"Enough about Love," by Herve Le Tellier

In the past few months, I have read, enjoyed, and posted here about several novels and memoirs set in France. The most recent is “Enough About Love” (Other Press, 2009, translation 2010), by Herve Le Tellier, translated from the French by Adriana Hunter. This novel is the story of two affairs and the complications that ensue among the four main characters and their families. It is all very modern and French (at least according to our American stereotypes about the French…). I enjoyed reading it, and found the characters well drawn. But it seems to me that there is something hollow at the core of the story, or perhaps of the characters. Although the novel is all about love and passion, it somehow seems that at least some of the characters are on some level playing an intellectual game, standing outside themselves and watching the game with great interest. This is particularly true of Anna, a psychoanalyst having an affair with Yves, a writer. Yves, by the way, ends by writing a book that sounds (intentionally) suspiciously like this book, the one sitting on my desk as I write. Very “meta.” The novel is structured a bit like classical farce; the reader can almost imagine a carefully choreographed dance, or stage play, with various characters entering and exiting through various stage doors. This impression is reinforced by the organization of the book, which consists of dozens of short chapters, each titled with the name or names of certain characters, such as “Thomas,” “Louise and Romain,” and “Anna and Yves.” Something that bothered me about the book, though: At the risk of sounding old-fashioned and prudish (which I don’t think I am), a part of me -- the emotional part, not the intellectual part -- feels that the novel doesn’t represent accurately, or enough, the problems, even devastation, brought about by affairs that threaten and sometimes destroy longtime marriages, especially when there are children. In this novel, the characters briefly talk about difficulties, and about feeling torn by the situation, but the problems don’t feel viscerally real. And the young children of the original marriages seem remarkably and -- it seems to me -- unrealistically unaffected by the affairs, even going on outings with and liking their mothers’ lovers. This novel offers many pleasures, including the Paris setting and the virtuoso writing. I am glad to have read it. But finally it seems to me a bit too much of an intellectual exercise that doesn’t truly engage the heart.

Memorable Comic Writers

One of the joys available from books is great comic writing. Such writing not only makes us laugh, but makes us recognize human foibles and see the world in a new way. The terrific writers listed below do not necessarily always work in a comic vein, but each of them has written at least one wonderful comic work and/or has woven comic characters and situations throughout her/his work. I thank these authors for the great reading pleasure I have experienced over the years from reading their work.

Amis, Kingsley
Austen, Jane
Beerbohm, Max
Bennett, Alan
Benson, E.F.
Dickens, Charles
Delafield, E.M.
Fielding, Henry
Heller, Joseph
Hornby, Nick
Lodge, David
Macaulay, Rose
Mitford, Nancy
Pym, Barbara
Shakespeare, William
Thackeray, William
Thirkell, Angela
Twain, Mark
Vonnegut, Kurt
Waugh, Evelyn
Wodehouse, P. G.

This and That: Mini-Stories

Yesterday’s Sunday (8/21/11) San Francisco Chronicle book section had several interesting mini-stories:
1. A page full of colorful images of book covers illustrates the fact that whenever cover designers want to show that books take place in San Francisco, they almost inevitably use images of the Golden Gate Bridge. Seeing these Bridge-bedecked covers -- some quite lurid -- all together on one page is striking and a bit amusing.
2. Although Charles Dickens wrote in his will “I conjure my friends on no account to make me the subject of any monument, memorial, or testimonial whatsoever,” the first-ever statue of him in Britain will be erected in Portsmouth next year.
3. Ann Patchett, author of “Bel Canto,” “Run,” and “State of Wonder,” will open a bookstore in Nashville in October; she says “I don’t want to live in a city that doesn’t have an independent bookstore.” Brava, Ann Patchett!
4. The highest earning authors in the world last year were James Patterson ($84 million), Danielle Steel ($35 million), Stephen King ($28 million), Janet Evanovich ($22 million), and Stephenie Meyer ($21 million). No comment.

