233. Young Torless

Young Torless
Robert Musil
1906
Around 200 pages

It's understandable to want to escape reality right now, and to dive into swashbuckling adventures or light-hearted romances. That has been my mood as well, so I have been doing a substantial amount of rereading during this time. I took a break from that carefree lifestyle to read Young Torless, and damn, that was a mistake.

Torless is a student of an Austrian boarding school, and is "friends" with fellow students Reiting, Beineberg, and Basini. Reiting suspects that Basini is stealing from him. Instead of turning Basini in and earning Slytherin 200 house points, Reiting and his friends decide to torture him themselves, physically, emotionally, and sexually.

At least 120 Days of Sodom didn't sneak up on me like this; I had heard of that one. I wouldn't say Young Torless was quite as disturbing as that novel, but man. What a grim perception Musil has of humanity. People are evil and no one person can change anything. I am not saying he's completely off base, but I am not in the mood to stew in all that ugliness.

Oh well, at least it was short.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Musil claims he wrote this novel "because of boredom."

Adapted into a 1966 German film.

UP NEXT: The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy. An old favorite.

232. Professor Unrat

Professor Unrat
Heinrich Mann
1905
Around 250 pages

Many, many moons ago I watched The Blue Angel for my movie blog, which is the film adaptation of this novel. I don't remember much about the movie except Marlene Dietrich being a sexpot, so I really didn't know what to expect when I started this. I think I would assign more importance to the movie than the novel.

Professor Raat is a cranky widower who is known as "Unrat" among his students and colleagues (the German word for garbage). He tracks down Rosa Frohlich, a night club dancer, intending to tell her off for "corrupting" his students. Of course, this does not turn out how he expected.

I'll start by confessing that my translation of this one probably wasn't the best. Since the libraries are closed, I have been living off of pdfs, which is exactly the kind of devil-may-care, cowboy lifestyle I am getting too old for. I am sure the sentences were less awkward in German.

That being said, I did feel like the characterization was rather thin. I didn't feel like I got to know any of these characters. I know Mann's focus was wider than that, but Rosa was nowhere near as striking a character as, say, Nana. Side note: I know I should stop comparing every author to Emile Zola, but I can't help it.

Overall, not terrible, but entirely skippable.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

The Blue Angel was shot simultaneously in English and German. The German version is considered the better film.

The Nazis burned Mann's books in 1933, as they were "contrary to the German spirit." Indeed.

UP NEXT: Young Torless by Robert Musil. Another one that doesn't ring any bells.

231. The House of Mirth

The House of Mirth
Edith Wharton
1905
Around 350 pages

I was surprised to see that there were still Edith Wharton novels on the List that I haven't read yet. I had burned through her classics pretty quickly (The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome, as I am sure you are dying to know). I'm delighted that there three other Wharton novels to look forward to on this blog.

Lily Bart is an orphaned socialite, which in these times, and certainly in these novels, means you have to go live with your bossy aunt until you can snag a husband. Lily is 29, which means she is already considered ancient on the marriage market. Lily tries to improve/maintain her social station but her inner spirit longs to rebel against the conventions she is trying so hard to obey.

I don't know what to make of Lily Bart. She is not nearly as cunning as other, more daring heroines, like Becky Sharp, but she isn't exactly an innocent fawn in the woods either. This makes her a very compelling, but frustrating, heroine. I have a slight issue with Wharton's moralizing, which seemed to take some characters to task but let others get away clean, but this is very well-crafted story.

Once again, women bring it on this List. It's nice to hear from them every twenty novels or so.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Title taken from the Old Testament: "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."

Originally serialized in Scribner's Magazine.

Her royalties were valued at more than a half a million dollar's in today's currency. Get it, girl.

UP NEXT: Professor Unrat by Heinrich Mann. Just what we need, another Mann.

