Chapman’s Odyssey became quite famous before it was published, largely because it nearly wasn’t.
Chapman’s Odyssey became quite famous before it was published, largely because it nearly wasn’t. Paul Bailey’s long and distinguished career, complete with two appearances on the Booker shortlist, apparently counted for nothing last year when he was reduced to what he called the ‘sheer hell’ of touting the book unavailingly round town, while living off grants from the Royal Literary Fund. Yet, sad though this undoubtedly was, when Bloomsbury finally rode to his rescue, one heretical thought was hard to suppress. Could it be that the novel had struggled to find a home not because of the gross philistinism of today’s publishers or the tragic demise of literary culture, but just because it wasn’t very good?
Happily, the answer to that is a defin- ite no.
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