St. Urbain is Quiet
Saddened were we to hear this evening of the passing of Mordecai Richler, novelist, essayist, perennial curmudgeon, and one of Montreal’s best-known and most-frequently-honoured sons.
I can only say good things about the two Richler books I’ve read. St. Urbain’s Horseman is often regarded as his most sophisticated work, a strongly autobiographical story featuring a mature protagonist whose complex life is only intensified by the contradictions of his times. Reading it gave me another view on the author; the book is amusing at times, but not by the cranky fashion usually attributed to Richler. The hero is, if anything, earnest. And I didn’t know it at the time, but I would soon move but a block away from St. Urbain Street, right in the heart of Richler’s childhood haunt, allowing me to take a little extra enjoyment in his rich descriptions of the neighbourhood in times past.
More recently, I read Barney’s Version, what was to be his last novel, and some say his best. The youthful earnestness that I enjoyed in Horseman was replaced with something altogether different, and seemingly more Richleresque: the irascible, endearing Barney Panofsky, a man who has lived life at full volume, and who in turn does not hear all that he might. It’s a more mature work. Barney’s hilarious life and questionable narration (a nifty trick for an old dog like Richler) seem all too real — so effortless is Richler’s prose. And at the end, one finds that humour has cleverly masked or perhaps rather augmented a broad portrait of a sad and touching life, a life that offers too many lessons to note.
What better way to remember a talent than to revel in it?
Previously: Remembering Memento II
Subsequently: You’re Not the Milkman!
Comments
Wow, how is it you could have missed reading The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz?! You MUST read that book! You have been so commanded. ;-) Seriously, no MR expericene or library could be considered complete without that one novel in it. Go buy that book. Go. Go now! :-)
— Lilly | Jul. 5, 2001 — 9 PM
I’ve been reading David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest since, oh I don’t know, the Paleozoic Era, but I will of course try and boost my Richler prowess in time. Apparently everyone else has the same thoughts though — all of Montreal’s bookstores have sold out of Richler books.
— Luke | Jul. 6, 2001 — 9 AM
In two words, secondhand bookstores. You may even find an original print like I have if you look hard enough. :-)
— Lilly | Jul. 6, 2001 — 6 PM
Pretty crappy ass book if you asked me!
— sean | Mar. 4, 2004 — 6 PM