‘I seem to have banged on this year rather more than usual. I make no apology for that, nor am I nervous that it will it make a jot of difference. I shall still be thought to be kindly, cosy and essentially harmless. I am in the pigeon-hole marked ‘no threat’ and did I stab Judi Dench with a pitchfork I should still be a teddy bear.’
Alan Bennett’s third collection of prose Keeping on Keeping On follows in the footsteps of the phenomenally successful Writing Home and Untold Stories, each published ten years apart. This latest collection contains Bennett’s peerless diaries 2005 to 2015, reflecting on a decade that saw four premieres at the National Theatre (The Habit of Art, People, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks), a West End double-bill transfer, and the films of The History Boys and The Lady in the Van.
There’s a provocative sermon on private education given before the University at King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, and ‘Baffled at a Bookcase’ offers a passionate defence of the public library. The book includes Denmark Hill, a darkly comic radio play set in suburban south London, as well as Bennett’s reflections on a quarter of a century’s collaboration with Nicholas Hytner. This is an engaging, humane, sharp, funny and unforgettable record of life according to the inimitable Alan Bennett.
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[Since diaries make up the bulk of this book, a diary entry is an appropriate start: 10 December 2015: Trying to hit on a title for this collection I pick up Larkin’s The Whitsun Weddings… a presentation copy inscribed to me by Larkin at the request of Judi Dench back in 1969 when she and I did An Evening With… for the BBC]
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(Profile Faber, 20 October 2016, 736 pages, ebook, borrowed from my library, non-fiction choice for January)
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BUY***
I am only familiar with Alan Bennett through the movie The Lady in the Van (which is hilarious). I’ve not read any of his work or seen his plays. I chose this book purely at random.
I really enjoyed Keeping On, Keeping On. The book is a door-step at over 700+ pages. Strangely enough it didn’t feel anywhere near this length.
A massive chunk of the book consists of Bennett’s diaries. I found these hugely enjoyable even though I didn’t expect to. The diaries were really funny, touching at times, sad at times and so full of life I got pretty absorbed in them. There’s something wonderfully old-fashion, stuffy and British about Bennett that I found endearing. I enjoyed the insight into his life and his opinions about the state of our world. A lot I share.
I enjoyed the rest of Keeping On, Keeping On especially the scrips of his two unperformed plays. I would have liked to see them live on a stage somewhere.
I enjoyed Keeping On, Keeping On and will definitely seek his work out.
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