Gerald Murnane's The plains

Courtesy: Text Publishing

Gerald Murnane's The plains was a fascinating novel for we Minervans to finish our reading year on. It was our third Text Classics book of the year, though we enjoyed looking at the wide range of editions the members who attended the meeting had read.

I use "fascinating" somewhat loosely because most of us found it a challenging read, with some of us enjoying it more than others. One member said that she felt she wasn't getting anywhere, like she "was wading through treacle"! Another said it was "mercifully short"! One member had read several reviews but found they did not really explain the book any more to her. We agreed that that's probably because it's an elusive book and one that's not easy to explain ... which may in fact be part of Murnane's intention.

So, I won't really try to explain it except to say that it's told first person by a narrator who, at the beginning, is a young man who travels to the plains with the intention of making a film about them and the plainspeople. The plains are not defined in specific detail other than being, perhaps, Other Australia. (They are probably inspired, though, by the plains of northwest Victoria). The rest of the novel (novella?) comprises this character's discussions, meditations, ruminations on life among the plains people, mostly from the home of the landowner who has become his patron. The novel starts:

Twenty years ago, when I first arrived on the plains, I kept my eyes open. I looked for anything in the landscape that seemed to hint at some elaborate meaning behind appearances.

Our discussion started with one member suggesting that the novel felt a bit like academic life. She elaborated by saying that it's about a group of people beavering away in their own arbitrarily defined worlds with their own set of assumptions. These people pursue their ideas in their own way, and follow and follow and follow those ideas, not worrying if along the way the ideas they are pursuing become disconnected from life. The obscure wars between Horizonites and Haremen seemed also to fit in with this idea. How many obscure academic disputes - wars even - have happened over the centuries?

One member in particular found it a frustrating read and was infuriated by the secondary role women play in the novel, stating that this dated the novel. She also felt that its focus on wealthy landowners dated it. Others argued that it's a timeless, mythical sort of book and that therefore these things that might bother them in a realistic novel did not bother them here.

What made the book hardest to read, we felt, is the fact that it has no real characterisation or plot, making it quite an alternative sort of literature. This reminded us of Samuel Beckett - and one reader said that her introduction by the American poet, Zawacki, noted that Murnane is closest to writers like Proust, Beckett, and Kafka. The scene in the pub where the artists are waiting to be called into their interviews with the landowners was somewhat reminiscent, a member said, of the characters waiting for the trial in Kafka.

We talked about the beauty of the sentences. Many were long, and some were hard to grasp, but they were generally beautifully formed and lovely to read. It was suggested that you could take almost any sentence and have a philosophical discussion about it. Some felt the first part of the three-part book was the easiest to read and comprehend, while others found the last two parts more readable. Some of us found the book funny, and at times satiric or ironic. It seems often to deal in paradoxes. We wondered whether Murnane is also a poet, as the writing feels a bit like poetry, particularly in the abstract way it explores ideas.

We discussed the idea that our reaction to this book says perhaps more about us as readers than about the book - an interesting idea to contemplate because perhaps, more than most books we've read, this book made us think about the reading process and what we like and don't like, what we look for. We learnt a little more about each other as readers as a result!

As to what the book is about, we threw up many ideas, such as:

• Time, and how we understand time.
• Possibilities and not wanting to achieve them or pin them down but rather to always have them ahead, undefined and unresolved. 
• The idea of secret lives happening, of culture going on elsewhere that we know nothing about.
• History and the desire to make sense of records from the past that might in fact be quite arbitrary.

Another issue we explored was whether we might be able to draw any conclusions from when it was written. It was published in 1982, the Fraser era, a pre-modern (our current modern anyhow!) Australia when, although we were highly urbanised, we still had a sense of being defined by the bush, by the interior. One member saw shades of Patrick White's Voss in the sense of looking inwards, though said they are very different books. Another said it felt a little like Cormac McCarthy's Blood meridian and the mythic sense he conveys with larger than life characters, though again said they are very different books.

Finally we discussed the fact that the narrator plans to make a film - though he never does. We considered Australian films like The proposition and The tracker (in which the characters aren't named). These films focus somewhat on how we deal with landscape, with place. We wondered whether Murnane is creating in this novel a filmic view of ourselves, a chimera perhaps? There's a sense of exploring the nexus between illusion and reality and not being sure, or not wanting to define, where one ends and the other begins. Without giving anything away, the novel closes on an image of the narrator with his "eye pressed against the lens" of his camera. One member thought was a perfect image - in and, perhaps, for the book.

