Her Fearful Symmetry

I have raced through Audrey Niffenegger’s second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, and feel compelled to write a quick review of it. I’ve seen some glowing reviews of it, but I’m not sure I want to be quite so glowing; in fact, I wasn’t as taken with her first novel, The Time Traveller’s Wife, as most other reviewers (you can read my review of that here).

Niffenegger seems to be something of a rising literary star, apparently known for her unusual prose style and inventive plots. The plots are inventive, I’ll give her that; and, though perhaps a little convoluted, also well-constructed. The prose is middle-of-the-road, generally. I think my issue with Niffenegger’s work is that it’s often reviewed as if it’s proper literary fiction, like, for example, A.S. Byatt, Hilary Mantell or Sarah Waters. Well, as far as I can remember, Niffenegger’s novels haven’t been up for a Booker Prize yet, and nor should they be; they’re good, but they’re missing something.

All this sounds pretty negative, and that’s not fair: I enjoyed Her Fearful Symmetry. I really wanted to know what happened, and couldn’t put it down at one point. I recommend it as a book to absorb you, to while away hours in another world, but don’t expect it to make you think, to fill you with joy or horror, or to have a lasting effect. It’s not that kind of book, in my opinion. It tells the story of Elspeth, long-separated from her twin Edie, who dies and leaves her flat beside Highgate Cemetery to Edie’s twin daughters, Julia and Valentina. They move from America to London to live in the flat, becoming friends with Elspeth’s lover Robert and OCD neighbour Martin, and learning about their aunt (and the Little Kitten of Death, who particularly appealed to me).

There are ghosts, twists in the plot, relationships and histories to be untangled as the novel develops, and generally these are believable and handled well. But it seems as though Niffenegger is still developing as a novelist, because some of the issues and relationships – themes, even – of the novel seem to stop short of their potential; the identity and separation issues of twin relationships are not sufficiently fleshed out, which is a shame as there could have been a rich vein of interest there. The book jacket tells me that the book has a theme of identity, which is true: the twins who look so similar but are so different; the changing of identity after death; the perceived identity of a loved one. But none of these are explored fully enough to provide a truly satisfying novel.

What the novel does do well is its depiction of Highgate Cemetery, the subject of Robert’s thesis and the spiritual beginning and ending of the story. Highgate features almost as a character, described lovingly and evoked in its crumbling and Victorian grandeur. If nothing else, the novel should do something for Highgate’s tourism.

City of Culture 2013

I’m pleased to see that Birmingham is in the running for City of Culture 2013. I was disappointed when they lost out to Liverpool in 2008, though Liverpool has made the most of it and it’s clearly been a successful venture. Actually, the UK is not due to host another City of Culture until 2032 (because of the expansion of the EU), but the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has decided to “bring the competition closer to home”, as well as to emphasise that “excellence and innovation in the arts does not begin and end inside the M25”. The UK is good at celebrating its culture, generally speaking, and has some amazing arts events to offer, so anything that encourages and supports this seems like a good thing.

The shortlist for City of Culture 2013 includes Barnsley, Carlisle, the whole of Cornwall, Durham, Sheffield and Derry. Obviously I can’t comment on the relative merits of these places (though having the whole of Cornwall up against some quite small cities seems unfair!) But Birmingham, I hope, is well-placed, both geographically and in terms of its commitment to the arts. The Birmingham Repertory Theatre is about to undergo a major facelift along with the building of a spectacular new public library; the Rep puts on a wonderful programme of plays and other events every year, while the library is fantastically well-stocked and has informative and helpful staff. We have other theatres, of course – from the Alexandra, which has a lot of big musicals etc, to the Hippodrome, home of Birmingham Royal Ballet, and the Crescent, which puts on smaller plays, not always professional but always interesting.  There are some brilliant concert venues here in Brum, and, of course, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, with a wonderful collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings.  If to these amenities was added a further range of public cultural and artistic events, Birmingham would become an even more exciting place to be. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next, and what moves the council makes to ensure our bid is successful.

There is a website with more information about Birmingham’s bid for City of Culture, where you can have your say – have a look at http://www.birminghambigcityculture.com/.

The festive season at Birmingham Rep

Birmingham Rep’s Christmas production this year is A Christmas Carol, and you couldn’t ask for anything more festive. I went to see it on the 1st of December and found it a great way to get in the festive spirit. Starring Peter Polycarpou as a delightfully grumpy, miserly and bah-humbug Scrooge, it tells Dickens’s tale in a way that is entertaining and can’t fail to raise a smile, appealing to both children and adults. It’s a musical version, with a number of songs and even a little dancing, and of course it’s slightly cheesy, but then, what Christmas show isn’t?

