Unreliable Narrators

We all forget many of the specifics of lectures and discussions in school and college. But we also all experience educational moments that stand out and that we remember over the years. One of my such "aha" moments, one that has stuck with me these many years, occurred in a college class on the 19th Century British novel. We were discussing "Wuthering Heights," and the professor asked if we could always be sure the narrator of a novel was reliable, was telling the exact truth. I remember we all looked at him rather blankly, and finally he had to gently lead us to apprehend the idea that often authors would purposely create unreliable narrators whose viewpoints affected the way they told the story, even to the extent of -- consciously or unconsciously -- withholding or distorting the "truth." (Of course the question of whether there is any one "truth" is a huge one in academe, far too big to tackle here!) Our professor helped us see that Nelly Dean, the housekeeper who narrated much of the story in "Wuthering Heights," was limited in her knowledge, and also had an interest in presenting events a certain way. I remember this came to me as news; I guess I -- and apparently my classmates -- thought of the narrator as a sort of straightforward, unbiased conveyor of the events in a novel. Such a belief was obviously the product of youth and naivete. I thank my professor for that moment of being startled into questioning, of suddenly seeing literature in a new way.

A Male Writer on Bias Against Women Writers

I have occasionally addressed the issue of whether or not there is now equality of the genders in the world of literature, most recently on 8/26/10 (writing about A.S. Byatt's contention that smart women writers are not welcomed) and on 9/4/10 (writing on the assertion made by some women writers that the New York Times Book Section is a "Boys' Club"). Now a well-respected male writer who lives partly in India and partly in the UK, Pankaj Mishra, writing about American literature, states that "the ruthless regularity with which white women novelists along with short-story writers, poets and essayists are excluded from the canon of 'great American writers' (long after the writers so beatified ceased to be readable) ought to make us suspicious." (The reason he specifies "white" women is that he believes "stories of ethnic minorities assimilating into American society" -- presumably by women writers of color as well as men -- are respected by the literary establishment.) Mishra writes of being asked by a reader in India to make up a list of the best American literature, and of finding that he rejected many of the "great" male authors for his list. He says, "Much of the American fiction I chose – for its formal and political daring, and, yes, universal implications – turned out to have been authored by white women writers, many of them virtuosos of short fiction. My list included Mary McCarthy, Elizabeth Hardwick and Carson McCullers as well as such contemporary practitioners as Shirley Hazzard, Deborah Eisenberg, Jane Smiley, Lorrie Moore and Jennifer Egan" ("Pankaj Mishra on American Literature.” The Guardian, 9/11/10, http:www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/11/).

The Romanticized Class-Based Image of Martha's Vineyard

On 9/10/10, I wrote about trying to hold onto to the last days of summer by reading novels with the word "summer" in the title. Such books are often set in waterside locations, and one favorite such location is Martha's Vineyard; both novels I mentioned in that earlier post were set there. A fair number of novels are set there; Anne Rivers Siddons' novel "Up Island" springs to mind, and there are a couple of mystery series with MV settings. Somehow Martha's Vineyard epitomizes carefree vacations, but in a different way than, say, Florida or Hawaii do. Probably the difference is that Martha's Vineyard is known for being a vacation place for the monied classes, so the romance of summer is combined with the fantasy of affluence, especially of "old money." Although many Americans hold onto the tattered illusion that the United States is a classless society, in reality we are all very aware of class distinctions, the financial aspects of which have grown rapidly in the past ten years, with the increasing income gap between the richest and poorest residents. So even the settings of novels reflect Americans' muddled feelings about class and money, and readers' fascination with America's version of "aristocracy."

Vanity Fair + Vanity Fair

I love reading the magazine "Vanity Fair." It is a sort of semi-guilty pleasure, as it has both articles on serious political and social issues, on the one hand, and articles on fashion, the social elite, the world of entertainment, and gossip, on the other hand. Recently I was thinking about connections between the magazine and Thackeray's wonderful 19th century novel, also titled "Vanity Fair." Both are bursting with fascinating content, and both are full of contrasts. Each of the two is both intellectual and worldly, both informational and entertaining. Each has a sort of wry, worldly tone. Each is about chic celebrities as well as the difficulties of war and poverty and sudden changes in people's lives. I think Thackeray, that supremely witty and worldly author, would have been very much at home in the editorial offices of the magazine "Vanity Fair."

