What would Evelyn Waugh have to say about the current-day British literary scene and such things as the Booker Prize? No doubt, we'd be in store for a measure of scalding irony and wit expressed in exquisite prose, exactly what we find in Edward St. Aubyrn's Lost for Words.
The British author told an interviewer his Patrick Melborn novels were very upsetting and difficult to write; he thought he'd either have to finish his novels or finish himself off. Indeed, a not-so-pleasant reality - he wrote with suicide and madness continually in the background. But there came a point where he had to ask himself: Does it have to be that way? The answer: No! He wanted to switch things up and see what it would be like to write a novel where the writing process was actually enjoyable, even fun, write as if playing a game, something he had little chance to experience when he was a lad growing up. Thus, we have the comic novel under review.
Lost for Words is a treasure, a joy to read. It is a novel where every single page displays finely crafted sentences that could be used as models in a master class on writing. All of these are contained within a story revolving around the five-person committee charged with choosing the book to win the coveted Elysian Prize.
Ah, the glorious Elysian Prize, where there's so much prestige and attention. English gambling houses even display the odds and the public places bets on what books will make the long list, the short list, and finally, with a drumroll with fanfare, the winner. The sponsor of the Elysian is a Monsanto-like agriculture company accused by environmentalists (damn liberal spoilsports!) of Elysian products causing cancer, disrupting the food chain and, since St. Aubyn's satire can occasionally become Monty Pythonesque, turning cattle into cannibals.
As for the committee members themselves, St. Aubyn surely had a few chuckles having an old Permanent Secretary at the Foreign Office do the choosing of judges to be on the committee. Apart from one academic, the geezer chose a gaggle of totally unqualified Brit nincompoops, beginning with Malcolm Craig, a pompous dipstick who accepted the chairmanship since he was bored as a Parliament backbencher and clamored after a measure of public attention.
Regarding the four other members, we have Jo Cross, a gossip columnist who writes mostly about problems with her family and values “relevance” in novels; Penny Feathers, a former member of the Foreign Office and one of the geezer's old girlfriends who is currently writing another one of her shitty third-rate thrillers, Roger and Out; and Tobias Benedict, the geezer's Godson, a young actor too busy playing Estragon in a hip-hop version of Waiting for Godot touring England to actually read novels or attend any committee meetings. Rounding out the committee and bestowing a touch of respectability is the aforementioned academic, Vanessa, who has spent a lifetime immersed in the British classics.
I laughed out loud every time Vanessa interacts with her fellow committee members. At one point, Malcolm blabbers on about opposing the London literary establishment and bringing “the marginalized and the politically repressed voices from the periphery” into the spotlight (Malcolm has a definite political agenda geared to Scottish novels). Vanessa retorts, “Before we all stand up and sing “The Internationale”, do you think we could take a glance at what we've been “duly appointed” to do?'" She then goes on to speak about the true nature of literature. Ha! You can imagine how her talking about literary standards and good writing is received by this bunch of non-literary boobs.
Turning to the Elysian Prize itself, St. Aubyn sharpens his satirical needle to give us select passages from the contenders. The British author said, with a laugh, that writing these bits of mimicry and parody flowed seamlessly, unlike the dozens of rewrites he usually must work through in his own writing. There are excerpts from novels such as an Irvine Welsh-like mauling of the English language in wot u starin at and All the World's a Stage, a historical novel written from the point of view of William Shakespeare. These snatches of awful writing are truly howlers, yet another reason to treat yourself to Lost in Words or listen to the audiobook expertly narrated by Alex Jennings.
And there's plenty of drama (and much comedy) beyond the posturing within the committee. Penny is involved in a bit of nastiness with her daughter, Nicola. Vanessa must deal with Poppy, her daughter who is in the hospital suffering from anorexia, and her son who recently returned from a shamanic vision quest. However, two characters must be highlighted above all others: Katherine and Sonny.
Katherine is a fine novelist. Her novel, Consequences, might have won the Elysian if it had been sent to the committee, but, alas, through a comedy of errors, it was not. Katherine is also a beautiful woman who has a talent for making men fall in love with her, which causes many problems. "Katherine's genius for engendering desire and devotion couldn't be expected to deal with all of its consequences." Much of the tale's heartfelt emotion features a number of men passionately loving her, including Alan, her editor, and another novelist, Sam, who himself has a novel on the Elysian shortlist.
The zaniest, most over-the-top humor centers on Sonny, a royal personage from India, a true descendant of Krishna, who self-published his two-thousand-page autobiographical magnum opus, The Mulberry Elephant, and travels to London so the British literary world can honor him for winning their Elysian Prize. Edward St. Aubyn must have laughed his loudest when writing about this boorish egomaniac. And what did Sonny do when he learned that his great work didn't even make the longlist? Sonny plans his revenge by, believe it or not, murdering the committee members.
In her New York Times review, Anne Enright concludes by stating, “Everything St. Aubyn writes is worth reading for the cleansing rancor of his intelligence and the fierce elegance of his prose — but rollicking, he is not. A knockabout comic novel needs a plot that believes in its own twists and turns, and that is not on offer here.” I disagree. By my reading, Lost for Words is a rollicking romp that believes wholeheartedly in its twists and turns, a comic novel about the literary world, including its prizes, that's not to be missed.
British author Edward St. Aubyn, born 1960
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