Books on the absurdity of life -2-
Beckett, Lowry, three US writers: Hawthorne, Keyes, Brautigan and one Japanese: Murakami
Go to page 1
Go to page 3 (Italian and Russian sphere)
The absurd can be funny, it is often tragic.
Samuel Beckett (b.1906) was an Irish playwriter who lived in Paris and wrote in French. His most beloved piece remains Waiting for Godot. A lot of interpretations of this play have been given over the years, but for my generation who lived through the miseries of WWII, it reads as "we all wait for God, and He does not show up". Beckett had been disgusted by nazism long before WWII and was a resistant during the war. Critics wisely underline his friendship with James Joyce, his links to existentialism, his taste for minimalism, but me, and I guess most people as old as I am, we read Beckett and we think about the suicide of Primo Levi.
Malcolm Lowry (b. 1909) Under the Volcano ***is the story of a the last day in the life of drunk British Consul in Mexico, and it lasts 400 pages. You can imagine that many people will find the book boring, because they want action. It is however, a great book. The style is splendid, you cannot help wanting to go to Mexico, and if you pay attention, there is much to love in this dying man. He is eloquent and powerful in his absurdity, wondering for instance, where are the children that he might have wanted. Here too, I am tempted to view the hero as Europe failing to see the rise of nazism and self destructing, but many other interpretations exist. You do not need any explanation from anybody if you ever felt like this: "I am an outcast from myself, a shadow."
On the American side I selected three authors I love.
Hawthorne (b. 1804). If the words Concord, Puritan, Scarlet Letter do not resonate for you, you did not pay attention in school. But it is not the Hawthorne that touched me, it is the author of Wakefield "who absented himself for a long time from his wife". Here is a man who goes out of the house and goes to live nearby for a number of years, without reason: the short story leaves you to ponder what kind of man does that, and would you do yourself anything like that, and "stepping aside for a moment" run the risk of becoming "the Outcast of the Universe"? It is one of the most extraordinary short stories I know, and you can find it here, in Young Goodman Brown and other tales ***
Daniel Keyes (b. 1927) will make you cry. He tells the story of Charlie Gordon, who is a nice, not very bright guy. An experiment has been made on a mouse that makes that mouse extremely bright, so Charlie undergoes the same operation and becomes extremely bright as well, but then, the mouse starts to deteriorate. It is beautifully and simply written: Flowers for Algernon
Richard Brautigan (b. 1935) had his hour of glory in the tumultuous times of the counterculture and is not read much nowadays. His cult book was called Trout fishing in America. But the book I prefer is Dreaming of Babylon. It is the story of an investigator who cannot solve any crime, because he daydreams of Babylon, and Babylon is more interesting than reality.
Haruki Murakami (b. 1949) is a real modern author, but nowadays they call it "postmodernist". There is a good biography in wikipedia. It is all about alienation, but it is strong and fascinating. Try your luck with After Dark. I said it was strong, I did not say it was easy, but it is well worth the effort.
Go to page 1
Go to page 3 (Italian and Russian sphere)
Buy anything from Amazon here, it does not cost you more, and it helps me.