It took me I think three goes to read this weighty book but it was very much worth it. This is not the usual lightweight biography of an author focusing on his or her life and the expression of themes from it in their work, this is academic in style and prose, a deep introspection into the life and literary and artistic work of an extremely complex individual, Clive Barker, perhaps most famously the creator of Hellraiser, the Books of Blood and Candyman. Barker's work defies categorisation, straying at times into science fiction, other times fantasy and horror but always moving forwards and onwards, a mysticism grounded firmly in the material and earthly, sensual and sexual and often disturbing. Winter uses both an erudite critique of each of Barker's major film, book and art works to date and his own correspondence with Barker to create something that does what a good biography should, sends you straight back to the books.
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