The Review of Contemporary Fiction
Goldberg: Variations, by Gabriel Josipovicireviewed by Amy Havel
Gabriel Josipovici. Goldberg: Variations. Carcanet, 2002. 180 pp. Paper: £9.95.
Is a work of art supposed to calm you down or wake you up? Does literature function best when it solves problems or leaves readers with philosophical quandaries? These questions appear to be at the center of Josipovici’s book, but as a backdrop to the experiments with narrative that take place and are illuminated only in the conclusion to a storytelling roller coaster. In the first chapter of the novel (and whether or not this is a novel is a relevant question too), writer Samuel Goldberg takes a job with aristocrat Tobias Westfield; his employment consists of writing during the day and reading that day’s writing to Westfield through the night. Apparently, Westfield cannot sleep; his mind races, and he needs some type of (supposed) linear narrative to lull him. The reader expects, then, thirty-two (à la Bach) variations from Goldberg; however, on the first day, Goldberg finds that all he can write is a letter to his wife. The twenty-nine (!) chapters that follow are not (as might be predicted) further “variations” but disconnected stories about a variety of topics. Right about the middle of the book, a character named Gerald appears, plagued by writer’s block affecting his novel about Westfield and Goldberg. Ah ha! But no: his story progresses past the block due to his examination of Paul Klee’s painting Wandering Artist. When the “narrator” (who at that point is not Goldberg or Gerald) finds that the German meaning of “wandering artist” is that of a public and nomadic performer, like an actor or a con-man, the novel-long manipulation of “story” is understood. A little. This is a tough book, but immensely intriguing if you can appreciate the puzzle and relax about some of the frustratingly unrelated chapters. Along with pondering the questions that Josipovici poses about literature, the reader is forced to come to terms with the fact that he or she is, in fact, an individual reading a book, and examining what that responsibility might entail.