The cinema fans amongst you may be aware that The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz or Simon Magus are two of the great ‘lost’ British films of the past few decades. The former is a skilfully told and beautifully shot tale of magical realism whilst the latter is a chaotically brilliant story of the apocalypse beginning in London. Sadly, bad timing and poor distribution has meant that both films have never got their due (so you can start rectifying this situation by getting them on DVD here). It’s a shame as director Ben Hopkins is a remarkable storyteller with his films managing to be surreal, funny, beautiful and poignant whilst exploring issues of a changing Europe, industrialisation, mysticism and human nature. After years of making numerous (excellent) documentary features, Hopkins returns to the themes prevalent in his early work in his debut novel Gwupygrubynudnyland.
It’s the 1820s and the tiny nation of Gwupy (Stupid) Gruby (Fat) Nudny (Boring) Land (erm, land) sits in central Europe like an alcoholic uncle that the rest of the family don’t talk about. Progress is merely a word in the dictionary for the country and its inhabitants as old King Walerian is content to sit on his ancient and flabby behind and let indolence wash over the populace. But after a funny turn, King Walerian goes missing and ends up meeting Satan. Beelzebub has one simple request – let him rule Gwupygrubynudnyland for three years. Walerian agrees and soon Satan is turning the country into a European powerhouse of progress, change, technological innovation and unlimited wealth. It’s just that there’ll have to be lots of deceit, wars, filthy sex and brutal murders on the way.
This is a gleefully vulgar satire about capitalism and the history of Europe that is full of dark wit and invention, positing an alternative history that not only manages to have trappings of fantasy and sci-fi but also an – often painful – relevance to real world politics. The main narrative is compelling with Hopkins managing to keep the story going along at a cracking pace with a languid first half giving way to a breakneck conclusion. Despite this, Hopkins has a penchant for creating comic asides (such as the life history of a fly) that add to the richness of the universe created and manage to enhance the story rather than slow it down. He also has a way with words (unsurprising as Hopkins is also something of a linguist) utilising bits of other languages to add to the joyful chaos of the narrative and present a world full of diversity (sadly, a diversity used by those in power to split apart and conquer nations).
There are some comparisons to be made with the style of Terry Pratchett (in particular, Pratchett’s way of re-interpreting modern life trappings within a feudal/magical setting). Yet this is definitely not for the squeamish as Hopkins delights in describing graphic torture scenes and sex acts that may turn some off. But the sheer visceral nature of these give the book an enormous power as they show a world spinning out of control and the dark side of human nature.
Despite its fantasy trappings, this is a timely and prevalent story of empire building and human fallibility that is exhilarating, funny and disturbing. Those who have enjoyed the early films of Ben Hopkins will find his singular vision of fantastic worlds remains intact on the printed page (and some may even note that Gwupygrubynudnyland was first mentioned in The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz) whilst those who have yet to discover him will delight in the work of an accomplished and talented storyteller.
Gwupygrubynudnyland by Ben Hopkins is published by PressburgerCorp and available on Amazon or HERE