Comprendre sa douleur

by Earl Thompson, Jean-Charles Khalifa (Translator)

The story of a ruthlessly self-made writer, Jarl Carlson--from his army discharge in 1953 through his successful publication of his first novel in 1971. We see him saying farewell to the impediments and errors of his youth, as radicalized college student, hospital orderly, hard-nosed reporter, and as the lover of several splendid women.

512 pages, Paperback

Published February 17, 2023

About the author

Earl Thompson ( May 24, 1931 – November 9, 1978 ) was a leading American writer of naturalist prose. Nominated for the National Book Award for A Garden of Sand and chosen by the Book of the Month Club for Tattoo, Thompson died suddenly at the peak of his success, having published just three novels—the fourth The Devil to Pay, was published posthumously.

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I didn't like Earl Thompson's books so much and hadn't read the first two parts of his trilogy already, I might've felt differently about this book. First of all, he died suddenly of a heart attack before the book was finished and in these cases, you always wonder how much is his voice and to what extent was it changed by whoever finished it. My guess is that it was all written but unedited and that the most anyone did was run it through Spel-Chek. To start with, this novel is inconsistent, some parts overwritten, others undeveloped without much of a segue between them. The craft of the first two parts of the trilogy is how everything held together in a brutal but totally believable semi-autobiography. Here there were sketchy spots and glaring redundancies - at one point in a mental hospital the same character is presented three times just as having stabbed his cousin to death for unknown reasons - which would have been evened out in rewrites. There's much more graphic sex but this became more routine than provocative; sex seven times a night, off to their day jobs - doctor, reporter - only to get home and start again; so many descriptions of him performing oral sex on her that MY jaw began to feel numb! And so it goes... So what did I like? Taking into account that it was probably unedited, it's still better-written than a lot of other novels. There are descriptive passages which, whittled down, would be extremely powerful. The early-70's politics seem dated now but commentaries on writers such as Steinbeck and Kerouac are still relevant. A worthwhile read but not as good as his other books; sadly, it only makes you wonder about what could have been.

[Marisa G · Rating 4 out of 5]

On suit l’histoire de Carlson, son passé difficile, ses aventures sulfureuses, sa quête du bien être et son besoin d’indépendance malgré son besoin quasi constant d’avoir une femme à ses côtés. Entre ses nombreux jobs sans intérêt il se découvre une passion pour l’écriture, qui le sauvera.
Difficile de dire si j’ai aimé ou non ce livre, j’ai oscillé entre « c’est trop graveleux » et « c’est vraiment bien écrit ». Je pense que c’est un style littéraire à découvrir, on aime ou on n’aime pas, c’est dur, dérangeant parfois, un texte puissant et déstabilisant. Dans tous les cas on ne peut que aimer la qualité des éditions Monsieur Toussaint Louverture !

[wally · Rating 5 out of 5]

heh! thompson uses this from emily dickinson at the beginning:

much madness is divinest sense
to a discerning eye--
much sense--the starkest madness--
'tis the majority
in this, as all, prevail--
assent--and you are sane--
demur--you're staightway dangerous--
and handled with a chain--



in the previous two stories from thompson, a garden of sand and tattoo (my pb cover has a male hand, the bird extended)...the story followed jack odd andersen...up to age 14 and the end of ww2 in the 1st and up to age 19 and wounded in korea in the 2nd.

blurb inside the cover says this is 'the story of a ruthlessly self-made writer, jarl carlson--from his army discharge in 1953 through his successful publication of his first novel in 1971.

thompson died young...i believe, as i recall, his death coming in november, just a few short weeks ago...though the year was?....1978?

chapter one
the old man was dying. why did thompson change the protagonist's name to jarl carlson? in the previous two stories, he was/is known as jack/john odd andersen...and at times, as muskrat. but here, jarl's old man (the grandfather and the man who acted as father for much of his life) is dying...dies...and that is not a spoiler as you must read the tale of how that happened for it to be true, for it to have meaning. Much of what happens in this chapter is included in the final pages of tattoo.

two
an army chapter--jack in the previous two, jarl in this one--is in the army, is intelligent--has tested as so, and though he is given the task of providing recommendations, none listen to him--because he is not an officer--until a recruit kills himself removing his bayonet from his battle rifle. There is a brief complaint about the turks in the korean war...some event where the media credited them w/killing north koreas whereas what happened, according to jarl, is that they killed south koreans.

