Do You like book Anglo-Saxon Attitudes (1994)?
Anthony Burgess blurbed that this was one of the five greatest novels of the [20th] century! I didn't see it, myself.I had no idea what the book was about when I bought it. I was sucked in by that NYRB cover and John Tenniel's delightful Through the Looking Glass illustration. Once inside, I was pleased to find that the story took place within academia's sordid walls and involved an archeological excavation - a priapic wooden fertility idol is found in the tomb of a 7th century Christian bishop, but at the end of the book's first section we find out the idol is a hoax, placed there by an acquaintance of the protagonist, Gerald Middleton. Except this turns out not to take up huge amounts of the novel. Instead, we're led through endless set pieces and conversations involving the extended Middleton family and their mistresses, acquaintances, and a bevy of low class homosexual men. So really this ends up being a comic novel about a large, dysfunctional family. It was hard to get through. I liked the font, but the font was tiny. 350 pages seemed more like 500 pages. Out of nearly 50 characters, there were maybe one or two I found likable. I know this isn't supposed to matter. It's the rube's way of reading literature! But don't you have to find something to grasp onto, if the other elements of the novel are failing to satisfy?There was one character I found delightful. His name is Armand Sarthe and he's introduced with about 5% of the book left. Our protagonist, Gerald Middleton, is an upper class academic. At a party thrown by his French daughter-in-law Marie-Hélène, Gerald has M. Sarthe, a man who writes distinctly less scholarly books, foisted upon him:As he took a glass of champagne from one of the hired waiters, he saw with horror that Marie-Hélène was leading a tall, grey-haired Frenchman towards him. It was as he feared, the distinguished author of Les causes célèbres du moyen âge, Armand Sarthe. Oh well, he thought, the chap must be a cynical journalist who's written the stuff for money; he may well be quite a pleasant fellow in real life. But when Marie-Hélène moved away in grave deference to the esoteric bonds of scholarship that united them, M. Sarthe's first words were not promising.'Woman,' he said, and he waved his hand towards Marie-Hélène's sharp shoulder-blades protruding uglily above the flowing folds of her crimson gown, 'defies the historian's art. We can catch her differences, the change in her art. We can catch for a moment the turn of Aspasia's head as she delights Pericles with her wit. We can bring to life again the harsh note in Xanthippe's scolding voice. We can turn with horror from the cruelty in Messalina's eyes or with shame for ourselves from the innocent love with which Heloise looks at her lover. We can stand with the Maid as she scorns her judges. But the essential woman - the woman that was there in the caves at Lascaux and is here in this room today - eludes us. Do you agree?'Gerald had some difficulty in following the rapid French, so he contented himself by saying 'Yes.'Famed Brit Webster Groves, Missouri native Jane Smiley's introduction is fairly useless, unless you count the insult whereby American readers are let off the hook: "...Americans may be forgiven if they don't quite understand what everything in Anglo-Saxon Attitudes means, because it is full of behavior codes and language codes, nuances in attitudes and relationships that are perplexing, and even invisible, to outsiders." Okay, well, that must explain it all.
—Lobstergirl
Wilson, Angus. ANGLO-SAXON ATTITUDES. (1956). *****. tThis is a marvelous novel, which, in spite of my high rating, will certainly not be to everyone’s taste. The story is set, primarily, in England, between the two wars – although the focus of the story occurred during an archeological dig in the years 1912-1914 by Professor Stokesay, Regius Professor of English History, and an authority on the 7th century. It was during his discovery and excavation of what was found to be the tomb of Bishop Eorwald, a 7th century Christian missionary at the court of Aldbert of the East Folk, that a pagan idol was found among the relics. What Professor Stokesay did not know was that this piece was surrepticiously placed in the tomb by his son Gilbert as a joke. The discovery of the object, however, turned the world of English historians on its collective ear and was the basis of a new thesis that the respected bishop had managed to hang on to some of the extant pagan beliefs in England – even to his death. How all of this plays out is the plot of the novel – primarily as tracked by Professor Gerald Middleton, a Professor Emeritus of early medieval hi9story and a former pupil of Professor Stokesay. This is a slow dense read, but one I found rewarding. Highly recommended.
—Tony
This was such an immense fun! It took me some time to warm up to the story, because there seemed to be a tad too many characters and I couldn't tell where it was going... But then! I don't remember when I started to like it, but it might have had something to do with the appearance of Vin and his set. I liked them a lot, the lowlifes! Especially Frank.Inge was also fun to read about, but she was scary, even more than the horrible Alice or what was his name, Ives? Now that dude was evil! But fun. They were all evil and fun. I sort of rooted for Gerard, unusual for me - I usually end up disliking main characters.So why 4 stars and not 5? Oh. I got some anti-foreigner and anti-working class (okay maybe not, but basically if you aren't at a certain level of income and education, you simply can't be worth much; you may possess a "reptilian intelligence". I liked it! Hah! Sounds cool, to have something reptilian) vibes. Also, I would have liked to see more about Larry and John's ill-fated (?) romance. It got resolved a bit too abruptly for such an elaborate build-up. I anticipated much more waves...
—Tocotin
