Colm Toibin

“While we differ in our response to literary theory – one of us is hostile to it, the other cannot have enough of it – we were as one in our determination to ignore the distinction between so-called popular fiction and literary fiction (also so-called.) … The critical dividing line between popular and literary also ignores the reader and the writer, who rarely contemplate the novel in this way.” (Two original quotations, Introduction, page 6)

Theme and Content

Colm Tóibín and Carmen Callil are well-known authors. This book includes two hundred novels written since 1950 by English-speaking authors from all over the world.  

Implementation

The books begins with an introduction where the two authors explain their intention to show that the modern novel flourishes more than ever before, but that it too has changed during these fifty years between 1950 and 2000. Their intense research led to one hundred and ninety-four own choices for readers of every age and taste, and six novels chosen by their readers. As the two authors are from different countries and they have different preferences, any list of this kind is also somehow personal, but they always have looked for a certain quality, an excitement in the reading and the feeling to want to give this book to someone else to read. 

The introduction is followed by a list of titles in order of publication, because the entries are alphabetical under the name of the author. Each recommended novel has one page with descriptions of genre, themes, form, characters, content and the intentions of the author. On the bottom of each page, there you can find information about the author. This main part is followed by lists of Autobiographies and memoirs, Literary biographies, Poetry, Autobiographies and memoirs by novelists chosen in this book, Literary biographies of novelists chosen in this book and several lists of Literary Prizewinners from Bookers Prize to Novel Awards, ending with the Index of Titles. 

Conclusion

An entertaining, delightful and interesting guide that leads us through fifty years of modern fiction and books we might know and love and others, new for us, that make us curious and immediately end up on our “want-to-read”-list. A timeless, enjoyable read.

Having sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the gods to make the winds turn, the legendary Greek king Agamemnon returns home after the success in Troy. Yet, his wife Clytemnestra cannot forgive him and together with Aegisthus, her new lover, she plans the murder of her husband. To spare their son Orestes this tragedy, she has him abducted to a faraway place where he will spend the next years and only come back as an adult. On his return, Orestes find the palace dramatically changed. His sister Electra is his only confidant and she convinces him that revenge for the mother’s plot is necessary.

Colm Tóibín has chosen characters of classic Greek mythology for his latest novel. Even though most of their stories are well known since they have been told by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides 2500 years ago and repeatedly been presented on stages all over the world, they have not lost any of their power and relevance. Yet, “House of Names” is not just a repetition of the old story, Colm Tóibín freely adapted the plots and character traits to thus create a new version which is absolutely convincing and entertaining.

What I liked most was having the different characters tell their own stories from their point of view. Thus, chronology is broken up, but we get a much deeper idea of the protagonists and their motives. First of all, Clytemnestra. Her being lured by murder to revenge her daughter and the hatred she feels for Agamemnon is quite impressive. She is a strong woman who can assert herself – but, on the other hand, it is her lover who manipulates her to get into power himself. When it comes to her guilt, especially in front of her son, her outer appearance collapses and suddenly, she is haunted and cannot leave planet earth even after death. She is trapped.

Electra is her actual opponent. It is the daughter’s scheme that finally kills the mother, in their cold-bloodedness, both women are equal. They only differ in the question of the gods’ accountability for what happens on earth.

Orestes is the tragic hero. He wants peace more than anything else, but is tempted into his family’s and friends’ conspiracies under false pretence and thus commits crimes unintentionally. Too weak to force his inherent right to the throne, he has to stand on the side-line when other shape the state.

As said before, the ancient stories have lost nothing of their significance over the time. Most of the seven deadly sins can be found in the story: e.g. Aegisthus’ lust, Electra’s wrath, or Clytemnestra’s pride. Orestes shows some virtues to oppose the negativity: he is kind, especially towards Ianthe, patient when he listens to the elders and in is exile, chaste and generally temperate in his emotions. Good and evil fight over predominance in the world – that’s what we can see in the news every day. Even though the main conflict is an old story, you can easily detect how modern the characters are and this renders the novel relevant also today. Thus, a very successful transformation into our time. 

handelt von von einer jungen frau die  von irland nach amerika auswandert.
in der nachkriegszeit. die damaligen verhältnisse in irland und amerika sind sehr gut  beschrieben. sie hat es nicht leicht, aber sie geht ihren weg.
die liebe kommt auch nicht zu kurz. was in der damaligen zeit auch nicht so einfach ist. sie wohnt in eine haus mit mehren frauen zusammen.
herrenbesuche natürlich nicht gerne gesehen,dank der pensionswirtin.
mir hat das buch gefallen,denn der autor hat einen guten schreibstil und ich mag schicksale starker frauen. ist sicher nicht das letzte buch des autors, das ich lesen werde.