jarl is also placed in some sort of special group and the main event w/that is they go for a 15 mile run, and as they near the completion, the leader demands another 15 miles...that they all do.

three
an army chapter...jarl w/marge #1 & #2....a captain heco, dentist...and then a meeting w/a critter from congress who visits and carlson...the name "jarl" is rarely used...carlson is asked for his opinion and he gives it...why they did not do as well in korea as they believed they should have....and then later he writes up his opinion...and though not much is told here...

this is the end of carlson's army.

four
carlson is now at the university...although which on in particular is never stated...a short-coming i think...when he has used a name of places it has given the story more whatever it is that it needs, rather than what he provided. henry wallaces comes to school, speaks, is egged...carlson thought the egging an extreme that went too far.

five
sally frederickson, who carlson told come see me when you're a virgin no more, is a virgin no more...and so on and so forth...carlson tells for the 1st time about the incestuous relationship w/his mother, and she in turn, tells about her father...

when i read the story--a garden of sand it is clear from the telling that the mother in that one is as guilty, if not completely--though jack (in that one, not jarl, as noted) shares blame--

so the little detail that sally goes into here about her father, scheming, planning a trip around it...is telling

six
carlson at the "great state university"....kansas? i take it...w/an old poet there....the two of them talk writing...carlson doing most of the talking, the old poet listening, encouraging carlson to write.

seven
working at state mental hospital....kids, adults...one subject defined w/pages of detail...some scenes reminiscent of one flew over the cuckoo's nest....this one character, mr. collins....this is said of him: his existence on this earth was an insult to anyone's theory of creation, a virtual proof of an evil netherworld, confirmation of satan.

since god has been killed and put to bed, it is curious to read "satan" and in this context, it is telling about our culture...a telling that gives pause...

an interesting scene where carlson draws a picture of a clawed and winged dragon and this upsets mr collins no end...

interesting scene to do w/television...the patients watching teevee.

like before w/the military where carlson provides recommendations, here too, he does the same...he makes recommendations and there is no follow-up....an unspoken theme at work here...what does that tell us about our nature? reeks w/a kind of elitism that is here now forever and will be hallelujah amen...verily.

eight
scenes from the hostpital....what is the politically correct term for the mentally-handicapped?....i think that is it by circe! carlson makes some recommendations in this chapter, as well...

there is also in this chapter the idea of getting/receiving/obeying orders to liquidate...quality of life, that sort of bull-taco...not so much this chapter...but by the end of 12, where i am as i write this...i get the sense that thompson was writing this with a message in mind....i don't think it is as good as the two previous from him--a garden of sand and tattoo....for that reason...the sense that he is writing w/the "theme" or ideas firmly planted in his mind, only a matter of getting them into the story...

okay.

nine
still w/the mental hospital...eats...there is some sort of dance...carlson screws one of the women patients...."i like your big hairy cunt" he tells her...later we find out he wasn't the only one..

ten
carlsono tells sally...his girl....about doreen...the patient with the big hairy cunt...this is a short 4-page chapter...ends w/this line : "but the perfect moment had passed and they would never know it together again." i get the sense that thompson is trying to show...i dunno....love's failings? or the failings of carlson? cat as he is known? hmmm i dunno

eleven
meeting of the bard's liar...meeting of folk who like literature, drink, etc. carlson speaks about country love among the peasants....browning...he knows more; she knows little to nothing....etc.

later, they discover a two-way mirror in the men's room...the mirror breaks...and they determine to get to the bottom of it. they meet w/the vp green....carlson will pursue the matter, the others drop it, having made a point.

twelve
the university plagues the others...jeff steel and campbell....the university gives carlson problems over a technicality about publishing the school humor magazine...he is out of there, suspended....cue the soundtrack, fats domino, "ain't that a shame".

thirteen
carlson applies for w/at playboy magazine...no go...he is not their type...chicago, december, 1955 this is...applies at marge whitney allen memorial hospital...yes...$47.50 per week
has a female friend, margaret archer...1st one he is friends w/only...does not bed her...through her, meets jack & madelaine, supported by their parents, so carlson despises them...etc....though jack and he talk about kerouac's on the road carlson not liking it, jack saying it heralds a new reality...he is 26

fourteen
...carlson fears he is not...something...manly enough...meets a dr. caroline palmer...they meet, greet, he moves in...they are in love

fifteen
takes a job at the news-leader in waukegan for $110/week...
chicago jazz

sixteen
chicago politics is upstate thieves and downstate thieves, there is no republican/democrat...both candidates for mayor offer him $50 to be fair w/the ink...no matter what, same amount of ink as the other gets.
has a press pass to the 1956 nat'l democratic convention in the cow palace in chicago...sees jfk get a vp nomination...writes about adlai stevenson..."stevenson is no lincoln"

seventeen
nike-anti-aircraft missiles....in and around chicago? some w/nuke warheads?....okay, so here the willing suspension of disbelief begins to grin...bears it...okay, sure...carlson will go to texas to see how the system operates, along w/concerned politicians from small areas around chicago.

