Reading and answering questions on his new novel, David Keenan comments on his dislike of discussions of structure. Repeatedly, he affirms his need for vision, for an unfettered imagination. If he has affinities with anyone, he says, it is with William Blake with his magnificent animations of his spiritual life. This at a brilliant evening at Peste, the bookshop/bar in Ancoats, Manchester, 8 September 2022. The appropriate soundtrack is Miles Davis’s Big Fun.
If Blake’s angels sprang from Lambeth and the south of the Thames, Keenan’s spill out of Airdirie from a caravan, from musical flyers, and detritus. For Keenan, ordinary working class life is filled with spiritual treasure and the post-punk music scene in Airdrie is filled with glimmerings of light. Airdrie could stand for any of the towns that stand separate from our big cities, Burnley, Worksop, or Luton. As in This Is Memorial Device, we are plunged into many, many oblique stories from a time gap. Some of the indie bands referenced may be real, some imagined. They are all alive.
Of all the texts found none could be more willing to be found than Guy Debord’s The Society of the Spectacle (Detroit,1968). The injunctions are straight up Keenan’s Airdrie Streets:
“…it woke up from being mere spectators, mere consumers of experience and culture, and urged, instead, participation in the revolution of everyday life; form a band; paint a picture; write a book; get lost; create a culture while you’re at it.”
This is a book that spews thoughts out by the hundred. A live wire book. So what is the book? A comic masterpiece, a view of a provincial town, brimful with life. Don’t expect the expected in this Caledonian/hippy trail tour. It includes the contents of a Halfords Bicycle repair kit! Oh, and I haven’t mentioned the structure (much).
Any Cop?: This is the first David Keenan book I’ve read. I’ve read two more since in the last month. For me IM & L is my favourite book of the year so far and it is a fitting companion volume to This Is Memorial Device. Read all of David Keenan’s books – add him to your device. You will be amazed.
Richard Clegg
Bookmunch 