Kings & Queens of England (Delderfield, 1966)

 Eric R. Delderfield. The Kings and Queens of England. (1966) Just what the title says, the monarchs listed in order, with dates and other statistics, and a brief summary of their reign. The author claims to have avoided bias as much as possible, and I think he’s succeeded. Portraits of most of them reproduced rather badly: halftone on plain paper tends to lose detail. A useful little reference book, so I’ll keep it. **½

The Golden Egg (Leon, 2013)

 Donna Leon. The Golden Egg (2013). The deaf-mute helper at the laundry that does Guido and Paola Brunetti’s dry-cleaning dies of apparent suicide. The necessary bureaucratic protocols fail to turn up any record of his existence. His mother gives conflicting and unverifiable accounts of their history. The neighbours, who know much of what actually happened, refuse to tell Brunetti what he needs to know. He eventually digs away the layers of  deception that victimised the man, but decides to withhold the final piece of the puzzle from the guilty person, because he cannot prove their guilt. But Brunetti knows that their plans will be thwarted when the evidence they believe will prove their claim to wealth will fail. The solution explains the title.

The casual corruption of Italian political and economic life is once again both backdrop and cause of the troubles and pains that these people suffer and inflict on each other. Leon’s great talent is imagining rounded characters: The walk-on parts are more than cardboard cutouts, and the main players are so fully imagined that we feel we would recognise them on the street.

Recommended. ****

Lapham's Quarterly: Crimes and Punishments (Spring 2009)

 Lapham’s Quarterly II/2, Spring 2009. Crimes and Punishments. A difficult read, consisting almost entirely of firsthand accounts. Two crimes figure most: the con, and murder. Mere theft is a distant third. Punishments have usually been horrendous, even for what we nowadays may think of as petty crimes. But they didn’t deter crime, which is as much an effect of social and economic factors as individual propensity.

Simply put, one can only choose from the options available, and for too many people too much of the time, theft, robbery and worse have been the best available choices. If the opportunity cost is low, even people enjoying economic and social security will be tempted. Systemic corruption may make the legal or ethical choice less attractive and even dangerous. When divorce entails severe financial or social costs, even murder may look like the better option. In short, crime occurs at the intersection of more or less limited choice and individual need and desire.

Most crime is rather mundane. The professional criminal, who plies crime as a chosen trade or profession, is the exception. So is the narcissist who commits crimes for pathological satisfaction. Dr Moriarty makes for dramatic story-telling, but there are few examples in real life. Ted Bundy’s are rare. But the rarer the event, the bigger the headlines, so that most (perhaps all) of us believe crime is both more common and more violent than it actually is.

Rare and extraordinary crimes are more likely to be recorded, which is why this collection is a difficult read. Most of the selections show us that depravity and greed have no limits. Nevertheless, recommended. ****

Poem: The Sea Son's Eyes Are Blue and Green

THE SEA SON'S EYES ARE BLUE AND GREEN
GOLDEN FISHES SWIM THEREIN
A poem for many voices

stars shape faces in his head, burst
coalesce and grow like trees
an old man's face
looms in the branches
see, see his hair
entangled in the boughs
see, see his hair
entangled in the branches of anemones

stars burst on the rocking water

I am scattered over the water
my fragments are scattered over the water
my face is entangled in the pattern the waves make
I am reborn in every motion of the water

stars burst in the rocking water

he gathers them into his head
they glitter
in the darkness
they blaze like the sun
that shattered on the water and became stars
bursting in the sea son's head, in silence
that touched the inside of his face
and grew like a tree

In that other place where these things happened
I sat me down by the waters of language and wept,
For behold, I had no face, my name was taken from me
And given to the wind.

[1973; publ. in 39 Below, Edmonton]

Politics As Lived: The Life (Paikin, 2001)

Steve Paikin. The Life (2001) Paikin has interviewed many politicians. Most want to serve the public good; Paikin admires both that willingness and the more or less cheerful acceptance of the slings and arrows of outraged citizens’ complaints.

Paikin knows that there are villains, venal timeservers, vain seekers of applause and such, but those aren’t the subject of this book. What we get is an informal political history of the times when  these politicians served. Paikin interviewed the politicians and also the back-room players, commentators, pollsters and others that make their living in politics, and so gives us multiple points of view. David Lougheed, Alexa McDonough, Bob Rae, Frances Lankin, Brian Mulroney, Allan Gregg, are just a few of the people we meet.

Paikin avoids analysis and comment. He tells the stories of these people as completely as he can. The result is a very human story of Canadian politics.

Politics is an unavoidable and I think necessary part of our communal life. We are a social species; rank and status both create and control conflict. Managing that conflict is the function of politics. Democracy makes for a messier form of politics, where power becomes a means and not an end. Well, that’s the theory, and by their own accounts, supported by the testimony of the other players, the politicians profiled here do want power more for what they can do when they have it than for its own sake. Paikin’s book shows why, so far, Canada hasn’t suffered the rule of a tyrant.

His book also shows that democratic participation in government goes beyond voting,  that paying attention to what the politicos are up to is the only way to help them govern us.

A good book, recommended. ****

Dogsbody: There was one of the clan at every important (an unimportant) event in history.

 E. O. Parrott. The Dogsbody Papers (1988) The history of the Dogsbody clan from prehistoric time to the present, told through a variety of snips and bits. Parrott assembled them into this book. Written by several people, which makes for a variety of style and tone, and so prevents what could otherwise have declined into tedious repetition. They amount to a satire on history, on English exceptionalist assumptions, and on human foibles generally, mostly sex, money-grubbing and covering your ass. Very English absurdities, which I think limits the appeal, but I’m susceptible, so I enjoyed it. Not quite as surreal as Monty Python, but the same genre. Recommended. **** 

The Trial of God (Wiesel, 1986)

 Eli Wiesel. The Trial of God (1986) Following a pogrom in 1649, a trial was held in Shamgorod. God was accused of permitting or even encouraging evil. That's the setup. Wiesel, survivor of Auschwitz, wrote this play based on an actual trial of God held in the concentration camp. Three rabbis indicted God for permitting His children to be massacred.

In the play, three itinerant actors arrive at an inn and offer to play a Purimschpiel. The innkeeper proposes a Trial of God instead. The innkeeper will be Prosecutor, his daughter will be chief witness, and a Stranger will defend. I don’t know how much the play echoes the trial Wiesel witnessed in the concentration camp. Most of the action is actually working up to state the indictment. Outside the Inn, the villagers are working themselves up to finish the job. The village priest tries to persuade the Jews to flee, but they are intent on their trial. At the end, the Stranger pulls out a mask and puts it on: It’s the mask of Satan.

So, is God capricious? Does God not only permit but encourage evil? Are the Christians mere instruments of God, or do they bear the primary guilt? These and other questions are put or implied, but never answered. They add up to the question that we all want answered: Why is there evil in the world?

A difficult play, in part because the action is the decision to act, to indict God, to act out the trial, to judge His failure to act. But also because the context is a pogrom, unfinished, and threatening the actors. While reading it, I tried to imagine staging it. It would not be easy. I’ll have to read it again. ***