B.S. Johnson - out in print this month
On 14 February 2013, to mark the 80th anniversary of B S Johnson's birth, Picador will publish a new collection,
Well Done God!: Selected Prose and Drama of B.S. Johnson, co-edited by Professor Philip Tew, Dr. Julia Jordan and Jonathan Coe, and reissue his novels
Albert Angelo, Trawl, House Mother Normal and
Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry with new introductions by writers including Andrew Motion and Toby Litt.
British Library Event: B S Johnson - His Life and Legacy - Fri 15 Feb at 6.30pm
To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the birth of BS Johnson and the publication of the new anthology of his prose writing by Picador, a panel discuss the life and legacy of one of post-war Britain's most experimental writers. Speakers include Jonathan Coe, author of
Like a Fiery Elephant - The Story of BS Johnson, Philip Tew and Julia Jordan, joint editors of the forthcoming
Well Done God! Selected Prose and Drama of BS Johnson. More details
here.
About B S Johnson
Bryan Stanley Johnson was born in 1933 in Hammersmith, West London, and lived mainly in London until he took his own life, aged 40, in November 1973. He was a gifted and prolific novelist, poet, playwright and film-maker who died at the height of his creative powers. Best known for his novels, he also made three short films and various works for television.
Described by author Anthony Burgess as "the only British writer with the guts to reassess the novel form", the formal experimentation and anarchic playfulness that characterised Johnson's fiction is equally present in his film work. Just as playwright Samuel Beckett (an admirer of Johnson's writing) started to make short pieces for television later in his life, so Johnson worked increasingly with the moving image; from his TV documentary work to a more personal brand of cinema.
You're Human Like the Rest of Them (1967), Johnson's first film (made for the BFI Production Board for a budget of £1,250) is a very black comedy about a teacher struggling to convey his feelings on mortality to his bewildered class and colleagues.
As with Johnson's work across all media, there is a strong autobiographical element. He had himself worked as a supply teacher, an experience that also provided the source material for his novel
Albert Angelo. Johnson was working on a screenplay adaptation of this at the time of his death.
Tim Brown, BFI Screenonline