ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606240111
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: 4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
SOURCE: REVIEWED BY DABNEY STUART
ANGUS WILSON: A Biography. By Margaret Drabble. St. Martin's Press. $35.
British writer Angus Wilson was born Aug. 11, 1913, and died May 31, 1991. Between 1946 and 1980, he produced 17 books, including studies of Zola, Dickens and Kipling, collections of short stories, travel and other narratives and a play. But he said, "It is as a novelist I think of myself. A novelist who began late with much fragmented life to put to paper." Of his output perhaps he is best known in the U.S. for "Anglo-Saxon Attitudes" (1956).
Margaret Drabble's "official" biography cries out to an editor, "Cut me by a third; reveal my perspective." No one listened. As a result, it's overwhelmed by detail, lost amid floods of characters, most of whom receive their own mini-biographies, even those who impinge only peripherally on Wilson's life. Not even Drabble's skills as a novelist have been able to give her sympathetic, affectionate book focus, economy or pace.
This is regrettable. If I read this book with any accuracy, it has two central concerns. First, Drabble faces the challenge of presenting Wilson's transformation of a horribly chaotic life into arresting literature. His family moved hither and yon like a crazy piece on a chessboard when he was a boy, a pattern he repeated on a larger scale in his extensive worldwide travels once his career took off in the 1950s. Drabble traces the arc of this career from its heyday to its heart-breaking end in the loneliness and deterioration of his last decade, when he became dependent on the state for his pension.
Her second concern is Wilson's homosexuality and, more broadly, the milieu of homosexuality in England, particularly among intellectuals and artists. Wilson took part in many battles for the legalization and acceptance of homosexuality in Britain and was admired for his openness. This isn't a new subject, but Drabble's treatment of it is occasionally probing. Still, it is thinly spread as well.
In an age in which not only the microphone but the camcorder is stuck into the face of what were once intimate privacies, Drabble's choice not to present sexual details is refreshing. But it may be an unwitting mark of this book's lack of center. Without such detail, we are left with reference and idea. I find this condition in Drabble's biography analogous to Drury Pifer's comments (pages 530-531) on Wilson's homosexuality as material for his fiction. Pifer said, "Perhaps the great loss was [Wilson's] decision ... to make himself respectable when ... he might have written a truly disreputable literature that made the gay experience accessible to the imagination."
In spite of my reservations about this biography, I expect it will become, deservedly, a standard reference for details about Wilson's life.
A footnote. One of the entertaining aspects of the myriad of figures who populate this book is their name. We have Bentley Bridgewater, Sir Stafford Crips, Mrs. Tiggywinkle, Brenda Tongue, Honoria Wormald and Gorley Putt, plus a farmer named Mr. Squirrel and other folk with first names like Perkin, Dragon and Bert. The effect is to make England, of the literary segment dealt with here, sound fictional, a parody of itself.
It is sometimes difficult to decide if the sadness, obsession and self-reflexiveness of Wilson's life seems diminished by the parodic effect or, by contrast to it, more poignant.
Dabney Stuart's most recent book is "Light Years: New and Selected Poems."
Photographs depict Irish way of life
REVIEWED BY M. KATHERINE GRIMES
DOROTHEA LANGE'S IRELAND. Text by Gerry Mullins. Essay by Daniel Dixon. Elliott & Clark. $29.95.
Photographer Dorothea Lange is best known for her work documenting the suffering of migrants and displaced farmers during the Great Depression. Her portrait "Migrant Mother," which pictures a haggard woman flanked by two little girls and holding an infant, is often reproduced.
In 1954, inspired by Conrad Arensberg's book "The Irish Countryman," Lange and her son Daniel Dixon traveled to Ireland to photograph a way of life the artist missed in this country. In County Clare, she found people rooted on land that had been in their families for generations, working with neighbors and shopping in open markets, living a hard but rewarding life
Of the 2,400 photographs Lange took, 19 were published by Life magazine in March of 1955. "Ireland" contains 100 pages of these black and white photographs, from The Oakland Museum of California's collection, depicting farm work, family life, marketing, even sports. The pictures of children are especially dear. The book is a valuable documentary of a time gone by, but a way of life that remains in Ireland today, as the updated photo captions explain.
Lange deserves the respect she has received as a professional photographer, not just for the clarity and beauty of her work, but for the deep understanding of people and life that a book such as this conveys.
Persons interested in photography, in Ireland, in farming, or in people will find this book delightful. The text by Gerry Mullins and the essay by Daniel Dixon contribute to an understanding of Lange's life and her purpose in this collection of photographs.
M. Katherine Grimes teaches English at Ferrum College.
True jazz players identified from the pack
REVIEWED BY BOB FISHBURN
THE GUITAR IN JAZZ. Edited by James Sallis. University of Nebraska Press. $30.
