A fine coincidence that The Existence Machine offers thanks to Gabriel Josipovici a day before I finish his most recent two novellas, in one volume, After & Making Mistakes.

These are such English stories, sculpted with crystalline subtlety. The stories are constructed from dialogue. The interchanges between characters reveals Josipovici’s acute ear for conversation. The story telling is as delicate as the snow falling outside my study window. In After the way in which the understated dialogue reveals the shifting balance of power between the two protagonists is deft. Josipovici’s ability to develop memorable characters with the thinnest of brush strokes recalls John Berger.

The Carcanet publication is presented with a enigmatic cover by Andrzej Jackowski, whose work I like very much.