Please, Minervans, add your comments below because this was a hard discussion to write up!

The street sweeper by Elliot Perlman

This month everybody who read this book liked (or loved) it and those still reading wanted to finish it. However, the contrived nature of the story spoilt it for some people.

This novel shows the importance of history and telling stories -- 'tell everyone what happened here ' is the main refrain through the story.  Dr Adam Zignelik, one of the main characters gives a lecture to his students at Columbia University early in the novel which is pivotal to the story. The lecture's topic is 'What is History ?'  Is something told to you, true or false and how much information do you need to know to be able to tell the difference ? We envied those students ! Can we use history to predict the future ?

The refrain is about the holocaust and what happened to the millions of Jews in the Nazi death camps during the Second World War. It is truly shocking in the graphic scenes !

The story of a death camp is told by a survivor, Henryk Mandelbrot, who was forced to work for the Nazis in the Sonderkommando. This factual 'tale' is told to poor Lamont Williams, the street sweeper and ex-con and 'innocent' main character. At the same time there is the fascinating and factual life of Dr Border (David Boder in real life), another University professor, who visited the death camps and concentration camps just after the War, capturing the stories of the survivors. Concurrently we hear about Adam Zignelik's life, an Australian/American intellectual, experiencing his own problems and getting involved with Dr Border's research.

It was felt that the characters were totally real and we loved Lamont -- he was such a battler. We also loved the scene where Lamont's cousin's daughter, Sonia is accused by her Mum, Michelle of saying the  'n' word.  Charlie, Michelle's husband is studying 'reconstruction' -- in other words, post civil war reconstruction (late 19th century) -- which was crucial in leading to the Civil Rights movement. He was an academic caught up in research and had little family life or even time for his friends, such as Adam. Was Adam clinically depressed ? Or was he just a wimp about his life with Diana, fathering a child and his career prospects ?

This novel is a great mixture of the real with the imagined 'history' and this lead to a discussion on history and imagination and how Kate Grenville was controversial in her depiction of early Sydney and the lives of the convicts. Likewise 'appropriation' could also be considered an issue in this novel -- we didn't really answer this -- Kate Grenville for instance, didn't tell her story from the Indigenous view point.  'The Street Sweeper' is such an amazing combination of stories about Jewish people and factual world history interwoven with the exploits of African Americans, real and fictional,  in the 20th and 21st centuries.

The resistance movement in the concentration camp surprised and horrified us, particularly for Rosa.  The Jewish Union officials were true to type -- their love of chicken soup was a slightly comic scene in amongst the seriousness.

Perlman's message is about every action having a consequence and life is about making ethical choices and how we must take small steps --realising that there are many dimensions to a problem.  Perlman engages us in narrating these stories -- third person narration most often with a melancholic tone throughout. A complex book which was apparently panned by 'The Guardian'. In our opinion it was a great novel -- certainly the best for the year so far.




    

Some books to consider for 2013

Potential Stella Prize contenders

The following books have been suggested by novelist Chris Flynn as possibilities for the (inaugural) 2012 Stella Prize:

• Carrie Tiffany, Mateship with Birds
• Deborah Robertson, Sweet Old World
• Paddy O’Reilly, The Fine Colour of Rust
• Susan Johnson, My Hundred Lovers
• Josephine Rowe, Tarcutta Wake
• Toni Jordan, Nine Days
• Chloe Hooper, The Engagement
• Michele DeKretser, Questions of Travel
• Drusilla Modjeska, The Mountain
• Romy Ash, Floundering

I've only read a couple of these so far (the Toni Jordan and Deborah Robertson), but they are probably all worth considering.

