The Victorian Chaise-longue by Marghanita Laski

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Backlisted Podcast

Books, Arts, Leisure, Hobbies

4.7 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 7 December 2020

⏱️ 74 minutes

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Summary

The Victorian Chaise-longue (1953) is a terrifying short novel by the writer, broadcaster and lexicographer Marghanita Laski. Joining Andy and John is the novelist Eley Williams, author of the awarding winning Attrib. and Other Stories and this year’s wonderful novel of mendacious lexicography, The Liar’s Dictionary. The episode also features Andy’s report back from the summit of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain and John excavates an old Puffin anthology called Authors’ Choice which contains ‘The Tower’ (1955), another deeply unsettling story by Marghanita Laski story, chosen and introduced by Alan Garner.* To purchase any of the books mentioned in this episode please visit our bookshop at uk.bookshop.org/shop/backlisted where all profits help to sustain this podcast and UK independent bookshops.* For information about everything mentioned in this episode visit www.backlisted.fm*If you'd like to support the show, listen without adverts, receive the show early and with extra bonus fortnightly episodes, become a Patreon at www.patreon.com/backlisted Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Where are you calling from, Paula?
0:25.9	It is footballs of Alexandra Pallas, it's N8, Crouch Hill.
0:30.2	N8, can you see Alexandra Pallas from there?
0:33.6	I can, if I crouch weirdly and look through my neighbor's garden,
0:37.5	I can see the spy, what's the word, the tower?
0:41.0	That's why it's called Crouch Hill.
0:42.5	That's it, that's it, everyone is just gently
0:45.4	winching themselves so they can see through people's hedges
0:49.0	about 20 minute walk away from Alexandra Pallas.
0:51.7	And I did ice skating last January there
0:55.0	to try and then have to ice me, and I was dreadful at it.
0:57.8	Does that feel like last January or does it feel like?
1:00.6	Yeah, right, January 600 years ago.
1:04.0	Yeah, yeah, it really does, it really does.
1:06.5	I went ice skating once, it's not straightforward at all, is it?
1:11.7	I'm glad you said that.
1:12.9	It looks so easy to do, just put the skates on and off you go.
1:16.2	Just go on some ice and glide, like surely I should be able to.
1:18.8	I found it was, you know, the most likely thing was that
1:21.4	if I kept doing it, I would break an ankle.
1:24.0	Right, break an ankle and embed a skate in a toddler's face.
1:27.9	Like that was pretty much the slide off your fingers
	...

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