Been very slack at contributing, but thought I'd belatedly chip in a bit more. The esteemed and venerable judges have spoken and decreed J.G.Farrell as the winner. Now,I have yet to finish all of the candidate books for the prize, but I have read Troubles (plus the Bawden,the Spark and the White, while Renault I read years ago, and have some recollection of).
It is a very good novel,but perhaps not great, and possibly not quite as cpmplete a work as the Siege of Krishnapur. What it does do,though is convey a tremendous sense of place and the effect of those environs (the Majestic Hotel and the town of Kilnaalough), their enveloping atmosphere of, well I was going to say eccentricity, but that has too many overtones of wilful wackiness and ham-fisted comedy, so let's say the atmosphere is one of singular behaviour,caprice galore,combined with the extension of entrenched orthodox thinking (from the "Shinners",to the Dominion-status compromisers/accepters, and the Unionist/empire perspectives) to such lengths that convoluted and tragically absurd thinking prevails.
The story does have some very comedic, downright bizarre passages, but always underpinned by sadness, and hitched to the interspersed news reports (not sure whether they are genuine reportage from the era, or invented: either way, they ring true). The period picked is an especially interesting one, often overlooked in the teaching of history, not only in the UK but also rather down-played in the Republic of Ireland, for this was a time of the Irish Civil war, when besides the ongoing conflict with the worst excesses of the British rule, the disagreements within the Irish nation itself as to the best way forward became internecine warfare, worsened by the lingering presence of the acts of the Black and Tans: brutality became a way of life.
With this backdrop we see the major, himself a victim of the harshness of war (WWI), something which peeks out from his facade every now and again, who starts with hopes and aspirations galore, and doesn't so much lose them, as have them overwhelmed and drowned out by the curious, semi-soporific,semi-deranged,all-embracing environment which instils in him a distinct form of anomie.
Has anyone else read Troubles yet?
I'm so pleased you wrote a post on this Alisdair - it's the only one of the shortlist that I didn't manage to read. (and - goddarnit - it won...)
ReplyDeleteI think what you say about this period in history is interesting, and if you think about the time at which it was written the 'troubles' as we know them now hadn't actually begun. This was something that James, Kim and I discussed a few weeks ago. And, since they've both read the book and I haven't, I'm guessing they probably have more to say about it.
If this wasn't your winner, which of the other books would you have picked? The books are all so different that I can't choose between them.