The Man Booker Prize Shortlist

The Man Booker Prize is given annually to the best novel written in English by a citizen of the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland, and it is a very big deal in the UK and in other Commonwealth countries. Every year a committee chooses a "longlist" of 12 or 13 titles, and then a bit later narrows the list to a "shortlist" of six titles. The shortlist for 2010 has just been announced. The titles on that list are: "Parrot and Oliver in America," by Peter Carey (Australian-born); "Room," by Emma Donoghue (Irish-born, lives in Canada); "In a Strange Room," by Damot Galgut (South African); "The Finkler Question," by Howard Jacobson (English); "The Long Song," by Andrea Levy (Jamaican-born, English); and "C," by Tom McCarthy (English). I appreciate the Booker Prize lists because they provide a window into the best literature in English from around the world; this opens up my sense of connection to English literature beyond the books reviewed in The New York Times and other U.S. publications. Sometimes I have already heard of, and sometimes have read, the authors, sometimes not. I was happy to see Emma Donoghue's new novel on the list; readers of this blog may remember that I have written about three of her earlier books: "The Sealed Letter" on 7/20/10 and "Touchy Subjects" and "Landing" on 7/31/10. I very much admire and like her work, and look forward to reading the new novel when it arrives in the U.S. As for the other shortlisted writers, I have already requested "In a Strange Room," by Galgut, from my local library, and will look into checking out the other titles as well. The winner of this year's Booker Prize will be announced on October 12th; so far the favorites seem to be "Parrot and Oliver in America" and "Room." But just being on the short list, winner or not, is an honor and brings much recognition to the selected authors.

The Fraught Relationships of "Steps"

The stereotype of the cruel stepmother has been with us for centuries, maybe more. We all remember fairy tales and folk stories embodying that stereotype: "Hansel and Gretel" springs to mind. But of course the reality is, in most cases, far different. Most stepmothers want to love and take care of their husbands' children. But often, despite the best intentions, the situations are very difficult. The children may feel resentful of the stepmother, believing that she has separated their parents. Or they may feel disloyal to their mothers if they get along with their stepmothers. On 9/3/10 I wrote about Ayelet Waldman's novel "Love and Other Impossible Pursuits," in which the main character had a very difficult time establishing a relationship with her young stepson. I am now listening to a recording of "Other People's Children," by Joanna Trollope (Viking, 1999), which focuses, as the title suggests, on the very difficult "step" relationship, not only between stepmothers and stepchildren, but also among stepbrothers and sisters. There are several step relationships in this novel, and they are all fraught, to say the least. Josie has one set of adult stepchildren, one biological son, and now has taken on another set of stepchildren in their early teens. Both sets of stepchildren are deeply resentful, despite her very best efforts. Elizabeth is also taking on stepchildren, and in her case, interestingly, the problems are more with her adult stepdaughter than with her young stepson. Both of these stepmothers' relationships with the fathers of the children are threatened by the storms and tensions in the "step" relationship, as the fathers feel torn between their children and their wives. Both books remind us that the "evil stepmother" stereotype is very unfair, and that most stepmothers do their best in often extremely difficult situations.

Last Gasp of Summer Reading

Right now I have two books on my to-read pile with the word “summer” in the titles: "Summer House," by Nancy Thayer, and "Summer Sisters," by Judy Blume. Yes, that Judy Blume, but did you know she writes novels for adults as well as tweens and teens? Hmmm, could I be trying to hold on to the lovely flexibility and fun of summer? I am now three-plus weeks into my new semester, but apparently still caught up in remnants of the summer fantasy: vacations, beaches, summer houses, summer sisters, summer romances, summer friendships, summer drinks, summer books...can you say "chick lit"? As you might remember from my posts on 7/13/10 and on 9/4/10, I have been thinking about the term "chick lit," and how it demeans novels of interest to women. Yes, some of them are a bit lightweight (and that's OK; sometimes that's what one wants, just as sometimes one wants a mystery or other genre fiction), but they often also address issues of interest to women (AND men!). Besides, there are degrees of "chick lit"; some books with that label or in that general genre are quite intelligent and well-written, others not so much. I may or may not write about these particular books here, but just the titles remind me that, consciously or unconsciously, I am not yet ready to let go of summer...just for a little bit longer...