The Red Hat: A Novel

by John Bayley

If Oscar Wilde were alive and well and writing in the 1990s, The Red Hat, by renowned critic John Bayley, is precisely the kind of playful, coyly erotic work of fiction he would have written. Set in Holland and in Provence, the first part of this elegant literary jaunt follows a trio of young Vermeer aficionados as they set forth for the Hague to see a Vermeer exhibition. What begins as a simple journey turns quickly into a cheerfully tortuous race against time when the group unwittingly--and mistakenly--becomes enmeshed in an international terrorist ring. The second part of the novel is narrated by Roland, a young man who has read the first narrator's account of the fiascos in the Hague. Setting off incognito, refusing to believe the account true, Roland searches for the original narrator, whom he expects to find living a lonely existence in a world of make-believe. As he conducts his search and the two parts begin to play off one another, The Red Hat slips between reality and fantasy, exploring the complex metaphysics of personality and art. Told by two separate narrators (the first of whom has an obscured gender), The Red Hat continues to twist and confound the reader who thinks he or she knows what will happen next. As our expectations are repeatedly built up and subsequently uprooted, an exquisitely delicious tension gathers strength, until it, too, is overturned by new developments. Constantly turning voraciously upon itself, this delightful romp refuses to be pinned down. Indeed, in the deft hands of a skilled novelist like John Bayley, nothing is what it seems to a book that masquerades as a noir mystery turns out to be a Moliere-like comedy of errors; a woman who is kidnapped turns out to be the wrong victim; the horny elevator man who runs the lift in the charming pension becomes a insatiable lover who may in fact be a Mossad agent; and the narrator--whose identity is revealed in the second half--becomes a slave, cheerful in bondage, refusing to return to England. Nothing ever turns out as it was supposed to be, but all is well, we are reassured, in this dashing fictional debut by one of the senior men of letters.

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1998

About the author

Professor John Bayley CBE, FBA, FRSL was a British literary critic and writer.

Bayley was born in Lahore, British India, and educated at Eton, where he studied under G. W. Lyttelton, who also taught Aldous Huxley, J.B.S. Haldane, George Orwell and Cyril Connolly. After leaving Eton, he went on to take a degree at New College, Oxford. From 1974 to 1992, Bayley was Warton Professor of English at Oxford. He is also a novelist and writes literary criticism for several newspapers. He edited Henry James' The Wings of the Dove and a two-volume selection of James' short stories.

From 1956 until her death in 1999, he was married to the writer Dame Iris Murdoch. When she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, he wrote the book Iris: A Memoir of Iris Murdoch, which was made into the 2001 film Iris by Richard Eyre. In this film, Bayley was portrayed in his early years by Hugh Bonneville, and in his later years by Jim Broadbent, who won an Oscar for the performance. After Murdoch's death he married Audi Villers, a family friend. He was awarded the CBE in 1999.

Reviews

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I went into this thinking, since he was married to the supernal Dame Murdoch, that The Red Hat would be Murdochian, in some sense. And I almost quit reading after 100 pages (which is halfway through) because the book seemed full of unrealistic incident and feeling. Little did I know what Bayley was up to. The story ends up being more Paul Auster, or perhaps Graham Greene, than Iris Murdoch. It is sly and mysterious and pitch-perfect. Highly recommended.

[Marj · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is in two parts. Part one: three friends Chloe, Charles and Nancy are in Holland touring art exhibits. Nancy hooks up with a mysterious policeman. After going back home, she returns to try to find him. Part two: Nancy writes to Chloe saying "don't forget me". Chloe sends a friend to try and find her. Crazy story.