Exploring 'All the Devils Are Here' by David Seabrook: A Deep Dive

The Elusive Masterpiece

• 💡 'All the Devils Are Here' by David Seabrook is described as a unique, minor masterpiece that is largely unknown.
• 🎯 The book's elusive nature is highlighted by Rachel Cooke's nine-year search for it after an initial impactful review.
• ✨ The discovery of the book through a chance conversation with a publisher underscores its serendipitous nature.

Themes of Kent and Human Behavior

• 🗺️ Seabrook embarks on a 'deranged exploration' of Kentish coastal towns like Thanet and Medway, fusing observations of depressed landscapes with literary and historical associations.
• 🎭 The book delves into the 'desperate jolity' of Margate, linking it to T.S. Eliot's breakdown and the creation of 'The Waste Land'.
• 👻 Rochester and Chatham are presented as crawling with the ghosts of Dickens and the painter Richard Dadd.
• 🔗 Broadstairs reveals a network involving figures like Lord Curzon, Buchan, and Audrey Hepburn's father, hinting at darker connections.
• 🕵️ Deal uncovers a sordid story behind a novel, linking it to gay retirees and the self-destruction of a Carry On actor.

Seabrook's Unique Narrative Style

• 🧠 Seabrook's writing is characterized by a high-energy, disturbingly personal, and surprising approach, layering observations and associations without necessarily aiming for coherence.
• ⚡ The narrative strategy of moving between subjects as interest wanes creates a sense of superficiality for some, but Seabrook achieves a unique depth.
• ⚠️ The book explores themes of madness, demonic possession, and the uncanny, leaving the reader with a sense of unease and fear.
• 👤 Seabrook's own presence is felt throughout the book, making it a deeply personal exploration, even when discussing other figures.

Literary Connections and Influences

• 🎨 The essay on Richard Dadd, while the most orthodox, explores his madness, patricide, and subsequent asylum paintings, with digressions into opium and Victorian Egypt.
• 📚 Seabrook connects Dadd's story to Dickens's unfinished novel 'Edwin Drood', suggesting dream-like connections rather than causal ones.
• 🎭 The book critiques the 'Dickens industry' in Rochester, satirizing the heritage surrounding the author.
• 📖 Seabrook's second book, 'Jack of Jumps', focused on the Jack the Ripper murders, is described as a slog and distilled misogyny, contrasting with the more nuanced 'All the Devils Are Here'.

The Unsettling Conclusion

• 💔 The book ends with Seabrook's own implied financial desperation and a strange encounter on the beach at Deal, leading to an ambiguous and unsettling conclusion.
• ❓ The ending leaves the reader discombobulated, prompting a re-evaluation of the entire narrative and Seabrook's own state.
• 👻 The book is likened to other dark, unclassifiable works like 'The Confessions of a Justified Sinner' and 'The Monk', leaving a lasting, haunting impression.