Acting on Bryan's urgent recommendations of Shirley Hazzard, I bought both The Transit of Venus and The Great Fire, and, slow reader that I am, I have finally completed both. I have to say, He Is Not Wrong. These are two novels quite unlike anything I'd ever come across in contemporary fiction (though there's a distant affinity with the great Marilynne). They deal primarily with love and, of all things, goodness, and they do so with a subtlety and layered complexity that is rarely encountered (though often imitated in works that are merely dull). The Transit of Venus works through the gradual unveiling of its characters' depths in a plot of extraordinarily ingenious construction and enormous range, in which things yet seem to happen as they do in life - i.e. not at all, then all at once, and often, crucially, beyond our control. The Great Fire inhabits a similar world, but is more intensely focused on a handful of characters across a shorter stretch of time (shortly after the Second World War). One of the results of this intense focus is that, as Bryan notes, by the end the emotional pressure is almost unbearable. Read it and weep (or not, according to choice) - but read it, and read The Transit of Venus. Indeed, it's probably safe to recommend every word Shirley Hazzard has written.
Here are the basics.
Thursday, March 06, 2008
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Nice to be right. Doesn't often happen. Thanks, Nige.
ReplyDeletei enjoyed The Great Fire. i suspect it was too delicate and subtle for me but even so i could see it was wonderfully well done, and there were many points that were so brilliantly poised, so well handled, i made a mental note "wish i could do that!"
ReplyDeleteSuitably inspired, I have just purchased The Great Fire. Of course, by the time I finish it and want to make a comment here, this post will have slunk far down the list of archives, where no one bothers to visit again.
ReplyDeleteThat is one thing that irritates me a little about blogs. That, and being the last comment on a post, as I probably am again here.
No you're not, Steve. And next time Shirley Hazzard comes up - as she surely will - seize your chance and chip in.
ReplyDeleteI've just finished TofV and thought it superb. I'd like to confirm that I've understood the ending. Caro dies when the plane crashes on take-off and Ted commits suicide (cf Virago ed p12 "He took his wn life in a northern city"). This is the precise ironical application of the French story about the Transit
ReplyDeleteBut in the preceding chapter BEFORE Caro goes to Sweden, Grace refers to Ted's suicide...and Caro says she won't go to Sweden...am I missing something, and/or being really thick?? Help!
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