230. Where Angels Fear to Tread

Where Angels Fear to Tread
E.M. Forster
1905
Around 150 pages

The title "Where Angels Fear to Tread" sounds like the name of a sappy Rock Hudson movie, but this novel is anything but sappy. I was particularly pleased about how enjoyable this was, because I've read Howard's End and found it terribly dull. Maybe Forster is like Henry James and will get progressively duller as the years go on. We'll see!

Newly widowed Lilia leaves her young daughter with her mother-in-law, Mrs. Herriton, to travel to Italy with her friend, Ms. Abbott. Ms. Abbot has been charged by the Herritons to keep Lilia in line abroad, only it doesn't go so well. Lilia falls in love with Gino, a short Italian who is *gasp* the son of a dentist. Mrs. Herriton sends her son, Phillip, to Italy to try to stop the match.

Speaking of Henry James (why can't I stop thinking about him? I hate him! It's my dating life all over again), this novel has a similar set up to The Ambassadors, but is much better done. Maybe it was because Forster was younger than James was when he was writing, but his observations about Europe felt less judgmental. It was like he did not blame his characters for any of their behaviors, so deep was his understanding of their motivations. Of course, he had to slip in the occasional off base comment about women here and there. Apparently, I am supposed to have "a woman's pleasure in cleaning anything." Yes, what a simple joy it is to scrub a toilet. It makes my ovaries sing.

I also appreciate his brevity; he didn't waste any time telling his story. A very good novel, and I'm excited to see what else Forster has in store.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Forster completed ten chapters in one month.

Published when he was 26. Okay, now you are just showing off.

UP NEXT: The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

229. Nostromo

Nostromo
Joseph Conrad
1904
Around 550 pages

Okay, I realize the above picture isn't the Nostromo we are talking about, but if I get the chance to pay homage to Alien, I take it.

Nostromo is set in Costaguana, a fictional South American country that is likely based on Colombia. Charles Gould is a native Costaguanian (Costaguaner? Costaguanic? Whatever, he is from Costaguana) who owns a silver-mine. He enlists Nostromo, a daring Italian longshoreman, to protect his silver from local warlords by transporting it offshore.

It was kind of difficult writing that summary, because Conrad takes a little while to get to what I would call the main plot of novel. There's something about Conrad's prose that is tedious to me, I'm not sure what it is. I am always ready to be taken on a swash-buckling adventure and somehow he never seems to take me there.

Still, I can see the appeal for people who want something gritty and real. It's also an interesting setting, and there are some memorable characters here.

Not a favorite, but deserving of its place on the List.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, "I'd rather have written Nostromo than any other novel."

47 on Modern Library's list of 100 best English language novels of the 20th century.

UP NEXT: Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster. I have always wanted to read more of him so I am looking forster to this.  Geddit? ... I haven't left my apartment in a long time.

228. Hadrian the Seventh

Hadrian the Seventh
Frederick Rolfe
1904
Around 400 pages

Frederick Rolfe is weird. That might be the understatement of the century, at least this century, but there you go. He desperately wanted to join the Catholic Church, despite being a gay ephebophile, but was kicked out of two seminaries for his unpredictable behavior. He relied on patrons for support in his writing, but managed to alienate most of them. It's important to understand who Rolfe is before reading this, because this is an auto-biographical novel...or at least, Rolfe wishes it was.

George Arthur Rose is a writer who is expelled from a seminary. Three cardinals visit him and tell him what a horrible mistake they made. They invite him to attend the papal conclave and one thing leads to another and he's elected Pope.

This is really embarrassing, I don't know if there is a better way of putting it. Rolfe has delusions of grandeur that would make a real politician blush. He genuinely believes he is infallible, and that if given a big enough platform, like say Pope, he could not only fix the Catholic Church but all of Europe as well. Oh honey.

Life is a disaster, and writers want to make sense of it, make it beautiful, and yes, sometimes even correct it. Rolfe has no awareness of how wrong the world he has created feels, how untrue it is, because he is at the center of it.

I reserve zero star ratings for books that are actively trying to make me puke, but this was pretty bad.

RATING: *----

Interesting Facts:

37 on Guardian's List of 100 best novels. Scuse?