eighteen
from o-'hare...w/a general clark, retired...a joke about toothpicks in the urinals, crabs pole-vaulting......stuff about communists...apaches...an undeclared war of 80 years ago, likened to the undeclared cold war. though "cold war" as a phrase is never used.

nineteen
missile shots...they are shown how it works....an old b-17 is shot down, then a faster....jet?...not clear

twenty
two months after his story about the missiles, he quits. he dreams of mexico...writing and painting....he worries, has worried about hurting caroline, w/whom he has been living.

twenty-one
he is gone...left caroline, headed...later we learn west to san francisco...in nebraska at a diner he writes to caroline....apparently to tell her about him, etc etc...

book II //twenty-two
on way west, little america...where all needs to be trucked in...this is something carlson rails against...the billboards proclaiming littler america and it not living up to the ads. he buys a $10/whore.
he meets w/margaret archer again in frisco...he dreams about caroline...she, he learns, has had an abortion.

twenty-three & twenty-four
carlson heads back to chicago to be w/caroline...though he starts he does not get there...a layover in wichita, hometown...sees his grandmother, his 11-yr-old son, his ex-wife sharon, now alone.

he wonders if he is nuts...he smells nuts, like the people in the hospital...they had the same smell he decides...while his car is being worked on--it would never make it to chicago--he takes in a movie with his son mark...goes to church w/his grandmother who would like to remarry...mr withers...though the movie he sees w/his son is not detailed, a flaw in the story i think, he does see another w/his grandmother, the gunfight at the ok corral...and that one she supplies a critique--the west was not so...etc.

twenty-five
he makes it to chicago...looks/interviews for a job w/a weekly throwaway newspaper...ads...cannot stomach the idea of that job, so now...meets with caroline, but she is not ready to be w/him...there is this detail about the throwaway in decatur i think it was--the man/boss there ran some sort of uncle sam look-a-like contest and he won...thompson plays w/that a bit.....some fun stuff there...not much, some.

after things don't go w/caoline, he heads out...for texas...getting waylaid in ohio this time, when he stops to see margaret archer--she seems to be everywhere--and...somehow they happen to get married...she is not interested in sex...though a son, luke, is born. her mother has bucks, however, and her mother was the diva that kept margaret down...thompson does not play this up much...did some w/it...some...not much, some. they move to new york city since carlson could get (he won't) a scholarship to columbia

twenty-six
carlson lands a job in the art department of a large department store in manhatten....the manager, a 'captain oliver'...there's some business about former military--the captain--and some business about union/anti-union...some....some again...and on one page, margaret and him form grafiks and receive a $2500 loan from some outfit and by the next page they have been at it two years, it is 1960, they have a 2nd child (carlson's 3rd) a girl, jean...

twenty-seven
carlson heads out for a walk though they have an ad due...he leaves to the sound of margaret cussing him....he laments his novel...that is was like snow...he burned his first novel...haven't we all?...and

he sees/witness a plane crash--this actually happened--a crash between two airliners over new york, one coming down on one burrough, the other coming down on staten island....he helps with the rescue attempts. one boy, an 11-y-old survives...and this is an actual event as well...search engine plane collision over new york city...

when he gets back, margaret is almost mad, they almost get into it, but he is half dead...she leaves him w/instructions to not allow luke to have the hershey bar when he awakes. and when luke awakes, he has the hershey bar....

carlson has quit ads...she cannot understand that...

twenty-eight
carlson has been writing...margaret wants to see it...nope, no can do...he won't let her see...they spend time w/someone from the american communist party...there is comment on that...the communists...that sounds like something i'd best not say, though i would liken it to some around today...they dance w/the greeks... carlson has knowledge of the sear of a winchester model 100...that can be fiddled with to make this semi-auto rifle shoot full-auto....neato.

