Colm Toibin is an author whose latest novel, House of Names, a retelling of a Aeschylus’ The Oresteia, has graced fine book stores everywhere. Alex Preston, writing forThe Guardian, notes, however:
Colm Toibin: like a great actor, taking the framework of the play and providing nuance, humanity. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Observer and the Guardian.
I say ostensibly a retelling, because House of Names gives us so much that isnt in the original trilogy (and excludes so much that is, but more of that later). This is a novel that is a celebration of what novels can do. It gives us interiority, specificity, the in-between stuff that is the fabric of life. We see everything that happens off stage in the plays, and this is what really interests us. Its not just the violence, which famously takes place out of sight of the audience, but the form of the novel allows Tibn to delve deeply into the inner lives of his characters, to give shape to their everyday worlds. I dont mean here to privilege the novel over drama but rather to make a link between the two. Tibn is like a great actor, taking the framework provided by the events of the play and providing psychology, motivation, nuance, humanity.
The House of Names, it appears from Preston’s glowing remarks, will be among the increasinglyscarce works of art thatkeep the novel from becoming moribund. As Toibin shows, on way to sustain its relevance is by integrating it with conventions of the drama to create a novel form of the novel.
Read his full post atThe Guardian