Rolfe would often abbreviate his name to Fr. Rolfe, so people would think he was a priest.

UP NEXT: Nostromo by Joseph Conrad. I just recently read all the Conrad novels on the List, so expect a review up shortly!

227. The Riddle of the Sands

The Riddle of the Sands
Erskine Childers
1903
Around 300 pages

This is one of those novels where the background of the story is almost more interesting than the plot itself. Childers wrote this novel with the aim of illustrating the weaknesses of British defense and how Germany could take advantages of those weaknesses (keep in mind that this was published in 1903!). Childers later became an Irish nationalist and was executed by a British firing squad during the Irish Civil War for smuggling weapons into Ireland. His last words were, "Take a step or two forward, lads, it will be easier that way." Wait, am I in love with this dead guy? I'll worry about that later.

Carruthers, a minor official in the Foreign Office, reluctantly accepts an invitation from a casual acquaintance, Davies, to go on a yachting/duck shooting trip. Davies eventually reveals that he suspects a German plot is brewing in the Frisian Islands, and believes Dollman, a German businessman, is actually a spy. Davies wants Carruthers to help, and to help in a way that Dollman's daughter will still have sex with Davies.

It can be pretty cringey when a novelist is trying to make an extreme point with the tools of fiction. I can't even read Ayn Rand for this purpose, and even competent writers like Jack London sometimes can't resist including a long-winded, out-of-place speech where a character espouses the author's beliefs while the other characters stare in open-mouthed admiration. On the other hand, we have also seen this done really well on the List, with Emile Zola coming to mind as the best example of this.

Fortunately, on a scale of Ayn to Zola, Childers is much closer to Zola. He actually tells a really interesting story with a likable, funny narrator. Childers' revolutionary spirit is dripping from the text and is pretty infectious.

I question the necessity of the epilogue, as I question the necessity of all epilogues. I felt like it was an insecure twitch on Childers' part, like he was panicking that he didn't make his point clear enough in the body of the novel. No worries, Childers, we got it.

I had never heard of this novel, so I once again thank the List for introducing us.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Childers is the father of the fourth president of Ireland, Erskine Hamilton Childers.

Considered the first spy novel, not counting Kim.

Winston Churchill said of Childers, "No man has done more harm or shown more genuine malice or endeavoured to bring a greater curse upon the common people of Ireland than this strange being, actuated by a deadly and malignant hatred for the land of his birth."

UP NEXT: Hadrian the Seventh by Frederick Rolfe. Looks like another good one, even if I haven't heard of it.

226. The Golden Bowl

The Golden Bowl
Henry James
1904
Around 600 pages

Whenever an author has a significant amount of entries on the List, I usually rank their works when we reach the end of their appearances. I noticed that when it came to Henry James, my ranking of best to worst was, for the most part, in reverse chronological order:

1. The Portrait of a Lady
2. The Turn of the Screw
3. What Maisie Knew
4. The Wings of the Dove
5. The Ambassadors
6. The Golden Bowl

Maybe in gaining confidence in his prose, he lost the urge to edit. In any case, I'm not sorry that we are done with his works, and he is the kind of genius that I would hate to meet in person.

Prince Amerigo is in London for his marriage to Maggie Verver. Maggie is a wealthy heiress and is friends with Charlotte Stant. Unbeknownst to Maggie, Charlotte and Amerigo were former lovers. Charlotte is urged to marry Maggie's father, because being a woman in Henry James novel is pretty terrible.

With so few characters, James really does an excellent job of presenting us with flawed, believable personalities, at least until the end. But I have to roll my eyes at the use of symbolism in this novel. It's cheesy, and with all the attention paid to the Golden Bowl, I was half hoping it would get up and dance, instead of just sitting there representing lost illusions or whatever.

The reign of Henry is over, and I can't wait to see what comes next.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Included on Guardian's list of 100 Best Novels.

Trailer from YouTube:

UP NEXT: The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers. Looking forward to this one!

