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Overview
Tony Harrison's v. was written during the Miners' Strike of 1984-85 when he visited his parents' grave in a Leeds cemetery and found it vandalised by obscene graffiti. In the book-length poem, he confronts the foul-mouthed skinhead thug responsible, who becomes a foil for his own anger and alienation. The political and media reaction to v. would make a book in itself. This is that book. As well as Tony Harrison's poem and Graham Sykes's photographs, this new edition of v. includes press articles, letters, reviews, a defence of the poem and film by director Richard Eyre, and a transcript of the phone calls logged by Channel Four on the night of the broadcast. Channel Four's film of v. won the Royal Television Society's Best Original Programme Award.The Star: 'A plan to televise a poem packed with obscenities caused outrage last night. ITV chiefs intend to screen a reading of Tony Harrison's verse v. which is full of four-letter words.'Daily Mail: A torrent of four-letter filth... the most explicitly sexual language yet beamed into the nation's living rooms... the crudest, most offensive word is used 17 times.'Gerald Howarth, MP: 'It is full of expletives and I can't see that it serves any artistic purpose whatsoever.'Mary Whitehouse: 'This work of singular nastiness.'Sir Harold Pinter: 'The criticism against the poem has been offensive, juvenile and, of course, philistine. It should certainly be broadcast.'Sir Richard Eyre: 'If I had the slightest influence over educational policy in this country, I'd see that v. was a set text in every school in the country, but of course if we lived in that sort of country, the poem wouldn't have needed to be written.'
| ISBN-13 | 9780906427972 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0906427975 |
| Weight | 0.34 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 5.40 x 0.30 x 8.50 In |
| List Price | $17.95 |
| Edition | 2nd Edition |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Pages | 80 pages |
| Publisher | Bloodaxe Books |
| Published On | 1989-05-25 |
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The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact including the dust jacket if origina...
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