More than once, I was reminded of a book I read more than a year ago: "Of Human Bondage" by W. Somerset Maugham. Don't get me wrong - the two books are not similar, but they both describe a man's life with all its facets, its ups and downs, and follow the twists and turns of their principal characters' paths through several decades. While "Of Human Bondage" spans less than 40 years, though, "Any Human Heart" wraps up almost the entire 20th century, which makes it all the more interesting.
Through the eyes of Logan Mountstuart, a fictional character (although you could really believe he existed; everything is so convincing) whose "intimate journals" from 1923 to 1991 form the book, we experience WWII, the post-war era, the 1960s and 70s with their manifold changes in culture and society, and finally, the 1980s. A lot of what Mountstuart mentions in his journals was new to me; for instance, I did not know much about the Spanish Civil War, and the same is true about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, the (American) art scene of the 1950s and 60s and some aspects about the wave of terrorism affecting public life in Germany in the second half of the 1970s.
Because of these contemporary-historical bits, one could read this book almost like a work of non-fiction; a great number of artists (literature and painting, mostly) as well of political figures are mentioned, too. Mountstuart personally knew Ernest Hemingway and Pablo Picasso, Virginia Woolf and Evelyn Waugh, to name but a few.
I don't want to give away too much of the book, but the way the main character switches repeatedly from merely stumbling along events out of his control to actively taking charge of his own life, and how his decisions - or the lack of them - shape his present and future, is very well imaginable, as if it all really had taken place.
There are some very touching observations made by Mountstuart, while at other times one can't help but think that this guy wasn't a very nice person to know. Most of all, though, he - although fictional - comes across as entirely human.
If I am not very much mistaken, this was the first time I have read anything by William Boyd, but I am sure it won't be the last. I found an interesting article here; Boyd explains how he came to write "Any Human Heart", and why in this particular form.
The author's official website can be found here.
It sounds like an intriguing look at ourselves, in a round-about way.
ReplyDeleteIt is intriguing. The reader doesn't know what is going to happen, just as in real life none of us can be sure of what is going to happen to ourselves. In other books, one can often make a good guess about how a certain problem for the book's characters is going to be solved or how a certain situation is going to turn out, but not with this one.
DeleteA comment sent to me by email, because its author was having difficulties logging in (yes, I do have permission to publish it here):
ReplyDeleteWilliam Boyd wrote a few good books. And he created the painter Nat Tate, the name being a combination of The National and the Tate Gallery. When he published his biography, he gave a party and with David Bowie as accomplice pretended the artist had really existed. Of course, people did not want to be peasants and were all too familiar with Nat Tate's works...
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I haven't read this book, but there is a movie of it which was shown on our public TV a year or two ago. It was excellent. But what a strange life this character had. I never thought of the connection to Maugham's work, but I see it. It's something to do with mood rather than or as much as events. BTW, apparently Maugham did some work for the British Secret Service during WWI and this is another connection with the Boyd character.
ReplyDeleteNow I have to look for the book!
Exactly, Kristi, it's more about mood than anything else, I just couldn't put my finger on it until you pointed it out to me!
DeleteMy sister tells me she has the DVD of the mini series that was produced some years ago. I want to watch it soon, while the impression of the book is still fresh on my mind.
That sounds just my sort of book. But I asm in a quandry. I am having a 'Must not buy any more books' period until I have read some of the stacks and stacks that are to be found throughout the house. I shall obviously have to start a list with a reference to where they were reviewed.
ReplyDeleteWhy buy it, John? Isn't there a library near you where you could borrow it? Yes, I think you would like this one.
DeleteLike Kristi, I also saw this on PBS with one of my FAVORITE actors, Matthew MacFayden! It was very well done and I am sure that the book is good.
ReplyDeleteI notice from the website that you directed us to that his book "Restless" will be on TV at Christmas in England. Hopefully, we will be able to see that one soon.
And any book that is written in more of a journalistic style is more likely to appeal to me, since I am a non-fiction kind of gal!
You know, Kay, I was thinking of you when I mentioned the (sort of) non-fictional approach in my review :-)
DeleteI have not yet had occasion to get the DVD set from my sister, but I am really looking forward to that.
I've been of on an Amazon wander through his books and films after reading your post and following the links you gave. I cannot understand how it is that I've never come across any of his works as books nor as films. I shall certainly pursue this further although it might be through some of the films when I return to NZ (where I tend to watch more films because DVD hire through local 'libraries' is still very big business there.
ReplyDeleteHad it not been for the friend who gave me the book for my birthday, I doubt I would have come across it. If you watch the film before I do, let me know what you think of it!
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