Damon Galgut, In a Strange Room

Damon Galgut's In a Strange Room is composed of three travel accounts, each one somewhat more fraught and disastrous than the previous. The protagonist (a South African named Damon, so there is likely strong identification between narrator and author) is clearly running from something fundamental to himself, something that he cannot escape through travel but that is worse when standing still. Just what this fracture is, Galgut never makes clear, but the fact of it is palpable.

The prose are strangely ungrammatical, with run-on sentences and missing punctuation, and this is tolerable, though I don't know that it adds anything to the novel. Still, despite this approach, the novel is tense and taut, with an increasing sense of a spiraling toward disaster. Most of the text is written in the third person ("He is feeling harried and under pressure and in this state he would rather be alone."), but there are periodic interjections in the first person. For example, the protagonist briefly steps in to says "So even in the first few day I become aware of certain differences between them." The "them" here includes Damon (protagonist), while the "I" is also Damon (narrator). Neither is identical with Damon Galgut (author), though all three overlap with one another. This device is quite effective, providing a tension between the direct punch of the first person and the distance provided by the third. That said, it is often the first person interjections that are the most remote, the most removed from the heart of the narrative ("I forget his name." "I don't remember how long it was.").

In the first of the three accounts, Damon meets a strikingly handsome German man, Reiner, while they are both traveling in Greece. They strike up a fast friendship of the sort that any frequent traveler knows. There is, though, a constant pull between them of a sexual attraction that neither (for differing reasons) seems willing to engage. They meet up again for a lengthy hike through Lesotho, at which point their travel becomes a proxy for their desires and their struggles for power, culminating in misery for Damon.

In the next, Damon again makes friends while traveling, now with a trio -- a brother and sister, and an older man whose connection to the two young siblings is never made clear. He is strongly attracted to the brother but, surrounded as they are, can only find the briefest moments for the most sparse exchanges with him.

Finally, as a middle aged man, worn out by his constant motion, Damon heads to India with a dear, but troubled friend. Here, all the looming disaster builds and builds until the dam breaks and chaos erupts.

Throughout, the novel is compelling, almost riveting, despite its simple tone, broken structure and basic plot. Pared down to the essentials, In a Strange Room vibrates with energy.

Jospeh Brodsky, Watermark

Watermark is the first extended prose piece by Russian-born American poet Joseph Brodsky. It is a memoir, written in slightly disconnected little snippets. We read of past loves, past friends, favorite cafes and bars, architectural details, and the like, as we might expect of a memoir is one of the world's most beautiful cities.

The surprise (and pleasure) of reading Watermark is the connective tissue binding it all together. Brodsky, who was thrown out of the Soviet Union for his stances and viewpoints, has made a lifelong habit of visiting Venice in the heart of winter. The whole of this slim volume, then, is connected together not only by the icy waters of the canals but by the numbing fog that collects above them, by the damp chill of the stone walls, by the dim light and by the heavy coats and hats pulled low over the eyes and ears.

While I have only once been to Venice, and in the early fall, I have a similar penchant for visiting Paris in the middle of winter when, like Venice, the city is empty. No tourists visit, and many locals leave. The metros are empty, the museums have no lines, and a visitor can walk into any cafe, stroll right to the counter, and order up a café viennois and a few macaroons.

If you have been to Venice in the winter, read this book. If you have been to Venice in the summer, read this book. If you have not yet been to Venice, buy your ticket today.