Il dolore di Manfred

by Robert McLiam Wilson

Lorsque Manfred se découvre une douleur inconnue au bas du ventre, il devine immédiatement ce qu’elle présage mais décide de ne pas tenter de la soulager et de n’en parler à personne. Pas même à Emma, son épouse qui l’a quitté il y a vingt ans mais qu’il continue tout de même à rencontrer une fois par mois sur le même banc du même jardin public. Dans une veine plus intimiste que Ripley Bogle , Robert McLiam Wilson signe avec ce roman le portrait complexe et émouvant d’un homme qui, au crépuscule de sa vie, cherche dans la douleur la clé d’une rédemption sans doute impossible.

Genres: Fiction, Irish Literature, Ireland, British Literature

220 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 1993

About the author

Robert McLiam Wilson was born in Belfast on 24 February 1966 and studied English at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. He is the author of the novels Ripley Bogle (1989), winner of the Hughes Prize, a Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, the Irish Book Award and the Betty Trask Prize; Manfred's Pain (1992); and Eureka Street (1996), winner of the Belfast Arts Award for Literature. He is also the author, with Donovan Wylie, of The Dispossessed (1992), a non-fiction book about poverty.

In 2003, Robert McLiam Wilson was named by Granta magazine as one of 20 'Best of Young British Novelists', despite the fact that he has not published new work in English since 1996.
----from British Council site

Reviews

[A. Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel doesn't get four stars for being a nice story. It gets them for it's straightforward, unflinching, at times detached and clinical, treatment of horrible subjects. Wilson shows concrete moments of WWII, the European Holocaust, domestic abuse, slum landlordism, prostitution, alcoholism, but also of courtship, love, and kindness. These things exist together in the world, and they even exist together in Manfred. His pain is, of course, both physical and psychological, and the only thing I might wish for is a clearer connection to suggest why Manfred behaves as he does. But that would be simplistic. Sometimes, most times, we don't get to have a clear answer and understanding. This novel isn't set in Ireland, nor does it treat specifically Irish issues or characters. The writer is Irish, but here is handling subjects in a more global way. Wilson's command of language and his freshness of phrase are what make this novel, keeping it from being a mess of sensational hot topics going nowhere.

[Etienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Prémisse intéressante, mais on tombe rapidement dans du déjà vu, regard sur ça vie passée, regret et colère, pessimiste asumé, etc... Un manque d'orginalité et de profondeur qui font très mal. Bien écrit par contre!

[The Armchair Nihilist · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grim old man reflects on grim twentieth century.

Manfred’s Pain opens with the title character welcoming his final illness as a relief from a life he has long grown sick of. He spends his last days drifting aimlessly between dreary rooms and cheerless cafes as remorse eats away at him from inside as mercilessly as the illness that is slowly killing him. His past life is told through a series of flashbacks in which he slogs his way through wartime slaughter and genocide followed by peacetime drudgery and disillusion.

As should be clear by now this is not a feelgood book and it is only the exceptional quality of Wilson’s prose that keeps the reader turning the pages. Even that may not be enough for many to persist through the relentless misery which likely explains why it found a limited readership when published and has been out of print for over three decades now.

If you’re looking for some serious well-written literary fiction it may be worth picking up a copy of this largely forgotten work if you happen across it in a second hand bookshop as I did. Be advised though that if you’re on a downer this one is probably best avoided because it’s guaranteed to make you feel worse. Heavy stuff.

[Stephen Hero · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was waist deep in dwarfish tress when I realized the following: Nobody falls halfway.

[Maurizio Manco · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Il pregiudizio cui sono sottoposti i belli non è molto dissimile da quello che subiscono i brutti. Affascinante o ordinaria, ogni donna è oscurata dall'architettura della propria carne. La bellezza non è un gran dono, in fin dei conti." (p. 81)

[Meline Perron · Rating 3 out of 5]

« Il ne désirait pas vraiment la mort, mais il mourait d’envie d’être débarrassé de la vie. »

« Car la guerre était ennuyeuse et belle. C’était comme l’école, mais avec des vrais fusils et des vrais morts. »

« Le temps était devenu trop précieux. »

[Si Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in that beautiful prose that is so characteristic of Robert Wilson. A dark and troubling narrative, but compelling and hard to put down. I think he’s my favourite writer.

[CL Chu · Rating 3 out of 5]

There're some tragedies we inherited and some we caused. Banal and complex, we nonetheless have no excuse for the live we've lived.

[Ubik 2.0 · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Quella mattina, prima ancora che fosse giorno pieno e il sole alto nel cielo, Manfred si rese conto che sarebbe morto quel giorno”

Non sono riuscito a capire che cosa esattamente mi abbia soddisfatto di questo libro: la trama a raccontarla non è niente di che, il protagonista è un personaggio sgradevole e a tratti detestabile, tutto l’insieme dell’ambientazione londinese è reso a tinte cupe e opprimenti.
Eppure…

Spesso gli autori inglesi contemporanei, non so dirlo con parole meno banali, sanno scrivere bene, molto bene: il primo McEwan, certo Coe, la Byatt, Julian Barnes, David Mitchell, perfino gli “acquisiti” come Kureishi, perfino i commercializzati come Hornby almeno nella prima parte della sua discendente carriera; tutti costoro anche se, come tutti, sbagliano più o meno spesso romanzo, li sento accomunati da questa scrittura che, pur attraverso lo stile specifico di ognuno di essi, crea nel lettore benessere, ordine, il piacere della bella lettura.

Wilson non sfugge a questa regola per cui, come nel più noto “Eureka Street”, riesce anche qui a ricreare l’alchimia.
Di più non so dire.

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was medium and not as good as other books of this author. I think Ripley Bogle and Eureka Street were far better.