Often, when faced with a truetalented person, you wonder why some people nature or God the Lord himself was rewarded in full, while others were a little offended? But it's true, if a person succeeds in one thing, then it immediately turns out that he is talented in another. No wonder there is a well-known saying about it. Here, for example, Ben Elton - a native of the UK: he is a director, actor, writer and playwright. And not just someone who tries to try everything at once, but a person who really succeeded in everything and managed to prove to the whole world that he is the best. It is clear that one article is not enough to describe all the achievements of a talented Englishman, so today's note will be devoted exclusively to the author's creativity of Ben Elton: his books, reviews of them and reviews of the main critics - readers.
A few words about the family
To start a few words about the culpritnarrative. Ben Elton was born, as mentioned above, in the UK. More precisely, in the suburbs of London, May 3, 1959. Speaking about his family, it is worth noting that it is rather difficult, in the sense that there were too many educated and unordinary personalities for one square meter of space: mother - English teacher, father - research physicist, other close relatives - musicians, scientists and scientific employees. Currently, Ben Elton is married to the saxophonist of Australian origin Sophie Gar. The couple has three children: Bert, Lottie and Fred. The family has long been living in Australia, in the town of Fremantle.
How did it all start?
In fact, having received two higher educations, BenElton opened himself to the public as a comedian. They wrote quite a lot of plays just a comedy, which could win the public's general love. These were not just plays, but hits. Some of them, such as "Popcorn" and "Cow Sally", touring to this day around the world. "Popcorn" even received the award as the best comedy and new play: the Olivier Awards and the TMA Barclays Theater Awards. It costs a lot. By the way, it was Ben Elton who came up with the famous character - Mr. Bean.
The first steps in writing serious works
The first book to be considered asthe beginning of a new stage in Elton's work, can be considered "Stark", released in Australia in 1988. Here it is meant that you need to look at Elton as the author of serious works. The book immediately became a bestseller, sold more than a million copies. Then it became obvious that the comedian is able to write serious things, taking for the soul, deep and incredibly piercing.
Ben Alton's Bibliography
Since 1988, Elton has written and published many books. Among the most striking is the following:
- "Time and again time."
- "Two brothers".
- "Blind faith."
- "Death Behind the Glass."
- "Until the last call."
- "Second Eden."
- "Secular foolishness."
- "Number one".
- "Everything is possible, baby."
- "The first victim."
The list of worksfull, but these books by Ben Elton - one of the most recognized and appreciated by critics and the readers themselves. Today, we will dwell in more detail on the first two: "Two brothers," "Time and again time."
"Two brothers"
Many who read this book consider itsevere for perception. And how else can you relate to the events of the 20-40s, when Nazism in Germany flourished, and Jews were persecuted. The book "Two Brothers" by Ben Elton is, according to the author himself, an artistic fiction, in which there is a piece of truth. Elton was based on the memories of his father, in whose veins Jewish blood flowed. He managed to escape from Hitler's Germany. In the center of the plot are two families: Fisher (Germans) and Stengel (Jews). In the latter, a boy of German descent grows very well. It so happened that he was adopted by an infant and, together with his own son, was brought up without dividing. This is a novel about friendship, love, betrayal and self-sacrifice, which is read in one breath. In the text there is an abundance of obscene lexicon, which critics ranked as a unique author's move. Horrors of wartime, according to reviewers, it would be impossible to convey more accurately, without resorting to anti-literary terms.
After the publication of the work "Two Brothers" inalong with admiring comments, an abundance of unflattering reviews sprang up. Ben Elton was accused of excessive idealization of England and the British themselves, a prejudiced attitude towards Russian soldiers, whom he exposed as rapists and dirty people, and it was the Russians who managed to defeat the fascists. In general, the book caused a wide public response. By the way, it is considered that if the author of the work managed to raise a wave of admiration mixed with indignation, then the work done was not in vain. "Two brothers" Ben Elton became just such a book.
"Time and again time"
This work is a kind ofa fantastic quest in which the protagonist, according to the author, the best of the best, former commando Hugh Stanton, must go to the past from the 20th century to prevent war. For this, the hero needs to kill the main instigator of the mutiny. So, in Ben Elton's book "Time and Again Time," the story line is based on the author's reasoning concerning the topic: "What would have happened if it had not been? How would life have changed without a significant event in history?" "
Reviews note that the book makes you think aboutglobal, suggest another outcome of events. The author allegedly once again tries to speculate about what would have happened if there was no situation that caused a huge number of human deaths. I could not defeat Nazism, in tsarist Russia there would not have been a massacre of the monarch's family, and the other could have been avoided. In the work there are many descriptions of the cities of the world, and to England the author has his own special attitude: trembling, one can say, full of pride.
At last
If we take into account the two discussed abovebooks, the impression is created that the author underestimates the contribution of Russian people to the liberation of the world from the yoke of Hitler's troops. He blames many, placing emphasis on the goodwill of the English people, focusing on his humanism. This is what causes the waves of misunderstanding from some readers and critics. They forget that every person in the world has his own individual point of view on things that must be respected by others.
