The Economist - USA (2019-11-23)

The EconomistNovember 23rd 2019 Books & arts 77

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C

armenmachadoburstontotheAmer-

icanliteraryscene in 2017 with“Her

BodyandOtherParties”,a surrealandraun-

chycollectionofstories.Twoyearslater

comes an unorthodox memoir that re-

countsheremotionalabusebya girlfriend

over several years. But “In the Dream

House”isalsoahallofmirrors,“abook

abouta housethatwasnota houseanda

dreamthatwasnodreamatall”.

Asa studentinthewritingprogramme

attheUniversityofIowa,MsMachadofell

inlovewitha womanwhosereservoirsof

crueltymadeher“illwithfear”.Theexperi-

encecleftherintwo,shewrites,andher

memoirisdulydividedintotwopointsof

view:the“I”ofherrecollectionsandthe

“you”ofthepowerless,captive—andcapti-

vated—victimofdomesticabuse.

Thebookiscomposedofscoresofshort

sections,likeshards,inwhichMsMachado

deployseveryliterarytrickandtropeinthe

canon.Someexamineher traumausing

thesedevices(theUnreliableNarrator,the

Bildungsroman); others employ themes

fromfolklore;stillothersarecomprisedof

philosophicalpropositionsandanalytical

essays.NowattheUniversityofPennsylva-

nia,MsMachadoisa scholarofnarrative

structure,andstudentsofliteraturewill

findthisapproachprovocative andrich;

othersmayconsiderittoocleverbyhalf.

Throughout,though,herwritingisbrac-

ing,asfullofhumourandwhimsy,sexand

creepinessasinheroffbeatstories.

Sheseemsintentonsmashingbound-

ariesbetweengenres,andbetweenreality

andimagination.Footnotesshowhowper-

vasiveviolentabusehasbeenthroughall

timesandtales.Sheofferstrenchantcom-

mentaryonthelegendofBluebeardandan

episodeof“StarTrek”.Later,shepowerfully

re-stagestheairlesstrapoftheabusivere-

lationship,inwhichnoanswerplacatesa

controllingpartner,bycreatinga “Choose

YourOwnAdventure”thatcirclesandcir-

clesonitself.Herloverdeliversa steady

torrentofhateanddenigration,followed

bydenialsthatithasoccurredatall,anes-

calatingformofgaslightingfromwhichMs

Machadocannottearherselfaway.

Presentingpersonalpainasathriller

mightseemexploitative.Yetherstoryisin-

herentlyfilledwithsuspense.Asina hor-

rorfilm,thereaderispulledonwardtofind

American memoir

Fairy-tale ending

In the Dream House.By Carmen Maria

Machado. Graywolf Press; 272 pages; $26. To

be published in Britain by Serpent’s Tail in

January; £14.99

trast, material deprivation is a huge pro-

blem and an “ultra-basic” handout of a dol-

lar or two a day could release people from

penury and hunger.

India could largely pay for this by abol-

ishing wasteful subsidies for petrol, food

and fertiliser. Universal cash payments are

simple—a big plus when the government is

incapable of administering complex social

programmes. The authors do not imagine,

however, that their logical arguments set-

tle the matter. Mr Banerjee is running a ran-

domised trial of ultra-basic cash payments

in Kenya; he expects results next year.

All readers will find something to dis-

agree with in this book. It is too harsh on

Margaret Thatcher and too kind to Europe’s

farm subsidies. But they will be captivated

by the authors’ curiosity, ferocious intel-

lects and attractive modesty. “The only re-

course we have against bad ideas”, they ar-

gue, is to “resist the seduction of the

‘obvious’, be sceptical of promised mir-

acles, question the evidence, be patient

with complexity and honest about what we

know and what we can know.” Amen. 7

N

inoharatischvili’selegantepic

recounts the fortunes of a Georgian

family and the turbulent history of their

country, from the beginning of the 20th

century to the 2000s, through revolu-

tion, the fall of empires and world wars.

It is a triumph of both authorship and

painstaking translation (from the origi-

nal German) by Charlotte Collins and

Ruth Martin. Each of the seven sections

focuses on one life, the saga stretching

from link to fascinating link as if they

were jewels on a charm bracelet.

In the prologue Niza Jashi, a disaffect-

ed 32-year-old professor who has left

Georgia for Berlin to escape her family’s

terrible history, is suddenly forced to

reckon with it. Brilka, her 12-year-old

niece, has absconded from a dance

troupe touring Amsterdam; her mother,

Niza’s older sister Daria, is dead. Dedicat-

ing the narrative to the girl, Niza enjoins

her to transcend their clan’s misfortune.

In the book’s chain of stories, Brilka’s will

be the “eighth life”—“because they say

the number eight represents infinity...I

am giving my eight to you.”

The chapters that follow place Ms

Haratischvili’s characters at the centre of

the “red century”, combining magical

realism with the more prosaic, social

kind. Niza and Brilka are descendants of

what once seemed set to be a dynasty of

chocolatiers. Niza’s great-great grandfa-

ther had trained in patisserie-making all

over Europe; back in Tbilisi he created

mouthwatering confections and built a

successful business. His most coveted

recipe was for a chocolate elixir, the exact

ingredients of which he guarded, fearing

itsdangerouslyaddictive effects—a

metaphor, in the novel, for the allure of

extreme ideologies.

The first biography related by Niza is

that of Stasia, the patriarch’s middle

daughter, a spirited young woman who

yearns to train as a ballet dancer in Paris.

Instead, in 1917 she marries a lieutenant

in Russia’s White Guard, suffering isola-

tion and disillusionment when she

travels to Petrograd to find him. Cru-

cially, her father has trusted only her

with the secret chocolate recipe.

Her tale is followed by those of her

spoilt half-sister Christine, Stasia’s son

Kostya and daughter Kitty, a singer,

Kostya’s daughter Elene, and Elene’s

daughters, Daria and Niza themselves.

Ms Haratischvili’s writing is lyrical, but

she does not gloss over the compromises

people make to survive. Above all, “The

Eighth Life” is an unforgettable love

letter to Georgia and the Caucasus, to

lives led and to come, and to writing

itself, a frontier where, Niza says, “legend

ends and facts begin”.

Magic mountains

Georgian fiction

The Eighth Life (For Brilka).By Nino

Haratischvili. Translated by Charlotte

Collins and Ruth Martin. Scribe; 944

pages; £20. To be published in America

in April; $40

Heroes of their times