This is a rather strange, but fascinating little book. Despite the short length (196 on my edition) it feels almost like two separate books It starts This is a rather strange, but fascinating little book. Despite the short length (196 on my edition) it feels almost like two separate books It starts off as something like a comedy of errors, then slowly becomes more sinister until it becomes a flat out horror novel.
The story focuses on a couple that meet a claimed magician named Oliver Haddo. Our magician is boastful, seemingly has a story for every scenario (which will of course make him sound amazing) and has a bit of a sense of humor. There’s a great moment where he tells a tale about how after his father passed away, he kept feeling like he was trying to tell him something. After performing a ritual to see his ghost, we get the following dialogue:
"Buy Ashantis, they are bound to go up." I did as he told me; but my father was always unlucky in speculation, and they went down steadily. I sold out at considerable loss, and concluded that in the world beyond they are as ignorant of the tendency of the Stock Exchange as we are in this vale of sorrow.'
At first Haddo seems rather oafish, he’s portrayed comically and one might suspect that the plot would involve debunking his magic and letting science and enlightenment reign. One would be wrong, as we see Haddo go from a source of comedy to a rather repulsive figure. His actions are dark, and with enough implications of what is going on behind the scenes… well, one might suspect that it could have been published later than 1908.
The most fascinating aspect of the novel in my opinion, is actually the origin. Apparently Maugham started writing it after he met Aleister Crowley who he immediately thought of as a buffoonish con-man, and couldn't see how anyone could actually fall for him. As he kept meeting him in social circles though and saw people's reactions to him, his character became less comedic in the book and more sinister. You can actually see the transition happen between chapters.
Crowley responded after publication by writing an article for Vanity Fair in which he accused Maugham of plagiarism. While this was no doubt set off by him being annoyed at the character obviously mocking him, he does make a compelling argument. The Penguin edition of the book contains some of the paragraphs the Crowley quoted. Many of the paragraphs are exactly the same, except for one sentence reworded. If this was published now, it would be enough to end Maugham’s career.
Overall the book is entertaining, but it has such weird pacing and feels so strange (both in a positive, and negative way) that I can’t really recommend it to everyone. That said, I still enjoyed it, and if it sounds intriguing from the above, you’ll most likely want to give it a shot. 3/5 ...more
The gentleman thief archetype has rather fallen out of fashion in modern times (though still can be seen in recent films like Oceans 11 and its intermThe gentleman thief archetype has rather fallen out of fashion in modern times (though still can be seen in recent films like Oceans 11 and its interminable sequels/spinoffs/imitators) but during the early 1900s it was a rather big deal. These anti-Sherlock Holmes, likable rouges and villains with a heart of gold (well, at least the gold… maybe the heart if they could steal those as well) found many a spot in the public’s eye, most notably with Arsène Lupin and A.J. Raffles, both of whom still have their places in pop-culture. In contrast Simon Carne seems to have been rather forgotten, this is in spite of Penguin re-releasing this collection in 2015 to the public under their classic line (yet still at the time of this review there are only 57 ratings). This is a true shame in my opinion as this book is a lot of fun.
Carne is the true anti-Sherlock Holmes. In fact, the best way to describe the book, is to ask the reader to imagine “what if Sherlock Holmes was a master criminal, and used his detective fame to mislead the police/public and frame others for his own crimes.” That is how Carne operates, as both criminal and detective.
I won’t rate each story as I often do with collections, as I’d be giving them all pretty much the same rating. They are all fun, and follow a fairly interesting variety in terms of the heists he pulls. There is a bit of a formula to them (Carne hears about something interesting to steal, he plans out the heist/hires whatever aid he needs, pulls said heist, then gives a false lead as a detective), yet whenever I felt the formula could potential get dull, there’s a spin on it in the next story.
Carne himself is rather a charming character, who often recaps his plans aloud to the reader in dialogue, giving him a rather cartoonish villain quality that added to the charm of it all for me. Much of the humor is clearly intention with rather sarcastic descriptions that show Carne’s personality wonderfully. For example: “He felt a glow with virtue as he remembered that he was undertaking the business in order to promote another’s happiness, but at the same time reflected that, if fate were willing to pay him fifty thousand pounds for his generosity, well, it was so much the better for him.” He’s not below doing a good deed if it pays enough, but he’s just as happy doing the opposite.
My only real complaint is that I found the opening a bit convoluted. It contains a preface of the classic “how I came upon the manuscript” variety, from a character who seems more important from the intro than he actually is over the course of the stories. Then there’s an introduction that acts as a prologue that sets up the events yet again from a different point of view. It felt a little awkward, but fortunately the book made up for this by the main content.
In closing: this one is a forgotten gem of a classic and well worth a look if you can find it. While Simon Carne may not be the greatest of the gentlemen thieves, he deserves a chance to win you over… just make sure to check you wallet afterwards....more
I think this book is the perfect example of a “very good book that is simply not for me.” The writing is beautiful, the language poetic. I must heap pI think this book is the perfect example of a “very good book that is simply not for me.” The writing is beautiful, the language poetic. I must heap praise upon the translator as this must have been quite a challenge. Every line is seemingly trying to evoke a sense of awed beauty and the translator does an admirable job… and yet almost every page I wished the book would just end and let me be done with it. I only finished it out of stubbornness and because it is only 146 pages… and they seemed like some of the longest 146 pages I’ve ever read.
