Exploring the life, work and times of B.S. Johnson (1933-1973)

The B. S. Johnson Society

Publications

  • Life and Work:

COE Jonathan, Like a Fiery Elephant, The Story of B.S. Johnson (2004)

— Introduction B.S. Johnson, The Unfortunates, 1999.

LEIGH HARRIS, Richard, The Days of Our Vanity: A Memoir, Silver Wood Books (2012) pp. 204-209.

For reviews of Jonathan Coe’s Like a Fiery Elephant:

STEVENS Andrew, “Fuck All This Lying“, 3:AM Magazine, July 10th, 2005

 

 

In Polish by Katarzyna Bazarnik:

Nieszczęśni (2008) (Polish title for The Unfortunates)

Przelozona w normie (1994) (Polish title for House Mother Normal)

 

 

Watch a presentation of the book-form of The Unfortunates in Polish on Liberatura.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In French and published by Quidam.

1.  Translation of Johnson’s fiction by Françoise Marel:

R.A.S. Infirmière-Chef (2003)

Christie Malry règle 

ses comptes (2004)

Chalut(2007)

Albert Angelo(2009)

Les Malchanceux (2009)

2.   Translation of Jonathan Coe’s biography by Vanessa Guignery:

B.S. Johnson, Histoire d’un éléphant (2010)

 

  • Book-length studies of B.S. Johnson:

GUIGNERY Vanessa, Ceci n’est pas une fiction. Les romans vrais de B.S. Johnson, Paris: Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2009.

STAMIROWSKA Krystyna, B.S. Johnson’s novels: A Paradigm of Truth, Wydawca: Universitas, 2006.

— , BAZARNYK, Katarzyna (eds.), B.S. Johnson in Literature in the World, Vols. 7 and 8, 2008.

 

TEW Philip, B.S. Johnson, A Critical Reading, Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001.

TEW Philip, WHITE Glyn (eds.), Re-Reading B.S. Johnson, Manchester University Press, 2007.

 

 

  • Articles and book chapters on B.S. Johnson:

BAKEWELL Michael, “Introduction”, B.S. Johnson, See The Old Lady Decently, 1972.

BAZARNYK Katarzyna, Liberature, A Book-Bound Genre, Krakow: Jagiellonian University Press, 2018, pp. 57-62. 

BURNS Alan, Charles SUGNET (eds.), The Imagination on Trial: British and American Writers Discuss their Working Methods, London : Allison and Busby, 1981.

CREWS Brian, “Christie Malry’s Own Double-Entry: B. S. Johnson’s Oppositional Discourse of Unbelief” in Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 7 (1994) pp. 55-66.

LEVITT Morton P., “The Novels of B.S. Johnson: Against the War Against Joyce”, MFS: Modern Fiction Studies, 27:4, (Winter 1981-1982), pp. 571-586.

 

PACEY Philip, “Merely Human – The Writings of B.S. Johnson”, Stand, 13:2,(1972),pp.61-64.

— “I On Behalf of Us: B.S. Johnson 1933-1973”, Stand, 15:2 (1974), pp. 19-26.

PARRINDER Patrick, “Pilgrim’s Progress: the novels of B.S. Johnson (1933-73)”, Critical    Quarterly, 19:2 (Summer 1977), pp. 45-59.

QUANTICK David, “The Humour of B.S. Johnson“, 3:AM Magazine, March, 2007.

RYF Robert S., “Character and Imagination in the Experimental Novel”, MFS : Modern Fiction Studies, 20:3, (Autumn 1974), pp. 317-327.

— “B.S. Johnson and the Frontiers of Fiction”, Critique: Studies in Modern Fiction, 19:1 (1977), pp. 58-74.

SANDHU Sukhdev, “B.S. Johnson, Brutalist”, 3:AM Magazine, June, 16th 2009.

SHUSTERMAN Ronald, “Blancs et absences dans l’œuvre de B.S. Johnson (1933-1973)”, in Bertrand Rougé (ed.), Ellipses, blancs, silences, Actes du colloque du CICADA, 6, 7, 8 décembre 1990, Pau: Université de Pau, 1992, pp. 161-169.

— ‘Seeing Time: Visions of Temporality and the Implications for Theory,’ in Ronald Shusterman (dir.), Des Histoires du Temps, Pessac, P.U. de Bordeaux, 2003.

— ‘Cognition and the Iconotext: Art, Philosophy, and the Dream of Fusion,’ La conoscenza della letteratura 3, Bergamo, Bergamo U.P., 2004, 28-49.
— ‘Plasticité du livre, textualité de l’image : Quelques réflexions à partir de B.S. Johnson, Richard Long et d’autres rêveurs…’, Texte/Image, Actes du Colloque de Cerisy, Rennes, P.U. de Rennes, 2005, 69-90.

— ‘Leafing Through a Universe: Architectural Bodies and Fictional Worlds,’ Architecture and Philosophy: New Perspectives on the Work of Arakawa & Madeline Gins, Architecture, Technology, Culture 6, Rodopi, Amsterdam, New York, 2010, 169-187.

— ‘Désinvolture et agrammaticalité : quelques ‘maisons témoins’ en visite libre,’ in B. Lafargue (dir), La Désinvolture de l’art, Figures de l’art 14, P.U.P, 2008 , 235-247.

SUDGEN, Edward, ‘Art in the Age of Economic Recession: B.S. Johnson and Ben Lerner‘ in Wave Composition, Dec. 10th 2011.

TICKELL Paul, “The Urge to Destroy”, 3:AM Magazine, August, 9th, 2002.

TREDELL Nicolas, “See B.S. Johnson Decently: Part I” PN Review 57, 14:1 (1987), pp.47-52; Part II PN Review 58, 14:2 (1987), pp. 58-62.

— Fighting Fictions, the Novels of B.S. Johnson, Nottingham: Pauper’s Press, 2000.

WHITE Glyn, Reading the Graphic Surface. The Presence of the Book in Prose Fiction, New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2006.

ZAMBARDI Mall G. J., From Shelley to the Absurd, collected essays of G.J. Zambardi Mall, Lampeter : Edwin Mellen, 1996.