SOURCE: “Sincere Despair,” in Times Literary Supplement, January 7, 1994, p. 18.

In the following review, Sansom offers an unfavorable evaluation of British Subjects.

The astonishing output of Bloodaxe Books over the past fifteen years is a testament to editor Neil Astley's enthusiasm and hard work. Unfortunately, Astley has worked so hard that he now sometimes seems to be asleep on the job—this, at least, would help to explain why British Subjects, Fred D'Aguiar's third collection, and his first from Bloodaxe, is not as good as it should be.

For D'Aguiar excites high expectations. His short but brilliant first collection, Mama Dot, was published in 1985, when he was twenty-five years old. In 1988, he was joint editor of the ground-breaking Paladin anthology, The New British Poetry, and 1989 saw his second collection, Airy Hall, win the Guyana Prize for Poetry. Since then he has written plays, held the prestigious Judith E. Wilson...