For Sarah Palin...

The Palin honeymoon is over...

When John McCain first announced that Sarah Palin would be his running mate, it looked like the act of a madman or a genius. It was a high-risk strategy that appeared to be paying off, if the opinion polls were anything to go by. My heart sank.

Sarah Palin seemed to represent everything that your average, Christian, racist, gun-toting, small-town American stood for. Even when it was revealed that her unmarried 17-year old daughter was up the duff (embarrassing, given Palin's opposition to sex education in schools) her approval rating was unharmed. She's just like us, people seemed to think.

Then she opened her mouth:

Hopefully the honeymoon is over and the Americans will now see sense, but don't bet on it. George W Bush was, after all, elected at least once.

Amusingly, the Saturday Night Live team decided to do a parody of this interview, but in the end felt that it would be far more amusing to repeat Palin's comments verbatim:

David Karp - the mystery deepens...

A few days ago I finished David Karp's One - a novel about the role of an individual in a totalitarian society. It seemed to be heavily influenced by Nineteen Eighty-Four, but whether the author had read Orwell's book (which was published five years earlier) or not, I didn't feel that it diminished the integrity of Karp's vision. Why was this novel out of print?

I discovered that David Karp had written six novels, but in his mid-40s, switched to writing for television. Why did Karp abandon books? Also, why was it so hard to find any information about David Karp on the internet? The logical explanation was that One was an accomplished, but derivative first novel, which was never equalled by its successors. I decided to put my theory to the test and read another Karp novel. Once again, Camilla's Bookshop in Eastbourne came up trumps:

I am only a third of the way into Leave Me Alone, but so far it is excellent. Set in the world of publishing, this novel reminds me strongly of Richard Yates. Like Yates, David Karp has a gift for depicting the plight of the mildly talented, burdened with artistic sensibility and the painful, growing realisation of their own mediocrity.

I'm absolutely certain that if it was reissued, Leave Me Alone would appeal to a new generation of readers. The Richard Yates revival shows that there is an appetite for this sort of fiction and the popularity of Mad Men clearly demonstrates how fascinated people are by the New York of 50 years ago.

However, I'm not sure if any publishers read this blog. When I worked for Waterstone's I tried to keep a low profile in the book trade, as I knew that my employers were quite paranoid about blogs. Indeed, when one of my colleagues wrote a mildly critical comment on her blog about G.P.Taylor, she received a visit from the Waterstone's Human Resources department.

Now that I'm a free man, perhaps I should write some inflammatory posts about people in the book trade to attract attention and, hopefully, bring authors like David Karp and John Christopher to the attention of publishers. I could mention how grumpy Terry Pratchett is (or how offensive some people find G.P.Taylor) and point out that bestselling children's author Lucy Daniels is actually two gay men in Notting Hill. I wouldn't bother saying anything about how obnoxious Jeffrey Archer is, as that would be no surprise to anyone. However, fans of Emma Blair might be shocked to learn that the good lady is a burly, Glaswegian gentleman who used to serve in the British Army. I could also mention how one publisher tried to sell the latest John Francombe novel to me on the basis that they'd 'changed the ghostwriter'.

But would any of this make any difference?

Probably not.

In the meantime, I shall continue to read Leave Me Alone and I have also just received a copy of Sleepwalkers - a reasonable 4/- to all opponents of Base 10:


I apologise if I seem to have a monomania (I love that word) about David Karp. I just can't believe that such an accomplished author is so unjustly neglected. If anyone can provide me with an answer, I'd be interested to hear it. In the meantime, read One!

The David Karp revival starts here

Until I found this novel in the cavernous basement of Camilla's Bookshop in Eastbourne, I had never heard of David Karp. I can't remember why One caught my eye, but as soon as I read the blurb on the inside front cover, I was intrigued:

'The publishers have bracketed this novel with Darkness at Noon, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World, which I at first thought presumptuous; but now, after reading it, I am inclined to agree.' - Cyril Connolly


The rather worn copy on the shelf was priced £1, so I decided to trust Cyril Connolly and take a chance. I had reservations. If David Karp was that good, then why had I never come across his name in nearly twenty years of bookselling? I added One to my pile of unread books, only half expecting to ever get round to reading it.

I have just finished reading One and although I wouldn't rate it as highly as Nineteen Eighty-Four, I was surprised at how good it was.

I think it would be safe to assume that Karp had read Orwell's novel and was heavily influenced by it, as certain scenes in the book are strongly reminiscent of Winston Smith's encounters with O'Brien. If that it is the case, it doesn't diminish Karp's narrative. However, if Karp hadn't read Nineteen Eighty-Four, then it makes One even more remarkable.

To give you an idea of the novel, here is a brief extract:

'Do you know how long you must stay here now?'

Yes, yes, forever, forever.

'Only until you rid yourself of your heresies'

Never. Never. I can never do it.

'You will do it'

I cannot.

'You will or you will die here.'

Then let me die soon.

'You will die when you must. But not for a long time.'

I will die sooner.

'You will not. You will live out your life.'

I can't do what you ask.

'You must. Who told you you were brighter than your friends?'

My father, my mother, my brother, my teachers, everyone.

'They were wrong.'

No they were right. I could see that.

'They used the wrong measure of intelligence.'

They didn't. They used the correct measure.

'An intelligent man is a happy man, is he not?'

No, he is not. My father was intelligent, but he was not happy.

'Your father was not intelligent. The aim of life is happiness. Without happiness a life is without meaning.'

The aim of life is reason. Without reason life is without meaning.

'Would you rather be happy than rational?'

A lunatic can be happy without being rational. You are all lunatics. The moon will change its phase and your madness will pass as happiness will pass. The dark side of the moon is coming and with it your unhappiness.

Jeffrey Archer it ain't. Why isn't this novel more widely known?

David Karp was born in New York City in 1922. In 1942 he joined the US Army and served in the Far East until 1946, when he left to continue his education. Karp wrote six novels in his 30s, but abandoned books for a screenwriting career, writiing scripts for series including The Untouchables. Karp's work in television was very successful and he won two Emmys.

Other than this brief outline, and a short obituary published in the NY Times after his death in 1999, there is very little information on the internet about David Karp. I find this baffling.


One is a very accomplished work of dystopian fiction and however derivative it may (or may not) be, it is far superior to many novels that are currently in print. Secondhand copies aren't difficult to get hold of, but I would love to see this reissued by Penguin, in their Modern Classics series.