Between Friends explores, in thirty-six texts, friendship in the modern world across a range of scenarios. Several texts investigate the special nature of male sporting affinities while others reveal the pleasures and disappointments of friendships with literary writers. The collection’s concern with the neuroses of masculinity is evident in ten vignettes devoted to male clothing, bodily adornment or sports equipment. The last six stories, mostly based on archival photographs, imagine scenarios of extreme male anguish or difficulty. Overall the collection is a provocative psychological study of sometimes unconventional relationships which takes readers to a new level of understanding of the bonds between individuals. A particular strength of the work is its vivid powers of evocation – of scenarios, events and relationships – and its witty and often humorous expression of the significance of the situations recounted. Ranging over a wide spectrum of social and sporting subjects and interactions – from boxing to fashion, from the gym to home situation, from war to peace, from exotic places to familiar environments – the stories’ varied styles and forms aim to capture the particular flavour of the experiences recounted.
