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Century
The fourth title in Biblioasis’s Renditions Series, Century begins with the nightmare visions of a young woman named Jane Seymour, catching the reader up in a chronicle of the Seymour family that moves from Austria, America and Africa, through Edinburgh and Venice, and then back through the Paris of the Belle Epoque and forward to 1923 Germany. Terrifying, powerful, slashing and satiric, yet at the same time musical and wonder-filled, Century remains the most important work of Ray Smith’s ouevre, and one of the most impressive, and far-reaching novels ever published in Canada.
- GenresCanada
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1986
About the author
Ray Smith
175 books3 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Ray Smith (the novelist) was born in Cape Breton in 1941.
For more than three decades, Ray Smith has occupied a distinctive position on the margins of the Canadian literary scene. His work is characterized by an interest in experimentation, but there is no discernible pattern of development. Each of his books is markedly different from the others, and none fits comfortably into the standard academic overviews of Canadian literature.
His first book, Cape Breton Is the Thought Control Centre of Canada (short fiction), is one of the earliest Canadian examples of experimental writing in the international tradition. (Of American writers, perhaps Donald Barthelme provides the closest analogue.) The relentless, witty interrogation of short story form underscores a parallel skepticism about received truths in other areas of life.
Smith's first novel, Lord Nelson Tavern, focuses on a group of about ten characters, most of whom have known each other from their student days. The first of its seven sections depicts that period of their lives as being relatively ordinary, but as their life stories unfold, their individual narratives become increasingly bizarre and exotic. One, for example, becomes a famous poet who marries an Oscar-winning actress. Another—the least likely—becomes a major player in a world-class drug smuggling operation; eventually he is murdered in accordance with Hollywood convention. A third becomes an internationally acclaimed artist, a fourth a producer of pornographic films, and so on.
Smith does not attempt to make such lives seem believable. Instead his interest is in exploring the voices of his characters, both spoken and written. Much of the book is in dialogue, and there are many unusually long speeches; two of the sections are transcriptions of diaries. Though many of the episodes involve comic exaggeration, the novel does address serious thematic issues, especially the nature of love and art, and the factors that promote and destroy them. Taken as a whole (and despite the sometimes frivolous and cynical rhetoric), Lord Nelson Tavern professes an almost Romantic faith in the validity of romantic love and the power of art to redeem human experience.
Read more: Ray Smith Biography http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4747...
Ray Smith (the novelist) was born in Cape Breton in 1941.
For more than three decades, Ray Smith has occupied a distinctive position on the margins of the Canadian literary scene. His work is characterized by an interest in experimentation, but there is no discernible pattern of development. Each of his books is markedly different from the others, and none fits comfortably into the standard academic overviews of Canadian literature.
His first book, Cape Breton Is the Thought Control Centre of Canada (short fiction), is one of the earliest Canadian examples of experimental writing in the international tradition. (Of American writers, perhaps Donald Barthelme provides the closest analogue.) The relentless, witty interrogation of short story form underscores a parallel skepticism about received truths in other areas of life.
Smith's first novel, Lord Nelson Tavern, focuses on a group of about ten characters, most of whom have known each other from their student days. The first of its seven sections depicts that period of their lives as being relatively ordinary, but as their life stories unfold, their individual narratives become increasingly bizarre and exotic. One, for example, becomes a famous poet who marries an Oscar-winning actress. Another—the least likely—becomes a major player in a world-class drug smuggling operation; eventually he is murdered in accordance with Hollywood convention. A third becomes an internationally acclaimed artist, a fourth a producer of pornographic films, and so on.
Smith does not attempt to make such lives seem believable. Instead his interest is in exploring the voices of his characters, both spoken and written. Much of the book is in dialogue, and there are many unusually long speeches; two of the sections are transcriptions of diaries. Though many of the episodes involve comic exaggeration, the novel does address serious thematic issues, especially the nature of love and art, and the factors that promote and destroy them. Taken as a whole (and despite the sometimes frivolous and cynical rhetoric), Lord Nelson Tavern professes an almost Romantic faith in the validity of romantic love and the power of art to redeem human experience.
Read more: Ray Smith Biography http://biography.jrank.org/pages/4747...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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March 10, 2010Century successfully navigates that tricky territory between the conventional and the inaccessible, demanding the reader’s full attention, and rewarding it, while retaining enough mystery to sustain, I expect, many readings. You continually detect movement in your peripheral vision, things you can’t quite spot, no matter how quickly you turn your head. When, halfway through a novel, you find yourself thinking that, man, you just gotta re-read this thing at least once, well, that’s a damn good book.
How to approach it? Century, in essence, explores familiar territory in an unfamiliar way. Yes, this is a Canadian novel: a multigenerational saga that follows the repeated tragedies of a single family, whose women keep kicking the bucket against the sweeping backdrop of history. Of a century, in fact. Oh, it’s not quite canonical Canlit; it lacks a prairie landscape, wendigoes, and snow – but these are mere quibbles. The story, if you like, is conventional.
The storytelling is anything but. The timeline moves back, rather than forward, so the story is necessarily discontinuous, more so because Smith obscures the relationships between the characters. Names are not often mentioned; it is easy to miss who is whose parent, who is whose doomed daughter. Smith follows the family tree back through the generations without leaving a map. Each chapter is a jump cut; one does not lead back to the next, and consequently, one feels that they are separate stories.