Great Aunt Priscilla's Shakespeare on my Shelf

I have written (5/28/11) about how I cherish the few books I have that were my late grandmother’s. I am also very happy to have a beautiful set of Shakespeare’s plays -- small muted-green clothbound books in the Yale Shakespeare collection, published in the 1910s and 1920s -- that were my late Great Aunt Priscilla’s. Aunt Priscilla was almost like a second grandmother to us, as she was very close to my mother’s family, lived with them for a while when she was a teenager, and was dearly loved by all in my mother's large extended family, including my mother and, later, me. I remember our visiting her in the Okanagan Valley when I was a child, and during my early adulthood had the honor and pleasure of showing her and her friends around San Francisco; she loved traveling and loved her friends, and after she became a widow, traveled more than ever. I loved and admired her and learned from her; she was a longtime schoolteacher, respected by everyone in her community, and a very well-read person. She also had a strong sense of justice, and worked for peace and justice in various ways. Although I don’t believe she used the term “feminist” about herself, she was a great example of an independent woman (married, but independent) at a time when not many women were interested in being, or able to be, so strong and independent. She was a great role model for those who knew her, including my aunts, my cousins and me, as well as generations of her students. So when I see her books on my shelf, I think fondly and admiringly of her, and thank her for being the strong, wonderful, influential woman she was.

"Dreams of Significant Girls," by Cristina Garcia

I have -- unlike many children and adults -- never read the Harry Potter books. But I am glad that they have provided so much reading pleasure to so many. As I wrote on 8/13/10, I don’t read much Young Adult (YA) fiction, and I especially don’t like or read science fiction/fantasy, whether YA or adult. But I have very occasionally read YA books when they relate to girls figuring out their lives, female friendships, sisterhood, and related topics. One such YA novel I enjoyed some years ago was Ann Brashares’ “The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants,” which was later made into a movie. I have just read a new YA novel, “Dreams of Significant Girls” (Simon & Schuster, 2011), by Cristina Garcia, author of the critically well-received book for adults, “Dreaming in Cuban.” “Dreams of Significant Girls” attracted me because of the sisterhood topic, as well as the fact that it is set at a boarding school in Switzerland. As a person who attended a (very nice but much less posh) boarding school (Kodaikanal School) for five years in India, many years ago, I am drawn to such stories. In addition, as I have written before, I am interested in issues of social class, and this story raises some of those issues, albeit indirectly. The three main characters from three very geographically dispersed places all attend the elegant Swiss boarding school every summer for three summers, are very different, initially don’t get along, but become fast friends and great sources of support and comfort for each other during those summers and for a long time after. Despite the fact that these girls are quite privileged, they all have serious issues to deal with. (I know, I know, the “poor little rich girl” theme is a bit worn, but the author makes it fairly fresh in this novel.) The characters are appealing and the story is fairly interesting, but what most appealed to me was, as I predicted, the female friendship/sisterhood theme. The story is in some senses too predictable, and lacks depth, but it is enjoyable to read, and it does reinforce the important idea that girls’ and women’s friendships are crucial elements in their lives.

Memorable Birth Scenes in Literature

Another in the "memorable" series: Memorable Birth Scenes in Literature

Morgaine gives birth to Mordred (The Mists of Avalon)
Tristam Shandy is born (Tristam Shandy)
Kitty and Anna both give birth (Anna Karenina)
Melanie gives birth (Gone With the Wind)
O’lan gives birth (The Good Earth)
Milkman is born (Song of Solomon)
Denver is born (Beloved)
The narrator is born, and her aunt gives birth (The Woman Warrior)

Writing Colonies

I wrote on 2/16/11 about unusual places that some writers write, such as a remote island. Most are more conventional, writing in home studies, at dining room tables, in university offices, in libraries, or in coffeehouses. But some writers are fortunate enough to be given, for a few days or weeks, the opportunity to write at various writers’ colonies. Some of the most famous ones, entrance to which is of course very competitive, are Yaddo, Macdowell, Bellagio (on Lake Como!), Ucross, Hedgebrook, Dorland Mountain, and the Virgina Center for Creative Arts. Most of these colonies are set in physically beautiful surroundings, which provide inspiration and a sense of well-being. Writers are given quiet, comfortable places to write, with all meals and other needs provided. They may stay for as little as a week or as much as several weeks. Even if one is not fortunate or well known enough to be accepted to one of these, some writers have access to shorter stays at conference centers or other sites that provide congenial and quiet spaces for writing. For example, some universities, such as my own, sponsor weekend writing retreats; I have participated in several of these. It is amazing how much writing can get done in a weekend in which one’s complete focus is on writing. And there is always the self-constructed writing retreat; for example, my colleague P. and I have created two three-to-four-day writing retreats in the beautiful city where she lives. We focused on writing all day, and then had delicious dinners and talked about what we were writing and how it was going, providing each other with advice and encouragement. The key to all of these colonies and retreats is having the luxury of a good place and uninterrupted time to write.