Happy 73rd birthday to Philippe Sollers!!! As you may guess, Sollers is a French author. He has written a number of novels, of which only a few, SCANDALOUSLY, are available in English translations. Of those few, one is brilliant and depressing (Women, 1983 - I can't really recommend it because it is too depressing), but another, Watteau in Venice, is one of the greatest books of all time (IMHO)!!!! I just finished it for the who-knows-how-manyth time, and I still found new and wonderful things to love inside.
Basically, Watteau in Venice is about art. But it is also a courageous roadmap that, unfortunately, few other authors will likely follow. Sollers uses an amazing variety of quotes, anecdotes, and biographical details of major artists (he is particulary fond of direct quotation and letters), and weaves them around an ambiguous story in such a way that both are illuminated by the other.
The most obvious appeal is the wonderful anecdotes and quotations from the artists themselves (Cezanne rushing to get a ladder in the Louvre in order to fix a poorly hung painting, Gauguin's advice to a painter who wanted more privacy to work; "Nail something indecent to your door.") But the thoughts and actions of the protagonist, who is surely somewhat of a stand-in for Sollers himself, give these biographical details much more depth and power.
The story is very unusual in that there is no conflict - in itself a revelation. But it is also much more than a dry exegesis on art and artists. The protagonist (codenamed "Watteau") describes the novel he appears in perfectly; "These gatherings, these quotes, these collages: the novel seen as an encyclopedia, a Noah's Ark." It is just like a ship full of saved treasures.
Of course, it's not for everyone (Another hard-sell, unfortunately), but if anyone else ever reads it, let me know what you think. It is, in my experience, really unique and fantastic. One last word from Sollers:
"Every minute, every square or cubic meter won in the name of free space or time, constitutes, for each and every individual, the only revolutionary war...tell us about that war, that will be enough."
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