225. The Ambassadors

The Ambassadors
Henry James
1903
Around 500 pages

I chose the above picture for this entry because it closely mirrored my own expression when reading this novel. Henry and I are truly two peas in a pod.

Lambert Strether is on mission. He has been asked by his wealthy fiancee to go to Paris and rescue her son, Chad, who she worries in the clutches of some wicked European woman. Once Lambert arrives in Europe and gets swept up in Chad's world, he begins to feel like he missed out on life.

So, once again, there is a plot that sounds good and once again, James manages to bury any intrigue in unnecessary, long-winded prose. The feeling that Lambert has in Europe is universal, so why does James make it feel so inaccessible here?

I see that there is some value here, if only I were able to adapt to the rhythm of his stories. But I don't see that moment arriving any time soon. Yawn, next.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

James' favorite of his own works. Mmkay.

One of Modern Library's 100 best English language novels of the 20th century.

UP NEXT: The Golden Bowl by Henry James. Last Henry James novel on the List! Rejoice!

224. The Immoralist

The Immoralist
Andre Gide
1902
Around 150 pages

It's nice when the chunkie chunksters on this List are broken up by some shorter works. I read this in a couple hours and it was a pretty delightful way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Michel recently married Marceline, and is pretty much the worst husband imaginable. After a rather embarrassing wedding night performance, he concludes with coughing blood all over her silk foulard. He also drags her around North Africa despite her being in poor health. Despite Michel's treatment of his wife and some of his Michael Jackson-y attachments to children, Gide passes no judgment on his hero. He prefaces the novel saying:

"The public nowadays will not forgive an author who, after relating an action, does not declare  himself either for or against it; more than this, during the very course of the drama they want him to take sides, pronounce in favor either of Alceste or Philinte, of Hamlet or Ophelia, of Faust or Margaret, of Adam or Jehovah. I do not indeed claim that neutrality (I was going to say 'indecision') is the certain mark of a great mind; but I believe that many great minds have been very loath to conclude — and that to state a problem clearly is not to suppose it solved in advance."

I like novels where the protagonist is somebody who has no business being a protagonist (Hufflepuffs for the win!). I probably couldn't have put up with Michel for very long, but I enjoyed the journey, even if Marceline got the short end of the stick in terms of characterization.

It's clear this had a heavy influence over other works, particularly Proust's Remembrance of Things Past. A worthy entry to the List and I am enjoying getting to know Gide.

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

James Dean starred in a stage adaptation of this novel.

UP NEXT: The Ambassadors by Henry James. We can't shake this guy.

223. The Wings of the Dove

The Wings of the Dove
Henry James
1902
Around 450 pages

When I am not following the List chronologically, I like to pick two authors and alternate between their works. Usually, a good guy/bad guy dynamic forms between the two writers dueling for my affections. Recently, I bounced between Iain Banks (the good guy) and Joseph Conrad (the bad guy). Before that, I was switching between Virginia Woolf (the good guy) and Henry "Why Won't This End" James.

Kate Croy and Merton Densher desperately want to marry, but lack the means to live the lifestyle Kate desires. Kate is stuck living with her bossy aunt Maud, while she plots a way to escape her circumstances. Enter Milly Theale, who is also in love with Densher, but is suffering from a deadly disease. Kate wants Merton to secure Theale's fortune before she passes, using that hot bod of his (Henry's words, not mine).

Doesn't that sound like an interesting story? Almost Shakespearean. And yet, James manages to sap all of the drama from his plot with his insufferable prose. I am not one of those people who think you should be charged by the syllable; sometimes there is a time and place for intricacy. But plenty of other authors do it better. I get the sense he just didn't know how to edit, and wasn't able to kill his darlings.

Not the worst James novel on the List, but entirely skippable.

RATING: **---

Interesting Facts:

Milly is based on James' cousin, who died of tuberculosis.

James was critical of the novel's structure. Omg same.

UP NEXT: The Immoralist by Andre Gide. A short read, so a short waiting time between posts!