Questions and discussion

1. What was the prize famous for? How were the judges chosen?

2. Why was Trevor ‘violently dissented’? What was the purport of writing the letter to Alexander Sedley? Why was Tranter so much meticulous about it? Why was he blowing hot and cold? How long did it take to write a letter for him?

3. Dwell upon Tranter’s background. What can you say about Tranter’s literary talent? What was his manner of working? Did he believe in his literary career?

4. We get to know that Tranter is working on some novel. What characters are involved in his creative work? Did he have a problem ‘inventing’ them? How does he explain this fact?

5. What traits of character or manner of behaviour helped Tranter in reaching his goal and acquiring influential social status?

6. Tranter aligns himself with such poets as Auden, Yeats, Eliot when reasoning about his pseudonym. How does it characterize him?

7. Why do you think Tranter felt glad that he had the last encounter with Farooq al-Rashid? What authors did they discuss? Are they popular? Could the Queen be interested in this choice of British literature?

8. How was the lesson with Farooq al-Rashid planned? What was practicing at it? How did the two men feel during the sessions?

9. Why was Tranter so much impressed by Farooq’s recitation? What images emerged in his mind? What conclusions did he make for himself?

10. Comment on the passage at p.230, ‘He coughed and looked away. It was only a little light verse; but in his long bitterness he had almost forgotten what words – the stuff from which he had made his life – could really do.’ What did he mean by the words?

11. Dwell upon the developmental milestones of Veals’ career. What emotions did he experience at the first stages of professional development?

12. Find some examples of metonymy at page 231 and suggest possible translations.

13. At page 233 we get to know that not only Veals was straddling. Do we change our attitude to him? How does this fact reveal his inner world?

14. Retell in details the history of Vanessa and John’s meeting (pp 234-235). How was he courting? What was the purpose of his interaction with women? Why did he single out Vanessa among the rest?

15. What does HOPE stand for? How would you translate it? What is the purpose of the organization?

16. What’s the essence of the following conversation:

‘That’s the spirit, John.’

‘No, that’s the cash’

Comment on it.

17. When Veals is asked to swear on his children’s life he doesn’t hesitate and agrees just to obtain some minor information about his deal. Do you think that any means to an end? If you were him, would you do the same?

18. Summarise the episode with Duffy and Victoria. What adjectives would you choose to describe all hedge-fund managers?

19. Summarise the chapter

Part 5

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14