Having read and reviewed two Enrique Vila-Matas novels, Montano's Malady and Mac's Problem, I'm poised to explore the Spanish author's shorter fiction, beginning with stories from Vampire in Love. First up is this snapper, Sea Swell (Mar de fondo).
SEA SWELL
The unnamed narrator from Barcelona tells us he's in Paris with André, his one and only friend at the time, a gent who will introduce him to famous writer Marguerite Duras. The narrator also lets it be known he swallowed his regular daily dose of amphetamines, a drug he's convinced will help him imagine stories and become a novelist. He doesn't fathom why he's convinced of this fact since he's never written a word in his life; not only that, he acknowledges a major reason for his writer's block are those very amphetamines.
Is our unnamed narrator a bit kooky? Could be. Anyway, believing direct interaction with brilliant writers helps one improve one's own writing, André takes Sergio (the name I'll give our hopped-up, would-be writer) to meet Marguerite Duras, who immediately informs him that one of her attic apartments has just become vacant.
Drat! If only he hadn't taken those pep pills, he would have told her right then and there he'd love to rent the apartment. But the drug always makes him fix others with mad, staring eyes and render him incapable of speech. No problem, André to the rescue: with great suavity, his friend informs Marguerite that Sergio will gladly take the apartment. Marguerite expresses her willingness to become Sergio's landlord (after all, she likes to help aspiring writers) and invites the pair to her home for dinner the very next evening.
Reckless as ever, Sergio takes more amphetamines before joining André as they stroll to the great author's home. Another of Marguerite's dinner guests, Sonia Orwell (wife of George Orwell), opens the door.
The four sit down to dinner. Unlike the other three who eagerly partake of what Marguerite expertly prepared, Sergio doesn't eat a bite since he has zero appetite due to the amphetamines. And, after dinner, when Sergio once again can barely mumble a coherent sentence, friend André takes up the slack by announcing that Sergio might be from Barcelona but he is from Atlantis.
Atlantis! Evidently nobody told André that Atlantis is only a myth, a fictional land created by Plato in his dialogue Critias.
This section of Enrique Vila-Matas' tale is priceless. We read:
“So you're from Atlantis, are you? Asked Sonia Orwell, with a smile on her lips.
“I am,” responded André succinctly, and tears welled up in his eyes. When we saw this, we all froze. A heavy silence fell. For a while, as we ate the main course, we listened to him talking about the lost continent.
André bestows expanded meaning to the sea swell of Sea Swell by dramatic gestures and expatiating on the many varieties of ancient marine life, all the while claiming what he's conveying derives from accurate memories of his true homeland. Sergio reckons he's never heard anybody outline such vivid, precise descriptions of the sea bed.
There's no stopping André now. He goes on and on and concludes that he always had a sense he once lived in Atlantis and now, this evening, he's absolutely sure he's right. Meanwhile, Marguerite Duras says, “Everything you've told us – and you told it very well indeed – is curious in the extreme but it's very hard not to think that you've either drunk too much or are simply having us on.”
Not fazed in the least, André keeps right at it with Atlantis until Sonia Orwell aims a finger at Sergio and says he's so shy he's hasn't uttered a word nor has he opened his mouth to eat. To which André tells of Sergio's not being shy but having imbibed amphetamines and the fact that Sergio is constantly thinking of his novel.
At this juncture, Sergio is horrified, thinking he might be obliged to talk of his nonexistent novel. But once again André saves him by launching into the subject of Sergio's novel: a ventriloquist 's memoir. Sidebar: fans of Enrique Vila-Matas will recognize the memoir of a ventriloquist is part of his novel, Mac's Problem. The conversation continues (André talking, Sergio remaining silent) until it's late and time for the visitors to leave.
Sergio walks with André along the Seine when suddenly his friend turns and tells him that they will never see each other again. Opening his heart, André reminisces about a valley of streams and mauve waterfalls in old Atlantis and then goes further – André speaks of his desire to, without further delay, disappear by his own hand.
The friends walk further, Sergio mulling on André's melancholia when suddenly, in one bound, André leaps into the icy waters of the Seine.
Will Sergio risk his own life to save his friend? And, if so, what will André say and do next? To find out, you'll have to read Sea Swell for yourself.
