Three Authors Who Should Be Better Known
Fame does not automatically follow excellence.
“What are you reading?”
“Well, at the moment I’m reading three books: one about a former bank clerk, another about a British schoolteacher and his wife, and a third about a small-town barber.”
“Hmm. I think I’ll pass.”
Don’t.
Circumstances matter and when the stories are in the hands of extraordinary writers, the simplest matters can be fascinating.
Let me begin by acknowledging that these writers are not unknown. They should, however, be far better known and their circumstances are, with the exception of the barber, extraordinary.
Jiřĺ Weil’s road was a much rougher since he was a Czech before, during, and after World War II. His life was affected by Nazism and Communism to such an extent that he could have quoted Abbe Sieyes who, when asked what he did during the French Revolution, gave a simple response: “I survived.”
Olivia Manning died in 1980, but in 1987 the BBC produced a series on her trilogies called Fortunes of War. It combined The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy and starred Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. [It’s a shame that Manning was not around to enjoy that fame.]
Wendell Berry is still with us, and he keeps expanding an already sizable amount of work.
Let’s take them one at a time.
Jiřĺ Weil
Jiřĺ Weil’s personal tale involves a dicey relationship with the Czech and Soviet communists as well as surviving the Holocaust. He was able to elude the latter by faking his own death and survived the war. He died in Prague in 1959, a relative unknown until Philip Roth brought Weil’s books to the attention of a much broader audience in 1989.
Weil’s best-known novels are Life with a Star and Mendelssohn Is on the Roof.
In Mendelssohn Is on the Roof, Julius Schlesinger, a candidate for what he regards as reliable work with the SS, is baffled when ordered to remove the bust of a Jewish composer from the roof of the Prague Academy of Music. Since no one on his work crew is familiar with Mendelssohn’s appearance, they decide to fall back on stereotypes and wind up selecting Wagner, Hitler’s favorite composer.
After that blunder, the novel becomes much darker.
Weil’s shorter but more acclaimed Holocaust novel is Life with a Star, which reflects the author’s own days of hiding from the Nazis. The book’s power comes from its understatement.
The main character, Josef Roubicek, a former bank clerk, spends part of his time talking to his cat, remembering a former lover, and maneuvering through the increasingly anti-Jewish bureaucratic restrictions.
Throughout the book Josef simply refers to the Germans as “They.”
Unfortunately, “They” have so seized the attention of their victims that even the smallest steps are scrutinized. Josef’s aunt and uncle are upset when they learn that he keeps a stray cat. Since the Germans don’t permit Jews to own domestic animals, the couple fears that an investigation of a cat owner eventually might direct attention to the owner’s relatives.
In short, Life with a Star reveals a street-level view of the daily oppressions and petty humiliations that preceded anyone stepping into a boxcar.
The novel has less blood than bureaucracy; a subtle approach which produces a punch because we all know what was nearby.
Olivia Manning
Read the two trilogies that fall under the umbrella title Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy and you probably will share my reaction: “Olivia Manning was a great writer. Why have I never heard of her?”
Literary critic and author Clive James encountered Manning’s novels later in life and concluded that “She deserves something better than mere fame. She needs her reputation raised to the level of unarguable fact.”
Note that Manning, like Weil, focuses on what would normally be regarded as minor characters. In her case, a recently married British couple, Harriet Pringle and her husband Guy, move to Bucharest, Romania just prior to World War II where Guy is to teach at a special school promoting British culture.
Guy is gregarious and unduly optimistic while Harriet is far more perceptive of what is lurking in a land coveted by both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. I would nominate Harriet Pringle as one of the most fascinating characters in fiction.
Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry is a farmer, poet, and essayist as well as a novelist. I have not come close to reading all of his works, but his literary creation of the community of Port William Membership is a huge gift in itself.
My favorite is Jayber Crow: The Life Story of Jayber Crow, Barber of the Port William Membership as Written by Himself.
As with Weil and Manning, Berry operates at the micro-level and usually doesn’t surprise you with evil or selfish actions; indeed, he does the opposite.
Although we’ve become used to the portrayal of small towns as havens for bigots or monsters, Wendell Berry’s books are a reminder of the power of community.
And since Jayber Crow is an observant man in a small town, there’s a lot to see.
Weil, Manning, and Berry. You won’t go wrong.
Get out there and give them a try.
[Shameless plug: Pilate’s Magician: A Novel of the Resurrection, is now available on Amazon.]