 The Goldberg
Variations
AUTHOR: Nancy Huston ISBN: 0921833490
Nancy Huston's The Goldberg Variations, which was shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for Translation, echoes Bach's Variations in its structure and rhythms, and ultimately, its irony.
"Suppose you invite thirty people to your home, people whom you love or have loved, to listen to you perform Bach's Goldberg Variations. And say that this concert unfolds like a midsummer night's dream, that is, you, Liliane, succeed in vibrating thirty people like so many variations, each at a different tune—you must oscillate between memory and speculation; you must, above all, master your fears—maybe then, all these fragments of music would dance into the same stream, and that you would call The Goldberg Variations, a novel." —Nancy Huston
REVIEWS: "Thirty people are invited into Liliane Kulainn's bedroom to hear her play Bach's Goldberg Variations on her harpsichord. The 30 variations, bracketed by an aria from Liliane herself, are in fact interior monologues from the guests, each one a wicked little outburst crackling with gossip, wit and intelligence. In The Goldberg Variations, Huston's penchant for the lyrical swoon so cherished by French writers is happily mated with her considerable erudition. This is an intellectual exercise that throbs with the smell of life. We learn a lot about music, criticism, literary circles, but most of all, we learn a lot about Liliane—her love affairs, her appetites, her lust for mystery, her husband, her eccentricities, her hubris. And yet, Liliane remains, as she must, a mystery. As people sit on the hard chairs and wait for the concert to begin, they think all the bitchy little thoughts people think in public situations. Jealousies abound. Insecurities flourish. Nobody really wants to be there, yet it's entirely believable that none could avoid her summons. The result is an utterly delightful cacophony of brainy people wallowing in art, a wonderful explanation, by way of character, of why it is so great to share culture. Bach, Liliane and her mysterious need to perform are what draws these lives together, and the mix is simply more intoxicating that anything else they could be doing with their evening."—The Montreal Gazette
"Huston's novel begins like the music, with an opening that presages the spirit of the composition as a whole, but while the music itself conveys tranquility (and was composed by Bach as an antidote for a Russian count's insomnia), the introductory chapter bespeaks spiritual unease. As she plays, Liliane has a sense of being at odds with the music and herself. Her agitation introduces a recurring motif: As the guests listen to Liliane, they reflect upon aspects of their own lives. Almost all of them are engaged in some form of inner struggle for some, against themselves, with the severity ranging from moderate self-doubt and criticism to intense self-flagellation. For others, the struggle seems to be against outside forces—some tangible (a spouse, men, social and cultural groups, violence in society), others nebulous (time, madness, ideology, cultural tendencies). Again these feelings of antagonism range from mild resentment to hysterical loathing. But these outpourings of anger and anguish are not intended to be taken literally (ultimately, this polyphony turns out to be a product of Liliane's own reverie); in a work with many layers, in which content upholds form, they serve a larger purpose: they are the literary matter that Huston employs to develop underlying and overarching parallels and contrasts. Thus, Bach's Goldberg Variations, a work of sublime beauty and serenity, contrasts beautifully with the restlessness of the assembled guests, and Liliane's performance becomes a gesture itself symbolic of the purpose for which music was written—an offering, a balm to ease the troubles of the soul." —Books in Canada
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FINALIST—
GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD FOR TRANSLATION
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