In The Volunteer, no drama is provided by the tedium of daily labor or the struggle to wrest a livelihood from a damaged habitat in what is called throughout the novel the “turd world.” The developing world is excrementitious for Coleman's supposedly ironic protagonist because he has experienced an ego-shattering loss that makes him feel that his own life has been wasted.

Mr Alhadi, 27, heard Jack's screams as he passed the property in West Ham, east London, and smashed down the door.

But he had left the green wood, and the thousand inspirations of the wild flowers, and the shadows that flit athwart the drooping boughs, for scenes whose inspirations were thought, toil, and suffering.

The captain made us trim the boat, and we got her to lie a little more evenly.