Van Gogh's Room at Arles (American Literature (Dalkey Archive)) Review

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Van Gogh's Room at Arles (American Literature (Dalkey Archive)) ReviewThis book of three novellas, my first contact with the works of Stanley Elkin, leaves me with the impression that Elkin deserves to be more widely read and appreciated. It seems that he has been given more recognition by his fellow writers than by the reading public. According to the liner notes, authors such as Robert Coover, John Gardner and Richard Ford "have rhapsodized...over Elkin's dazzling originality of theme and spellbinding, playful command of language." I am not yet familiar with the works of authors Ford and Coover, but words of approval from John Gardner carry a great deal of authority for me, as he is a writer I much admire.
It is interesting that Gardner would have had such high esteem for Elkin, because, based on the reading I have done in each writer's output, they differ greatly in technique and emphasis. I find it useful to compare the two; this gives me a clearer idea of the salient traits of each. Gardner's work suggests a semi-mythic approach in his rendition of life, with characters having qualities of both real human beings as well as those of archetypes or symbols. By contrast, Elkin's characters(at least in the book being reviewed)seem entirely human. It's true that Elkin's characters are confronted with the same sort of unfathomable conditions of life as Gardner's, such as alienation, luck of the draw, and the inability to control one's environment or fate. But whereas Gardner's stories have that overlay of symbolism, which gives to them touches of the heroic, and of tragic irony, we are described the world of Elkin's characters through internal monologues of unceasing chatter which reveal the truth of the inner person, warts and all.
Frankly, I found this style of Elkin's to be a turn-off when I first started reading the book. Why, I thought, should I spend my time reading about a character whose inner musings seem to be composed of a continual sing-song of the mundane, the ignoble, the self-serving and seamy reflections with which he defines his existence?
The first novella of the book, 'Her Sense of Timing', I saw, would likely determine whether my association with Elkin's work would be long or abbreviated. It deals with a wheelchair-bound university Professor of Political Geography, whose debilitating illness has left him almost wholly dependent on the aid and goodwill of others. A curmudgeon by nature, his needy condition has left him even more unattractive to others. Being a curmudgeon when you have full use of your faculties is vastly easier than when you become dependent on others for your every need, he finds. When his wife of thirty-seven years, who has evidently had enough of him, abruptly leaves him to his own devices, he finds his vulnerability exacerbated to another level of magnitude, for now he must depend on the kindness of complete strangers.
Professor Jack Schiff, in trying to hang on to a semblance of personal dignity, craftily resorts to attempted manipulation of people who basically have no interest in his welfare. Mentally he is constantly appraising prospective helpers and estimating what buttons he needs to push to get what he wants. This 6o-year old member of Academia, who no doubt has considerable intellectual abilities, doesn't spend much time pondering to himself Man's Place In The Universe or other abstract ponderables, but is mainly concerned with the logistics of getting to the bathroom on time, maintaining personal sanitation, getting fed, and getting up or down stairs.
The thing that began to draw me in to this story was the growing realization that this was a very honest rendering of the Professor's struggle to deal with his handicap. The third-person narration makes the contents of his mind transparent to the reader. We see the world through his eyes, but unedited by him. Therefore, there is no glamorizing or idealizing of his cunning machinations, no censoring of his prurient fancies. Even though most of the Professor's stratagems end up as flops, and his attempt to host his annual teacher-student dinner without his wife's usual assistance ends up as an unmitigated disaster, there is still a sense that here is a guy putting up a valiant struggle to remain viable.
As the above-quoted liner notes proclaim, the story is rendered in an original style which utilizes language in intriguing ways to get its points across. There is a constant, subtly amusing tone to the Professor's ruminations, though his predicament is extremely serious. There are word associations, surprising combinations of words, rhyming words, double meanings,etc, salted throughout his ongoing inner monologue, along with a liberal amount of sarcasm. There are no momentous conclusions to be derived from this story; simply that, whether there are gods or there are not gods, this is the situation which was faced by one individual, and the words generated by the mind of this person comprise the text with which he explains to himself(and us)the realities of that situation.
After finishing the story my estimation of Elkin's writing was that it deserved a good solid three stars for originality, but was not really meaningful or memorable enough to merit higher. But on reading the following two novellas, my opinion changed progressively to four, and then five stars, hence the four star rating, as an average. Unfortunately, I have been too long-winded to say much about those other two stories, but I thought the second one - 'Confessions of a Princess Manque' - was very good, and showed even more originality in it's presentation than the first one. The third novella - 'Van Gogh's Room at Arles' - I thought, was extremely good, and of the three, seemed the one which most nearly approached a revelatory conclusion about life, although it's story is presented through the eyes of a character who is very unexceptional - or is he?
What started out seeming initially to be a rather bland mode of storytelling opened up many avenues of contemplation to me as I became accustomed to the unfamiliar style. I dwelt heavily on the first novella because I suspect that, for other people new to this author, this first confrontation with his style may take some getting used to. I just wanted to suggest there may be more there than first meets the mind's eye. At the same time, there are no doubt many who will never appreciate this author. I hope I have given both sides a clue as to whether they should invest their money.Van Gogh's Room at Arles (American Literature (Dalkey Archive)) Overview

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