twenty-nine
this chapter has for background the cuban missile crisis...margaret and carlson fight, argue, etc etc...and at one point, as carlson is doing her, luke the boy is there in the room wondering if the war has begun...no luke go back to bed...margaret says she wants a divorce...carlson says no...you leave...he won't leave the children...not that again.

thirty
carlson has 1,200 pages of a novel...tries to publish..no go..he visits publishers direct...doesn't get anywhere...tries an agent...who takes his stuff and sticks it in a room and gives him a line when he inquires...out and about, he is mugged...begs for a quarter to get home on the subway.

thirty-one
february 1968, one year since he began sending his manuscript out to publishers on the advice he received by the publisher's secretary/receptionists...he heads out of nyc...goes to arizona...gets off the bus there....lives in a hovel there...he writes letters, does not read letters sent, does not open letters sent.

thirty-two
football with his son and some other men.....1969....there is a war in vietnam...they will go to washington d.c. to protest....carlson...and this paige who he will/has begun to have an affair with...who is also married...scenes from washington d.c.....some names...peter paul mary, abbiehoffman...joan baez....we also learn that sharon, his former wife, has remarried.

thirty-three
paige and carlson are having the affair...paige, lo and behold, has also been having an affair with a guy named paul, who happens to be an editor...

thirty-four
carlson and paul meet...this chapter seems almost a bit...hmmmmm, too contrived. carlson plays the stung bleeding writer and paul is this all-forgiving saint who is willing to look at carlson's manuscript. barf. heh! i dunno...it seemed that the way carlson acted was too...too much. i would have thought he'd be more....relaxed, open to paul...though things do work out.

carlson's manuscript is worked on....from that 1,200 pages to a cut to 900 pages....to a finished 600 page manuscript....it was the journey that mattered, not the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow p 394 if it matters to you. the published book is a book club selection...may of 1971 the book is out...there is a 100,000-dollar offer for paperback

thirty-five
new york city...some sort of party for andy warhol? names names...viva, ultra violet....a character mary devlin from ago....gloria steinem, bella abzug...norman mailer...jose torres...


5-stars? meh. he worked at it. the labor deerves 5 stars though at times there was that sense that carlson was trying too hard to make a statement...as noted above somewhere...or...maybe those times were so much unlike his first two stories....a garden of sand and tattoo...that the story felt wrong at those points. even tattoo had a few times when a "theme" seemed to be in development and it never went anywhere that i saw....(this deal w/an interior voice...though perhaps it did go somewhere)

i wonder what the point is? carlson is, at times, a likeable person....but he is unfaithful to whatever marriage vows he took...he is unable and perhaps unwilling to maintain a trusting/loving relationship w/one person. he wants to escape the poverty he had known...but he seems to sabotage any hope of escape....

one thing i wish thompson had done was to tell what carlson was writing...what was it about? a manuscript we are told....we're never even given a fake title...that minor detail would have enlivened the story a hundred-fold...some minor details about what he was writing and for sure a title to the piece--it was published--come on, man, give us a title!

the narrative style if nice. good. easy to follow.....with the noted exceptions.

interesting too, how time is handled...as noted, there is one point where two years pass in a page.

this story covers a time from about 1953 as carlson is leaving the service...to 1971...for many of those years, there is little to indicate where in time we are. that isn't a problem w/the story....just noting things about time's passage.

(interesting: 4 dec 2011, 743 am est i look and this review is missing from the list on my page...i just read the darn thing, AFTER i read books that are still listed...must be, what?)

[April Manns · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give this novel a 3 star rating . I really loved Garden of Sand and Tattoo even though parts are a
difficult read - this one, however , has cheats all though . Thompson has cut parts from Tattoo and Garden and added them
in , changing the name of the lead to Jarl or Cat . Truly this is the third volume of Jack Andersen life .

[Mr Roy Davidson · Rating 1 out of 5]

349 pages

[Eliot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Le style de Thompson s'est affiné au cours de ses 3 romans, et les thèmes ont changé au fur et à mesure que le personnage évolue de manière à toujours garder une sensation de fraîcheur et de renouveau.

[Thierry Sagnier · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's criminal that Earl Thompson has been relegated to the ash heap of American literature. His trilogy--Garden of Sands; Tattoo; and The Devil to Pay, is among the best American fiction written I the past 75 years. I've read each of these books three or four times and gone to the trouble of finding the hardbacks for when the paperbacks disintegrate. Someday college students will be studying and majoring in his works.