Letter 1: 'The Aerodrome' by Rex Warner published in 1941

Dear Mr. Burgess (R.I.P.), 

While I do not wish to start on a negative note, I was close to stopping this project on many occasions throughout the purchase and reading phases of this first book. You see, this is not the first time in recent memory that I have made my life more difficult by creating extraordinarily systematic but very stupid projects to expose me to different forms of culture. For example, having felt that I was limiting myself to a ridiculously comprehensive but increasingly antiquated level of knowledge of 90's American alternative rock I decided to listen to all 200 songs on the pitchfork.com's list of best songs from the 60's. In order. For 'fun'. I also attempted to watch all the BFI's Top 100 films but that stopped pretty quickly when I realised I would have to sit through the 4 hours of the silent film Intolerance and that I was not sure I could watch a film by a racist seeking redemption.

Anyways, I persisted because I knew that there must be better things to come, the book was relatively short and most importantly I had already invested  2 hours organising a spreadsheet for this 'forced culture' enterprise (no comic exaggeration, sadly) and ought to complete at least one book, for character building purposes.

Am I glad I persisted and finished the book Anthony? Not really, no- or at least, only in the sense that it will allow me to get to the next book. I would like to think that this may be the oddest of the books in your collection- it certainly has not been considered a modern-day classic, with no local libraries stocking it and none of the big bookshops having any copies. After a long search, the only print I eventually found was a 1944 second hand copy at the amazing Skoob Books for £4.

On the plus side, this meant that it featured an ad for Grey's Cigarettes on the back and the health promises of Mars on the inside back cover (Exhibit A demonstrating how dumb people were then nostalgists amongst you). On the down side, I had to read this thing like a priceless relic, in complete fear of it falling apart from the slightest bend of the page.

Inside back cover

Back cover

While I understand the book itself is old, I don't think that can fully explain the truly unnerving tone Mr. Burgess. Our narrator, within the first 3 chapters (of 20) finds out his parents aren’t his real parents, then that his just-found-out-not-real-dad is a murderer of some dude we don't really know, then he witnesses his just-found-out-not-dad being murdered by the military with no consequence. Our narrator is at most slightly troubled, but not in a way that prevents all sorts of other dramas that subsequently take place over the rest of the novel. I think it's like a Shakespearean tragedy? I fear I may not be intelligent enough to be able to say this. Still, my English graduate wife didn't really argue against this statement, so I'm going with it, and further saying that like Shakespeare, it almost holds together due to having an interesting critique about society alongside all of the (often over the top) drama.

It’s an interesting read and economically written, looking at the military from a very different approach than I had read before- especially interesting due to it being published during the 2nd world war. Your review Mr. Burgess, talks A LOT about all of the meanings that come through the book and says it's like Kafka- which I guess would account for the lack of emotion, if I remember my 'The Trial' lessons from school correctly. I would have preferred the twists and turns a little more subtle, as the bombastic and often unnecessary events are a little distracting and far removed from a more realistic tone that would have focused a little more on the wider points Warner clearly wanted to make.

I’d be a little disappointed if this was in the top half of the books I read Mr. Burgess- I had to at times re-read through pages to ensure that I was right that the various highly dramatic events were just being brushed over. Nevertheless, as it is first, it is at the top.

Ranking Burgess' 99 August 2011:

1. The Aerodrome

Regards,

A faithful reader