EDWARD ST AUBYN Lost for Words. Reviewed by Michael Jongen
This funny and satirical story will entertain those readers who take an interest in the politics of literary awards.
Malcolm Craig, an MP who has time on his hands due to political misfortune, accepts the invitation to chair the judging of a literary award, on the grounds that as the award presentation will be televised live, his political and popular profile will rise. This allows him to overcome any scruples that he may have about the connections of the award’s multinational sponsor or indeed about the moral character of the senior politician who invites him to fill the role.
The story begins as we meet the other judges. Malcolm has chosen the novel he wants to win, and he is determined to champion a vision of Britain that he feels he himself represents. His fellow judges have different aspirations and different perspectives on the state of the novel in the Commonwealth.
St Aubyn clearly has fun with the characters he has created. Many readers will nod knowingly at the portraits of the authors and the judges and their shenanigans as we head for the awards night with the panel deadlocked as to which novel should win:
As Vanessa looked up from her armchair and stared out at the quad, the pale-honey stone of the college chapel and the leaded diamonds of its window panes lit up in a burst of sunlight, and then darkened again. She imagined the scudding spring clouds she couldn’t see; she noticed the invitation from the brief burst of light to transcend and then reclaim her overburdened mood. She accepted and put aside all these mental operations and felt restored, after only a few moments of lucid daydreaming, to a salutary independence of mind in which she could place her attention when she chose, with little interference from her emotions and her surroundings.
She was doing what she was paid to do: being intelligent about writing.
As the various characters deliver the narrative we learn what they all think of story and novel and fiction and what makes a book. This is a satire but there are many interesting ideas to be digested along the way. There are subtle and not so subtle changes of tone in the different points of view:
… why not get Nicola to place a bet, not for Penny, of course, which would have been highly unethical, but for herself? She knew that Kentish Town needed a new roof, and a hot tip would have the further advantage of proving that Penny had no hard feelings about Nicola’s unforgivable treachery. It also removed the moral pressure on Penny to dig into her savings in order to protect her nearest and dearest from the elements. At 30–1 wot u staring at was pretty irresistible for someone who knew that it was one of the chairman’s favourites, and that he was a singularly impressive man whom Penny intended to support in every way she could.
With a twinkle in his eye St Aubyn dissects his characters and their motives and manipulates their fates. There is a love story here, there is a tale of redemption; mystery and tension abound and multinationals are involved as the narrative rushes to the very filmic climax:
Sam picked up his pen and wrote, ‘In the middle of the day, a word like “humility” would present itself, like a sunlit colonnade in all its elegance and simplicity, but by the middle of the night it was transformed into a sinister ruin, with a murderer concealed behind every column.’
London forms the backdrop for this novel and St Aubyn describes it lovingly and dissects its population with dexterity. Those who are familiar with the city and its streets will delight in his description of a living breathing metropolis and its denizens.
The story is lightly and deftly handled. The stories of the judges, the shortlisted authors, the rejects and the lovers drive the plot onward in a well-structured and satisfying novel. This is comedy that inhabits the same sphere as Jane Austen, Evelyn Waugh, Nancy Mitford and EF Benson. The characters’ foibles and inflated sense of self as they navigate the complexities and the politics of the award delight and horrify us at the same time, and no matter how awful, they all have their moments of self-awareness and redemption.
Edward St Aubyn Lost for Words Picador 2014 HB 272 pp $34.99
Michael Jongen is a librarian who tweets as @michael_jongen and microblogs at http://larrythelibrarian.tumblr.com
You can buy this book from Abbey’s at a 10% discount by quoting the promotion code NEWTOWNREVIEW here or you can buy it from Booktopia here.
To see if it is available from Newtown Library, click here.
