Resumo de Adultery And Other Diversions

Tim
Parks is a bit of a curmudgeon. Or at least that's the way he seems.
I saw him speaking at the Edinburgh Book Festival a couple of years
ago, soon after the release of 'A Season With Verona' - his diary
style recounting of the goings-on in his life and on the pitch during
a season following his adopted football team, Hellas Verona.
He
spoke very well, and certainly better than the Scottish writer who
was up on stage for local interest whose link with Tim Parks was that
he liked football and had written a book - but that was as far as
the resemblance went as Parks went on to captivate the audience. All
the while looking like he was totally fed-up having to do this (which
he probably was) and wishing he could go to the Spielgeltent for a
drink (which he probably did).
With
this in mind, Adultery and Other Diversions, a motley collection of
semi-autobiographical literary essays, seemed to promise much of the
same downtrodden feeling. And this was a presumption backed up by
the first of the essays, entitled 'Adultery'. Not exactly the most
'fun' of subject matters.
Imagine
the surprise then, when the story, though containing the effective
dismantling of one of Parks' friend's life, and coming to no definite
happy conclusion, actually carried something of an uplifting content.
The second tale appeared to be tackling the same area, given its title
of 'Fidelity', but this is the first examination of Parks' own life,
the fidelity mentioned being his father's religious devotion and the
decotion to Christ of Park's namesake, the disciple Timothy.
It
is with this second story that I pinpointed the problem with the collection
after finishing all 13 consituent parts - I'm not that interested
in Parks. And when retelling his own stories there seems to be a lack
of the insight that he brings to the viewing of the troubles of others.
This is the literary equivalent of your next door neighbour bringing
his holiday slides to a party.
'Adultery'
and 'Destiny', both stories examining marital disharmony of others,
hit the mark entirely. You understand the point Parks is making and
the stories seem to flow. Elsewhere Parks unfortunately seems to be
indulging in letting everyone know that he's awfully clever, debating
with himself how best to bring up with his son a problem with him
hitting other children with references to religious and literary reasonings,
or trouble he was having trying to translate into English an Italian
translation from the original Sanskrit and the etymological problems
arising therefrom.
Parks
has described this collection as his finest work, which perhaps isn't
too surprising - the personal link in the writing will make this work
have a certain sigificance. Unfortunately I think a lot of that significance
is lost on the reader, who will get a more honest examination of Parks'
life in 'A Season With Verona', and be able to indulge in his literary
brilliance in a vast array of other books.
Tim
Parks is an excellent writer, but, it appears, he is as susceptible
to vanity as the rest of us.

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