The Author is Always Right?

Ah, books with an author as the protagonist. These seem to fall into two categories, ones where the protagonist happens to be an author (there’s a whole subgenre of mysteries, I’d argue, where the protagonist is an author of mystery novels, who then gets caught up in mystery after mystery), versus books where the author is narrating/writing the novel that you are reading, leading to a nice meta experience. Both The Black Prince and Vanishing Point were of the latter variety.

The Black Prince affirmed my love for Iris Murdoch; it was very similar to Under the Net in many ways, but still felt fresh and interesting. Murdoch’s wry humor is present throughout; I also thought that the random, literary and/or philosophical tangents were better integrated than in Under the Net. Some of the characters, notably the ex-wife, felt underdeveloped, though. In some ways, it seemed like Murdoch bit off more than she could chew and/or the story went in a different direction that she had originally planned.

The novel also features a classically unreliable narrator. This is hinted at near the beginning in the author’s forward (that is, “the author’s,” not Murdoch’s, of course), and becomes very evident near the end, and is solidified in the various post-scripts from other characters. It’s not clear, though, what happened. We know that the version is not exactly as presented by Pearson, but the veracity of the post scripts (all self-serving) is certainly in question.

Side note, but this is a book that likely reads better if you are familiar with Hamlet/get the title reference. Another reason to be annoyed that the list really only includes novels.

Vanishing Point is not for everyone. Actually, I’m not sure who it would be for; I can’t imagine ever recommending it. Which isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy it, but man: you have got to invest in this one. Don’t worry about making sense of it, just read it through to the end. It will all become clear and then it will seem amazing. If you give up part way through, though, it will just seem weird and irritating I would think.

Until near the end, it won’t even really feel like a novel. It’s essentially a collection of quotations, facts, and insights; the premise is that the “author” has pulled out a shoebox of note cards he has collected throughout the years and has put them in order to create a novel, interspersing the cards with occasional musings on his current situation. Nothing is random here, though, and it will make sense and it is a novel. But you do have to really invest in this one (it’s not long, though).

Again, this is likely more enjoyable/comprehensible the more you get the references. I certainly didn’t get all of them, so clearly it’s not completely necessary, but I’d suggest reading a lot before tackling this one.

Side Note: There are multiple novels with the name Vanishing Point; I'm talking about the David Markson one, not the Victor Canning one, which Wikipedia described as "lively and entertaining. The central character, Maurice Crillon, is a French art forger who suddenly discovers that he is the son of an English baronet. His father gives him a picture, which turns out to be a dangerous burden and involves him in a pursuit through Switzerland, Italy and France." Don't go into Markson's excepting lively entertainment. I read the Wikipedia entry for the Canning one, and thought I was missing something. And I was: my ability to read and remember author names.