Spanish author Enrique Vila-Matas, born 1948
SEA SWELL
The unnamed narrator from Barcelona tells us he's in Paris with André, his one and only friend at the time, a gent who will introduce him to famous writer Marguerite Duras. The narrator also lets it be known he swallowed his regular daily dose of amphetamines, a drug he's convinced will help him imagine stories and become a novelist. He doesn't fathom why he's convinced of this fact since he's never written a word in his life; not only that, he acknowledges a major reason for his writer's block are those very amphetamines.
Is our unnamed narrator a bit kooky? Could be. Anyway, believing direct interaction with brilliant writers helps one improve one's own writing, André takes Sergio (the name I'll give our hopped-up, would-be writer) to meet Marguerite Duras, who immediately informs him that one of her attic apartments has just become vacant.
Drat! If only he hadn't taken those pep pills, he would have told her right then and there he'd love to rent the apartment. But the drug always makes him fix others with mad, staring eyes and render him incapable of speech. No problem, André to the rescue: with great suavity, his friend informs Marguerite that Sergio will gladly take the apartment. Marguerite expresses her willingness to become Sergio's landlord (after all, she likes to help aspiring writers) and invites the pair to her home for dinner the very next evening.
Reckless as ever, Sergio takes more amphetamines before joining André as they stroll to the great author's home. Another of Marguerite's dinner guests, Sonia Orwell (wife of George Orwell), opens the door.
The four sit down to dinner. Unlike the other three who eagerly partake of what Marguerite expertly prepared, Sergio doesn't eat a bite since he has zero appetite due to the amphetamines. And, after dinner, when Sergio once again can barely mumble a coherent sentence, friend André takes up the slack by announcing that Sergio might be from Barcelona but he is from Atlantis.
Atlantis! Evidently nobody told André that Atlantis is only a myth, a fictional land created by Plato in his dialogue Critias.
This section of Enrique Vila-Matas' tale is priceless. We read:
“So you're from Atlantis, are you? Asked Sonia Orwell, with a smile on her lips.
“I am,” responded André succinctly, and tears welled up in his eyes. When we saw this, we all froze. A heavy silence fell. For a while, as we ate the main course, we listened to him talking about the lost continent.
André bestows expanded meaning to the sea swell of Sea Swell by dramatic gestures and expatiating on the many varieties of ancient marine life, all the while claiming what he's conveying derives from accurate memories of his true homeland. Sergio reckons he's never heard anybody outline such vivid, precise descriptions of the sea bed.
There's no stopping André now. He goes on and on and concludes that he always had a sense he once lived in Atlantis and now, this evening, he's absolutely sure he's right. Meanwhile, Marguerite Duras says, “Everything you've told us – and you told it very well indeed – is curious in the extreme but it's very hard not to think that you've either drunk too much or are simply having us on.”
Not fazed in the least, André keeps right at it with Atlantis until Sonia Orwell aims a finger at Sergio and says he's so shy he's hasn't uttered a word nor has he opened his mouth to eat. To which André tells of Sergio's not being shy but having imbibed amphetamines and the fact that Sergio is constantly thinking of his novel.
At this juncture, Sergio is horrified, thinking he might be obliged to talk of his nonexistent novel. But once again André saves him by launching into the subject of Sergio's novel: a ventriloquist 's memoir. Sidebar: fans of Enrique Vila-Matas will recognize the memoir of a ventriloquist is part of his novel, Mac's Problem. The conversation continues (André talking, Sergio remaining silent) until it's late and time for the visitors to leave.
Sergio walks with André along the Seine when suddenly his friend turns and tells him that they will never see each other again. Opening his heart, André reminisces about a valley of streams and mauve waterfalls in old Atlantis and then goes further – André speaks of his desire to, without further delay, disappear by his own hand.
The friends walk further, Sergio mulling on André's melancholia when suddenly, in one bound, André leaps into the icy waters of the Seine.
Will Sergio risk his own life to save his friend? And, if so, what will André say and do next? To find out, you'll have to read Sea Swell for yourself.
Spanish author Enrique Vila-Matas, born 1948
Comments
Post a Comment