Hello Gentle Reader
Well I've finished the relatively short novel by Claude Simon called "The Trolley," -- even though short, its a difficult novel to talk about. Claude Simone, is best described as a person who was influenced by the Modernist writers of the early 20th century. However the one that can best be described as having the most influence over this Nobel Prize in Literature winning author, is Marcel Proust. Obviously this novel "The Trolley," pays great respect, to Marcel Proust and also shows just how much, Marcel Proust had influenced the author (Claude Simone). Claude Simon however, is not a modernist. Modernism had its rein in the literary world, and once Claude Simon had started to publish his own novels, Modernism had already been declared a literary movement of the past. However its influences by such authors as Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, and Marcel Proust, were felt all over the literary world.
Modernism as we know, rejected the "Traditional," way of telling a story, and often tried to take the novel and other literary forms to new levels, places where they have never been taken before. So started James Joyce's "Ulysses," and Virginia Woolf's "Ms. Dalloway," "To The Lighthouse," "The Waves," and others novels, and Marcel Proust momentous novel "In Search of Lost Time." These novels pushed the limits of the novel and other literary forms. However Modernism was declared a "last season," outfit after the deaths of both Virginia Woolf and James Joyce.
However in the mid fifties and the early sixties, another literary theory, flourished. Much like Modernism, in the way that it argued that writers should be pushing the boundaries away from the traditional novel and storytelling, this new form of literary theory was called "The Nouveau Roman," or in English "The New Novel." This "Noveau Roman," flourished in France, in this period, and was stuck to such authors as:
Alain-Robbe Grillet
Maurice Blanchot
Michel Butor
Phillipe Sollers
Claude Simon
Robert Pinget ("Mahu or The Material,")
Nathalie Sarraute
Marguerite Duras
These authors went on the same idea that Modernism that Woolf, Joyce and Proust proclaimed was necessary in literature. This new literary movement is often characterized by its, "austere narrative tone which often eschews metaphor and simile in favour of precise physical descriptions, a heightened sense of ambiguity with regards to point of view, radical disjunctions of time and space, and self-reflexive commentary on the processes of literary composition." Sounds slightly similar to Post-Modernism as well doesn’t it?
But Alain-Robbe Grillet; shall we say the most outspoken of these novelists and authors and some where even film makers/directors, also said the following about the "Noveau Roman,":
"the traditional novel, with its dependence on an omniscient narrator, and adherence to the unities of time and place, creates an illusion of order and significance which is inconsistent with the radically discontinuous and aleatory nature of modern experience."
In other words, Mr. Robbe Grillet, was basically saying that the traditional novels (like Charles Dickens, the Brontë sisters , Honoré de Balzac, Emile Zola, and others) gave a false view of the world. They showed the world had a "natural," order that kept everything in balance and that everything had significance in the world. However Mr. Robbe Grillet, says that is not true, especially in the "modern world." So Grillet argues that, with the acute physical descriptions and lack of metaphor, and the lack of order regarding time and space, the "New Novel," is able to convey the modern experience of its characters; and this is my favourite aspect of the "New Novel," is that it welcomes re-reading and free interpretation that traditional story’s and novels may lack.
But this is the most important aspect of the "Noveau Roman," or "New Novel." It is seen by literary theorists and scholars and historians as standing in between the gap between "Modernism," and "Post-Modernism," so the "New Novel," in some way or another has attributes of both of these literary movements and theories.
Where does Claude Simon, fit into this though? Well seeing as he was to young to be a Modernist and to old to be a Post-Modernist in some sense or another, he was placed in the French Literature category called the "Noveau Roman," or the "New Novel," however Claude Simon, openly rejected this term.
In an interview with "The Paris Review," Claude Simone was asked:
Some have said that it was after you wrote Le Sacre du printemps in the fifties that you became a “new novelist.”
Claude Simon quickly responded to this question with the following:
"Since the majority of professional critics do not read the books of which they speak, mountains of nonsense have been spoken and written about the nouveau roman. The name refers to a group of several French writers who find the conventional and academic forms of the novel insupportable, just as Proust and Joyce did long before them. Apart from this common refusal, each of us has worked through his own voice; the voices are very different, but this does not prevent us from having mutual esteem and a feeling of solidarity with one another."
Claude Simon also in the interview further points out what separates him from the "New Novelists," like Alain-Robbe Grillet, Robert Pinget, and Nathalie Sarraute when answering the following questions:
What distinguishes your voice from those of the other new novelists?
"Beginning with The Grass, my novels are more and more based on my life and require very little fiction—in the end, really none at all."
Other sources (in this case wikipedia) also state that while Claude Simon shares some simple similarities with the "Noveau Roman," he also had a very defined sense of character and narrative, which the other novelists, could easily be lacking or out right not use.
However, Mr. Claude Simon was unable to escape the term "New Novelist," and the label "Noveau Roman," being applied to him. Even in the 1985 press release by the Swedish Academy (the ones that award and announce the Nobel Prize in Literature) the opening line states the following:
"Claude Simon began to be noticed in earnest at the end of the 1950s in connection with the great interest in the so-called "new novel" in France."
As much as Claude Simon wished to escape the label of being called a "New Novelist," he was in fact seen by many critics and people as a "New Novelist," and I can certainly see where they get such an idea. Just by reading this short novel "The Trolley," alone, by Claude Simone, there are beautiful paintings and pictures painted in his world. From the descriptions, of a cigarette butt (hand rolled) translucent by the saliva; or describing a Intravenous (IV) rack, or anything else, with the beautiful, language, and the hints of memories. This novel was beautiful for its descriptions, and its long sentences, but sadly there was often a lack of understanding of what was going on sometimes. I understand that there are two different plot lines, of a man in a hospital his memories of being a youngster, and all that, but it became difficult to follow during the last bit.
However the beautiful descriptions for me, made this novel worthwhile. Especially the scenes of the hospital. Where the narrator, realizes that as a patient he is no longer really seen as an adult, or a human being in some sense or another. He realizes this, when the nurse uses the word "caca," which I admit I had to look up, because I had never heard or even read the word before but upon looking it up I realized what it meant (and for those that do not know what it means -- it means feces). More or less this profound realization, and his treatment of being kept in an ignorant state of a "child," or even "infant," in the confides of the grey bleak and dour hospital walls and chambers, lead him to the realization that he came in search of help for whatever reason, but in other finds only finds degradation. Disgusting, really. But I really don't have much of a nice relationship with doctors or hospitals -- they're kind of pompous and piss me off.
Even with the lack of traditional literary conventions, of characterization, rising and falling action, and other traditional works of literature that we would see in "Popular Literature," and "Literary Realism," of Charles Dickens, The the Brontë sisters, Emile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, and others. It’s still a interesting piece of work, not rewarding in any memorable characters, or sense of thought, but its descriptions are beautiful and are painted perfectly -- I think if I recall correctly Claude Simon painted. It certainly is a beautiful book in its only trait of beautiful pictures. But it is also in many ways or another, a kind of way of showing his love and admiration for Marcel Proust.
Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read
M.Mary
References:
http://elab.eserver.org/hfl0260.html
Wikipedia (specifically wikipedia's page on Claude Simon.)
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1985/press.html
http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/2096/the-art-of-fiction-no-128-claude-simon
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