John Banville

Reading a good literary work does the heart and soul good.  With our recent celebration of Blooms Day on June 16th (a coincidence with Father’s Day this year) I thought it fitting to dive into a recently published literary novel and found John Banville’s ANCIENT LIGHT, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2012.  The story is told by first person narrator, Alexander Cleave.  Alex toggles back and forth between the story of his affair with his best friend’s mother at age 15 and his transition to movie acting and the loss of his daughter in later years.

Banville language is nothing short of elegant and single sentences can be a paragraph long.  Yet, there is a rhythm and cadence to the writing that makes it a very easy read.  In some ways it’s also an “anti-novel” by modern standards because there is no plot, nothing the protagonist must have to live, and no conflict in the Donald Maass – WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL model.

Alex simply tells his story of his life from vantage of old age reflecting on what happened and not always sure if it actually happened or it’s make believe.  For a sample of the language Banville commands, here is a description Alex has of his co-star in the movie:

“She is impossibly thin, as they all have to be these days – “Oh, but I don’t eat,” she told me, with a tinkly laugh, when we broke for lunch, and I gallantly offered to fetch her a sandwich – especially on the inner sides of her upper arms I notice, which are positively concave, with sinews unpleasantly on display under the pallid skin that makes me think, I am sorry to say, of a plucked chicken.”

We know exactly what his co-star looks like through his eyes and also have his perspective woven into the description.

So, for your summer read – try a literary novel, it will do you a world of good and be a good reprise from the host of formulaic novels available anywhere.   

What is your favorite literary novel?