Skip to main content

The Fatal Englishman - Three Short Lives by Sebastian Faulks

Image courtesy: amazon.co.uk


Genre: Biography
Rating: 4/5

There is something romantic about the English way of living; it has perhaps become more so now. Even the English themselves no longer stay the same way as during the wide span of time of Sebastian Faulks' work. It certainly wasn't romantic back then. The English have had their share of the good and the bad; they have been hated and revered. And through all of this, like in every other civilisation, the society and its principles have ruled the overarching impression we have created of and about them. But really, we are all humans; how different can we be after all ? Not much it seems. 

The Fatal Englishman  is set over seven odd decades, and chronicles the prodigy (in more ways , referring to things beyond just talent) of three remarkable British citizens. The common tie is the fact that they all died terribly young, barely having touched the thirties. They all hailed from different aspects of life - Christopher (Kit) Wood - a well-remembered (if not majorly) painter, the incredibly dedicated British war hero Richard Hillary and the oddly endearing Jeremy Wolfenden, who is probably remembered more for his homosexuality than his success (was it ?) of his career as a journalist and a spy. Faulks is an engaging author, and his style of writing is the kind that is difficult to tear away from. His tone, as always, is soft, sympathetic to all parties and laced with a an aching sorrow. To top it all, the macabre setting of the impending certainty of death makes this collection a very gripping, if slightly despondent read. 

There is nothing much to discuss in terms of story-lines; these are short biographies after all. Precociousness is a common thread that binds them all, but Faulks has skilfully flown above this aspect, treating it as a given. These men have been shown for what they are worth, and that is significantly a lot more than their brilliance. They have regular emotions, they face the same kind of roadblocks we butt our head against everyday and they face identical societal pressures. Their acumen does not protect them from the mundane-ness of survival. In some ways, ploughing through this book can be a bit intimidating, because the author has innocuously detailed very normal things that have possibly happened to all of us at some point or the other. The knowledge of the ultimate result can be slightly unsettling in such circumstances. 

While there are several books on talent snuffed out at an early age (and there are sadly far too many subjects to write upon), after finishing The Fatal Englishman, it is hard not to feel sorry for yourself. Death just happened, and the causes were many, even though it is usually pinpointed on the self-destructive tendencies of the gentlemen themselves. 

As Faulks himself points out that "short lives are more sensitive indicators of the pressure of public attitudes", his work is an effort towards justifying the same. And it does succeed to a great extent. There had been mild rebuttals in the wake of the publishing of this book in 1996, with people coming forward with their own versions of the protagonists. Some concur with Faulks' views, others disagree, though not vehemently. The striking quality of the work lies in the fact that this could have been a full-fledged biography of any normal citizen, which could also have brought forward the futilities of societal attitudes in the same measure; Faulks has instead chosen a set of public figures, with a troubled past and a redundant future to portray the same. 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Side Reads - A Book of English Essays - Edited by W.E. Williams

Remember our school days? Remember those dreary passages we had to read and read again - between the lines and over and under them? Remember wondering how could the study of language be so dry? Well, it turns out, what we were served was high in protein, but pretty much devoid of spice and juice. Let me set the record straight. Essays are fun. Read A Book of English Essays to see if I'm right.  As the name says, it is a collection of small essays on a multitude of topics by the who's-who of English literature - Francis Bacon, Joseph Addison, Charles Lamb, Leigh Hunt, A.A. Milne, R.L. Stevenson - honestly the list is quite scary. But once you pull your head out of the table of contents, it's a treasure mine. Most essays are short, possibly the length of a newspaper article (which is how they must have been originally published I think). What is interesting though, is the topics they are on. So there are absolutely gorgeous ones like 'Getting Up on Cold Morni...
Post a Comment
Read more

How are rugs and books related

As a child, I was pretty indifferent to rugs or carpets. Back at home, they always existed. They were scrubbed and vacuumed and dirtied and dribbled upon and I didn't quite imagine life without it. Till I moved out.  Basic amenities do not cover rugs, far less, carpets. The first few days I didn't mind, basking in my new-fangled independence, traipsing over bare floors with un-socked feet. Eventually though, the irremovable stains on the bathroom floors made it clear that, in the absence of carpetting, a near-permanent use of slippers is a must. Then came the winters. It brought the chill from all possible directions, including and especially, the floor. The soles of my feet must have been frostbitten on a regular basis and I yearned for the luxury of a nice woolly carpet to sink my feet in. As a conscientious student out making her life (not very successfully), I chose to brave the chilblains (they were not, really).  It wasn't until I was married that ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

Image courtesy: http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com Genre : Classic, Drama Rating : 5/5 There is no arguing the sheer brilliance of John Steinbeck. The long list of accolades and the controversy he had courted in his days (some of which still continues) is proof of his influence in the current society. Some deem him (astoundingly) mediocre, partly on account if his opinionated take on events; others, consider his work as American classic. Neither argument is completely false, though I, personally, align myself with the latter. If it would be possible to keep aside for a moment, the political ramifications of Steinbeck's work, one cannot deny the strength of his writings. He does not waste words; his economy only accentuates the somewhat lean personality of the settings and the characters. Everything is stripped unappealingy bare and covered flimsily with sardonic humour. A bit like J.D. Salinger, in some ways, but with a bigger lens on the society.     ...
Post a Comment
Read more