The Infatuations - Javier Marias

It's a reader's superstition, to begin the new year with a weighty book, that set the new year of reading on. I have been lucky in the 3 previous years having started the year with some brilliant books/writers.  Jose Saramago in 2013, Laszlo Krasznahorkai in 2012 and Roberto Bolano in 2011. This year begun with Javier Marias, and it puts me at ease with the outcome. 'All souls' was the only other book I've read before and I was always wanting to read more of Marias. Regularly in the speculation for the next Nobel Winner, the general praise for the writer and this book in particular, made my anticipation high even before the start of the read. I should say, I am rewarded for my selection.

It's those trivial and chance encounters in life, that reveals a great deal of personal realizations to you. Many things happen in life without we giving enough attention to it. They become a news item, a conversation in a gathering and soon forgotten. However, some of such have a larger impact in one's life involuntarily. As destiny drives us, you become part of these chance encounters, and its repercussions.

Maria Dolz, middle aged woman, works with a local publication, used to seeing an elegant couple having break fast in the Cafe she frequent. Then one day, she stops seeing them in their usual place. The curiosity did not  last long, as she discovered from the news paper about  the murder of the husband, a wealthy man named Miguel Desverne.  She offers her condolences to the wife Louisa Alday, out of courtesy, where she meets Miguel's best friend, and Luisa's new possible companion, a very handsome man, called Diaz Varela. No marks for guessing, of Maria's infatuations and a steamy affair with Dias Varela, soon after the encounter.

The questions that now arise for Maria is what is Dias Varela's relationship with Louisa and to Maria herself.  In a spurt of jealousy, Maria build her own possibilities and scenarios of Dias Verla's relationship and her interests and the potential benefits to both. The question moves towards the potential hand of Dias Varela, in the death of Miguel and her own part in the whole affair. As the questions of love, hate, sex, life, friendship and death is the theme Javier Marias examines after the initial pages of setting up the plot.

As these questions are asked and the possibilities are opened in front of Maria, as she inadvertently being part of the whole scheme, with no possible escape, she tries to find answers to various aspects of life and death.  And slowly and steadily, a rather silly murder by an addict turns to a cleverly planned and executed crime. Now the larger question of the rights and wrongs of the death. What if the deceased himself had planned for his death, and arranged everything in advance. What is the involvement of his close friend in helping him in executing his desire. When will one decide to stop fighting the illness and decided to call it quits ? Would you take your family into confidence before you decide on your fate or would you let them make believe in a random murder. Who is guilty and who is innocent ? What is the guilt shared by Maria herself ? Is she, now being aware of the crime, responsible to inform the wife and the authorities ? Does she have the physical proofs or the moral rights ? Javier Marias, leaves us with more questions and many possible answers threading the paths of existentialism, spiritual and philosophical encounters. It confronts us, disturbs us and shakes the fundamental beliefs. 

Dias Varela, cites literary examples from Balzac's 'Colonel Chabert ',  Shakespeare's Macbeth and Dumas' 'three musketeers' in justifying the events. In Balzac's novel, the dead soldier returns to haunt the survivors (including his wife) as the dead Miguel continue to haunt Varela. Varela quotes from Dumas'  "A thief can give back the thing he stole, a slanderer can acknowledge his calumny,The trouble with murder is that it's always too late and you cannot restore to the world the person you killed.". However, taking refuge in Dumas' again, he chorus the words  "A murder, nothing more.".

Marias is a master with his words. The narrative is built slowly, and before you blink, you are in the thick of the things, often participating in the crime by yourselves. A typical murder mystery, given a new meaning by his intelligence and masterly creativity. This book is not intend to stir you in your seats, wanting you to get to the end of the mystery. The plot by itself is slow and does not necessarily give a definite answer, but a possibility.  "The truth is never clear, it's always a tangled mess. Even when you get to the bottom of it."

His character leaves us with these thoughts, which in a way summarises my reading experience:

"It’s a novel, and once you’ve finished a novel, what happened in it is of little importance and soon forgotten. What matter are the possibilities and ideas that the novel’s imaginary plot communicates to us and infuses us with, a plot that we recall far more vividly than real events and to which we pay far more attention.”

Fabulous book, very intense albeit slow and deliberate, very engaging and thoughtful making it a great reading.

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The Infatuations  ( 2012)

Javier Marias  ( translated from Spanish by Margeret Jull Costa 2013)

Hanish Hamilton

346 Pages
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Guardian, NPR, Paste Magazine, NY Times, The Globe and Mail

The Book of Sand - Jorge Luis Borges

"...this book was called the Book of Sand, because neither the book nor the sands has any beginning or end."

The collection of short stories published towards the end of the literary career of Borges,  according to him is the best he has ever written. He was almost blind and at the twilight of his illustrious career as a writer. But, that and his words as a testimony does not make them as his best.  "The volume includes thirteen stories.The number is accidental, or fatal - here the two words are strictly synonymous- and not magical" says he in the author's note. " In these blind man's exercises, I have tried to be faithful to the example of H.G.Wells in combining the plain and at times almost colloquial style with a fantastic plot." , he conclude saying "I write for myself and for my friends, and I write  to ease the passing of time".

Some of them are to his admittance autobiographical ( the one richest in memories).  Most of the stories in this book can be identified as the reminiscence of an aging man trying to fabricate the tales of his yester-years  through scenarios, events, dreamlike sequences and encounters. The other, opening story has the confrontation with his own alter ego , in Cambridge  near Charles River. The Congress and "The Book of Sand" are the two other stories I found good in this. Avelino Arredondo, a story about a Political murder in the last decade in Uruguay is another interesting story.

