Moments of Being

Just read this cute article on the literary obsession with English country houses, from Jane Austen to McEwan.  Considering my own bizarre fascination with the country house as a setpiece (good ol’ Brideshead, Hollinghurst’s manor in The Line of Beauty; and have been reading two novellas recently somewhat in this tradition - Lessing’s The Fifth Child and McEwan’s The Cement Garden), though I’d share the link.  Blake Morrison chalks it up to a few things - better fuck-spots, great whodunnit premises, class-consciousness, and the familiar power of nostalgia - but maybe you should decide for yourself.

Also was glad to find out, vis-a-vis the article, that Hollinghurst has a new novel out this year…