Rites of Spring: New Writing from London

This book had been on my shelf for 20 years or so and was read as part of a “spring clean”. What is most interesting about this collection is how, of its time, or even dated, it now feels. Clearly the pandemic has changed everything, but what comes across is the turn of the millennium optimism, the zeitgeist of Blair's “Cool Britannia”. The second notable thing about the collection is that, in direct contrast to Grant's famous “Class of 1983”, not one of the names featured in Rites of Spring has subsequently gone on to have a notable literary career. A quick skim down the 15-plus authors listed showed unfamiliarity throughout. Much of the writing was actually quite good, from the funny (“Signs of Life” by Victoria Field, or “Miss Sandra's Feeling for Tipp-Ex” by William Sutcliffe) to the poignantly sad (“Spitfire” by Eric Wagner), via the intriguingly gripping (“The Little Black Dress” by Clifford Thurlow). However, little was truly memorable, and we all know how competitive the market for aspiring authors is…

By Peter Florence