little scratch

"This dazzling work of experimental fiction explodes the literary conventions in its recreation of its protagonist’s anxious, discordant stream of consciousness over the course of a single day, in the wake of a sexual assault. That might sound like hard work, but it’s an absorbing and often playful book, which made a deep impression on me. When I spoke to Rebecca Watson earlier this year , she said: “I think that it began with the challenge of feeling that prose does not really represent the bombardment and overwhelming simultaneity of everyday live experience. There’s so much going on. But when we write prose, we have this very neat, linear way in which we inhabit a moment. So my challenge was to represent the opposite of that on the page.” The result is fascinating, and I think anyone who writes themselves will find it quite inspiring. If you’d like to get a flavour of the novel, I suggest reading the award-winning short story that acted as the initial spark over at The White Review . An adaptation for the stage also recently opened at the Hampstead Theatre in London ."