This compilation of articles dating back to the '50s is a follow-up to the guitar-playing author's earlier book on the broader subject of the guitar in American popular music, "The Jazz Players." The concentration on jazz leads to the inevitable problem of what is jazz among all the developments in the use of the instrument since the turn of the century: early jazz, swing, be-bop, rock, jazz-rock and fusion, free jazz, funk, cool, trad and what one of the contributors calls neobop classicism.
All the players are here, from the turn-of-the-century New Orleans strummers to the latest Eastern-influenced masters of the guitar synthesizer. A comment by one of the greats, Joe Pass, helps people like me, bewildered by the profusion of styles, to separate the true jazz players from the strutting pretenders: "Yes, rock players. I don't know how to say it, but a lot of them can't play. Put them down in a room and say, `OK, here's Joe the barber. Play something so that Joe the barber knows what you're playing. Take the amps and fuzz tones and wa-wa's away, and just play some music for me and my friends, and let's see if you can play some music.' I think a lot of them wouldn't be able to play anything."
That's saying it very well.
Bob Fishburn is former editor of this newspaper's commentary page.
BOOKMARKS
REVIEWED BY PEGGY DAVIS
FORBIDDEN OBSESSION. MaryAnne Gleason. Cascade Fiction. $7.95.
MaryAnne Gleason, a Virginia writer, categorizes her books as mystery and romantic suspense, an apt description for "Forbidden Obsession." This one is set in Virginia, and the plot has strong echoes of Rosamunde Pilcher's "The Shell Seekers" and of an old movie, "The Cardinal."
A Roman Catholic priest and the beautiful young sister of a murder victim try to find the reason for the murder while also searching for a missing art collection.
The romance is standard, "I can't resist you" fare, but for those who enjoy this genre, this 372-page adventure will be a hit.
Gleason's next book, "Shattered Image," is previewed at the end of this one so her fans won't forget her.
Peggy Davis lives in Fincastle and reviews a variety of books for this page.
MaryAnne Gleason will be signing books in Roanoke on Saturday at Books-A-Million from 1-3 p.m. and at Wal-Mart on Franklin Road from 6-8 p.m. She will also appear at Walden Books in the New River Valley Mall.
Another McMillan character exhales
REVIEWED BY SUSAN TRENT
HOW STELLA GOT HER GROOVE BACK. By Terry McMillan. Viking. $23.95.
As readers who have read Terry McMillan's wildly successful novel, "Waiting to Exhale," already know, "exhaling" is often the key to happiness. McMillan continues to explore this theme in her latest novel, "How Stella Got Her Groove Back."
This wry, spicy, jazzy story is an account of the adventures of Stella Payne, a 42-year-old divorced securities analyst from San Francisco who has forgotten how to "exhale" and wants to learn to do so again. Through Stella's experience and her voyage in search of self-discovery as a black woman, McMillan leads readers on another journey to "exhaling."
McMillan's recipe for learning to exhale is simple, yet entertaining. First, as Stella does, take a fantastic trip to a beautiful island - in this case, Jamaica - and leave all cares behind.
Second, open your heart to new adventures and experiences. Forget what others think; do what is best for you. Stella does this, too, when she jet-skis, scuba dives and falls in love with an unemployed Jamaican hotel chef less than half her age.
Third, add comedy to your adventure. The comedy occurs for Stella when she gets her man to come to San Francisco to meet her family.
Finally, be adventurous, jump into life and grow from your experience.
Do all this, as Stella does, and you no longer will be "waiting to exhale."
Susan Trent lives in Roanoke.
BOOKS IN BRIEFS
THE STALLION.
By Harold Robbins. Simon & Schuster. $23.
Reading Harold Robbins is like eating the perfect chocolate candy bar. It's not really good for you, it's a quick thrill that won't satisfy you for long, and it's such a treat while you do it.
In his newest novel, "The Stallion," a sequel to "The Betsy," Robbins reasserts himself as a master storyteller. It's a rough, romantic epic of wealthy, ruthless and sexually insatiable giants in the automotive industry. And it's fun to read. Besides, nobody writes as inventively about sex as Harold Robbins.
Read "The Stallion" for pure escapist enjoyment. You'll understand why Robbins has earned his literary triple crown and more.
- JUDY KWELLER
REMEMBER ME, IRENE.
By Jan Burke. Simon & Schuster. $21.
"Remember Me, Irene" is another Irene Kelly mystery and well up to the standard set by Jan Burke in her previous three mysteries featuring the same heroine and detective. It is claimed that President Clinton is a fan of Jan Burke's work, and I can understand why.
Kelly is a newspaper reporter for a local paper in a Southern California city. She is newly married to a homicide detective, which is convenient when, as inevitably happens, Irene becomes involved in a series of unexplained deaths.
The plot is skillful, and Irene is an appealing heroine, so much so that I promptly went out and bought another of Burke's Irene Kelly mysteries to see if it came up to expectations. I am delighted to report that it did.
- JILL BOWEN
Judy Kweller is a free-lance writer and special events coordinator.
Jill Bowen, a veterinarian, lives in Blacksburg.
LENGTH: Long : 202 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) McMillanby CNB