Current Readings

So I've just finished another novel in my relatively secluded (and rapidly ending) holiday. I can't go so far as to call The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova's debut novel "literature." However, neither is it pop-lit. It's a 600 odd pager apparently in the tradition of the Da Vinci code (but since I avoid Dan Brown like the plague, I wouldn't know). As a side note, I am most definitely not encouraging of this recent fad to write such longish novels. While I enjoyed this piece, it could easily have been 100 pages less--many of the plot twists were quite predictable. Like Freakonomics, what the author deems startling and unexpected is in actuality a simple logical deduction and quite normal. So my chief complaints lie in its burdensome length, which her choice of style does not merit, and in her excessive use of suspense and deux ex machinas to propel the plot and keep readers turning pages. But what of this work's merits? For a first work, this deserves many accolades, especially considering how today's monolithic publishing houses and modern readership/sales numbers in some ways dictate the author's task (enter the red ink happy editor).

The novel is a new study on the cannon of Dracula myths that pervade Europe. Kostova abandons the erotic seductions of Anne Rice (thankfully) and distills the myth down to a level closer to its origins and the stories seen in Stroker's original masterpiece. The factor that compels me to share my discover is Kostova's astounding grasp of descriptive writing. Her dialogue is believable, her plot lines acceptable, but she truly stands out for her ability to write descriptions of place and time, culture and knowledge. This is a book on whose first pages I find myself awash in a portrait of Ljubljana (in the book it's referred to by its Roman name, Emona) that is so astoundingly vivid that I find myself instantly transported back to my time in that most beautiful of cities. Likewise, another, much later area of the work works in several passages of Philadelphia, and again, I feel as if I've driven in to the city for the day and am quitely reading this novel while surrounded by the brownstones of Society Hill and Old City which she so vividly captures in her work. Oxford, the Pyrenees and Provence, Split, .... these that I myself know with my own eyes and many others (Amsterdam, Athens, Budapest, Dubrovnik, Istanbul, Venice, etc) receive a delicate attention to detail that is at once full and vivid yet subtle and not overdone. But that is merely the geography of the work. With equal deft, Kostova paints around these scenes, idyllic and somber, the flesh of culture and the legacy of history. Medieval Central Europe, the Ottoman Empire, and Cold War socialism all wash together into a blur of daily lives throughout the ages. Finally, Kostova approaches academia, most especially the study of history, with a deep awe and almost religious zeal. While the work itself may not be a remarkable representation of American English literature, it has nonetheless awoken an academic fever and zest for learning I haven't felt in years. The delight and respect her characters have for the world of old books, thorough research methodologies, libraries, and lectures is infectious. The 600 some pages, despite their bulk, go relatively quickly, so if you're looking for a read along these lines, check it out.