At present I am reading with deep interest The Pledge by Howard Fast, a best selling American/British author of the last century. I was inspired by reading Irving Stone's Lust for Life, a novel on the life of Van Gogh and years ago the historical novels of James A. Mitchener. Curiously perhaps I see them as doing similar jobs on revisiting history through sharp writing and journalistic knowledge of periods and events. While many disdain these as literature they occupy some part of this greater whole taking nspiration from John Steinback and various story telling techniques.

Now while The Pledge isn't directly about America, the hero is. The book deals with an often deliberately forgotten period of WW2, the appalling Indian famine said by many to have been organised by the British as Japanese armies grew nearer to India, the famine intended to prevent an uprising in favour of Japan.

These novels suggests debate over where good writing ends and literature begins. Is it just a matter of intension and concentration on achieving artistic results rather than more prosaic ones. I found Stone's Lust For Life powerful, clear and informative but the infusion of too much informatin stops it from being anything more and allows it to subside into journalism.

DISCUSS

Anything! Anything at all!

Think of a marvellous novel that could be made from Trump's Presidency by a very good novelist.