These stories aren't the precipitation of all that wisdom and learning of a man who enthralled the readers for years. Despite his claim as his most significant work, for the strict Borges readers , both ficcions and labyrinth probably be superior to this collection.  One can observe the reflection of those writings in these pages, and it do have few classy stories to its credit. Borges gives us a hasty afterwords helping the readers into the context of his stories. He says he prefer an afterwords because prefacing the stories not yet read, is somewhat impossible task, since it demand analysis of plots. Not the greatest of the writing of Borges, but the stamp and touch of a great writer is evident in every page. I should get back to 'Labyrinth' soon.

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The Book of Sand (1975)

Jorge Luis Borges ( translated from Spanish by Norman thomas di Giovanni)

Allen Lane

94 Pages
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Latinoes, Wiki

The dream of the Celt - Mario Vargas Llosa

This book was published immediately after he was selected for the Nobel Prize in 2010. The anticipation and expectation were very high. More so, after the disappoint over the previous one- The Bad Girl. However, it took a couple of years before the English translation  to come out. In line with his later works ( those released in 21st Century) , Mario Vargas Llosa, takes up subject from history and historical figures and work his magic around those incidents. His earlier works such as 'The way to Paradise ( on Paul Gaguin) or 'The Feast of the Goat' ( on the dictator Rafael Trujillo of Dominican Republic) were very good, especially the feast of the goat. This time, he takes the case of Roger Casement , an IRISH revolutionary who spend his early days in Africa and later in Amazon fighting for the cause of the indigenous people against the abuse of colonial power.

Waiting for the hangman's rope in the Pentonville Prison in London, Roger Casement  ( "one of the great anti-colonial fighters and defenders of human rights and indigenous cultures of his time, and a sacrificed combatant for the emancipation of Ireland.” )  recounts his turbulent life spent across three continents. His appeal for clemency is under scrutiny by the Parliament, however the hope seems to be less, after the revelations of his sexual preference ( for the young dark boys of Africa and Amazon)  is made public by the authorities, obtained from his secret dairy. He seldom has visitors, most of his high profiled friends including some of the leading writers of the world abstain from meeting him or supporting him in public, for he is now under trial as a traitor of the kingdom, which once honoured him with Knighthood. Few visitors include an acquaintance in London and a Catholic Priest.

Roger's childhood is spend with his uncle and aunt after the death of his mother ( who continue to appear to him in his dreams) and later his father. Joined as an apprentice in a logistic firm, he get an opportunity to travel to Congo , which changes the course of his life.  Accompanying the great African explorer Stanley ( whom he recall as "one of the most unscrupulous villains the west had excreted on to the continent of Africa"), he had witnessed the atrocities of the colonial power Belgium inflicting upon the natives in their quest for 'black gold' rubber which is in great demand in the industrialised world. Its his investigation and report that opened the truth of the atrocities and cruelties that are subjected on the natives by the colonial powers.

On his return to England, he was entrusted with another challenge. This time to enquire about the activities of a British Company owned by Julio C Arana, in the Amazon jungles at Putamayo, Peru. To his dismay, the situation in Amazon is no better than what was in Congo. Those in power used all their cruel means to subdue and servile the native for their personal fortune. The levels of cruelty and abuse is no less and not surprisingly, those who were to take action were found in indulging the same atrocities, often paid by the business.

It is during these days in the jungle, that kindles Roger's patriotic believes. "Wasn't Ireland a colony too, Like the Congo ? Hadn't England invaded Ireland ? Hadn't they incorporated it into the empire by force, not consulting those who had been invaded and occupied, just as the Belgians did with the Congolese ?".  The rest of Casement life had been now focused towards Ireland.  Learning its history, its unique culture, and unsuccessfully trying to learn Gaelic, he started working with the Irish republican brotherhood and other similar organisations. His currently acquired fame made him the attraction and he was busy spreading the message across the country despite his physical illness in the form of arthritis. Raising funds for the organisation, trying to gather support of Germany ( enemy's enemy is our friend) to work along with the Irish Republican  Brotherhood in the event of an armed offensive, trying to secure arms and ammunition to the fighters, he worked round the clock for his dream. He was caught by the British Army, on his attempt to return to Ireland from Germany prior to the Easter Rising offensive, and was sentenced to death, by the court.

Written in three parts, each dedicated to Congo, Amazon and Ireland, Mario Vargas Llosa, does what he is best at. Weaving his narrative from the historical facts with his mastery and imagination, he build the case of Roger Casement. The cruelty and atrocities of the colonials ( chopping of penis and limbs, the whip marks on natives for smaller errors, the knife mark on the bodies with the company details etc), the plight of the soldiers who are asked to perform these atrocities by their superiors, the business houses with the eye for money and the personal preferences of Roger Casement,  etc are noted with keen observation and with detachment. Where history does not provide him with direct details, I think he excels himself. Where the available data is sufficient and with no scope of imagination, his writings are dull and plain as a text book., The part of Congo and Amazon are written brilliantly. However, the last part on Ireland does not live upto the previous two. However, he finishes in style.

Though this do not stand among his best books, it is better than the previous one.  Despite the uneven narrative towards the end, it still holds pretty well as a strong powerful tale. The narratives technique is brilliant often moving between the present ( 1916 at Pentonville Jail) to the respective continents. The ease of shifting of the narrative space is amazing. The language is fluid and poetic at many places. Again, not amongst his best,  good nonetheless.

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The Dream of the Celt ( 2010)

Mario Vargas Llosa  ( translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman 2012)

Faber & Faber

403 Pages
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Wiki Entry, Guardian, NY Times, Washington Post, Sydney Morning Herald, Telegraph, Independent