Canberra region books

We've talked about having a bit of a focus on Canberra next year given the centenary. Here are some ideas for that too:

• Irma Gold (ed), The Invisible Thread (an anthology of works by writers with a Canberra association)
• Alan Gould, The Seaglass Spiral
• Anita Heiss, Paris Dreaming (indigenous chicklit, deals with Aboriginal art and set in Canberra and Paris)
• Frank Moorhouse, Cold light (the third in his Edith trilogy and set in the Canberra public service)
• Kel Robertson, Smoke and mirrors (a crime book, and the book voted to represent Canberra in this year's National Year of Reading)

And of course

Hilary Mantel, Bring up the bodies (sequel to Wolf Hall and this year's Booker winner)

If you have other ideas, let me know in the comments and I'll add them to this post. We'll be discussing our schedule at our November meeting.

A difficult young man, by Martin Boyd

Courtesy Sydney University Press

It was a rather unruly discussion when Minervans met this month to discuss the Australian classic, A difficult young man by Martin Boyd. A difficult young man is the second of what is now known as the Langton tetralogy and has an autobiographical element but, as the narrator tells us:

... the reader must take certain wild statements as intended for fun, though they contain an element of truth too subtle to be confined within the limits of accurate definition. One can make exact statements of fact, but not of truth, which is why the scientist is forever inferior to the artist.

Ha, there's a lot packed in there but the main point is that the book contains, we thought, a lot of truths about the Boyd family while the facts of their lives diverge.

Our discussion started with two members talking about their close encounters with the Boyds. One member's father knew Arthur Boyd, Martin's nephew, and could have had a Boyd portrait of her father in the family if only her father had foreseen the future! The other member lived near the Boyds in Melbourne. She was friendly with Martin Boyd's great niece and visited their home. How many degrees of separation do the rest of us get from these!

Most finished the book, and most liked it, but a couple found the style hard-going. We discussed the long rambling sentences and suggested that in some ways the style is "old-fashioned". Yet, many of us also felt the self-analytical, self-deprecating tone had a modern feel. One member liked the fact that the characters felt like real rather than fictional people - they'd come and go in the story like real people she said. Another member felt that the wit, irony and satire reminded her of Jane Austen, even though his narrative voice (first person) and plot (more family saga than romance) are not at all like Austen. Several members spoke of the great descriptions in the novel, such as this description of a young woman:

She spoiled her appearance by a peevish manner, and her exquisite fragility had little correspondence with her inner nature, which was as hard as the enamel on a snuff box.

We liked the satire and Boyd's astute observations about people.

The plot focuses on the eldest brother (well, promoted to eldest after the tragic death of his older brother), Dominic, and is about Guy's attempts to understand him. We felt that while the story is ostensibly about Dominic (loosely based on Merric Boyd), the novel is in many ways about Guy himself. Guy describes a well-to-do family, pre-world war 1, in which paid employment has not been the expected thing. The result is some level of class snobbery, but one borne of their family circumstances than of any active desire to denigrate others. In fact, the family finds itself at the wrong end of snobbery when they spend time in England where they are seen rather as New World upstarts. It was suggested that these books would make a great miniseries, à la Downton Abbey or The Forsyte Saga.

While we didn't spend a lot of time discussing theme (or what the book is about), we did discuss it a little. We felt that one theme was to explain why his family was the way it was. Other themes we noticed included promoting a humane way of viewing the world (one that abhors cruelty like war), and the value of living a creative life. The Boyds have certainly emulated the latter through several generations now. There is also, in the book, a sense of the end of an era - particularly for the leisured class - something that the father, Steven in the book, sees coming but which they are not necessarily well prepared for.

There was much more discussed and quotes shared but the conversation was so animated that I didn't manage to capture anywhere near all the points raised and talked about - so I hope members whose points have not been properly represented here will add them in the comments!

Near the end of the discussion, one member bemoaned the fact that she hadn't heard of this novel before and wondered why, suggesting that Martin Boyd had been overlooked by the Australian literary establishment because of his "English-ness". Others weren't so sure of her thesis, particularly those who had heard of Boyd and his novels. There are so many novels out there, it's not surprising we haven't all heard of them all, even the significant ones! We appreciate the work of publishers like Text bringing these books to the fore again.

And now I will close on a mundane point. Two members read the book in e-versions (one on a Kindle and one using the Book-ish service). Both complained that their books were presented with a skewed chronology: their books went something like chs. 1, 2, 3, 9, 5, 6, 7 ... to the "real" last chapter, followed by ch. 4. How disconcerting. These were not free versions ... seems like rather sloppy quality control to us!

