of the world can be” The stereotypical (but true) fellow travellers and tourist-conning locals Alexander encounters gives the mem-
What’s next for you? I’m in the process of getting some more education and am just going to see where life takes me! Nowhere Like Home is available to buy now on amazon.co.uk.
oirs the essential comic relief it needs to prevent it from feeling a little too ideological at times. This humour adds another depth to the memoirs as we are given a strong impression of Alexander’s persona. Alexander’s narrative style is extremely refreshing in his attitude to big questions such as why Westerners travel to impoverished places, and why the world’s wealth continues to be so unreasonably distributed. The comical flaws in Alexander’s character also make him quite likable and credible in his accounts: it is hard to feel that he is exaggerating or elaborating much. In spite of this some might find his constant attempts at wit a tad tiring and his conclusions on travel slightly pessimistic, but equally others will laugh their heads off and feel quite enlightened. I must state that I am in the latter of the two groups.
RORY MORGAN