John Hawkes (1) (1925–1998)

This book is quoted at the start of the 158 pound marriage, and it does have many similarities - they are both the story of two married couples, who are also both sleeping with the person of the opposite sex from the other couple. They both have a male narrator who thinks this is a great idea and is very relaxed, and the other man being more uncomfortable and antagonistic. They do both end miserably.

But they are very different reads. The 158 pound marriage is very prosaic, the characters have backstories, and specific things they want. This book is... it is a floating word cloud trying to capture strange feelings through bloated prose. The narrative flits around at different points in time, the story is woven from a surreal patchwork of scenes. It is very sensual, with hyperfocus on details.

I found myself fixating on what the author was trying to do. Was he really trying to show Cyril as an enlightened future? Or was he really expecting the reader to find Cyril entitled and repulsive, an unreliable narrator we should all hate? I mean, the book ends in tragedy, it's not a 'do this and everything will be great for you', but is the tragedy driven by Cyril casually taking what he wants, or by Hugh trapped in an unenlightened world view? Or is it truly not judging, just showing what happens when two different families meet and interact?

Both the women feel a bit like cyphers, mostly there for us to explore the men's emotions. The elder child gets very little screen time, but is painfully drawn, that angry suspicion of Cyril and how he is messing up her family.

I found it a slog to get through at points, the very detailed florid prose, the constantly having to reorientate myself in the timestream, the fact that the characters are quite unlikable to me. But it has some powerful and heady scenes.… (more)

A very challenging read, but one which was compelling rather than arduous. Having read half a dozen Hawkes, it still couldn't have prepared me for this. I think you have to be pretty well up on your modernism and experimental writing to get a clear picture of events depicted here. I found it more difficult than Faulkner but maybe more transparent than Pynchon-whom it's said to influence- in terms of plot. It depicts a number of disparate scenes which are described in intensely poetic detail which the reader then has to stitch together to make sense of a narrative set alternately in the chaotic aftermath of Post World War II Germany and earlier in World War I. The atmosphere is grim and oppressive with a picture of fragmented lives brought on by war where everyone is shown in their solitary mode whether it's a faded general, a sinister duke, a nun or an invalid. Perhaps most vividly described is the courtship and brief marriage of Stella and Ernst while events reach their dark apotheosis in the description of a riot in the local madhouse which is full of the most startling imagery. Other sections are more opaque and may require another read. My rating is based on a first read where I like to give a prospective reader a first impression rather than a definitive statement. It's quite startling in itself that Hawkes wrote this at only 23, he must have been quite the prodigy in his early years to have penned such an ambitious work.… (more)

Not principally known as a playwright, I was interested to see what he did with the form and if his characters retained the lyricism of his prose. Some of it's there in the bickering of the opening play, 'The Innocent Party' which has an absurdist tone aswell as a focus on wealth and poverty and reminded me a bit of Albee. 'The Wax Museum' dials down some of the florid language and shifting sexuality is a theme and as in most of the plays characters present a different social face to their 'real' selves. It was probably shocking too in the sixties but not so much now. Nevertheless the plays have something to say and are amusing despite the contention that Hawkes was all style. Neither is his meaning unintelligible as some opined though there are enigmatic moments across all four plays. I've yet to read 'The Cannibal' though, so maybe that will prove a challenge.… (more)

With Travesty and now this, Hawkes is rapidly becoming one of my favourite writers. The novel concerns two couples idling away a summer as they become involved with one another, leading to repercussions. The narrator, Cyril, is an enjoyable guide to events, at once a comic, satyr-like figure but also potentially destructive in his arrogance. Not a great deal of action takes place but what does has consequences and it's all narrated in fine detail from inside Cyril's consciousness. Although some may remark on it's being of its time in terms of its sexual content, I didn't find it lurid at all and mainly the stuff of comedy. As with Travesty, the writing is of the highest standard in its lyricism, though not without a comic element to it's high-flown language.… (more)