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Are Men Afraid of Love?

by Roger Nieboer at 12:29 pm 2006-12-08
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Maybe they just don’t like talking about it… in semi-public places… sitting around in a circle… facing each other… and openly sharing… dare I say… feelings!

According to tabulations on my calculator, the female-to-male ratio at the gathering of The Artist’s Bookshelf last night sat squarely at 25:1. I’m not complaining, just facing the reality of the powerful presence of female energy in the room. Given the vast gender imbalance of our group, I suppose it only natural that a good deal of our conversation tilted towards issues of gender, as reflected in the drastically differing voices utilized by author Nicole Krauss in her compelling novel, The History of Love.

We all expressed awe at her ability to articulate so poignantly visions of the world as seen through the eyes of a 14 year-old girl and an 80 year-old man, with equal degrees of conviction, worldliness, and compassion.

Some of us struggled with the intricacies of plot and the complexities of multiple narrative voices. Some of us read it twice out of necessity, some of us read it twice for the sheer pleasure of losing ourselves in the lyrical prose, some of us skimmed it lightly, and as always, a few of us, despite the very best intentions, hadn’t yet made it beyond the dust jacket. But hey, that’s okay. We came to share.

We approached the book in conjunction with the current Heart of Darkness exhibition, and as always, managed to mine at least a few interesting links. Perhaps installation artist Kai Althoff’s statement summed it up best:

“ I think my work is much more about love,’ if I dare say that: things that I don’t get from love, things that I love or want to love, or that I want to love me.”

Wait a minute… he’s a man… isn’t he?

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Talk Amongst Yourselves: The History of Love

by Roger Nieboer at 2:18 pm 2006-12-01
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On one hand, discussing a book like The History of Love is easy because it’s so multi-layered that it offers readers multiple points of entry. Conversely, a book this rich sometimes makes it difficult to know just how and where to dig in. (It’s kind of like facing the Sunday brunch at 2021. Do I start with an omelet or go directly to the sticky buns?)

With this smorgasbord paradox in mind, The Artist’s Bookshelf offers the following guide which we hope to utilize at our upcoming exploration of The History of Love:

POINTS TO PONDER

1) What’s in a name? It’s often been said that a book’s title serves as a lens through which viewers decipher any given literary work. Why did author Nicole Krauss choose to give the book this particular title? Why did she give it the same title as the title of the fictional book within the novel?

2) Deep Thoughts! The book is peppered with powerful philosophical postulates that the author manages to make surprisingly palatable without ever dumbing down. Example:

“ Having begun to feel, people’s desire to feel grew. They wanted to feel more, feel deeper, despite how much it sometimes hurt. People became addicted to feeling. They struggled to uncover new emotions. It’s possible that this is how art was born.” –The History of Love, p. 107

3) Connect the dots. How might the above quote be applied to the Kai Althoff installation, currently on view at the Walker, as part of the Heart of Darkness exhibition?

4) Emotion vs. Sentiment. The ending of the novel proves to be tremendously powerful, and quite unexpectedly emotional. How does the tone differ from the standard sentimentality so prevalent in today’s pop lit?

5) Multiple P.OV. The author utilizes a number of narrative voices in spinning this yarn. Why did she choose this strategy? What is the ultimate cumulative effect?

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