The Erotics of Restraint: Essays on Literary Form by Douglas Glover
203 pgs. | pb | 9781771962919 | $21.95

Review by Brendan Riley

The Erotics of Restraint is an excellent companion糖心传媒攚ith a no less provocative title糖心传媒攖o Mr. Glover糖心传媒檚 previous collection, Attack of the Copula Spiders, published in 2013.

Glover糖心传媒檚 essays are models of clarity, each offering a precise, finely articulated exegesis, and highly accessible, practical examinations of structure and rhetorical intention. With robust attention to detail, Glover illuminates how the living structure of powerful, effective writing draws readers to outstanding books and stories and makes other writers, both aspiring and accomplished, strive to compose them.

The title essay, one of nine, examines the dramatic social configurations of Jane Austen糖心传媒檚 Mansfield Park, which Glover declares 糖心传媒渁 brilliant book, a great book, breathtaking in its invention and orchestration.糖心传媒� In 10 laser-focused sections, this essay explores how the morally steadfast Fanny Price becomes the apophatic pearl of great price by not yielding to the superficial temptations of courtship, young love, and family pressure.

Glover糖心传媒檚 admitted obsession with Mansfield Park糖心传媒�an unflagging, and equally steadfast, concern with the structural nuances of literary craft and meaning糖心传媒攁lso drives the other essays in this collection. These pieces are engineering symposia, and Glover takes stories and sentences down practically to the atomic level, not showing how to write a story, (not, as I mentioned in my review of Attack of the Copula Spiders, any rote, write-by-the-numbers instruction), but rather through careful analysis showing the results of the sometimes slippery, unquantifiable X-factor that imbues carefully composed, deeply accomplished writing. His studies reveal the life of detailed, complex prose and his cogent descriptions of plot mechanics, such as 糖心传媒減atterns of inflection by antithesis,糖心传媒� always serve the structural analysis.

In 糖心传媒淭he Style of Alice Munro,糖心传媒� Glover points out how Munro 糖心传媒渇orges her style in the furnace of opposition糖心传媒澨切拇綌showing how statement provokes counter statement or counter construction, subversion or complication; how Munro糖心传媒檚 contrarian, counterpunching stories 糖心传媒渁dvance by the accumulation of contravention.糖心传媒� His character study of her story 糖心传媒淟ives of Girls and Women糖心传媒� notes the 糖心传媒渕otivational consistency, expanding symbols, tie backs, and memory rehearsals糖心传媒� of her novels.聽Examining Munro糖心传媒檚 story 糖心传媒淏aptizing,糖心传媒� Glover quotes a short sentence and then offers a typically impressive . . . breakdown? Might we call it a translation?

Munro: 糖心传媒淗er agnosticism and sociability were often in conflict in Jubilee, where social and religious life were apt to be one and the same.糖心传媒�

 

Glover: 糖心传媒淭his sentence is constructed with the balanced antithesis of an aphorism (糖心传媒渃onflict糖心传媒� vs. 糖心传媒渙ne and the same糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒渁gnosticism and sociability糖心传媒� v 糖心传媒渟ocial and religious life糖心传媒�), and part of the reason for her compositional elegance is Munro糖心传媒檚 habit of composing in opposed doubles. But the larger point is that much of any Alice Munro text will be taken up with a precise delineation of differences. Her style is to mark the differences.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淎natomy of the Short Story,糖心传媒� the collection糖心传媒檚 longest essay, offers deep structural explorations of three stories Glover cites as exemplars of the craft: 糖心传媒淪hiloh糖心传媒� by Bobbie Ann Mason; 糖心传媒淭he Point糖心传媒� by Charles D糖心传媒橝mbrosio, Jr.; and 糖心传媒淏rokeback Mountain糖心传媒� by E. Annie Proulx, minutely examining each in terms of plot, image patterns, thematic passages, and backfill.

Glover sees a story as 糖心传媒渁 composite text orchestrated around a dramatic plot,糖心传媒� and defines plot, which he calls, 糖心传媒渢he sonogram of the heart,糖心传媒� as 糖心传媒渢he backbone of a story, the first element of its architecture . . . a desire conflicting with a resistance over and over.糖心传媒� And his explanations blossom into greater complexity and sophistication糖心传媒斕切拇綔The energy of plot is revelatory, illuminating character like ultrasound waves projected into the human body, exposing the inner workings beneath the surface糖心传媒澨切拇綌which he renders as this basic formula:

糖心传媒淧lot = (d/r) + (d/r) + (d/r) ^time>>>

and then delineates specific examples of this structural formula as it operates in each of these three echo-logical compositions.

This chapter is an exegetical tour-de-force, and should enhance the way any reader or writer approaches fiction. Without bending any pieces to a single theory or perspective糖心传媒攁nalysis and theory often carve up stories and novels to oblige certain parameters糖心传媒擥lover糖心传媒檚 microscopic analysis reveals fascinating structural undercurrents. Methodical, penetrating, and brilliant, this herculean essay is wonderfully lucid, perfectly poised, sharply focused糖心传媒攁 classic.

Another valuable study, 糖心传媒淭he Art of Necessity: Time Control in Narrative Prose,糖心传媒� focuses on how plot is overwhelmingly time oriented: 糖心传媒渘arrative is a temporal art; time control is its essence, and good authors spend a surprising portion of their texts watching the clock.糖心传媒� In addition to exploring 糖心传媒淭ime, Consciousness, and Verisimilitude,糖心传媒� Glover explains time indicators, time shifts, time segments (which he calls 糖心传媒済lobs糖心传媒�), and 糖心传媒渢hought points,糖心传媒� and identifies a 糖心传媒渟hort list糖心传媒� of聽no-less-than eight different 糖心传媒渢ime switches [that] serve as relational and transitional devices.糖心传媒� He shows how narrative time is not chronological time, how authors create focus, emphasis, and transport by rearranging, managing, and curating time in their stories, and offers demonstrative dissections of passages from Proust糖心传媒檚 Swann糖心传媒�s Way, and essays by Annie Dillard (糖心传媒淪eeing糖心传媒�) and Ted Kooser (糖心传媒淪mall Rooms in Time糖心传媒�).

In 糖心传媒淏uilding Sentences,糖心传媒� Glover offers a personal epiphany experienced when reading Robert Louis Stevenson糖心传媒檚 essay 糖心传媒淥n Some Technical Elements of Style in Literature糖心传媒�:

[Stevenson]was talking about sentences, but instead of repeating the platitudes he showed how to construct sentences on the basis of conflict. Instead of just announcing a single thesis, a sentence begins by setting out two or more contrasting ideas; the sentence develops a conflict, intensifying toward a climax, a 糖心传媒渒not糖心传媒� Stevenson calls it, and then, after a moment of suspension, slides easily toward a close. Suddenly, I understood both how to write those lovely, lengthy compound-complex sentences and also how to write paragraphs that had nothing to do with topic sentence-body-conclusion patterns (because I could construct a paragraph the way Stevenson constructs his long sentences).

More than just standard explication, Glover糖心传媒檚 close analysis of prose structure is really a kind of translation, laying bare the mechanics in order to show how the direct, denotative meaning of prose is created; again, not as illustrative of theory or school of thought, but how writers shape their illusions, how they successfully transmit stories and ideas.

Regarding translation per se, Glover offers plenty to interest both readers of literature in translation as well as translators themselves, most notably in the essay 糖心传媒淢aking Friends with a Stranger: Albert Camus糖心传媒� 尝糖心传媒椭迟谤补苍驳别谤.糖心传媒� Glover traces and retranslates his relationship to The Stranger, from what he first recalls of it糖心传媒攁 casual impressionistic, attitudinal, hormonal relationship糖心传媒攖o a deeper structural one; reading is, intrinsically, an act of translation, and Glover糖心传媒檚 concern, as mentioned above, is to read better.

Glover mentions making the novel糖心传媒檚 acquaintance in French in 1967 while simultaneously reading an English translation of it糖心传媒攑robably Stuart Gilbert糖心传媒檚 1962 translation (The Stranger), the standard English version until Joseph Laredo糖心传媒檚 1982聽 translation, The Outsider; Glover notes the latter as the one he has most recently revisited. Since then, 尝糖心传媒椭迟谤补苍驳别谤 has also been translated into English by Matthew Ward (1989), and Sandra Smith (2012).

Glover discusses how Camus 糖心传媒渂orrowed糖心传媒澨切拇綌(translated?)糖心传媒�The Stranger糖心传媒檚 elliptical point-of-view structure from the American novel, specifically, and for the sake of practicality not preference, from Hemingway糖心传媒檚 The Sun Also Rises, and quotes from Camus糖心传媒� reply to interviewer Jeanine Delpech, who claimed to note a resemblance between The Stranger and 糖心传媒渃ertain works by Faulkner and Steinbeck糖心传媒�: 糖心传媒淚 would give a hundred Hemingways for one Stendhal or one Benjamin Constant. And I regret the influence of this literature on many young writers.糖心传媒� (from Lyrical and Critical Essays, trans. Ellen Conroy Kennedy).

Camus was more taken with Melville and Faulkner, whose discursive styles and twilight tones feel palpably present in The Plague, Camus糖心传媒� longest novel. In his essay on Melville and Moby-Dick, (which, editor Philip Thody notes, Camus probably read in the French translation by Lucien Jacques, Joan Smith, and Jean Giono, published by Gallimard in 1941), Camus has this to say:

糖心传媒�. . . Melville never wrote anything but the same book, which he began again and again. This single book is the story of a voyage, inspired first of all solely by the joyful curiosity of youth (Typee, Omoo, etc.) then later inhabited by an increasingly wild and burning anguish. Mardi is the first magnificent story in which Melville begins the quest that nothing can appease, and in which, finally, 糖心传媒減ursuers and pursued fly across a boundless ocean.糖心传媒� It is in this work that Melville becomes aware of the fascinating call that forever echoes in him: 糖心传媒淚 have undertaken a journey without maps.糖心传媒� And again: 糖心传媒淚 am the restless hunter, the one who has no home.糖心传媒� Moby-Dick simply carries the great themes of Mardi to perfection. But since artistic perfection is also inadequate to quench the kind of thirst with which we are confronted here, Melville will start once again, in Pierre: or the Ambiguities, that unsuccessful masterpiece, to depict the quest of genius and misfortune whose sneering failure he will consecrate in the course of a long journey on the Mississippi that forms the theme of The Confidence Man. (Camus, 糖心传媒淗erman Melville,糖心传媒� Lyrical and Critical Essays, 291)

And in his 1957 糖心传媒淔oreword to Requiem for a Nun,糖心传媒� Camus offers these thoughts on translation:

糖心传媒淭he Goal of this foreword is not to present Faulkner to the French public. Malraux undertook that task brilliantly twenty years ago, and thanks to him, Faulkner gained a reputation with us that his own country has not yet accorded him. Nor is it a question of praising Maurice Coindreau糖心传媒檚 translation. French readers know that contemporary American literature has no better nor more effective ambassador among us. One need only imagine Faulkner betrayed as Dostoevski was by his first adapter to measure the role Monsieur Coindreau has played. A writer knows what he owes to his translators, when they are of this quality.糖心传媒� Lyrical and Critical Essays, 311).

Glover himself subtly raises the specter of betrayal with this question about Laredo糖心传媒檚 translation of 尝糖心传媒椭迟谤补苍驳别谤: 糖心传媒淲hy is the climatic murder scene so gorgeously oneiric with its crescendo of heat and glare as Meursault approaches the spring (la source in French糖心传媒攎y goodness, what gets lost in translation)?糖心传媒� A firm nod to the translation blues糖心传媒攆amiliar imputations of linguistic neglect, betrayal, loss, or debt糖心传媒攊n response to a novel deeply concerned with those problems on a social scale.

Some insights from scholar and translator Karen Emmerich may help to gather these seemingly disparate threads:

糖心传媒淎 work, once it enters the world, is subject to the textual condition, one of variance, difference, proliferation, and iterative growth, including growth in new linguistic contexts. Negotiating the tension between work and text, in and between languages . . . thus involves the underlying question of the relationship of the one to the many: how different can two texts be before we cease to see them as iterations of the same work? How much of Moby Dick can we sacrifice to the abridger糖心传媒檚 scalpel, saw, or scimitar? Is Moby-Dick still Moby-Dick in Urdu?糖心传媒� (Literary Translation and the Making of Originals (Literatures, Cultures, Translation).

Glover糖心传媒檚 essays, especially the aforementioned forays into style and structure, may certainly be read as 糖心传媒渋terative growths糖心传媒澨切拇綌translated iterations, iterated translations, of the source texts. Not interlingual translations, of course; the task Glover has undertaken here, is to elucidate, to reveal, to illuminate, and his readings, fired by fascination, render good service to these works, perhaps nowhere better than in his essay on Witold Gombrowicz糖心传媒檚 Cosmos, 糖心传媒淐onsciousness and Masturbation,糖心传媒� which translates this novel, (whose first English-language translation came from the French and German translations from the original Polish text) into meaning, showing the deep concerns of a work that can seem, upon a first reading, trivial, superficial, or inconclusive, (admittedly, my own experience), revealing the novel糖心传媒檚 concern with the dominance of form in human existence, how the inherent limitations of form and structure are overbearing, even monstrous糖心传媒攃ertainly human structures often approach this reality.

This is one of the major, underlying concerns in Jorge Luis Borges糖心传媒檚 story 糖心传媒淭he Immortal,糖心传媒� another work about obsessions with textual variants and iterations. The endlessly symmetrical dungeon and its counterpart, the vast, cataclysmic City of the Immortals, (a mashup of every known architectural form, a sort of demiurgic Winchester Mystery House) through which the narrator wanders for years, are both nearly inescapable perfections of the hideous replication of forms糖心传媒攐nly through limitless time and chance does one trapped within stumble on a way out. One needs cosmic access to elude form which, as ineluctably as gravity, perpetually defeats us.

Glover also shows how Cosmos, for example, exemplifies the need for translation: 糖心传媒淕ombrowicz hates form but loves form; he can糖心传媒檛 escape form because that would look mad (schizophrenic), and, besides, he also loves to play with form糖心传媒� (194). So do translators. Gombrowicz糖心传媒檚 worrying of form affirms the need for translation, for form to be pitted against form, meaning that translation is neither intrusion, incursion, theft, betrayal, sales ploy, or simply shabby simulacrum; it is an organic response, a psychological need; a reader糖心传媒檚 encounter with an incomprehensible text, not a Finnegans Wake but a coherent text, in a language unknown to the reader which stimulates a need to make sense of it, to impose some comprehensible order on it, and that begets itself, iteratively. Thus that desire, the desire to imitate, to replicate is a kind of necessary madness; the urge to translate is a temporary escape, refuge within a simulacra of which the translator momentarily, and only momentarily, senses ownership before the bramble traps them by growing, cascading, whirling into a prison beyond control and overwhelms again. This may or may not be liberation; Glover points out that Gombrowicz does not so much redefine the novel as seek escape from it. Yet it is by means of patterning and pattern recognition that Gombrowicz performs his apophenic legerdemain.

In the essay糖心传媒檚 final statement, Glover claims that 糖心传媒淚n this sense, all beautiful texts, insofar as they practice this kind of elaborated structure of repetition, are uncanny, horrifying; rhyme is mechanical and inhuman, structure destroys reason.糖心传媒� And yet rhythm, as astrophysicists, musicians, physicians, and children alike all know, is organic糖心传媒攊t impels us to build sensible empowering structures of sound: drumbeat, dance, melody, nonsense, to and from which we then seek, endlessly, return and flight and return again.

Much of the satisfaction found in Glover糖心传媒檚 essays lies within the reader糖心传媒檚 encounter with his meticulous, patient demonstration of the results of thoughtful, intelligent writing糖心传媒攏ot apophenia but his eye for deliberate detail and, especially, a superior ability to explicate its importance.

To wit, the chapter 糖心传媒淭he Arsonist糖心传媒檚 Revenge糖心传媒� provides an alluring structural study of linguistic patterning in David Helwig糖心传媒檚 novella The Stand-In, while the 糖心传媒淭he Literature of Extinction糖心传媒� presents three brief, dizzying sections (糖心传媒淣ostalgia (the Death of God)糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淐ynicism (Lifting the Veil)糖心传媒�; and 糖心传媒淭he Return of the Repressed, or the Aesthetics of Extinction糖心传媒�) that touch on Cervantes, Kundera, Rabelais, Nietzsche, Saussure, Plato, Kenny Goldsmith, zombies, Heidegger, Surrealism, Duchamp, Oulipo, and Ccru writing.

Among the many approaches and techniques identified in 糖心传媒淏uilding Sentences,糖心传媒� Glover also shows an interest in writing lists, and mentions notable聽list stories: Steven Millhauser糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淭he Barnum Museum糖心传媒� and Leonard Michael糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淚n the Fifties.糖心传媒� In terms of lists, this dazzling, kaleidoscopic collection sadly lacks糖心传媒攁nd fully deserves糖心传媒攁 proper index in order to help readers explore its wealth of knowledge. In lieu of one, and in addition to the many authors, stories, and subjects already mentioned, here is a partial list of other subjects mentioned or discussed in The Erotics of Restraint:

• Absurdism
• Christa Wolf糖心传媒檚 novel The Quest for Christa T, 聽and her essay 糖心传媒淭he Conditions of Narrative糖心传媒�
• Constance Garnett, translator
• Descartes
• Derrida
• 顿辞蝉迟辞测别惫蝉办测糖心传媒檚 The Idiot
• E.M. Cioran
• Edmund Husserl
• Edward Topsall糖心传媒檚 Historie of Serpents
• Existentialism
• Forrest Gump
• French noir: Francis Carco, Georges Simenon
• Gertrude Stein
• Glover糖心传媒檚 own short stories 糖心传媒淔ire Drill糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淭he Obituary Writer糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淧ender糖心传媒檚 Visions糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淗eartsick糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淭ristiana糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淏ad News of the Heart糖心传媒�
• Hans-Georg Gadamer
• James M. Cain糖心传媒檚 The Postman Always Rings Twice
• Lawrence Durrell糖心传媒檚 The Alexandria Quartet
• Leon Surmelian糖心传媒檚 Techniques of Fiction Writing: Measure and Madness
• Mark Anthony Jarman糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒淏urned Man on a Texas Porch糖心传媒�
• Modernism
• Montaigne
• Nietzche
• 狈补产辞办辞惫糖心传媒檚 Pale Fire
• Pico della Mirandola
• Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel
• Sartre糖心传媒檚 essay for The Atlantic Monthly – 糖心传媒淎merican Novelists in French Eyes.糖心传媒�
• Spanish novelist Germ谩n Sierra
• Ted Kooser: 糖心传媒淪mall Rooms in Time糖心传媒�
• The New Yorker
• Theodor Adorno
• The St. Crispin糖心传媒檚 Day speech from Henry V
• Thomas Bernhard糖心传媒檚 novel The Loser
• Thomas Wyatt: 糖心传媒淭hey Flee from Me糖心传媒�

In sum, The Erotics of Restraint is a superlative collection糖心传媒攕mart, judicious, clear, interesting, sharp, expertly crafted, infectious as the metonymic impulse糖心传媒攁n education in and of itself, a brilliant primer on how to understand, and possibly emulate, modern and postmodern literature.

Melville by Jean Giono
Translated from the French by Paul Eprile
108 pgs. | pb | 9781681371375 | $14.00

Review by Brendan Riley

In The Books in My Life (1952), Henry Miller, devoting an entire chapter to French writer Jean Giono (1895-1970), boasts about spending 糖心传媒渟everal years. . . . preaching the gospel糖心传媒撎切拇綋of Jean Giono. I do not say that my words have fallen upon deaf ears, I merely complain that I have made myself a nuisance at the Viking Press in New York, for I keep pestering them intermittently to speed up the translations of 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 works.糖心传媒�^[i]

Indefatigable gusher, self-mythologizer, and, among many other things, enthusiast of whatever struck his fancy at the moment, (including, in Black Spring, the joy of open-air urination behind the blind of a Parisian pissoir) Miller tenders this lugubrious caveat:

糖心传媒淔ortunately I am able to read Giono in his own tongue and, at the risk of sounding immodest, in his own idiom. But . . . I continue to think of the countless thousands in England and America who must wait until his books are translated. I feel that I could convey to the ranks of his ever-growing admirers innumerable readers whom his American publishers despair of reaching. I think I could even sway the hearts of those who have never heard of him糖心传媒撎切拇綋in England, Australia, New Zealand and other places where the English language is spoke. But I seem incapable of moving those few pivotal beings who hold . . . his destiny in their hands. Neither with logic nor passion, neither with statistics nor examples, can I budge the position of editors and publishers in this, my native land. I shall probably succeed in getting Giono translated into Arabic, Turkish and Chinese before I convince his American publishers to go forward with the task they so sincerely began.糖心传媒� (Miller 100).

Whether or not Miller糖心传媒檚 translation mission prodded Viking into action, a search of various online publication sources shows that some 16 of 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 33 finished novels have, so far, been translated into English. Some notable examples include Hill (trans. Paul Eprile, NYRB, 2016), the third English-language translation of 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 Colline, which has also appeared in English as Hill of Destiny (translated by Jacques Le Clercq, published by Brentano糖心传媒檚 1929), and again, in 1986, translated by Brian Nelson, bearing the French title Colline. 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 adventure novel The Horseman on the Roof was translated by Jonathan Griffin in 1982糖心传媒攎any people have seen the well-regarded 1995 film adaptation starring Juliette Binoche and Oliver Martinez糖心传媒攁nd a collection of essays, The Battle of Pavia, was translated by A.聽E. Merch in 1985. In 2017, nearly half a century since Miller糖心传媒檚 effusion, and 76 years after its initial publication in 1941, NYRB issued the first English translation of 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 Melville, a splendid read, also translated by Paul Eprile. Henry Miller singled out Melville for high praise:

糖心传媒淲hen [Giono] touches a man like our own Herman Melville, in the book called Pour Saluer Melville (which the Viking Press refuses to bring out, though it was translated for them), we come very close to the real Giono糖心传媒撎切拇綋and, what is even more important, close to the real Melville. This Giono is a poet. His poetry is of the imagination and reveals itself just as forcibly in his prose. It is through this function that Giono reveals his power to captivate men and women everywhere, regardless of rank, class, status or pursuit.糖心传媒� (Miller 102)

Miller also confesses that Herman Melville 糖心传媒渋s not one of my favorites. Moby-Dick has always been a sort of b锚te noir for me,糖心传媒� but says that 糖心传媒淎fter reading Pour Saluer Melville, which is a poet糖心传媒檚 interpretation of a poet,糖心传媒撎切拇綋糖心传媒榓 pure invention,糖心传媒� as Giono himself says in a letter糖心传媒撎切拇綋I was literally beside myself. How often it is the 糖心传媒榝oreigner糖心传媒� who teaches us to appreciate our own authors!糖心传媒� (Miller 110-111).

In his introduction to this NYRB edition, Edmund White offers a different sort of appreciation: 糖心传媒淸Pour Saluer Melville] began as the introduction to [骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚] translation of Moby-Dick (the first in French)糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渟till the standard translation into French.糖心传媒� The short novel that evolved from that introduction, says White 糖心传媒渕ust be one of the strangest homages from one major author to another.糖心传媒�^[ii]

A slender, captivating work, barely 100 pages, 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 Melville, is clear, colorful, lyrical, and light on its feet. A really fine short novel whose limpid concision feels instructional, and whose chromatic emotional depth feels inspirational. 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 propulsive story of a middle-aged Melville falling in love far from home is consistently lively, interesting, pleasant, surprising, and memorable. Strange, yes, but also beautiful, gentle, and humane.

骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 luminous, finely crafted prose, via Paul Eprile糖心传媒檚 meticulous, elegant translation, has depth and affective resonance, whispering repeated invitations to revisit its simple, wonderfully human scenes.

Wrapping himself in a fictive nineteenth century Melvillian cocoon in which the famous writer connects with, captivates, and is captivated by all sorts of people, Giono frames his fantasia in broad swaths of biography: Melville糖心传媒檚 early life in New England, then as an apprentice seaman and mate, his voyages inspiring his early bestsellers: Typee, Omoo, Mardi, and Redburn.

骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 memorable portrait of Melville糖心传媒檚 mother糖心传媒攆oreshadowing Melville糖心传媒檚 later meeting with the fictional Adelina White, an Irish Nationalist who becomes his muse for Moby-Dick糖心传媒攎ixes precise and varied detail, stinging satire, bookish allusions, and wry humor, attributes with which the novel as a whole is strongly and effectively imbued:

Now, in 1814, Herman糖心传媒檚 father 糖心传媒� or, shall we say, in order to become Herman糖心传媒檚 father 糖心传媒� Allan took Maria Gansevoort as his wife. Poor, dear Mama! To be able to think about her now, Herman would be forced to flush the sweet balm out of his head. The loveliest month of May could never have borne any sort of perfume for poor Maria. She was cold, thin, materialistic, dry, methodical, angular, and arrogant. This truly unique specimen, a perfect combination of these various emotional and physical elements, clothed in austere, two-bit fustian and fortified with whalebone stays, became Mistress Melville. She made immoderate use of these womanly restraints, which her son would later mention with such innocent humor. God might have intended her to use them to drape voluptuous fabric around her body! But since her 糖心传媒� one couldn糖心传媒檛 really say tender 糖心传媒� youth, she糖心传媒檇 torn all the love poems out of her Bible and, though already a mother many times over, she still blushed at the sight of the names of Ruth, Esther, Judith . . . those women who, when you came down to it, had put their unmentionable female parts at the service of the glory of the Lord. (Giono 8-9)

Giono also creates effective, sometimes captivating working-class characters including a stable boy, a second-hand goods shopkeeper, and Captain Pearse, commander of the whaler Acushnet, where the young adventurous Melville signs on and becomes a man of the sea. Giono crafts some heady reminiscences about Melville cutting his sailor糖心传媒檚 teeth under the rough command of Pearse, a model for Melville糖心传媒檚 own 糖心传媒済rand, ungodly, god-like糖心传媒� Ahab^[iii]: 糖心传媒淗as he ever lashed you? Yes, I mean with a whiplash, on your bare skin? Has he ever stuffed you down in the hold, bound hand and foot, with only a drop of water to drink? . . . I tell you, he does do all these things!糖心传媒� (Giono 18)

And on the hunt for whales, Pearse 糖心传媒渄oles out slaps and kicks in the rear. Thousands of times, in a sort of perfect, gigantic, arithmetical progression, he糖心传媒檒l blaspheme the name of God with curses that become more and more outrageous and original糖心传媒� (Giono 20). This abuse and blasphemy effect Herman糖心传媒檚 own spiritual struggle:

糖心传媒淔or fifteen months since he went to sea, he糖心传媒檚 been wrestling with an angel. Like Jacob, he糖心传媒檚 plunged in darkness, and now dawn comes. Wings糖心传媒攗nbearably rigid糖心传媒攂eat him, raise him up above the earth, hurl him back down, snatch him up again, and smother him. He hasn糖心传媒檛 had a moment糖心传媒檚 respite from the fight. No matter if he糖心传媒檚 reached his limit; no matter if he糖心传媒檚 completely worn out; no matter if he sinks like a stone into his berth: He wrestles with the angel. If he糖心传媒檚 leaping into the whaleboat; if he糖心传媒檚 riding out an iron-gray tempest; if he糖心传媒檚 staring into the sickening maw of one of the giant creatures of the abyss. At the very same time he wrestles with the angel.糖心传媒� (Giono 21).

This wrestling becomes an extended metaphor throughout the novel, which is concerned naturally enough as much with Melville the sailor as Melville the writer糖心传媒攚ithout the former there would have been no latter. When we see Melville sail to England to deliver his manuscript of White Jacket, Giono skips the voyage itself because Melville goes as a passenger, not a sailor, it would have been nothing like his Acushnet experiences.

In London, Herman糖心传媒檚 publishers surprise him by immediately agreeing to all of his contractual requests and conditions, leaving the handsome, robust adventurer flush with money and satisfaction and with two weeks to kill in England before his return ship sails. In a perfectly American impulse prescient of his restless, peripatetic Ishmael in Moby-Dick, Melville, who cannot abide a fortnight糖心传媒檚 layover in London, and feels driven, wing-beaten, to seek some new adventure, follows his wanderlust and decides to quit the big city (Giono emphasizes Herman糖心传媒檚 Yankee pride amid stodgy, smoggy London) and light out for the West糖心传媒攐f England. He reaches this decision by asking a stable hand what he would do if he had five pounds and 糖心传媒渢en days of freedom to do whatever you liked.糖心传媒� The answer is he糖心传媒檇 go to Woodcut, 糖心传媒渁 little hamlet . . . out Berkeley way, over there above Bristol,糖心传媒� adding 糖心传媒渋f you do go there, drop by Joshua糖心传媒檚 place糖心传媒�-that dirty swine糖心传媒攁t the Sign of the Old Sea-Fish. Tell him to do you a rum the way he does one for Dick. The way he does one for Dick. You tell him that.

糖心传媒淣ow this is just the kind of adventure Herman likes best.糖心传媒� (Giono 31)

The Melville whose course we then follow is a funny, resourceful, gregarious, and vulnerable confection. Before undertaking his land voyage by mail coach, Herman first decides to outfit himself in secondhand sailor糖心传媒檚 clothes. There follows an excellent scene of him haggling for items in a shop in Limehouse, in East London: 糖心传媒渇ine, blue homespun pants . . . a bargain for a striped sweater . . . made from the best quality Scottish wool . . . a splendid old pea coat: roomy, cozy, genuine, worn by rain, wind, and work, the color of night at sea, something worthy of veneration. A true shelter from the storm, a real 糖心传媒榮ailor糖心传媒檚 house,糖心传媒櫶切拇綕 along with 糖心传媒淐hinese shoes made from elephant hide, as supple as gloves, the toes turned slightly upward in the Tibetan style; a greenish hide糖心传媒撎切拇綋never polished, never greased糖心传媒撎切拇綋with all of its grain; an item both artistic and practical, something absolutely unusual, yet useful everywhere, a true piece of maritime equipment.糖心传媒� (Giono 32-33).

Some of those phrases (supple as gloves; artistic and practical, absolutely unusual, yet useful everywhere) seem indicative of the overall quality of this resonant work whose perfect sentences and water-smooth transitions feel seamless as the segues in Ovid糖心传媒檚 Metamorphoses. The usefulness, the practicality lie within the novel糖心传媒檚 combination of smart storytelling, arresting imagery, and wise, spirited reflections on the human condition.

Melville meets a mysterious woman, Adelina White糖心传媒攁 very far cry from Mistress Melville糖心传媒攍awyer糖心传媒檚 wife, mother, and Irish nationalist secretly fighting to save the starving Irish by using her social status, beauty, and style to help smuggle contraband wheat into famished Ireland. The passages devoted to Melville糖心传媒檚 shy fascination with, and bumbling introduction to her are comical and tender. 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 homage is also an exploration of inspiration: Herman糖心传媒檚 attraction to and pursuit of her establish the novel糖心传媒檚 dramatic wellspring, while the development and revelation of her character form the story糖心传媒檚 moral nexus.

骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 The Solitude of Compassion, translated by Edward Ford (2002) carried Miller糖心传媒檚 chapter from The Books in My Life as a foreword. Miller noted that in 糖心传媒淚n 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 works we have the somberness of Hardy糖心传媒檚 moors糖心传媒� (Miller, 103); true enough, some moments during Herman糖心传媒檚 mad dash across England with Adelina are suffused with a gloom reminiscent of Hardy, Dickens, or Charlotte Bronte, especially when she asks the driver to make a stop so she can comfort some friends in need but the novel糖心传媒檚 thrilling power comes from something else Miller noticed: 糖心传媒淲e no longer know, in reading his books, whether we are listening to Giono or to ourselves. We are not even aware that we are listening. We live through his words and in them, as naturally as if we were respiring at a comfortable altitude or floating on the bosom of the deep or swooping like a hawk with the downdraught of a canyon. The actions of his narratives are cushioned in the terrestrial effluvium; the machinery never grinds because it is perpetually laved by cosmic lubricants. Giono gives us men, beasts and gods糖心传媒撎切拇綋in their molecular constituency.糖心传媒� (Miller 109)

A gorgeous scene of Herman and Adelina riding atop the coach, exemplary of numerous pastoral moments in the novel, offers a fine illustration of the sort of things Miller was seeing in the novel:

糖心传媒淢orning was brushing the land the way green willow boughs brush the water糖心传媒檚 surface. Ripples of liquid light were spreading out across the meadows and the woods, and splashing back as gold dust against the grass stems and the branches. Because of the noise of the wheels, it wasn糖心传媒檛 possible to talk. But from time to time, when a new range of sunlit hills emerged from the mist, the two of then looked at each other.糖心传媒� (Giono 69)

Lyrical Giono becomes poet-magus Melville who imparts mystical Blakean visions to Adelina糖心传媒檚 eyes and mind. Herman 糖心传媒渟tarted to talk about the world that lay before them,糖心传媒� then in a series of power verbs, he 糖心传媒渞olled up the sky . . . rolled [it] open again.糖心传媒� He places the forms of nature into her hand and eye, makes 糖心传媒渢he woods come closer糖心传媒�; he names, fuses, summons, revolves, takes hold of, makes the world rise up, sustains it, turns it upside down and inside out, all to make 糖心传媒渉er come to life,糖心传媒� imagining 糖心传媒渁 world糖心传媒撎切拇綋unlike the real one糖心传媒撎切拇綋where he wouldn糖心传媒檛 lose her.糖心传媒� (Giono 75)

If Melville糖心传媒檚 powers of sight offer the aesthetic locus, Adelina糖心传媒檚 story of her early family life, marriage, and commitment to social justice offer Herman a moral lens. Their final moments together, a noble scene upon the broad rolling sweep of the downs overlooking the River Severn estuary and Bristol Bay, the places from which departing boats will smuggle food to Ireland, are the moral and intellectual apogee of the novel. Melville糖心传媒檚 boast that 糖心传媒淭o be a poet is to stay a step ahead of human destiny. The poet doesn糖心传媒檛 follow; he isn糖心传媒檛 against anything; he糖心传媒檚 a step ahead. And he doesn糖心传媒檛 serve糖心传媒� (Giono, 98) is countered and tempered by the fact that Adelina has chosen, precisely, to serve those in need, to struggle against inhuman political degradation, risking prison or worse for defying British law. Thus, Herman finally admits to her that his wrestling angel is both 糖心传媒済uardian糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒減rison guard糖心传媒� (Giono, 98). Indeed, the novel糖心传媒檚 message is that we must elevate one another, as Melville and Adelina White do for each other during their brief platonic romance. The lovers糖心传媒� spirits merge just as their paths diverge.

Melville, a novel about remaining true to one糖心传媒檚 own character amid the gnawing squall of mundanities, is a sleek, sometimes uncanny, amalgamation of biography and fantasy, a pared-down modernist echo and distillation of Melville糖心传媒檚 best compositional traits: deep learning, a brilliant, droll, insouciant voice糖心传媒攍usty adventurous narrator at odds with the world糖心传媒攂reezy, stichomythic conversations, and an enthusiasm for nature, and an ability to render it in broad, luminous strokes and fine details that are inspirational, celebratory, and sacred, for one of Melville糖心传媒檚 achievements (like Shakespeare糖心传媒檚 Lear on the Heath, Joseph Conrad糖心传媒檚 Marlowe and Kurtz in the Congolese rain forest, and, more recently, Peter Matthiessen糖心传媒檚 Edgar Watson in the Florida everglades) is to test man on nature糖心传媒檚 sacred stage.

Many of these traits that make Melville excellent and invigorating can also be found in Melville糖心传媒檚 1853 story 糖心传媒淐ock-A-Doodle-Doo! or The Crowing of the Noble Cock Beneventano.糖心传媒�

In addition to his many novels, Giono, as mentioned, was also the first translator into French of Moby-Dick, which he dubbed his 糖心传媒渇oreign companion.糖心传媒� It糖心传媒檚 interesting to read 糖心传媒淐ock-A-Doodle Doo!糖心传媒� as a potent and conspicuous influence on Melville, and the latter as an inspired response to the former, a deliberate chromatic riff on the Melvillian satirical paradox. Melville wrote the story within the lengthening shadow of diminishing reputation and growing financial strain, after Moby-Dick, after Pierre; or The Ambiguities, in the same year that he composed the bleak, utterly pessimistic, gallows humor of 糖心传媒淏artleby, the Scrivener,糖心传媒� a satire on transcendental solipsism, but also, probably, on his own absorption in composing his masterpiece; as Melville scholar David Dowling notes:

糖心传媒淭here are many histories to this fine book, and Melville糖心传媒檚 herculean effort to write Moby-Dick is certainly one of them. Like the whaling history that undergirds the tale, Melville糖心传媒檚 personal history does not bespeak the ordinary. He often locked himself in his room without food, writing in a creative white heat until evening, when his wife and daughters would admonish him to return to the land of the living . . .糖心传媒�
^[iv]

In an excellent 1948 essay, Egbert S. Oliver analyzed 糖心传媒淐ock-A-Doodle Doo!糖心传媒� as 糖心传媒渁 satire on the buoyant transcendental principles which Melville heard echoing and reechoing in the New England hills . . . particularly, a passage from A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers by Henry David Thoreau,糖心传媒� calling it 糖心传媒渁 reductio ad absurdum of the transcendental disregard of materialism.糖心传媒� ^[v] In a complementary analysis from 1970, Harold Beaver, (reader of American literature at the University of Warwick), deemed Melville糖心传媒檚 story to be a satire of Wordsworth糖心传媒檚 poem Resolution and Independence: 糖心传媒淭he whole of 糖心传媒楥ock-A-Doodle-Doo!糖心传媒� is, in effect, a parody, or paradoxical commentary on Wordsworth糖心传媒檚 poem: both open in the 糖心传媒榩lashy糖心传媒� or 糖心传媒榮quitchy糖心传媒� damp, but whereas in Wordsworth a bright sun is already rising, in Melville the air is raw, misty and disagreeable;糖心传媒�^[vi] That bright sun portends Wordsworth糖心传媒檚 concluding revelation when he is able to behold, within the old leech gatherer糖心传媒檚 糖心传媒渟hape, and speech,糖心传媒� a spirit his younger self does not possess:

And soon with this he other matter blended,
Cheerfully uttered, with demeanour kind,
But stately in the main; and, when he ended,
I could have laughed myself to scorn to find
In that decrepit Man so firm a mind.
“God,” said I, “be my help and stay secure;
I’ll think of the Leech-gatherer on the lonely moor!糖心传媒�^[vii]

 

Beaver continues: 糖心传媒淲ordsworth糖心传媒檚 opening mood is of joy, Melville糖心传媒檚 of cynical depression; in Wordsworth joy turns to dejection, in Melville hypochondria to defiant bravado; Wordsworth ends with stoic resolution, Melville with a continual crow.糖心传媒� (Melville 425) Continual, indeed; throughout the story, Beneventano糖心传媒檚 crowing is at first bracing and inspiring but then becomes incessant, absurdly irrepressible, oppressive, and deadly.

