ID #772
βMargaret Drabbleβs The Ice Age, an overt βcondition of Englandβ novel, described the nation as βsliding, sinking, shabby, dirty, lazy, inefficient, dangerous, in its death throes, worn out, clapped out, occasionally lashing outβ. Keith Miller, in an excellent account of Jakeβs Thing, accompanies this quotation with comparable quotations from John Fowlesβs Daniel Martin (1977) and William Goldingβs Darkness Visible (1979).