An overview of some of the major literary prizes - episode #3
Le Regard Libre N° 49 - Loris S. Musumeci
«How could he imagine that the next morning, before class, he'd find himself outside, hanging from the ledge of his apartment balcony, twelve meters above the courtyard floor, trying painfully, inch by inch, to gain the only open window?»
A real idiot, that Arthur Minor. Do you know Mister Bean? Imagine him as a gay American writer, and you've got Arthur Minor. Minor. Not an insignificant name for someone whose work is considered minor, as is his existence, in all its insignificance. Minor never seems to be in the right place; if he's anywhere, he's too much; if he's not, he's annoyingly expected.
Not to mention the fact that he's the archetypal filler. He himself is doing his best to plug the holes in his ridiculous life. In the midst of yet another failed love affair with a handsome younger man, he is subjected to the supreme humiliation of being invited to his ex's wedding. He couldn't bear to go, but he can't afford to decline in the name of a fresh wound.
He then has to find an excuse not to go to the wedding, and this is the very structure of the novel. Because he plans his writing trips around the world to show that his successful career unfortunately prevents him from attending the «yes» of the man he loved with another man.
Between a very expensive trip to Morocco (at least he hopes he won't be turning fifty on his own, since one of the last days of the trip coincides exactly with his birthday), the presentation of a corny literary prize - he thinks - in Italy, a session of pointless lectures he's going to give in Berlin and a stay in a Christian community in India that he believes to be a writer's residence, each chapter is broken down according to the country in which Mineur is traveling.
The construction seems either too simple or overdone. The background, too, gives the impression of being too limited before reading. Well, we're going to read about the travels of a failed gay writer. Frankly, for a Pulitzer, you'd expect a little more, isn't it? And is it enough to start going through the book to notice that this more is on board.
Admittedly, the chaptering is basic, but this doesn't prevent the story from flowing in a very coherent, linked fashion. There are no detours. Aside from a few flashbacks to his glorious youth, we follow the character's line, getting to know him, getting attached to him and his cheerful mediocrity.
In terms of style, no great feat of originality, but a real pleasure to read. The language is simple yet retains the dignity of a good work of literature. The narration is deftly done from the outside, following Minor's every thought and anguish, while maintaining distance from and incomprehension of a character who sometimes doesn't understand himself because he acts according to his own absurd logic.
The dialogues are well integrated into the text, so much so that they sometimes don't even need a line break to flow with the utmost clarity. Only the little aphorisms like «Happiness isn't bullshit» or «What's it like to live with a genius?», sprinkled here and there, weigh the reading down with nothing to offer the reader in return, apart from a misplaced false detachment on the part of the author himself. Even a little arrogance worthy of small-time writers who think they're great masters. But let's move on, for this flaw is merely a detail.
To return to the protagonist of Tribulations of Arthur Minor, He's all the more touching for the fact that what he's criticized for is repeatedly surprising. Not only is he the token idiot, but even where taboo is supposed to prevent blame, he gets caught out. Particularly in a highly comic scene in Paris, where Mineur is told that the real problem with him is that his writing doesn't go far enough into the vein of the "French". gay. You'd never expect that! It's one thing for people to say that he missed out on success because of a lack of talent, but to attack his homosexuality, that's the last straw. And it's funny!
«- What's it like, writing according to canon? (Minor is still thinking about cannonballs. He decides to push Finley's buttons:) Maybe I'm a bad writer.
Finley pushes the idea away - or maybe it's just the salmon croquettes offered by a waiter.
- No, you're not. You're a very good writer. Kalipso was a masterpiece. So beautiful, Arthur. I really admired it.
At this point, Minor is perplexed. He probes his own weaknesses. Too bombastic? Too crazy?
- Is it too old? Is it moving?
- We're all over fifty, Arthur. It's not that you're...
- Wait a minute: I haven't passed it yet...
- . a bad writer. (Finley pauses, for effect.) It's that you're a bad homosexual.»
In addition to the laughs they provide, Mineur's thoughts also go a little further. Through his naïve and innocent eyes, he says a lot about society and its actions, without trying to turn them into a theory. The passages in question take on a depth that only the figures of idiots or losers can reveal, because without judgment, they see things in their obvious absurdity.
«Not far from the table, on the dune, one of the two young camel drivers has put his arm around the other's shoulders and they sit, like this, watching the sun. The dunes gradually take on the same shades of terracotta and water as the houses of Marrakech. Two boys, holding each other by the shoulder. It all seems so strange to Mineur. And it saddens him. In his world, he never sees straight people doing this. Just as a gay couple can't walk hand in hand through the streets of Marrakech, he figures that two men, two best friends, can't walk hand in hand through the streets of Chicago. They can't sit on the dune, like these kids, and watch a sunset, entwined in each other's arms.»
Visit Tribulations of Arthur Minor is neither a social novel, nor a portrait, nor a travelogue, although it borrows from these genres to forge its own identity. It's the story of a loser, for whom perpetual failure proves to be a victory. The victory of having let himself be guided by his will to do the right thing, by his clumsiness and by his ability to bounce back every time to take life on the right side. These tribulations turn out to be happy and light-hearted. For the pleasure of reading.
«- Arthur, I've changed my mind. You have the luck of a comic character. Bad luck in everything that doesn't matter. Luck in everything that matters. I think - and you'll probably disagree with me - but I think your whole life is a comedy. Not just the first part. Your whole life. You're the most absurd person I've ever met. You've moved on and acted like an idiot; you've taken all the wrong paths, used all the wrong words, tripped over everything and everyone in your path - and you've won. And you don't even realize it.»
Write to the author: loris.musumeci@leregardlibre.com
Photo credit: © Wikimedia CC 4.0
Andrew Sean Greer
The tribulations of Arthur Minor
Original title: Less
Translated from the English by Gilbert Cohen-Solal
Editions Actes Sud / Jacqueline Chambon
2019
253 pages
French 
German 
English