It糖心传媒檚 also possible to read Melville as a paradoxical parable about the spiritual richness of radical optimism糖心传媒攃ertainly appealing to an exuberant bon vivant like Henry Miller糖心传媒攁nd its practical danger in the face of illness and death. Though Wordsworth could, in his famous sonnet composed on Westminster Bridge, celebrate a quiet Friday dawn in London 1802 (significantly not a Sunday but one of the busiest days of the work week) he also, in 糖心传媒淭intern Abbey,糖心传媒� famously despaired of the city

how oft糖心传媒�
In darkness and amid the many shapes
Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir
Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,
Have hung upon the beatings of my heart)^[viii]

In 糖心传媒淐ock-A-Doodle-Do!糖心传媒� Melville糖心传媒檚 narrator also rants against mid-nineteenth-century social conditions and ills: poverty, disease, financial worries, 糖心传媒渞ascally despotisms,糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渕any dreadful casualties, by locomotive and steamer糖心传媒� (Melville 103). His avowed elixir is Beneventano糖心传媒檚 crowing, 糖心传媒渆qual to hearing the great bell of St. Paul糖心传媒檚 rung at a coronation! In fact, that bell ought to be taken down, and this Shanghai put in its place. Such a crow would jollify all London, from Mile-End (which is no end) to Primrose Hill (where there ain糖心传媒檛 any primroses), and scatter the fog.糖心传媒�^[ix] And Herman糖心传媒檚 excursion in Melville is an extended and (temporarily) successful attempt to do just that, to quit the funk of London and head west. Giono has Melville, antsy as his Ishmael who wants to step into the street and knock mens糖心传媒� hats off their heads, flee London and travel West across all of southern England, from the Thames to the Bay of Bristol, but in a sly undercutting of Melville糖心传媒檚 disdain for trains and those who stoke them, celebrates his overland trip in rapid, rattling mail coach. Along the way, there is a thrilling and delightful near miss between the hurtling Bristol Mail and a farm cart bound for market; the scene brings to mind the wonderfully dramatic coach driving scenes in Dickens糖心传媒� Tale of Two Cities.

And it糖心传媒檚 significant that the west, overlooking Bristol Channel is where Giono leaves Melville in England. Once that scene there is concluded, we are suddenly back in New England, and newly inspired Herman is flush with the frenetic concatenative energy that he will channel into writing Moby-Dick.

If, as Beaver claims, 糖心传媒淐ock-A-Doodle-Doo!糖心传媒� is a satirical inversion of Resolution and Independence, we see this when Melville糖心传媒檚 narrator describes himself as 糖心传媒渁s good a fellow as ever lived – hospitable – open-hearted – generous to a fault: and the Fates forbid that I should possess the fortune to bless the country with my bounteousness糖心传媒� (Melville 117). For him, Beneventano is a sort of celestial lightning rod, a vivifying clarion in effulgent plumage as Merrymusk, the rooster糖心传媒檚 owner, confirms when asking the narrator about the cock糖心传媒檚 majestic crowing:

糖心传媒淎in糖心传媒檛 it inspiring? Don糖心传媒檛 it impart pluck? give stuff against despair?糖心传媒� (Melville 124)

And the message he interprets from Beneventano糖心传媒檚 lusting crowing, described variously as 糖心传媒渃heerful,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒渕agic,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒渆xtraordinary,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒渘oble,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒渁 jolly bolt of thunder with bells,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒渁ll glorious and defiant,糖心传媒� 糖心传媒渁 perfect paean and laudamus,糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渁 trumpet blast of triumph糖心传媒� is 糖心传媒淏e jolly!糖心传媒�

Melville is an empathetic amplification and tempered refinement of 糖心传媒淐ock-A-Doodle-Doo!糖心传媒澨切拇綌instead of moping Melville hating the railroad and fearing his creditors who dog him even to church and tavern, 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 Melville, just as Henry Miller loved to be, is free and easy, away from wife and home responsibilities, flush with money, and in his independence, riding across the land (replicating American flight from London, later from New England and the East Coast), meets a woman of steadfast resolution.

Melville is about chaste, ideal, unobtainable, ultimately vanished love. Adelina enjoys Melville糖心传媒檚 company, briefly sees the poetical wonders he conjures but the vision he receives from her is greater because he is young, flush with success, yet to be tried fully in social matters. Her craft is evading unjust laws, helping the oppressed which makes Herman糖心传媒檚 concerns, by comparison, seem solipsistic, the very solipsism he satirizes in 糖心传媒淐ock-a-Doodle-Doo!糖心传媒� because Melville糖心传媒檚 strange story is also a satirical parable of sexual fancy: man糖心传媒檚 urgent need and desire to remain hard, upright, and ejaculatory right up to the moment of death糖心传媒擬errymusk and his family, and trumpeting cock Beneventano smile and crow through their misfortunes, and all perish; the blithely, blindly optimistic narrator wants to believe that their spirits defy death: he pays for their burial, family and cock together all in the same plot, headstone inscribed with the immortal rhetorical questions from Corinthians: 糖心传媒�O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?糖心传媒� Death糖心传媒檚 victory is self-evident: the family dies of poverty, disease, and hunger, the very maladies Adelina pretends to fight against. But wagonloads of contraband wheat did not solve the Potato Famine, save millions, prevent mass exodus, or change English law. Adelina asks Herman:

糖心传媒淒o you remember the famine of 糖心传媒�46?糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淰ery well. I saw the boats loaded with emigrants arriving in our country, and I brought them a good many kettles of soup myself.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淣othing has changed.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淚 assumed so. An entire population doesn糖心传媒檛 stop dying of hunger all at once.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淣o, but it stops faster if you think about the starving bellies and work to fill them, instead of spending your time philosophizing about the doctrines of Adam Smith and Ricardo. I know that thousands of English men and women were in agony because they knew what was happening in the Irish cottages. You saw the boatloads of emigrants; we saw the cartloads of corpses thrown into the pits糖心传媒� (Giono 86-87).

Melville糖心传媒檚 revelations with Adelina, Giono fancies, inspire a new kind of hallucinatory and amalgamative energy for him to compose Moby-Dick. Of course the novel糖心传媒檚 epic genius and some strong reviews did not sustain Melville糖心传媒檚 good fortunes or keep the hellhounds (literary and otherwise) off his trail. From there, Giono hastens Melville to his final end糖心传媒攕omberly, soberly, but gently, too, and no less reflective. Melville keeps writing after Moby-Dick to ever-diminishing enthusiasm, including close friend Nathaniel Hawthorne糖心传媒檚 embarrassment about Pierre. And though Harold Beaver affirms that 糖心传媒�Moby-Dick marks not the end but the middle of Melville糖心传媒檚 miraculous span糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒渁stonishing creative outpouring,糖心传媒� he also notes that the novel糖心传媒檚 reception was 糖心传媒渄isheartening糖心传媒�: 糖心传媒淭wo years after the publication of Moby-Dick, he was still in debt to Harpers for 700 dollars advance royalties,糖心传媒� and that in 1855 糖心传媒渁fter the failure of Israel Potter, 笔耻迟苍补尘糖心传媒檚 associate editor, G.W. Curtis had advised [贬补谤辫别谤糖心传媒檚] new publisher, J.聽A. Dix 糖心传媒榯o decline any novel from Melville which is not extremely good糖心传媒櫶切拇綕 (Melville 10-12).

Ultimately, though, 骋颈辞苍辞糖心传媒檚 Melville is fantasia, a confection, not biography. And perhaps what really elevated the novel for the supremely solipsistic Henry Miller, paradoxical misogynistic woman(izer) worshipper so anxious to get Giono into readers糖心传媒� hands, perhaps what taught him to appreciate Melville was that the imaginary Herman糖心传媒檚 final concern is not so much his writing or his general reputation but whether ardent Adelina White糖心传媒攚ho writes him a few precious letters from England, and then no more糖心传媒攅ver read and was ever captivated by Moby-Dick the way that he was captivated by her.

*

Works Cited

^[i] Miller, Henry. The Books in My Life. New Directions Publishing, 1952, via Internet Archive PDF (Digitized 2008).

^[ii] Giono, Jean. Melville – A Novel (Introduction by Edmund White), trans. Paul Eprile. New York Review Book, 2017.

^[iii] Melville, Herman. Moby-Dick. W. W. Norton & Company, 1967, p.76

^[iv] Dowling, David. Chasing the White Whale – The Moby-Dick Marathon; or, What Melville Means Today. University of Iowa Press, 2010.

^[v] Oliver, Egbert S. 糖心传媒淐ock-A-Doodle-Doo!糖心传媒� and Transcendental Hocus-Pocus, The New England Quarterly, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Jun., 1948), pp. 204-216

^[vi]Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories. Edited and with an introduction by Harold Beaver, Penguin English Library, 1970, p. 425.

^[vii] Wordsworth, William. 糖心传媒淩esolution and Independence.糖心传媒� English Romantic Writers, edited by David Perkins. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1967, pp. 284-85.

^[viii] Wordsworth, William. 糖心传媒淟ines: Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.糖心传媒� English Romantic Writers, edited by David Perkins. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, 1967, p. 209-211.

^[ix] Melville, Herman. Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories. Edited and with an introduction by Harold Beaver, Penguin English Library, 1970.

translated from the French by Andr茅 Naffis-Sahely
220 pgs. | pb |9781935744603 |聽$17.00聽
Archipelago Books
Reviewed by Brendan Riley

For English language readers, like this reviewer, whose literary sense of North Africa is delimited by periodic forays into the stories and essays of Paul Bowles, the horror vacui of a sun-blanched Oran in Camus糖心传媒檚 The Stranger and The Plague, Naguib Mahfouz糖心传媒檚 Cairo, the bygone world of The Travels of Ali Bey, or William S. Burroughs糖心传媒檚 cutup interzone skew, then Abdellatif La芒bi糖心传媒檚 autobiographical The Bottom of the Jar is an exquisite must-read.

Superbly translated from the French by Andr茅 Naffis-Sahely, this novel mainly focuses on the seriocomic musings and peregrinations of the author糖心传媒檚 alter-ego, Namouss, a young boy of Fez, seven or eight years old, as he starts to become aware of the complexities of life in his family and the surrounding city during Morocco糖心传媒檚 struggle for independence from France in the mid-1950s.

If Europeans are obsessed with background music, Moroccans have invented the background image, and without skimping on decibels either. In our home, clamor and din seemed to be inextricably mixed with our joy at coming together as a family.

This, the novel糖心传媒檚 second paragraph, indicates one of the operating principles that make The Bottom of the Jar so memorable as it leads readers through the clamor and din and confusion of a Morocco trying to establish a modern, national identity.

The narrative seamlessly blends three areas and levels of concern: the background of 1950s Morocco on the cusp of independence from France; the family糖心传媒檚 basic interest and concern in these events糖心传媒撎切拇綋their desire for liberation from the French coupled with disputes and worries about the potential dangers involved in supporting various factions vying for the leadership of a new Morocco; and how these fears are manifest in the misadventures of the eldest son, Namouss糖心传媒檚 brother Si Mohammed, a rising star in the family, and a supporter of Moroccan independence.

