David Lodge, Author, Author
With Author, Author, David Lodge departs from his usual, amusing, well-beloved stories, and writes a biographical fiction on a celebrated author: Henry James.
I wasn’t supposed to read Author, Author. Like everybody interested in new fiction, I had read marvels about The Master, by Colm Toibin (which I have bought but haven’t brought myself to read yet), shortlisted for the Booker prize, and heard nothing, or less, about Author, Author. Had I actually read that it was not as good as The Master? or was it just what I inferred from the publicity made for The Master and lack thereof concerning Author, Author? Anyway, although I have read and enjoyed many novels by David Lodge, I suspected that this departure from his usual writing style wouldn’t be worth it. Until something changed my mind…
Recently, someone, aware of my passion for books and writing, gave me David Lodge’s latest non-fiction book, The Year of Henry James, rightly thinking that I would enjoy it. I have reviewed this book on my blog in French, sticking to the rule that I would review books read in French in French, and books read in English in English. Let me sum up the argument of the first essay in the book: In The Year of Henry James, David Lodge tells about the genesis, conception and reception of his novel, Author, Author, and about the lack of chance (or is it the curse of Henry James?), and bad timing he met, having his book published after The Master. In The Year of Henry James, Lodge explains how this project was dear to him, and how thoroughly he researched it. He also thought a lot about how the story should be told, in which perspective, and from whose point of view. He pondered a lot about each individual sentence, wanting to pay respect to James by adopting an almost Jamesian writing style. Although he never writes it, it seems that he wanted Author, Author to be his masterpiece. But fate wouldn’t allow that, and The Master was published before, encountering the success we know…
At first, I thought Lodge was a bit pathetic, complaining for a comparative bad luck whereas, on the whole, he has nothing to complain about: he is a successful writer, probably one of the best-selling authors in England, and probably living very comfortably from his writing. And then it hit me: what Lodge was trying to do by his essay was to change the fate of his book. Since he thought the success of the novel hadn’t been what it should be, he would do everything in his power to change its fate, refusing the well-known fact that a novel is out of the author’s control once it is out in the world. And it worked, at least with me… Lodge earned one more reader for his novel by writing this essay. I figured that if Lodge felt like defending this book, it means he trusts its qualities. As I wrote in my review, I don’t know if it is true that he still hasn’t read The Master, but if he has, he certainly doesn’t feel threatened by it…
Author, Author narrates some years in the life of Henry James adopting his point of view (in a Jameslike manner), except in two circumstances where the author felt, rightly, that other points of view were needed. Lodge concentrates on the friendship between James and George du Maurier, and on their literary rivalry, as well as on a more ambiguous friendship with another author, Constance Fenimore Wooston (the ambiguity being on her part). Lodge’s novel is not a biography, first of all, because there is very few on his childhood and youth, and fewer about his last years, or about his friendship with Edith Wharton, for instance. Also, unlike what is done in a biography, Lodge invents conversations and thoughts that might or might not have taken place.
Author, Author is a fascinating reading experience not only for lovers of Henry James, but also for people who are interested in writers in general and in the writing process. (I am both, although if I know well a fair number of James’s short stories, I have not read any of his novels yet). James’s life was not remarkable for being adventurous, like Conrad’s, or shocking, like Oscar’s Wilde. James was a prudent man, shying away from excesses or from temptation. If, as I understood, Colm Toibin (and other authors), have assumed he had relationship with men, David Lodge’s Henry James is a virgin. More inclined to fantasize about men than women, granted, but a man who doesn’t want the constraints of a relationship nor the intimate contact of the flesh. At heart, James’s Lodge is a prude. He is also selfish, preferring to see his good friend Constance suffer rather than giving her false hope, or envying his other friend du Maurier’s successes rather than truly rejoicing with him. Lodge’s James is self-centered, sometimes self-assured to the point of vanity, at other times self-doubting to the point of belittlement: in two words, Lodge’s James is profoundly human.
The pivotal point of the novel is James’s disastrous experience with writing drama for the theatre, and the humiliation following the first of his play Guy Domville in London. Lodge explains Henry James’s motivations for investing himself in a genre that he considered minor, and his obstinacy to succeed in drama, before definitely turning his back on an unfulfilled ambition. Lodge explains the sufferings linked to writing in general, the hope and effort put in a piece of writing, the agonies of waiting, and the crushing disappointment, when the reception doesn’t meet the expectations of the writer. He tells of the alternation of elation and depression, the self-aggrandizing and self-deprecating, the mood swings and obsession. By contrasting du Maurier’s successes and James’s failures (since he only became after his death an unavoidable author studied in every English course), he shows the paradox of fate: James, who wanted recognition his whole life, received the Order of Merit as he was lying moribund, while Du Maurier was bothered and ultimately killed (according to James), by a success he wasn’t welcoming…
I can see what Lodge’s detractors could reproach to his novel: a lack of a strict directing line (if it is his friendship with du Maurier, why is there so much about Constance Fenimore Woolson?), a lack of unity, a clumsy effect brought by his telling of the Guy Domville episode from different perspectives, or his own voice wanting to address James on his deathbed, at the end… Maybe… But for my part, I can say I haven’t been so enthralled in a long time as I was reading this jewel of a novel. I immensely enjoyed reading it, and I can only hope I will have as much pleasure reading its "rival" The Master…
Rating: 5/5
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