Utz

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I’ve read a lot of Bruce Chatwin and enjoyed all of it, but I’ve so far limited myself to his ostensibly non-fiction works. (Admittedly, the line between fiction and non-fiction is a hazy one with Chatwin, but I’m thinking here of his travelogues like In Patagonia.) Curiously, then, it was a work of non-fiction, Frederik Sjoberg’s The Fly Trap, that sparked my interest in Utz as an example of Chatwin-the-novel-writer. Halfway to the altar the procession met the cleaning woman, who, with soap, water and a scrubbing-brush, was scrubbing at the blazon of the Rozemberk family, inlaid into the floor in many-coloured marbles.

They set down the coffin with a show of reverence. Then, attracted by the smell of hot bread from a bakery along the street, they strolled off to get breakfast leaving Orlik and the faithful Marta as the only mourners. The leading bearer asked the woman, most politely, to allow the coffin to pass. She scowled and went on scrubbing. A very peculiar, fine-and-fragile narrative that is equal parts emotionally and intellectually stimulating, wonderfully witty, by turns profoundly philosophical and satirical.I have said that Utz's face was 'waxy in texture', but now in the candlelight its texture seemed like melted wax. I looked at the ageless complexion of the Dresden ladies. Things, I reflected, are tougher than people. Things are the changeless mirror in which we watch ourselves disintegrate. Nothing is more age-ing than a collection of works of art. In an effort to really explain what I mean about how great this book is, here's some wonderful quotes and scene-setting: Utz had chosen each item to reflect the moods and facets of the 'Porcelain Century': the wit, the charm, the gallantry, the love of the exotic, the heartlessness and light-hearted gaiety- before they were swept away by revolution and the tramp of armies." What tempers the ominous undertones of the story is the merging of the high and the low, elements of the grotesque, and the stories – within the overarching narrative – that draw on legends, alchemy, Christianity, and history. Images and references to oppression (for example, the fly being caught in a ‘killing-jar’, and the recurrence itself of the word ‘trapped’) stand alongside some very witty word-play: on the restaurant menu, ‘carp dishes’ becomes ‘crap dishes’ and much sinister laughter builds up on this. There is also a full episode that debates the etymological relationship between ‘pork’ and ‘porcelain’. Or the political debate as to whether the fly is an anarchist or individualist, juxtaposed to the Kafkaesque reference to the (im)possibility of metamorphosis. Above all, there are the extremely enjoyable detours that delve into Augustus the Strong’s obsession with porcelain, and the allusiveness of the Golem story and the metaphor of giants versus dwarfs, the implication being that totalitarianism seeks to creates its own ‘semi-morons’, deluding its people into thinking they are ‘giants’, but treating them as dwarfs (puppets) throughout. Humans themselves, fathered by Adam, are porcelain sculptures made of clay. The world, it seems, is occupied with masquerading itself as the invincible giant, but the reality is really and truly that of dwarfness and finitude. Could the much-adored collection itself have ended up becoming a ‘trash-heap’, after all? Peccato che Chatwin non abbia mai saputo del ritorno "in circolazione" della collezione Meissen di Just, il tesoro che sembrava svanito nel nulla...

Sakyčiau itin nišinė knyga, kuri patiks sofistikuotam skaitytojui. Maloniai jaučiasi Mariaus Buroko braižas. Juntamas britiškas lakoniškumas ir tam tikras savotiškas humoras (scena restorane su neteisingai parašytu žodžiu privertė kvatotis balsu). Keistai nustebino brito autoriaus puikus išmanymas ir pajautimas Rytų Europos realybės. Puikiai pavyko atskleisti atsmosferą ir to laikotarpio išskirtinumus. Man leidyklos "Lapas" knygos kaip gurmaniškas skanėstas - visad žinai, kad bus kažkas neeilinio, kitokio, įdomaus. Paskutinė skaityta "Šaltinis" iki šiol į mane žvelgia iš lentynos ir primena su kokiu didžiuliu malonumu ją suskaičiau. "Lapas" leidėjai patikino, kad ir "Utzas" turėtų patikti. Buvo teisūs.Das kleine Büchlein hat mich mit Chatwin versöhnt, dessen Traumpfade ich als Teenager vergeblich versuchte zu lesen. Didžiausias kolekcionieriaus priešas - muziejaus rinkinių saugotojas. Būtų idealu, jeigu visus muziejus kas penkiasdešimt metų apiplėštų, o jų kolekcijos vėl būtų paleistos į apyvartą" (22p.) Nes reikia liesti porcelianą, reikia jį naudoti - Utzui tarnaitė atnešdavo sriubą porceliano sriubinėje ir pan... Jis tuo gyveno, tai gražu. One by one, he lifted the characters of the Commedia from the shelves, and placed them in the pool of light where they appeared to skate over the glass of the table, pioting on their bases of gilded foam, as if they would forever go on laughing, whirling, improvising.