Employed as a postal clerk糖心传媒撎切拇綋thanks to serious study and good performance on government exams, and thus a step up from his father糖心传媒檚 artisanal status but also, because of its governmental and colonial character, a position that brings both admiration and controversy to his family and neighborhood糖心传媒撎切拇綋Si Mohammed ends an altercation with a French lieutenant by punching the man in the face. As a consequence he is imprisoned and La芒bi, setting forth with the color, humor, and arch meditative quality that characterizes the novel, describes the sacrifice of money, time, labor, and reputation which Namouss糖心传媒檚 father, Driss, and extended family must endure to save the brother from prison and restore the family糖心传媒檚 good name.

Driss is a saddlemaker in Fez糖心传媒檚 Sekkatine souk and, as Namouss says, 糖心传媒淸my father] was a saint. It took me some time to understand this.糖心传媒� Saintly for tolerating his shrill harridan of a wife, Ghita, for providing a humble but stable life for his family, for his good faith, and for his unwillingness to condemn anyone.

The fear and humiliation caused by the oldest son糖心传媒檚 brief imprisonment are also echoed later in the novel during an episode in which the family must frantically hide and destroy possessions that might compromise their safety during house-to-house searches amid the country糖心传媒檚 turbulent clashes for independence.

Namouss糖心传媒檚 reveries include memories of his loving but quarrelsome family, the focal point and highlight being his mother, the salty, thorny, colorful Ghita糖心传媒撎切拇綋the novel糖心传媒檚 dramatic anchor and the central presence in Namouss糖心传媒� his young life糖心传媒撎切拇綋and her endless stream of unsolicited, acid-tongued imprecations as she elbows her way through daily life in a changing Morocco. In stark contrast to the even-tempered Driss, Ghita is a vicious scold, an old-fashioned Moroccan wife; hardworking, demanding, petty, caring, profane, and righteously selfish when the situation warrants it.

The novel糖心传媒檚 early chapters also present Si Mohammed糖心传媒檚 arranged marriage, Ghita糖心传媒檚 pitiless machinations to procure for him the ideal bride (and thus bolster the family糖心传媒檚 reputation), and, amusingly, the gathered family糖心传媒檚 hushed expectation as the newlyweds retire to their room together for the first time and everyone eavesdrops to hear their cries of consummation.

Atop the richly developed background of social and political turmoil, La芒bi constructs a wonderful human comedy of family life and growing up in and around Fez, and the great, memorable charm of The Bottom of the Jar comes from the minutiae of his richly textured sketches and portraits of daily life in and around the Spring of Horses neighborhood and the Sekkatine souk, presented as Namouss糖心传媒檚 memories and what he and his family hear through 糖心传媒淩adio Medina糖心传媒� his nickname for the local grapevine of gossip and intrigue.

One of the many memorable sequences follows Namouss糖心传媒檚 introduction to a modern, secular French colonial school where he is, much to his astonishment, introduced to the French language and the mysteries of books and handwriting, things he had not been exposed to at his previous Qur糖心传媒檃n school; his pride in learning a foreign tongue is a sweet contrast to the political menace overhanging parts of the novel due to the strains of independence and, in some cases outbreaks of violence; thus when Namouss returns home and tries out his new words on his mother:

糖心传媒淏onjour madame.糖心传媒�

Ghita, who as soon as she steeped on a raisin could promptly feel its sweetness rise up into her mouth, or so she claimed, had understood.

糖心传媒淚s that Freensh or is it Freentasia, as they say?糖心传媒�

And she erupted into a roar of laughter

 

Other episodes include family outings: a colorful, daylong picnic in a beautiful orchard on the edge of Fez, or a short vacation at the Sidi Harazem oasis out in the desert where Namouss learns to swim; Namouss糖心传媒檚 first forays to the cinema (learning how to nab the best seats and, no less important, helping the unsophisticated Ghita to not confuse the cinematic illusion with reality) and soccer matches (too poor to get tickets, watching the game through the fence), a visit to the blacksmith in the El Haddadine souk, and getting caught up in a dangerous political demonstration, nearly trampled, and fainting from the crush of the crowd.

Chief among the novel糖心传媒檚 many virtues is its wonderful, unflagging good humor. Like the best books rooted in cities, the atmospheric detail, the evocative power of setting is strong, flavorful, sensual. The novel provides many vibrant, interesting vignettes, which variously fade like dreams or linger like the scent or taste of a pungent spice. As he begins to know and understand, and be baffled by his city beyond the familiar confines of the family home, Namouss finds amusement, delight, and amazement scouring the bustling streets, and the narrative moves from the boy糖心传媒檚 innocent errands in the marketplace to increasingly far-ranging and even dangerous excursions: 糖心传媒溙切拇綐tramping and traipsing the streets,糖心传媒� for which Ghita used to reproach him, or playing with the neighborhood kids right up to nightfall, mixing with the crowds in the Medina and taking in the flow of its sights,糖心传媒� and coming close to getting crushed by a heavily-laden donkey in the nearly deserted souk on one of the sleepy days of fasting during Ramadan. But Namouss糖心传媒檚 innocence is also reflected in the pleasure he takes in simply seeing the city laid out before his eyes as he gazes at its panorama:

He loved looking out over the city whenever he climbed up to the rooftop terrace. From his promontory, he could see the minarets of all the important mosques . . . Wholly absorbed, he watched the clouds of steam dancing slowly above the grid of houses, and lent his ears to the noises made by workshops and street-sellers. Crowning this scene, the sky offered him another perspective on visual digressions, a canvas that an inspired hand was painting ceaselessly using colors that Fez held the secret to and had given the original names to: zebti (flesh color), quoqi (artichoke-mauve), fanidi (bubble gum), hammoussi (chickpea), 锄补芒蹿谤补苍颈 (saffron), fakhiti ( azure), zrireq (violet).

 

Moving in closer, down to the ground, La芒bi糖心传媒檚 mid-novel tour of the Sekkatine souk is a descriptive marvel that encapsulates the spirit and virtue of this book: 糖心传媒淣amouss糖心传媒檚 olfactory memory stored a variety of smells: goatskin, calfskin, hemp yarn, wax, natural or colored wool, bits and stirrup irons, wood, some flour-based adhesive, and of course snuff, which Driss, like the majority of the people in the Sekkatine, consumed vast quantities of.糖心传媒� And this fine description serves to set up deeper, more complex and impressive memories of the heart of social life in Fez, challenged by the changing times:

After the woolen carpets, the secondhand saddles, stirrups, and moukhala guns made the rounds. It got to the point that items completely unrelated to saddlery were peddled: samovars, copperware, engraved daggers . . . But eventually business slowed down and the souk would recover a little tranquility. The shopkeepers did their paperwork ad the craftsmen went back to work, albeit less energetically than before. The local caf茅 was flooded with orders, people asking Mrimou, the owner, for coffees or mint teas, which were served in chebri glasses. Out came the nuts or the snuffboxes and everyone gave themselves over to pleasure. This was also the time when passing visitors were welcomed and gossip was exchanged: weddings, divorces, deaths, houses that had gone on the market, inflation, new products, and糖心传媒攏aturally糖心传媒攖he arm wrestling between nationalists and the colonial authorities.

One of the most vivid recollections the reader might take away from The Bottom of the Jar is La芒bi糖心传媒檚 cavalcade of portraits of the colorful local characters and relatives who inhabit their own moral and psychological realities, in moments that feel Dickensian, or perhaps, more appropriately, Mahfouzian, authentic pillars of a portrait of Fez in its turbulent fifties. This excellent series of sketches is anchored by Namouss糖心传媒� eccentric Uncle Abdelkader who arrives from out of town and brings in the modern world with manufactured and imported goods and, after the right amount of kif, regales his relatives and neighbors with tales from the north; through him La芒bi presents Tangiers with its exotic international palette as an almost non-Moroccan sort of city, as opposed to Fez糖心传媒撎切拇綋by contrast a cradle of tensions. There is also Mikou, an itinerant poet who lives off neighborhood charity: 糖心传媒渢he scion of a large family, which he had left behind in favor of a free, wandering lifestyle that had in turn led to his family disowning him.糖心传媒� Then there糖心传媒檚 Chiki Laqra芒, 糖心传媒渢he bald spook,糖心传媒� a Muslim woman who goes about unveiled, begging and haranguing the locals with her invective: 糖心传媒淲ho does that son of a bitch take me for? I am a woman, and the daughter of an honorable woman. My head is bare and I have nothing to hide. Let him come near me and I糖心传媒檒l show him which hole the fish piss out of.糖心传媒� We also meet Bou Tsabihate, the 糖心传媒渞osary man,糖心传媒� who preaches harsh sermons but not for alms: 糖心传媒淔aith and prayer are the only remedy. But what is it that I see? The mosques empty when it糖心传媒檚 time to fill your stomachs. You are still snoring when the muezzin calls you to your duty. And what about the orphans, what do you do for them?糖心传媒� But the mosque can also be a perilous place for the boys because it糖心传媒檚 there where they are likely to encounter Bou Souita, 糖心传媒淔ather Whip,糖心传媒� charged with preventing Namouss and the other boys from messing around. His namesake whip is:

A quince handle with a long leather lash attached to one end, which allowed him to strike the fugitives even in the farthest reaches of the square, dealing out blows in a most democratic fashion. Once the delinquents had been beaten and had dispersed, Bou Souita was free to attend to his other tasks, at which point the rabble-rousers would regroup, this time in a slightly more organized way.

Father Whip is offset by the kind Si Abdeltif, 糖心传媒渙ne of the few adults in the neighborhood who didn糖心传媒檛 look down on children and was always willing to exchange a few words with them.糖心传媒�

Other equally colorful residents include Bidous, the one legged beggar, A芒ssala, the vagabond cat lady, a virtual mute, and Harrba the captivating storyteller who works hard for his money:

Harrba would jump and twirl and about. He would mimic the sound of waves, the wind, thunder, rain, animal calls, evoking sounds as varied as explosive farts to the silent ones weasels make, and would stop – all of a sudden and without warning – to allow the audience to give credit where credit was due.

糖心传媒淲ould you like me to carry on?糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淵es!糖心传媒� they would yell in unison.

糖心传媒淰ery well then,糖心传媒� he would say, the show isn糖心传媒檛 free. Dig deep into your pockets and let me hear those coins.糖心传媒�

But of all these characters it is, once again, Ghita who is the narrative touchstone, poison punchline, and earthy, unexpected guide to local custom and occult rituals, best displayed when she allows Namouss to tag along to a meeting of a religious sect to which she糖心传媒檚 devoted, a cult dedicated to Lalla Mira, which translator Naffis-Sahely糖心传媒檚 helpful endnotes define thus: 糖心传媒淭he 糖心传媒榶ellow spirit,糖心传媒� a jinni that loves perfume, music, and dance and leaves laughter and happiness in her wake. When she takes possession of an individual, she sharpens their wit.糖心传媒� Indeed, Ghita seems to be a sort of coarse embodiment of this spirit. And when Namouss confuses his mother糖心传媒檚 patron spirit with a demon he糖心传媒檚 quickly corrected:

糖心传媒淲ho is Lalla Mira? Some sort of ghoul like A茂cha Kandisha?糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淢ay your lips go numb! I never want to hear you mention that scrap of carrion again, otherwise she will come and eat you and pick her teeth clean with your bones. Lalla Mira is a real Muslim. She is the spirit that dwells within us and who watches over us. Oh Lalla Mira, taslim, I surrender to you. Here I am, just as you like, wearing your color on my head. Keep evil away from me and my children, and may the evil eye go blind before it manages to reach us.糖心传媒�

The curious boy insists on accompanying his mother but gets more than he bargained for, and La芒bi糖心传媒檚 description of the rite, with its clouds of cloying incense, frenzied music and dancing, which overwhelm Namouss and cause him to faint, provides one of the most vivid and intense set pieces in a novel that is rich with them:

[Namouss糖心传媒檚] gaze is then drawn to a group of women dancing in the middle of the room. Dancing is not quite the word for it. Their agitation has nothing to do with swaying arms and hips or quivering bellies and shoulders, movements Namouss associated with dance as he knew it, the sort that women threw themselves into with a coquettish air at f锚tes and festivities. Instead, the only movement these women are making is snapping their heads back and forth in an increasingly staccato rhythm the rest of their bodies remain immobile, except for when one of them sinks to her knees and begins shaking her torso back and forth with extraordinary strength. Freed from her head scarf, her hair would fall free and toss back and forth, then it began to fly around like a giant eagle experiencing turbulence in flight. Inspired by this ecstasy, the Gnaoua musicians play faster and faster, shouting hoarse sounds to egg the women on. The women reply by ululating in unison. At its climax, the ceremony takes an unexpected turn: A young female spectator leaps into the middle of the ring, and as if she糖心传媒檚 been bitten by a scorpion, collapses on to the ground. Gripped by convulsions, she starts rolling and wriggling every which way on the floor. At this sight, a few dancers who haven糖心传媒檛 yet lost all sense of reason run over to her, but instead of calming her down, they merely restrict her freedom of movement by surrounding her in a tighter circle. In doing so, these women look not only delighted but even envious of this 糖心传媒榩oor epileptic.糖心传媒�

 

Finally, beyond its alluring, kaleidoscopic mise en sc猫ne, this novel is also about the author糖心传媒檚 birth as a writer, evidenced explicitly糖心传媒撎切拇綋by passages about his fascination for and growing love of books which bring foreign lands to his awareness:

Not only could he understand what he was reading but he was even beginning to forge a connection between the written words and the images associated with them: images shrouded in mystery and which seemed to come from another world – houses unlike any he糖心传媒檇 ever seen, with plenty of space between them, topped by chimneys where smoke rose like a snake into the air, and surrounded by gardens where blond, chubby-cheeked children played on a seesaw.

