Books by John (Institute of Development Studies UK) Thompson

John Thompson was part of the vibrant postmodern New York literary scene of the nineteen fifties, sixties and seventies. That scene was famously fueled by love, liquor, food and parties, but most of all by ideas, by words, serious and witty, spoken and written. Thompson's only novel, never published in his lifetime, tells the poignant yet humorous tale of a young boy in the Middle West in the 1920s. Each of the six chapters is written in a different voice, creating a powerful literary mosaic of a boy's experience of tragic loss. In the author's words, the stories in this semi-autobiographical novel, "design no more but to give a few glimpses of how some things used to be a long time ago, fictitious things, when the curtain of forgetfulness was falling as it must over our childhood."

John Thompson was part of the vibrant, post-modern, New York literary scene of the nineteen fifties, sixties, and seventies. That scene was famously fueled by love, liquor, food, and parties, but most of all by ideas, by words, serious and witty, spoken and written. Thompson's writing embodies the spirit of the times, and naturally so, as he was a close friend and colleague of many of the other prominent literary and publishing figures of the era. These two volumes of Thompson's collected work include his essays, book reviews, and stories, as well as poems, some previously unpublished. The pieces are clever and beautifully written; many of them resonate with current issues of race, climate change, war, and economic disparity. The early stories are especially moving. The works trace the development of Thompson's thinking and are thus an important part of the post-war era. As critical commentary, they contain astute insights into the cultural movements and intellectual history of the time.

John Thompson was part of the vibrant, post-modern, New York literary scene of the nineteen fifties, sixties, and seventies. That scene was famously fueled by love, liquor, food, and parties, but most of all by ideas, by words, serious and witty, spoken and written. Thompson's writing embodies the spirit of the times, and naturally so, as he was a close friend and colleague of many of the other prominent literary and publishing figures of the era. These two volumes of Thompson's collected work include his essays, book reviews, and stories, as well as poems, some previously unpublished. The pieces are clever and beautifully written; many of them resonate with current issues of race, climate change, war, and economic disparity. The early stories are especially moving. The works trace the development of Thompson's thinking and are thus an important part of the post-war era. As critical commentary, they contain astute insights into the cultural movements and intellectual history of the time.