Stasiland by Anna Funder

In the happy and relaxed environment of Janet's lounge recently we discussed the tortuous, weird and scary world of East Germany during the rule by the Stasi, 1949 - 1989, (the secret police of the Communist state).  Overall assessment of the book was admiration for Anna Funder's writing style and also for her ability to honour the stories told to her without introducing her own agenda. Honesty and seediness is present -- it is left to the reader to draw her own conclusions.

It was noticed that most victims were women and mostly men were the perpetrators and Anna Funder managed to interview both, being sensitive and patient and tolerant no matter what was told to her. Truth was stranger than fiction in this time in Germany. The structure of the book is well thought out -- with a mix of victims and 'firm' recruits/employees stories being told. We even hear about how people were recruited and how one independent woman blew her cover at her factory -- if only more had been as brave and intelligent as her ! However not all were treated so kindly.

Some stories stand out, such as Miriam's, which begins and ends the book. 'She could have been responsible for the outbreak of civil war' (page 29) and yet she is willing to tell Anna about her involvement with the Stasi including having to make up stories in order to survive.  There are the people who like to have an authoritarian ruler so they don't have to think and just do their job, it made them feel safe and everyone knew their place eg Hagen Koch.  However even for him the resentment grew and he was able to grab some evidence of the craziness.

We felt amazement that people still could get on with their lives despite the conditions and the lack of information they had to cope with. The story of Julia and her Italian boyfriend is sad in lots of ways and the devastating effect on her, so she couldn't relate to men or authority or commitment later in life. The story of brave Frau Paul and her son removed to West Germany as a tiny baby only to be reunited a long time later with his parents. Frau Paul is keen to tell Anna the story so writes it down for her calling it 'The wall went straight through my heart'. How poignant ! Anna was a very empathetic listener.

 This book is a great read, oral history with great substance.  

Fergus Hume's The mystery of a hansom cab

Six of us gathered to discuss this 19th century Australian detective novel and unanimously enjoyed it. It was surprising to some of us that we had not read it before as we found it such a good read with quite a modern tone in some ways. It was mentioned that this had been the best selling detective novel of Victorian times, outselling even Conan Doyle.


A striking feature of the book is the lively evocation of Melbourne of the 1880s, where the author lived for some years. It details the landmarks, streetscapes, society both high and low, and particularly the low-life of Little Bourke Street full of vivid characters showing more than a nod to Dickens. We loved the many references to the culture of the times, for example the responses to the piano pieces being played by the young ladies, the books they are reading and what is on at the opera. There were many quotes from literature, and we thought the author was enjoying showing off with this literary name dropping. We enjoyed the book's sly humour, for example the character Felix and his new wife who is determined that she will get him into parliament, and references to the English attempting to adapt to the Australian climate.

It was mentioned that the author had set out to write a popular novel, modelling the book on those of Émile Gaboriau who was very popular at the time. We felt that is was much more than just a formulaic novel though. As a crime novel or "whodunnit" we thought it was quite complex and interesting, the plot having many twists and turns with gradual revelation of more clues and an unexpected ending. We noted that there was no single detective taking us through the solution but competition between the detectives involved who each took us in a different direction, as well as Calton the "lawyer as detective". We felt that it succeeded well as a melodrama with tongue firmly in cheek, having plenty of fainting girls, Dantesque slums, noble self sacrifice, sinister dark nights and such. As "literature" we had to acknowledge some failings though, many characters being rather stereotypical, some "clunkiness" as well as some plot points being laboured.

We felt that it was the humour that gave the book a light and relatively modern tone, as well as the point of view which moved from character to character throughout the book. The attitudes of the author, while inevitably being very Victorian, seemed relatively modern and liberal for his times we thought. For example his heroine was much more feisty than those of Dickens, having a "steely determination" and the female characters were no mere victims. Another character goes to live with a "Chinaman" who treats her much better than her earlier lovers. This reminded us that Australia always has been a mixture of cultures. As well as English, Irish and Chinese there is also mention of "street arabs" in 1880s Melbourne. While the people of the slums are depicted as lesser people there is some acknowledgement that they are human and disadvantaged. We noted evidence of Victorian morality, for example many Biblical references. Another comment was on the importance and fragility of social position as revealed in this novel, where one dark secret can undo you, and the layers of society and the importance of knowing where you fit in, but how all the same there was a fluidity in the society of the new world of Melbourne.