 

糖心传媒撎切拇綋and implicitly by the resultant masterly compositions which paint glorious pictures of life in Fez, The Bottom of the Jar itself, replete with comedy and well-timed, properly proportioned injections of pathos, constructed on vivid, detailed, imagistic descriptions festooned with lively similes and finely wrought extended metaphors. It糖心传媒檚 a novel that patiently elaborates a fascinating coming of age story, masterfully buffering its more sharp-edged historical concerns with Namouss糖心传媒檚 na茂vet茅 and La芒bi糖心传媒檚 deep love of life.

A classic novel of modern Moroccan literature, The Bottom of the Jar is an endless wellspring, a bottomless jar of riches, humane, hilarious, spicy and ribald, deeply captivating, always charming, never offensive糖心传媒撎切拇綋a serious, meticulously crafted memoir of revelatory erudition that superbly blends and balances the political, philosophical, and picturesque.

Joyce y las gallinas聽by Anna Ballbona
200 pgs. | pb |聽9788433937261 |聽鈧�17.90聽
Anagrama
Reviewed by Brendan Riley

This review was originally published as a report on the book at and has been reprinted here with permission of the reviewer. The book was originally published in the Catalan by Anagrama as Joyce i las gallinas.

Anna Ballbona糖心传媒檚 recent, highly praised, debut novel Joyce y las gallinas follows the misadventures of Dora, a young, disillusioned Catalan journalist who commutes to Barcelona by day from the rather hermetic and lifeless suburbs around the small industrial city of Granollers. Dora糖心传媒檚 uninspiring assignments, anodyne reporting on inconsequential city hall press conferences and糖心传媒揻or the fourth consecutive year糖心传媒揈piphany parades for children, leave her hungry for more vital literary and artistic experiences. A weekend holiday to Ireland and an unexpected invitation to a Finnegans Wake reading introduce her to Murphy, a Dubliner whose two passions in life are studying James Joyce and raising chickens糖心传媒攏ot for eggs or meat, but as pets糖心传媒揾ence the novel糖心传媒檚 title Joyce y las gallinas [Joyce and the Hens]. Sensing in Murphy糖心传媒檚 obsession something stranger and more authentic than her workaday life of commuting, reporting on non-news, and playing half-heartedly at the singles game, Dora finds a catalyst (or is it a siren song?) in the Banksy documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop. Under the conceptual spells of mimesis, replication, and transgression, determined to make her own original statement, Dora糖心传媒檚 double dose of aesthetic override drives her to adopt an alter ego (Banx) and pursue a new, double life of artistic vandalism糖心传媒攐r is it 糖心传媒淏anxism糖心传媒�?

The ensuing comedy of errors reveals Ballbona糖心传媒檚 novel to be a clever, tightly-stitched contemporary Catalan Dubliners, a sheaf of echoing episodes exploring problems of identity, self-worth, family ties, technology, sterile voyeurism, the perennial anxiety of influence, and the desire to escape from the endless looping subroutines of social conformity. Dora糖心传媒檚 odyssey courses our queasy fear that in a biological world of despoiled wilderness and landscapes, our only escape from the social mandate is an ever-circling flight within our own manias. This includes how Murphy糖心传媒檚 hen obsession echoes through Dora糖心传媒檚 story in a variety of gallina permutations both silly and serious, as she associates freely and comically about hen-based memories from her past, and begins seeing, with ever-greater significance, new and different ones in the strangest of places.

Ballbona糖心传媒檚 multifaceted central metaphor, 糖心传媒済allinas,糖心传媒� certainly stands for the traditional Spanish mother, domineering and devoted, the mother hen who keeps family and society meaningfully intact, but also, in our early twenty-first century, stranded in an increasingly anachronistic past. Of course, in English, 糖心传媒済allina糖心传媒� also means 糖心传媒渃hicken糖心传媒澨切拇綌both as the helpless candidate for the stewpot and as a blinking, clucking coward. So in Anna Ballbona糖心传媒檚 satire, seemingly as familiar and innocuous as a hen糖心传媒檚 white egg, we all turn out to be chickens. This is a novel about deception (legal, illegal, and extra-legal), self-delusion, people (all of us?) who hide in plain sight and live in perennial desire for, and fear of, self-exposure, insisting on false appearances even as we (pretend to) revile them. It糖心传媒檚 a satire on the cloistered voyeurism that results from our inability to relate to family and society as traditional life is erased, and replaced, dualistically, by an implacable technology and a fractured aesthetic to which we find ourselves beholden, whose implications we cannot understand, but to whose chimes we pirouette, enthralled and in thrall.

Seeking to enact a masterful Joycean-Banksyan performance (one that seems patently ridiculous until we see that it糖心传媒檚 really something else), Dora appropriately plays a strange and elaborate game of chicken with her community, right up until the very suspenseful climax, perhaps achieving what she intended, and perhaps achieving something worse, perhaps inevitably so. Dora wants to rouse the world from its somnolence, but is she really the blind sleepwalker, oblivious to the absurdity of her mimesis?

In addition to clear, measured and subtly wry prose, engagingly cerebral with a light touch, Joyce y las gallinas also sports a fine and effective cast of secondary characters. Most notably we meet糖心传媒揻ollowing a strange encounter between a tennis aficionado and a Rottweiler糖心传媒搕he noxious Alfred糖心传媒攁 sleazy, henpecked forty-something dysfunctionally devoted to his mother, Engracieta糖心传媒攚ho provides sinister comic menace and vital suspense.

It糖心传媒檚 a happy fact of geography for Ballbona that one of the familiar train depots heading out of Barcelona to Granollers, a busy stop on Dora糖心传媒檚 daily commute, is Montcada Bifurcaci贸. In a book about double lives and alter egos (Jekyll and Hyde is/are name-checked early on) this is a resonant binomial. Montcada is a small mountain at the north end of the Collserola massif; conspicuously quarried away for generations, it is gradually being flattened to nothing糖心传媒攁 mountain ceasing to be a mountain, a name without a place, a place without its namesake. It is not unlike the questing Dora糖心传媒攁 young Catalan woman at odds with her people, place, and tradition; a journalist who finds little meaning in daily life, who feels herself a very bland sort of belle du jour, a woman who finds a kind of cowardly courage to become, by night, a headless chicken on the run that really wants to be a crowing rooster. Birfurcaci贸 means, of course, bifurcation, and as Dora dwells on that train stop, (and given the novel糖心传媒檚 wild, peculiar climax that feels rather more Flann O糖心传媒橞rien than strictly Joyce), bifurcation brings to mind Jorge Luis Borges糖心传媒� signature story 糖心传媒淭he Garden of Forking Paths糖心传媒� (in Spanish, El jard铆n de los senderos que se bifurcan). And just as Borges糖心传媒檚 koan-like fiction of forking fortune leaves the reader reverberating with wonder and doubt, Ballbona糖心传媒檚 slender, artful dodger of a novel plays its black box finale with a very deft sleight-of-hand.

In a series of moving, artfully crafted entries that impressively synthesize the emotional spontaneity of self-reflection and metatextual associations, the narrator explores his life, friendships, and love affairs past and present. Benavides糖心传媒檚 limpid narration smoothly fuses memories, hopes, and the familiar anguish of the lovelorn bachelor with keen, critical observations糖心传媒撎切拇綋alternately piercing, touching, scathing, hilarious, and mordant糖心传媒撎切拇綋of contemporary life, and the perennial struggle involved in retaining one糖心传媒檚 dignity while trying to remain true to intellectual attitudes and artistic aspirations. Like the narration, the dialogue糖心传媒撎切拇綋either reported or quoted糖心传媒撎切拇綋is also clear, straightforward, and plausible, never feeling contrived or artificial.

The novel is intriguing from start to finish, skillfully braiding numerous storylines into a satisfying, surprising, open-ended finish. The narrator focuses on a range of relationships that seem familiar but not predictable: his ex-girlfriend Carolina; his old friend Arturo from Lima, who fled to London after his parents糖心传媒� assassination; a local couple: Enzo and Elena; the brilliant but seemingly washed-up novelist Capote; and a retired professor who tutors students at a local bar. His passing friendship with the professor, and his brief, melancholy interaction with a pretty young woman whose mother has a gambling problem, are also memorably touching. Sometimes the reader suspects, or hopes for, some particular outcome but each situation is resolved in an unexpected, realistic, and gratifying way through Benavides糖心传媒� expert plotting and lovely, thoughtful turns of phrase; and all of them purposefully contribute, to a greater or lesser degree, to the narrator糖心传媒檚 concluding sentiments and actions.

In some ways, Benavides糖心传媒� novel echoes the leaner, meaner moments of Hopscotch糖心传媒撎切拇綋smart, touching, and funny without Cort谩zar糖心传媒檚 voluminous obscurities. From all external appearances, and often by his own account, the lonely narrator seems merely a glib loser as he smokes, drinks whiskey (often a lot of it), contemplates women, and floats away on jazz, but through his clever, artful, perfectly paced diary he manages to be more immediately and artistically successful than Capote, who dreams of a prestigious Canary Islands literary prize, and Enzo whose jazz piano playing portends neither fame or fortune.

La paz de los vencidos combines the hook of popular novels and the robust intellectual reflection of the best literature; it糖心传媒檚 sad, funny, and moving, never flat or monotonous糖心传媒撎切拇綋a territorial risk with diary narration. The story is urban, intellectual, and emotional, the humanity abundant and universal. Thanks to the narrator糖心传媒檚 deft, amusing, and trenchant thoughts and speculations about his circle of friends, lovers, and acquaintances, the reader is likely to sustain an authentic interest in the whole lot of them.

Jorge Eduardo Benavides has published nine novels or short story collections to date. He has received widespread recognition, and some literary prizes, for his work, including the XII Premio de Novela Julio Ram贸n Ribeyro for La paz de los vencidos. This is an excellent, memorable post-modern novel laced with an inviting dose of wry skepticism. Reminiscent of some famous examples of diary fiction such as 顿辞蝉迟辞测别惫蝉办测糖心传媒檚 Notes from Underground and, for its humorous twists, V.S.Naipaul糖心传媒檚 story 糖心传媒淭he Nightwatchman糖心传媒檚 Occurrence Book,糖心传媒� Benavide糖心传媒檚 writing displays a high level of literary craftsmanship comparable to the work of contemporary Latin American authors like 脕lvaro Enrigue, Ana Mar铆a Sh煤a, Guadalupe Nettel, Juan Villoro, and Benavides糖心传媒� own compatriot Santiago Roncagliolo. .

A good literary translator will find this novel a satisfying challenge but no headache: the prose is clear, smooth, and flowing, not overly Latinate; it is highly translatable and deserves to appear in English. If done well it will make a superb literary experience for many more readers, and add Beniavides糖心传媒� name to the brief list of Peruvian writers known in the U.S.A.

Here’s the beginning of Brendan’s review糖心传媒攚hich is long overdue in being posted, for which I apologize糖心传媒攁nd which can be seen over at with other similar reader’s reports on Spanish titles. It’s a great and informative source; if you haven’t already checked it out糖心传媒攁nd in particular if you have an interest in Spanish-language literature (or the possibility of translating it!):

Jorge Eduardo Benavides糖心传媒� novel La paz de los vencidos (The Peace of the Defeated) takes the form of a diary written by a nameless Peruvian thirty-something intellectual slumming it in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in Spain糖心传媒檚 Canary Islands. Recently relocated to Santa Cruz from La Laguna, our lonely diarist supports his frugal existence by reporting to a dead-end job at a slot machine parlor. The diary糖心传媒檚 dates span October 5 to May 2 of the following spring of a nameless year(s) that seems to be the late 1990s near the end of the Fujimori presidency.

