The Office of Future Storytelling

Neil Powell fuses a critical look at language with an exploration of the political and existential problems facing humankind... The Storyteller is tired of telling stories about Love, God and Beauty. With the invention of Eric Crawford, an English teacher at Davenport College, he explores what is required to tell new stories. As a result, a tantalising world of freedom beckons.  This encompasses Eric’s teaching, family and romantic life, the explosive relationship he has with troubled student, David Spurling, a protest movement about the role of Art, and a violent crime on college grounds. The Storyteller’s control of Eric’s life conversely makes the Storyteller realise the power language has over him. Reminding him that language is a public medium, not the exclusive tool of an authority or author. A stylistically innovative novel, at turns both a philosophy and black comedy, The Office of Future Storytelling, examines the relationship of language to individual identity and freedom. It argues that the stories we need are those which demonstrate our unequivocal connection to the world.

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