What makes it less cheesy, and more unusual, is the interesting idea of introducing a wide range of ghosts who are watching Scrooge, and decide to teach him a lesson. While this isn’t in the book, it does give a dramatic edge to the production that makes it quite spine-chilling at times, and reinforces that most Victorian moral message, that we should behave towards others as we would wish them to behave towards us – especially at Christmas.

The set is amazing – bleak at one moment and richly festive the next, with changes appearing to happen by magic, often wreathed in atmospheric smoke. The whole production is cleverly done, and one would really have to be a Scrooge to fail to enjoy it.

BlogCatalog

BlogCatalog

The best place to write

There is nowhere in the world (that I know of) that is quite like St Deiniol’s Library in Hawarden, Flintshire. It was founded by Gladstone as a place where people(mostly academics and clergy) can stay and study in the excellent (and beautiful) library. Not unlike Dr. Williams’s Library, another amazing place, it has large holdings of theological works (though with a more Anglican and less Dissenting slant than Dr Williams’s), but St Deiniol’s is also wonderful for those with an interest in nineteenth century studies, and is perfect for me. Every time I look up a book on the library catalogue, expecting that it won’t be here, it almost always is. I would stay here forever if I could. Not only is the atmosphere conducive to study, but the food is good, and all one has to do is eat meals and work in the library – my idea of Heaven! There are always interesting people with whom to chat at meal times, and, should you need some fresh air, there is a beautiful park nearby for walks (although it’s very muddy sometimes!) I’ve been here twice before, and am amazed at how many of the very friendly staff remember me (and my fondness for the breakfast porridge!) At mealtimes one can have the most fascinating conversations with people who are here for meetings, or working on obscure PhDs (even more obscure than mine!), writing theological books or just here for a break and a bit of reading. In a day and a half I’ve probably already written more than I do in the average week. And, moreover, it’s somehow so much nicer to work in such conditions – none of the aggravations of university libraries, and so peaceful. At 9pm last night I was still sitting here in a little turret-like bit of the library (which I refer to as my Baptist turret as I am – randomly – surrounded by books on Baptists), with a lamp on in an otherwise pitch-black library, and I feel as though I’ve stepped back in time. I highly recommend a stay here! (oh, and did I mentions the fantastic cakes…?

Mrs Warren’s Profession

Last night was the last Birmingham show of Mrs Warren’s Profession, Theatre Royal Bath’s production with Felicity Kendal. It was good to see a full house, and the production really deserves it, too. In many ways it’s an awkward play, perhaps, because it is so much of a period piece, and because the central part of Vivie Warren is difficult to play credibly, but the performances from the whole cast are remarkably strong. Felicity Kendal is excellent – humorous and light but with obvious distress as the play reaches its conclusion, but she does not steal the limelight from Lucie Briggs-Owen, who plays Vivie.

The play was written in 1893, but banned from the stage until the 1920s due to its references to Mrs Warren’s profession, the details of which come out during the course of the play. The plot follows Vivie’s discovery that her (largely absent) mother has been making her money through a less than respectable profession (she was a prostitute, of course, and ends up running brothels across Europe). Vivie is at first forgiving, as she learns why her mother chose this way of life, and then shocked as she discovers that it still continues. This discovery affects her own life choices, including her own profession and potential marriage. The play is notable for its insight into the difficulties faced by women wishing or needing to be independent; I remember arguing in my university interview that Bernard Shaw uses his characters (notably St Joan) as mouthpieces for his own political and social views, and that’s equally true here, yet they are much more than puppets.

This production, with its beautifully crafted set and strong cast, brings out the nuances of humour as well as tragedy and social injustice. It’s on tour now; I recommend you see it.

i-witness

Volcano Theatre’s play i-witness is currently touring, and if you are interested in fiction and its effects, this is a play to see. It’s based on – or rather, inspired by – WG Sebald’s loose and sprawling novel, The Rings of Saturn (2002). The members of the theatre company read the book and then responded to it, in remarkably different ways. Of course, this is a book that lends itself to a range of interpretations – it could be a novel about walking; it could be about academia; it is also about dozens of other things – what it’s ‘about’ is perhaps not a good question to ask of this novel. But in their different responses, the four performers draw out quite different aspects of the novel in a way that is not only enlightening for fans of Sebald’s novel, but also for those who are interested in fiction and its meanings more generally.