But they aren’t. Patterns of behaviour and the concerns of the characters repeat themselves back through the generations. The sins of the parents are visited on their children; the same personal failures play themselves out again and again, to the point that you want to re-read the book just to see how the last chapter may play out in the first, in ways that perhaps you initially failed to recognize. This is, then, a single, unified narrative, not a collection of stories; it simply refuses to play itself out in the way we expect.
Henry James said that the only obligation of a novel was to be interesting. This one is fascinating.
http://ajsomerset.wordpress.com/2010/...
How to approach it? Century, in essence, explores familiar territory in an unfamiliar way. Yes, this is a Canadian novel: a multigenerational saga that follows the repeated tragedies of a single family, whose women keep kicking the bucket against the sweeping backdrop of history. Of a century, in fact. Oh, it’s not quite canonical Canlit; it lacks a prairie landscape, wendigoes, and snow – but these are mere quibbles. The story, if you like, is conventional.
The storytelling is anything but. The timeline moves back, rather than forward, so the story is necessarily discontinuous, more so because Smith obscures the relationships between the characters. Names are not often mentioned; it is easy to miss who is whose parent, who is whose doomed daughter. Smith follows the family tree back through the generations without leaving a map. Each chapter is a jump cut; one does not lead back to the next, and consequently, one feels that they are separate stories.
But they aren’t. Patterns of behaviour and the concerns of the characters repeat themselves back through the generations. The sins of the parents are visited on their children; the same personal failures play themselves out again and again, to the point that you want to re-read the book just to see how the last chapter may play out in the first, in ways that perhaps you initially failed to recognize. This is, then, a single, unified narrative, not a collection of stories; it simply refuses to play itself out in the way we expect.
Henry James said that the only obligation of a novel was to be interesting. This one is fascinating.
http://ajsomerset.wordpress.com/2010/...
October 18, 2023
Ray Smith is a really strong writer, His craft is impeccable and he can go big into the avant-garde (but not here). While this title was well written, it didn't have have the same highs that Night at the Opera did. But not many books are at that level.
With Century you see the generational time shifting formula which has been played out for how long. Rather than the emotional elements and dreariness that often accompany this trick, Smith gives us a fresh take on characters and their traits and mannerisms. Here, I go. I think i could easily talk myself into giving this an extra star if not for the memory of Night of the Opera being so supersonic.
The copy I got from the library had a card indicating it had been last checked out in 1988! This stuff is top secret. hah!
Wanted ad: looking for more Ray Smith readers!
With Century you see the generational time shifting formula which has been played out for how long. Rather than the emotional elements and dreariness that often accompany this trick, Smith gives us a fresh take on characters and their traits and mannerisms. Here, I go. I think i could easily talk myself into giving this an extra star if not for the memory of Night of the Opera being so supersonic.
The copy I got from the library had a card indicating it had been last checked out in 1988! This stuff is top secret. hah!
Wanted ad: looking for more Ray Smith readers!
March 1, 2022
Top-flight writing and a looping story that combines individual personalities with a broad sweep of history. What's not to like? A few things, actually, but Smith's daring and skill keep the rating in 4-star territory.
The book centres on a family and a couple of recurrent themes, but it's presented in linked segments. The first is an intriguing blend of short story and essay. The second artfully sketches a family drama in outstanding prose. Then the reader hits a section titled "Serenissima," which keeps up the writing quality but develops grotesque qualities that border or cross the line into moderate sadism.
The final segment ties in the earlier story lines by means of a hallucinatory carnival ride through aspects of 20th century European history, some of them dark.
This was a reread after about 35 years; I knew more now about the real-life persons who show up in this segment.
Reading the book again also reminded me of how good a writer Smith could be.
Not many books manage to combine compassion with a sense of decay and menace at the fringes, and not many offer fresh uses of words while avoiding any sense of garish tricks indulged in merely for the sake of effect. (I'm talking about the writing here; some of the story line could be regarded as lurid or at least overripe.)
Smith was an excellent craftsman with an appreciation for the mysteries of life. This book provides the evidence of that. It's also quietly audacious.
The book centres on a family and a couple of recurrent themes, but it's presented in linked segments. The first is an intriguing blend of short story and essay. The second artfully sketches a family drama in outstanding prose. Then the reader hits a section titled "Serenissima," which keeps up the writing quality but develops grotesque qualities that border or cross the line into moderate sadism.
The final segment ties in the earlier story lines by means of a hallucinatory carnival ride through aspects of 20th century European history, some of them dark.
This was a reread after about 35 years; I knew more now about the real-life persons who show up in this segment.
Reading the book again also reminded me of how good a writer Smith could be.
Not many books manage to combine compassion with a sense of decay and menace at the fringes, and not many offer fresh uses of words while avoiding any sense of garish tricks indulged in merely for the sake of effect. (I'm talking about the writing here; some of the story line could be regarded as lurid or at least overripe.)
Smith was an excellent craftsman with an appreciation for the mysteries of life. This book provides the evidence of that. It's also quietly audacious.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews