The strength of recall is evident in John?s spare but vivid prose. But these would be some of the last that the general public would see. A spectacular falling out with Faber and Faber precipitated one of the more unsavoury, and white-washed, literary spats in recent memory.A flippant, though undeniably brutal threat, made to the one remaining gentle ear at the company, ended up being relayed and taken seriously by the Faber hierarchy.? John?s book was pulped and out of print for 15 years. Given 500 copies of his book, while a second, The Streets Above Us, had had a print run, it too disappeared and no new fiction has been seen since.
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Above: John Healy
Photograph Leo Regan
Chess House Coffee Tactics, published abroad and nominated for the 2010 Guardian Chess Book Award, contains, in Blood Sport, one of the finest essays on competition I have read. It remains the only other book of John?s you can purchase.
The episode reflects distastefully on all concerned, and has undoubtedly silenced a unique literary talent ? one that, had it been sufficiently nurtured, may have given voice to many stories from cultures and sub-cultures, for the most part, silenced from the mainstream. It is the conjecture of many, not least the author himself, that the incident can be put down to that most British of prejudices ? classism.? John has only recently stopped writing but has two other novels, plays and poetry that remain unpublished.
?I?ve got a lot of writing. When I was out of print I did a lot because I couldn?t help it but I need to get some stuff published. You need encouragement and praise. That?s another nasty thing they do here, they burn you out and jade you. They break your talent and try to make you think you?re not as good as when you started. But I carried on because I couldn?t help it?.
One unpublished piece of work is The Metal Mountain, a novel set in the year of the Queen?s coronation, examining the role the Irish immigrant community played in helping rebuild post-war London.
Port is proud to present an extract from The Metal Mountain published for the first time
Source: http://www.port-magazine.com/feature/john-healy/
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