I can’t explain the play properly; but it opens with a film, accompanied by noises from the cast, during which I went from thinking, “This is unusual” to “I hope this isn’t how the whole play goes”. It wasn’t; the play is a ragbag of fragments, responses, criticism and facts, mixed up in a way reflective not only of the novel but also of the reader’s response to it. The cast took questions after the show and explained that little of the play is scripted; it is intended to evolve in front of the audience, which is an appealing idea, and it certainly seems to work well.

I was particularly attracted to the closing scenes, in which Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson (left) is projected onto a screen, while a copy of Sebald’s book is placed on a table under a light, and delicately dissected, then hammered, nailed down, attacked and finally torn to pieces. The inference is clearly that a book should not be anatomised; to dissect it, to attempt to pin down a final meaning, to pull it apart in works of criticism, kills it entirely and removes any possible anjoyment. It’s a great image and analogy, and also a salutory lesson for literary critics and academics!

National Student Forum 2009 Report

The National Student Forum recently launched its 2009 report to Government, covering a wide range of issues which we have discussed over the last academic year. You can read the full report here; it particularly looks at issues around teaching and learning, employability, postgraduate students, mature and part-time students, disabled students, and student accomodation.

The NSF are generally pleased with the report’s reception so far; there has been some interest in it at all levels, from other students to universities to policy-makers. The Independent featured an article about our report launch recently, and today has a feature on postgraduate concerns in particular (for which I was interviewed last week – read it here). Times Higher Education also picked up on our postgraduate issues. It’s great to feel the NSF is being taken seriously, especially at a time when things are difficult for students and change (or, perhaps, revolution!) is in the air.

In the coming academic year, in the context of the launch of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ document, Higher Ambitions: The Future of Universities in a Knowledge Economy, the forthcoming fees review, and the investigation of postgraduate provision in the UK launched by Peter Mandelson in July, we are planning to look particularly at teaching quality and undergraduate fees.

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice, romantic comedy for the erudite, has been adapted for theatre by Simon Reade for Theatre Royal Bath and is currently touring. This week it has been in Birmingham, where I went to see it last night. I’m often sceptical about adaptations of books, but (as countless BBC adaptations have shown) Austen’s social comedies with their light touch and sparkling wit, not to mention romance, tend to lend themselves to good adaptation. There is no point in being a purist about it; no book will be the same once it’s adapted for a different medium, but as a play Pride and Prejudice works well on many levels.

Susan Hampshire, of course, is an ideal Mrs Bennett; she demonstrates the avarice and foolishness we know to expect of the character, but manages to do so with a twinkle in her eye and apparent delight with the goings-on of her daughters that is utterly convincing and quite infectious. Her daughters, meanwhile, are well-differentiated despite the speed at which the plot must move to fit the novel into less than two and a half hours; Jane’s quiet dignity, Lizzie’s vivacity and Lydia’s headstrong flirtatiousness come across particularly well.

The production plays well to the innate comedy of the book, though the flipside is that some 0f the more serious and more detailed elements are necessarily omitted. Mr and Mrs Bennett are hilarious in their interaction; the obsequious Mr Collins is deliciously smarmy; and yet Elizabeth and Darcy seem to generate real affection and warmth for each other. The play is a thistledown confection, light, humorous and appealing, which may not be quite as Austen intended, but it’s a play that can hardly fail to appeal; even if Austen is not your thing, there’s still enough here to raise a laugh and warm the heart. That said, one might dare to venture the suggestion that it is occasionally a little cheesy – all the period dances grate on me after a while – but with its minimal set and toned-down costumes, it’s not too predictable. I hardly see how it could have been done better.

The Page 56 Meme

I am unashamed to say that I copied this from the Victorian Geek blog, who in turn purloined it from someone else. That’s why it’s a meme, I suppose.

• Grab the nearest book.
• Open it to page 56.
• Find the fifth sentence.
• Post the text of the sentence along with these instructions.

Don’t dig for your favourite book, the coolest book, or the most intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST.

Well, for me that would be the wonderful line:

“The bridge to platform 4 is to me less interesting than Bifrost guarded by Heimdell with the Gjallarhorn.”

I doubt many people would guess what that’s from!  I read this when I was writing my chapter on children’s literature, and found it fascinating; it contains Tolkien’s essay “On Fairy-stories”, as well as one of his early short stories, “Leaf by Niggle”.