A main theme of the novel is the role of Fate in human affairs; to what extent people (both men and women) are puppets of fate or master of their destinies. Chapter 30 "Nemesis" begins: "Men according to the old Greek "are the sport of the gods""

Finally we noted that in this pre-ANZAC society there is already a consciousness of being Australians as well as British, and we loved these predictions:

In spite of the dismal prognostications of Marcus Clarke regarding the future Australian, whom he describes as being "a tall, coarse, strong-jawed, greedy, pushing, talented man, excelling in swimming and horsemanship," it is more likely that he will be a cultured, indolent individual with an intense appreciation of the arts and sciences, and a dislike to hard work and utilitarian principles. Climatic influence should be taken into account with regard to the future Australian, and our posterity will no more resemble us than the luxurious Venetians resembled their hardy forefathers, who first started to build on those lonely sandy islands of the Adriatic.

Orhan Pamuk's The museum of innocence

This book was a challenge to us --  the realm of the book is large and the details provided are minute. This passionate love story is set in Pamuk's beloved Istanbul and the city's history and streets are described in some detail and it is really more than just background in the novel. The way people from different social classes interacted and lived was also important and impacted upon the story. Maybe it was a story of 3 loves? (Kemal and Fusan and Istanbul?)

The general feeling was that the book was enthralling on a certain level but needed a good edit. However it did engage with us. Those of us who hadn't finished the 700 pages probably will not bother to finish however now we know the denouement and the details to be overcome. One reader was adamant that the sentence that summed up her feeling about the book was : 'it was like being caught in a suffocating dream...' (page 576 in the Faber edition). He was actually describing his feeling of watching Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' on television with the Keskin family.     

We couldn't believe that the author was so obsessed himself to create an actual museum in Istanbul -- not just virtual but a reality -- how weird and obsessed! Was the reality which opened in April 2012 a way of capturing the Turkey of Pamuk's youth? 

The characters were not generally liked -- we thought Kemal was a spoilt wimp and even glib and superficial (and even a bastard) and Fusan wasn't really fleshed out sufficiently. Why did she suddenly assert herself after 8 long years of being the housewife?  We felt we didn't see enough of her side of the story. The character most admired was Sibel as she was the mature woman even though her life was badly affected by Kemal. We were pleased that she ended up well.           

The engagement party was a pivotal moment in the story. Up to that point the pace was good, after that we felt that the story slowed down and became more introspective just like Kemal himself. 

Despite the difficulties with this book we did agree that it was beautifully written and was a real page turner. His writing is very heavily influenced by European writers such as Proust and Flaubert among others. Also Nabakov's Lolita was mentioned as a parallel? And maybe the nostalgia and melancholy felt by Kemal and Pamuk were directly linked to these writers and their take on the world?  

What was it really about ? Was it just obsession or was there more?  Was it highlighting the changes being made in Turkey in the last quarter of the 20th century from a relatively poor country to one trying to become more Westernised and improve the economy for all of its population? Was it tracking the mood of melancholy as it lost some of the old ways and its acceptance of all things European? This was evidenced by one of the few mildly amusing features when Kemal is talking about the housewives buying the latest gadgets for their kitchens but not knowing how to use them properly. Or the little china dogs etc which were made and sold universally. Also the love of Paris in particular for all the rich girls.

 We also commented on the secular state established after the First World War and the admiration in the West for these changes. Pamuk artfully conveyed the feeling of the ordinary people (as shown by Fusan's Mum and Dad) that Turkey is neither West nor East but a mixture and will always be at the crossroads. The amount of traffic increased on the Bosphorus from the cold war days when 'Soviet ships passed through the Bosphorus at night and the American submarines plied the Marmara'. (pg 547) to big oil tankers etc in the latter part of the story, no detail is neglected.   The rise of the Turkish cinema was another interesting side issue. The sitting around the television endlessly reminded us of old fashioned English TV shows such as Til death us do part.      

It is an extremely complex book and we would probably benefit from a reread but there is no way any of us are going to bother! It was fascinating to see that Turkish readers generally gave him excellent reviews but Westerners were less keen. The original could be better than the translation? It does happen. 

 We suggest that we draw a line under Pamuk for quite a few years -- we have had enough!