The book is about an artist. He seeks artistic “nonemotion” to view the world like a painting, though of course that only works so much for him. Our unnamed narrator expresses his views of art quite frequently, often going on for full chapters about his theories on aesthetics and declares them all as the proper way of viewing art. Frankly I’ve known people like him in real life and I can’t stand them. They are the sort who declare all their opinions as fact and sneer at anyone who voices otherwise (a great example comes of this in the novel where the owner of the inn he is staying at shows him some art pieces, and he can’t help but show his disgust at a piece deemed too plain and then too gaudy once its origin is told). All is to be viewed in the name of their art, and I personally found it grating.
As I said, entire chapters could be said to just be (definitive in the character’s mind) statements about art, theory and aesthetics. Though the book is short, I’d say over 70 pages could be summed up as just the narrator talking art. At one point I stopped mid-chapter where a page began with the line “But what does theory matter?” and had I been the praying sort, I would have prayed to every deity that he wouldn’t answer that question.
He did.
If this is the sort of book you’re looking for, by all means, I think you will enjoy it. Everyone I’ve seen/talked to has loved it, and it seems the reviews on Goodreads are almost all positive. Indeed as I said it is well written and it gets an extra star because of it, but I personally took no enjoyment from reading it.
As a brief aside, I find it interesting that it was published the same year as the only other book I have read by the author; “Botchan”. These books are practically polar opposites, as our lead in Botchan is very definitely not an artist and that book is more about plot and humor than the prose. Also, they are curiously opposites in terms of translation, as I will praise Kusamukra’s translator despite disliking the book, whereas I really enjoyed Botchan, but felt its translation flawed. ...more
Now that I thought about it, though, I realized that most people actually encourage you to turn bad. They seem to think that if you don't, you'll neve
Now that I thought about it, though, I realized that most people actually encourage you to turn bad. They seem to think that if you don't, you'll never get anywhere in the world. And then on those rare occasions when they encounter somebody who's honest and pure-hearted, they look down on him and say he's nothing but a kid, a Botchan. If that's the way it is, it would be better if they didn't have those ethics classes in elementary school and middle school where the teacher is always telling you to be honest and not lie. The schools might as well just go ahead and teach you how to tell lies, how to mistrust everybody, and how to take advantage of people. Wouldn't their students, and the world at large, be better off that way?
This is a wonderful, though often very frustrating read. It’s not frustrating because it is difficult, far from it (the translation is quite the page turner) but because I found myself nodding at the above quote. I did somewhat look down upon our unnamed narrator (known only as Botchan)… and I admire the character in equal parts. The book is a morality story that shows the reader (or at least this reader) their own unpleasant side.
I found his character childish. I sat there the entire time feeling that, had I known him in real life, I would find him insufferable and wouldn't be able to stand to be around him. He's loud, brash and seems to think he's always in the morally right... and with a few exceptions brought on by misunderstandings, he is in the the right. That said, he is often right in a way that goes against society and the way one is supposed to act. At times I would root for him and others cringe and feel that awkward embarrassment that sitcoms seem to thrive on. That moment when the character does something baffling, everyone recognizes it, and you just laugh awkwardly.
Though it is frustrating, Natsume Sōseki has also caught so much truth in these actions that I can't help but be impressed. He understands human nature, good and bad, putting them on display from all characters. It is unsurprising that the novel is a classic in Japan (often cited as one of the author's most popular books and frequently found in school curriculum). It is a classic that has lost none of its charm since it was published over 100 years ago.
Now I do want to say a bit about the translation. Overall, it is wonderful, very readable and accessible to modern English reading audiences. That said, I question a few bits. First off, the principal's nickname is translated as "Badger" rather than "Tanuki." The translator states in his introduction that this was to be more accessible to English readers who may not know what a tanuki is... but in changing this he defeats part of the point of said nickname. A tanuki in Japanese myths is often a master of disguise or shapeshifting creature, this ties in with the principal's golden tongue, able to mislead or at least argue around the topic, distracting and laying blame where it should not be while keeping the school's reputation. I find badger does not bring to mind any of these connotations, and indeed makes me think of a different sort of personality. This wouldn't be that bothersome if the translator was going entirely for an English speaking audience and hoping they wouldn't need to look anything up, yet he leaves the often used phrase "na moshi" untranslated. I had knowledge of a tanuki, but had no clue what that meant and had to look it up online. This is what I found:
"Na moshi (〜なもし) is the Matsuyama dialect's equivalent of de gozaimasu-ne (〜でございますね), a phrase that doesn't quite translate into English. Think of it as a formal way to say desu-ne (〜ですね), for which there is no good English equivalent. "Isn't it?" comes close."
So yes, this could remain untranslated, and used frequently, but the nicknames could be changed rather unsuitably for the ease of English speaking audiences. I personally find that quite baffling.
In closing: despite some questionable aspects to the translation, and a few truly cringe worthy moments from our protagonist, I found this a delightful read. There are some genuinely comedic moments, that capture our human interactions with each other quite well, both the good and the bad. It shows us people are the same everywhere, suffering from many of the same flaws. It's an entertaining read and well worthy of its classic status. ...more