In a series of moving, artfully crafted entries that impressively synthesize the emotional spontaneity of self-reflection and metatextual associations, the narrator explores his life, friendships, and love affairs past and present. Benavides糖心传媒檚 limpid narration smoothly fuses memories, hopes, and the familiar anguish of the lovelorn bachelor with keen, critical observations糖心传媒撎切拇綋alternately piercing, touching, scathing, hilarious, and mordant糖心传媒撎切拇綋of contemporary life, and the perennial struggle involved in retaining one糖心传媒檚 dignity while trying to remain true to intellectual attitudes and artistic aspirations. Like the narration, the dialogue糖心传媒撎切拇綋either reported or quoted糖心传媒撎切拇綋is also clear, straightforward, and plausible, never feeling contrived or artificial.

For the rest of the review, go here.

Brendan has written reviews for Three Percent in the past, and has worked for many years as a teacher, translator, editor, and writer. Brendan’s translations include works by Juan Velasco, 脕lvaro Enrigue, Juan Filloy, and Carlos Fuentes.

Petrushevskaya’s published in English, There Once Lived A Woman Who Tried To Kill Her Neighbor糖心传媒檚 Baby (Penguin Books), came out in 2009 and was on NPR’s/Jessa Crispin’s . Here’s a bit of Brendan’s review:

This slender, uncanny volume糖心传媒攖he second, best-selling collection of stories by Russian author Ludmilla Petrushevskaya to appear in the U.S.糖心传媒攈as already received considerable, well-deserved praise from many critics and high profile publications. Its seventeen short tales, averaging ten pages each, are grouped into four sections: 糖心传媒淎 Murky Fate糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淗allelujah, Family!糖心传媒�; 糖心传媒淢y Little One糖心传媒�; and 糖心传媒淎 Happy Ending.糖心传媒� But there is little in them that readers might associate with true love or happy endings. Instead, Petrushevskaya delivers a smoking, cast-iron skillet upside the head: promiscuity, serial mendacity, domestic violence, dangerous liaisons, ineptitude, ignorance, geriatric romance, and cringing fear. Love stories? Seamy debacles. Hookup sagas set in a grim Moscow and environs. Coupling stories fraught with meanness, misery, and egregious misunderstanding. Workaday women sharing sour, collective apartments and tawdry, loveless lives. Young women who flower, suffer abuse, and wither. Collision stories: hapless women, old before their time, thwarted by brutal men. Though the men hardly fare better.

In 糖心传媒淎 Murky Fate,糖心传媒� an unmarried thirty-something living with her mother engineers a drab tryst with a man who services her with perfunctory courtesy and patronizing affection. But in her sterile office-life world, this confers a blissful memory: 糖心传媒淭here was nothing but pain in store for her, yet she cried with happiness and couldn糖心传媒檛 stop.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淭he Fall糖心传媒� offers a dry comedy of manners at a state-run seaside resort where vacationers escaping the rainy north come together only to multiply one another糖心传媒檚 misery. A gaudy temptress attracts a mooning pack of suitors before efficiently selecting her tall, confident 糖心传媒淣umber One.糖心传媒� They find the sex lovelorn travelers yearn for, only to fall prisoner to their coveted exclusion and inevitable teary separation: 糖心传媒淥ur golden couple has departed. The delicate Carmen and her faithful husband, Number One, are jetting through the frozen air away from each other, back to their children and spouses, back to the cold, and to hard, grim work.糖心传媒�

For the rest of the review, go here.

In 糖心传媒淎 Murky Fate,糖心传媒� an unmarried thirty-something living with her mother engineers a drab tryst with a man who services her with perfunctory courtesy and patronizing affection. But in her sterile office-life world, this confers a blissful memory: 糖心传媒淭here was nothing but pain in store for her, yet she cried with happiness and couldn糖心传媒檛 stop.糖心传媒�

糖心传媒淭he Fall糖心传媒� offers a dry comedy of manners at a state-run seaside resort where vacationers escaping the rainy north come together only to multiply one another糖心传媒檚 misery. A gaudy temptress attracts a mooning pack of suitors before efficiently selecting her tall, confident 糖心传媒淣umber One.糖心传媒� They find the sex lovelorn travelers yearn for, only to fall prisoner to their coveted exclusion and inevitable teary separation: 糖心传媒淥ur golden couple has departed. The delicate Carmen and her faithful husband, Number One, are jetting through the frozen air away from each other, back to their children and spouses, back to the cold, and to hard, grim work.糖心传媒�

In 糖心传媒淭he Goddess Parka糖心传媒� a schoolteacher called A.A. goes to summer in the country, rents a porch on a cabin, and falls sway to old Aunt Alevtina who plays Yentl to his bachelor, setting him up with young Nina, but it糖心传媒檚 a hard sell: 糖心传媒淣ina didn糖心传媒檛 impress A.A. She was heavy, very shy, with large pale eyes. But he did notice her casual, almost indifferent manner when she was examining some old prescriptions of Alevtina糖心传媒檚糖心传媒攖he manner of a true expert.糖心传媒� Only Alevtina糖心传媒檚 funeral provides the maudlin catalyst the shy couple requires to find one another and fall into what promises to be a mechanically indifferent relationship.

Alcoholism, an exposed nerve throughout the collection, drives the story of Ali-Baba, a scheming addict who hocks her mother糖心传媒檚 first edition volumes of Russian symbolist poet Alexander Blok for drink and drug money. One of Blok糖心传媒檚 own poems speaks perfectly to Ali-Baba糖心传媒檚 dead-end existence:

Night, street and streetlight, drugstore,
The purposeless, half-dim, drab light.
For all the use live on a quarter century糖心传媒�
Nothing will change. There’s no way out.

You’ll die糖心传媒攁nd start all over, live twice,
Everything repeats itself, just as it was:
Night, the canal’s rippled icy surface,
The drugstore, the street, and streetlight.¹

-10 October, 1912

It糖心传媒檚 a tale of misery masquerading as self-preservation, as Ali-Baba attempts to escape from her so-called 糖心传媒渓ife partner糖心传媒�: 糖心传媒淸He] had tossed her over the railing of his balcony for stealing his booze. She hung four floors above the ground, clutching at the railing, until two truck drivers forced their way into the apartment and rescued her.糖心传媒� Ali-Baba糖心传媒檚 own weird magic is that of a strange survivor; her Cave of Sesame is state-mandated rehab to which she gravitates, but only on her own sick terms. This involves a tryst with the drunken Victor, who is as crocked as 顿辞蝉迟辞测别惫蝉办测糖心传媒檚 Marmeladov from Crime and Punishment. When Victor pisses the bed, she ODs on sleeping pills and wakes up in the psychiatric hospital to fresh sheets and three squares a day.

糖心传媒淭wo Deities糖心传媒� offers the awkward mismatch between thirty-five-year-old senior editor Genya and Dima, a simple, office courier of twenty. A single drunken encounter糖心传媒攐n her mother糖心传媒檚 sofa糖心传媒攁fter an office party, produces a child, and they become reluctant, embarrassed parents: ordinary failures in the public eye, but gods to the child who has, unlike so many, a reliable mother and father.

Sweet, virtuous Oksana in 糖心传媒淟ike Pen茅lope糖心传媒� (as in Cruz) faces the common, nearly impossible challenge of finding love while trying to eke out some kind of modern life: 糖心传媒淥ksana studied forestry in a third-tier college糖心传媒攖he only one she could attend for free. Upon graduation she could expect to get a clerical job in a state agency tallying birches and firs on paper. She and her mother shared a two-room apartment in a standard concrete building.糖心传媒� Their drab, nondescript warren of misery is a standard location for these tales:

糖心传媒淚n one respect their housing situation stood out: right below them, on the third floor, lived an incredibly noisy family of violent alcoholics. Every night the floor shook with screams, banging, and knocking; the lady of the house regularly interrupted her partying to stumble outside and yell 糖心传媒淢urder!糖心传媒� and 糖心传媒淗elp!糖心传媒� Oksana tiptoed past their ravaged door; outside she dressed in dark clothing and wore her hat low over her face.糖心传媒�

Her mother, Nina, holds a thankless job editing textbooks, but she is a charitable soul. She takes in Klava, an old Ukranian friend hiding from 糖心传媒渟hakers糖心传媒澨切拇綌violent loan sharks pursuing her son, Misha. Nina糖心传媒檚 charity, vexing to her daughter, eventually brings Oksana face to face with Misha, and the hint of a dangerous, derailing passion.

糖心传媒淔ather and Mother糖心传媒� is a short study in Dostoyevskian madness wherein young Tanya longs to escape from her endlessly warring parents; the father a carefree soldier, the mother a negligent harridan with an unwashed brood:

糖心传媒淭he squalor of that household was beyond description, because the mother did her housework sloppily, saving her energy for the high point of her day: for eleven at night, which bled into midnight and later, so the children got no sleep and couldn糖心传媒檛 get up in the morning for school. The mother went further in her sacred rage, appearing at the officers糖心传媒� mess with the little one and kicking her husband as he walked out the door, as if to disprove the conventional wisdom that such methods never brought anyone糖心传媒檚 husband back (quite the opposite). Leaving behind her children unfed, she糖心传媒檇 chase her husband through town, screaming the most horrible things糖心传媒攖hat, say, she had found bloody rags tucked in a hole in the wall and that Tanya had had a miscarriage by her father.糖心传媒�

This passage eerily echoes the wrenching battles between Crime and Punishment糖心传媒檚 Marmeladov and Katerina Ivanovna Marmeladova:

糖心传媒淎h!糖心传媒� she cried out in a frenzy, 糖心传媒渉e has come back! The criminal! the monster! 糖心传媒� And where is the money? What糖心传媒檚 in your pocket, show me! And your clothes are all different! Where are your clothes? Where is the money! Speak!糖心传媒�

And she fell to searching him. Marmeladov submissively and obediently held up both arms to facilitate the search. Not a farthing was there.

糖心传媒淲here is the money?糖心传媒� she cried糖心传媒斕切拇綔Mercy on us, can he have drunk it all? There were twelve silver rubles left in the chest!糖心传媒� and in a fury she seized him by the hair and dragged him into the room. Marmeladov seconded her efforts by meekly crawling along on his knees.

糖心传媒淎nd this is a consolation to me! This does not hurt me, but is a positive con-so-la-tion, ho-nou-red sir,糖心传媒� he called out, shaken to and fro by his hair and even once striking the ground with his forehead. The child asleep on the floor woke up, and began to cry. The boy in the corner losing all control began trembling and screaming and rushed to his sister in violent terror, almost in a fit. The eldest girl was shaking like a leaf.

