The Life and Work of Dennis Potter

Rating:
Summary: Gilbert vs. Carpenter... and the result is...
Review: Last year Humphrey Carpenter published his official biography of Dennis Potter. Roughly 500 pages long Carpenter's book was a disappointing mixture of synopsis of Potters' plays, edited quotes from interviews Potter made to other journalists and interviews with people who have known Potter. Carpenter decides early on that the key fact to Potters' life was his sexual abuse, and the rest of his life is viewed from this angle. His remarks on Cold Lazarus are only concerned with a few, strange sexual remarks.

I mention this because it makes such a contrast to Gilvert's book. At times it is clumsy, wooden overwritten and a bit unfocused, and yes, a lot of it doesn't hold together but it is distinguished by a genuine, though healthily critical approach to his life.Gilbert understands Poters' importance as both a literary figure and a creative figure and writes passionately about both. Potter was a brilliant, difficult man and although he has not yet got the brilliant, difficult review he deserves, Gilbert's goes a long way to understanding the man and his extraordinary writing.