Sunday, January 16, 2011

Frank Tallis

Frank Tallis is a writer and clinical psychologist.

His novels include the Max Liebermann mysteries.

From his Q & A with Boyd Tonkin at the Independent:

Choose a favourite author and say why you like him/her

I'm very sentimentally attached to John Meade Falkner, best known for 'Moonfleet'. My own favourite is his ghost story 'The Lost Stradivarius', about a young English aristocrat who gets involved with the occult and pursues a vision of absolute evil. It's often described as the novel MR James never wrote.

* * *
Which fictional character most resembles you?

Given the amount that I've been eating over the festive period: Moby-Dick.

* * *
Who is your hero/heroine from outside literature?

The composer Gustav Mahler. I think he's as close as you can get to a true musical visionary. Leonard Bernstein said that he saw the horrors of the 20th century coming and expressed them in music.
Read the complete Q & A.

--Marshal Zeringue