糖心传媒淗e糖心传媒檚 drunk it! He糖心传媒檚 drunk it all,糖心传媒� the poor woman screamed in despair 糖心传媒斕切拇綔and his clothes are gone! And they are hungry, hungry!糖心传媒澨切拇綌and wringing her hands she pointed to the children. 糖心传媒淥h, accursed life!糖心传媒�²

The most experimental tale of the bunch糖心传媒攊nspiration for the collection糖心传媒檚 macabre title糖心传媒攊s 糖心传媒淗allelujah, Family!,糖心传媒� a complicated, multi-generational, matriarchal tangle of several daughters born out of wedlock, written as a chain of 45 numbered paragraphs, confusing enough to sometimes require embedded reference numbers:

36. [Victor had] accumulated several notes from Zhanna as well as a number of letters from Alla with pictures of little Nadya, who was a replica of Victor plus dimples and curls. His mother also wrote糖心传媒攖hat Alla糖心传媒檚 life with her mentally ill mother (2糖心传媒�5) was becoming unbearable, that the crazy woman had put washing detergent in Nadya糖心传媒檚 cereal and wouldn糖心传媒檛 let Nina Petrovna see her own granddaughter.糖心传媒�

All this collective madness finds balance in Petrushevskaya糖心传媒檚 superb narration: clever, sardonic and maternal, a terse, almost breezy, delivery with spare, tasteful description, and an economy reminiscent of other masterful meditations on troubled relationships: Raymond Carver糖心传媒檚 What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and Thomas Farber糖心传媒檚 Who Wrote the Book of Love? Praise, too, for translator Anna Summers who renders these blunt tragicomedies with crisp phrasing and textured color appropriate to their wretched situations: 糖心传媒淭he baby was covered with a septic rash糖心传媒攈is whole little head felt like a cactus due to the tiny bumps.糖心传媒�

These unsparing, unbearably human stories would kick their way through a Las Vegas wedding chapel like a regiment of angry Spetsnaz, their ethos being that the brutal disappointments of modern life are simply unexceptional; shreds of love and companionship are small triumphs; a squalid affair is better than a spiteful marriage. But a few of these tales, at least, harbor shades of love, tenderness, affection, resolution, and forgiveness, the nitty gritty workaday side of living together that is part and parcel of redemption. I had to read the book twice to zero in on this fact because the first pass, despite Petrushevskaya糖心传媒檚 sardonic flair, brought only a wave of depression, an impression of wicked, gleeful anti-love stories with unbelievable twists of suffering no one should have to live through. One especial example is the tale of 糖心传媒淢ilgrom糖心传媒�:

糖心传媒淗er husband dumped her, literally kicked her out of the house, and took away her child, a little boy. First he took Milgrom out of her Lithuanian village糖心传媒攕he was a rare beauty, sixteen years old, but she didn糖心传媒檛 speak any Russian, just Yiddish and Polish糖心传媒攁nd then he divorced her; you could do that then糖心传媒攚ith total freedom he went and divorced her. And he brought another woman to live with him and told Milgrom to leave. So she left. She was eighteen years old. She nearly went crazy; she spent all her days and nights on the street across from her old window so she could see her child.糖心传媒�

Yet Milgrom糖心传媒攜ears later an old crone and expert seamstress糖心传媒攊s able to bring happiness to a clumsy, unskilled girl who is starting to feel her own beauty for the first time. Milgrom sews her a garment worthy of her young spirit:

糖心传媒淭he girl puts on her dress; looks in the mirror; escapes from that sweet-musty smell, out into the street, the sunset; and walks by countless doors and windows, behind each of which, she thinks, live only Milgroms, Milgroms, Milgroms. She walks in her cool new black dress, and she is seized with happiness, filled with joy.糖心传媒�

It糖心传媒檚 those rare gems of happiness that illuminate, and sometimes ennoble, these mad stories, the silver linings to their gray, leering cloudscapes.

¹ Translation from Russian by Alex Cigale (as published by Offcourse at http://www.albany.edu/offcourse)

² from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (Pocket Books, 2004; trans. Constance Garnett).

This is Yan Lianke’s third book to come out in English translation, the first two being Serve the People! and Dream of Ding Village. (Interestingly, this is his third translator, with Julia Lovell having done Serve the People! and Cindy Carter having translated Ding Village.)

In terms of Brendan Riley, he was born in Dunkirk, New York in the Year of the Fire Horse. He holds degrees in English literature from Santa Clara University and Rutgers University. He has worked for many years as a teacher, translator, editor, and writer. An ATA Certified Translator of Spanish to English, he also holds certificates in translation studies from U.C. Berkeley and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His translations include works by Juan Velasco, 脕lvaro Enrigue, Juan Filloy, and Carlos Fuentes.

Here’s the opening of his very positive review:

A rich, beautifully written, consistently surprising satire, Yan Lianke糖心传媒檚 Lenin糖心传媒檚 Kisses boasts an elaborate, engrossing plot with disarming twists and compelling characters both challenged and challenging. It leads the reader on a strange pilgrimage—often melancholy but certainly rewarding—through a China by turns traditional, modern, and fantastical.

The novel centers on the history and destiny of Liven, a remote village in northern China populated by invalids. To be a citizen of Liven, one must be disabled in some way great or small. But so sweetly harmonious is the bucolic life there, some even maim themselves to be allowed to take up residency. Liven糖心传媒檚 origins lie in a mythical past of heavenly days before the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the convulsions of the twentieth century, including the Communist Revolution and Mao Tse Tung糖心传媒檚 Great Leap Forward. Despite being a village of cripples, Liven is not a crippled village: symbiotic hard work ensures its people a life of plenty. As the shadow of modern times falls on China, Liven finds itself at odds with the world at large, populated by able-bodied 糖心传媒渨holers.糖心传媒� From the first page, its fortunes take an especially strange turn with the onset of some paradoxical weather: 糖心传媒淟ook, in the middle of a sweltering summer, when people couldn糖心传媒檛 liven, it suddenly started snowing. This was hot snow.糖心传媒�

High praise for translator Carlos Rojas糖心传媒檚 discovery of the ideal English name for Lianke糖心传媒檚 mythical Chinese village. In his concise, enlivening preface Professor Rojas explains that the Chinese verb shouhuo, which he translates as 糖心传媒渢o liven . . . is composed of two Chinese characters that literally mean 糖心传媒榯o receive life糖心传媒�, but in the novel糖心传媒檚 regional dialect are used to refer to enjoyment, pleasure, or even sexual intercourse.糖心传媒� This pitch-perfect target-language key at the heart of Rojas糖心传媒檚 translation—an impressive feat of lucid, flowing prose—provides an effective comic touchstone; the novel糖心传媒檚 exegesis begins and ends with the village糖心传媒檚 axiomatic name. It also raises the possibility for Liven, and its unforgettable story, to assume a permanent place in the popular literary imagination.

The novel centers on the history and destiny of Liven, a remote village in northern China populated by invalids. To be a citizen of Liven, one must be disabled in some way great or small. But so sweetly harmonious is the bucolic life there, some even maim themselves to be allowed to take up residency. Liven糖心传媒檚 origins lie in a mythical past of heavenly days before the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the convulsions of the twentieth century, including the Communist Revolution and Mao Tse Tung糖心传媒檚 Great Leap Forward. Despite being a village of cripples, Liven is not a crippled village: symbiotic hard work ensures its people a life of plenty. As the shadow of modern times falls on China, Liven finds itself at odds with the world at large, populated by able-bodied 糖心传媒渨holers.糖心传媒� From the first page, its fortunes take an especially strange turn with the onset of some paradoxical weather: 糖心传媒淟ook, in the middle of a sweltering summer, when people couldn糖心传媒檛 liven, it suddenly started snowing. This was hot snow.糖心传媒�

High praise for translator Carlos Rojas糖心传媒檚 discovery of the ideal English name for Lianke糖心传媒檚 mythical Chinese village. In his concise, enlivening preface Professor Rojas explains that the Chinese verb shouhuo, which he translates as 糖心传媒渢o liven . . . is composed of two Chinese characters that literally mean 糖心传媒榯o receive life糖心传媒�, but in the novel糖心传媒檚 regional dialect are used to refer to enjoyment, pleasure, or even sexual intercourse.糖心传媒� This pitch-perfect target-language key at the heart of Rojas糖心传媒檚 translation—an impressive feat of lucid, flowing prose—provides an effective comic touchstone; the novel糖心传媒檚 exegesis begins and ends with the village糖心传媒檚 axiomatic name. It also raises the possibility for Liven, and its unforgettable story, to assume a permanent place in the popular literary imagination.

Lenin糖心传媒檚 Kisses divides its narrative into three essential areas of focus. The two main protagonists are Grandma Mao Zhi, matriarch of Liven, and County Chief Liu, a government functionary who presides like a minor deity over his district of Shuanghuai. Between them they represent the dangerous, unrelenting tension between traditional ways and modern bureaucracy. Caught within their powerful yin-yang vortex is the wonderful, absurd, and utterly hapless Liven Special Skills Performance Troupe.

A devoted revolutionary who sees her dreams turn to nightmares, Mao Zhi symbolizes the sufferings and endurance of twentieth century China. When communism arrives she discovers that her village is neither recognized by the government nor shown on any map; she petitions that it be allowed to join the world and, after grueling pilgrimages to various seats of government, Liven is welcomed into the new China.

But when Mao Zhi tries to govern Liven through common sense and traditional wisdom, especially when it comes to helping the village endure China糖心传媒檚 cataclysmic famine which followed Mao Tse Tung糖心传媒檚 Great Leap Forward, all of Liven is denounced for counterrevolutionary activity, simply because they sensibly stored up their harvest against impending starvation. Nevertheless, the villagers are accused of greed, and the rest of the country comes calling to appropriate all their grain, tools, and livestock. Ironies abound: to save her people, Mao Zhi, ardent daughter of the revolution, must accept the charges of her accusers in the new Maoist cadres.

As I write this I糖心传媒檓 examining a grim black and white photograph from the Cultural Revolution: two suspected counter-revolutionaries are pinioned atop a farm truck packed with loyal Maoists; placards hanging round their necks declare their anti-revolutionary crimes; the truck is surrounded by a teeming crowd, all 糖心传媒渟truggling against糖心传媒� the offensive criminals. This picture is nearly identical to one of the more harrowing scenes of tribulation which Lianke describes, when Mao Zhi is forced to answer for the crimes of Liven. Summoned to the district capital, Mao Zhi prudently confesses to being a counter-revolutionary, and is spared, while the other 糖心传媒渃riminal糖心传媒� by her side has his brains blown out. Thus, despite the multiple positive implications of its name, Liven becomes a fallen Shangri-La, and Mao Zhi will spend the rest of her life trying to redeem it and restore its happy past.

Grandma Mao Zhi糖心传媒檚 counterpart is County Chief Liu, who concocts an improbable scheme to purchase Vladimir Lenin糖心传媒檚 embalmed corpse from a cash-strapped Moscow. His chuckleheaded assumption is that, once installed in a gleaming new mausoleum atop Spirit Mountain, the corpse will attract endless hordes of paying tourists, thus ensuring the district a livening mountain of money, more than it can ever spend.

This feckless communist-cum-capitalist party cog who, despite delusions of grandeur, is doomed to failure, provides the satirical alloy to the sombre tale of Grandma Mao and Liven. When Liu visits Liven during its annual livening festival, some of the disabled villagers honor him with a performance of their many unusual skills. Paraplegic Woman can embroider a butterfly on a poplar leaf with astonishing dexterity. Blind Tonghua can hear a feather land anywhere on the stage. One-Legged Monkey can outrun an able-bodied man and perform an amazing long jump. In their quaint freak show Chief Liu spies his golden goose: a special skills performance troupe to tour China and raise the millions needed to purchase Lenin糖心传媒檚 corpse. Granda Mao Zhi bitterly agrees to his mad scheme with an equally quixotic proposal; in exchange for granting the troupe permission to tour China, she secures Chief Liu糖心传媒檚 promise to allow Liven to once more withdraw from society in order to rediscover its heavenly days of livening.

The novel糖心传媒檚 structure offers only odd numbered chapters which are meant, according to Professor Rojas, to signify Liven糖心传媒檚 (and China糖心传媒檚) off-kilter progress through modernity. Most are followed by a variety of endnotes for 糖心传媒淔urther Reading糖心传媒�: some, with blunt-toothed sarcasm, constitute a simple, obvious gloss, while others go much further field, flowering out into complex, full-fledged chapters.

Liven糖心传媒檚 saga is both moving and gut-wrenching as well as mordantly, brutally, bitterly funny; it spares neither its characters nor its readers the multitudinous disasters of human folly. The novel is a veritable Chinese Box of absurd tribulations, each one containing its own Russian matryoshka doll. But the figurine糖心传媒檚 faces are painted in outrage, mirroring the reader糖心传媒檚 disbelief at Liven糖心传媒檚 seemingly endless misfortunes.

Sometimes the plot糖心传媒檚 style reads like a modern fable of the kind found in Hesse糖心传媒檚 Siddhartha or Flaubert糖心传媒檚 Legend of St. Julian Hospitaler with its flat recounting of grief and endurance in the face of impossible suffering. During one particularly grueling episode, the special skills performance troupe finds itself held prisoner inside the splendid new Lenin Mausoleum, built with the profits from its hundreds of high-priced, sold-out shows. Their jailers are none other than the band of 糖心传媒渨holer糖心传媒� roadies who糖心传媒檝e shepherded them around China for the past year. Jealous of the cripples糖心传媒檚 vast earnings, they hold them ransom against themselves, extracting their every last yuan by selling them food and water at outrageous prices. And when the suffering cripples of Liven have, once again, given their all, the demands only become more outrageous.

Betrayed by every other social arrangement糖心传媒揻eudalism, Marxism, communism, Maoism, bureaucracy, capitalism, show business, and the tenuous honor among thieves糖心传媒揕iven finally has nothing but itself, alone among the remote mountains of Balou with the blossoms floating on the spring breeze as in the famous 5th century poem 糖心传媒淧each Blossom Land糖心传媒� by Tao Yuan Ming. For a moment, the message seems to be that compassionate solidarity with our lowest common denominator might be the true path, but in the end Liven is no staging ground for revolution, simply a threshing floor, a harsh oasis, a lonely last resort. Lenin糖心传媒檚 Kisses, however, offers an irresistible attraction for readers of powerful, uncompromising satire. So pucker up, buttercup.