Geoff Dyer’s Working the Room contains many essays also collected in Otherwise Known as the Human Condition, but it offers several additional reflections that deepen the sense of Dyer’s range and enthusiasms. Among these are essays on photographers Larry Burrows, Jacob Holdt, Martin Parr, and Trent Parke, alongside literary explorations of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Tobias Wolff’s Old School, Richard Ford’s The Lay of the Land, and Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty.
The essay on Hollinghurst stood out in particular. Dyer writes: “There are literally thousands of impeccably nuanced touches like this in the novel. Hollinghurst, in James’s own words, is one on whom nothing is lost.” It is a persuasive reading, one that moves The Line of Beauty onto my list of future encounters. Dyer’s essays extend not only his subjects but also the reader’s map of interests, shifting and expanding the field of attention.
>Ah, The Line of Beauty, an outstanding novel. Written with great attention and verve.
>Thanks, good to have another vote in favour of The Line of Beauty.