Collected Columns

About Collected Columns

'Brilliantly funny'

Daily Express

 

One of the funniest writers of his generation, Michael Frayn has been writing humorous newspaper columns since 1959, principally for the Guardian and Observer, and originally came to prominence as the thrice weekly purveyor of these short, surreal, razor-sharp explorations of human foibles, sex, politics, manners, and the events of the day.

 

This volume brings together 110 of his finest and funniest pieces from over the years, selected and introduced by Michael Frayn himself, and is an unmissable treat for the many fans of his unique comic voice, as well as a revelation for fans of the award-winning literary novels and plays of his later career.

 

Michael Frayn was born in London in 1933. He worked as a reporter and columnist for the Guardian and the Observer, and is the author of several novels, including A Landing on the Sun (Sunday Express Book of the Year, 1991), Headlong (Booker shortlist, 1990, and Spies, winner of the 2002 Whitbread Novel Award and 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize. His plays include Donkeys' Years, Noises Off, Copenhagen and Democracy.

The Author

Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn was born in London in 1933. He worked as a reporter and columnist for the Guardian and the Observer, and is the author of several novels, including A Landing on the Sun (Sunday Express Book of the Year, 1991), Headlong (Booker shortlist, 1990, and Spies, winner of the 2002 Whitbread Novel Award and 2003 Commonwealth Writers Prize. His plays include Donkeys' Years, Noises Off, Copenhagen and Democracy.

Reviews

'The master of comic form' James Fenton

'Michael Frayn's Collected Columns is writing worth reprinting ... and the selection has been made by Frayn himself. ... Frayn's columns...often reach ahead of their times. While of their period, they can transcend it, because Frayn's playful, flippant attitude is a timeless corrective to cant and pomposity. ... even when a column strays into the realm of absurdist literature, the light, self-deprecating touch is always there...'

The Guardian

'The master of what is seriously funny'

Anthony Burgess

'An unflinching, merciless, breathtaking understanding of the flawed, befuddled, absurd arena of modern life'

The Scotsman