Confession, rationalizations steer 'Shipwreck'

Eric J. Blommel, Special To The News

Published September 12, 2003 at midnight

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Fans of the film About Schmidt, based on Louis Begley's earlier novel of the same name, will recognize the theme of regret on the part of an aging man. But that's where similarities between the two end. Begley's new novel deals, instead, with the lies and rationalizations we tell ourselves to help keep us going.

John North, the protagonist of Shipwreck, is an American novelist. He is rich by marriage, misanthropic by nature and refined in his tastes. We learn about him through the narration of an anonymous stranger, approached by North in a café called "L'Entre Deux Monde" (Between Two Worlds).

North begins his confessions to the mysterious stranger by describing a trip to Paris, at the time one of his books receives critical acclaim. North's French is "almost native," he tells the stranger, and so exposure in Paris is a good public relations move for the publishers of his translated works in the French market.

What troubles North, however, is that his success happens to coincide with a crisis of conscience about the quality of his work. North wonders whether anything he's written is really any good, or of any significance. He feels almost embarrassed by the attention he receives.

Then, he meets the young, vivacious and flirty Leá from French Vogue, the first journalist to interview him in Paris. She appears deeply impressed by him, and he cannot ignore her sex appeal. Though North has been faithful to his wife thus far, he feels utterly compelled to begin an affair with Leá, who turns out to be lusty and promiscuous, with a particular weakness for intelligent older men.

For a time, the story takes on a tone of male sexual fantasy: aging man of refinement gets hot young French temptress. Many adventures are detailed, as counterpoint to North's struggle to reconcile his sincere love for his wife with his intense lust for this girl. The struggle becomes urgent as Leá's obsession with him grows. Though he knows that he will have to untangle himself from her soon to avoid discovery by his wife, he still finds himself repeatedly returning to her for lustful fulfillment.

Meanwhile, the reader also becomes seduced - if not by the romance, then by the atmosphere of opulence and class. Many of the trysts are conducted at the Ritz in Paris. Wherever North goes, he eats and drinks amazingly well, and usually has a table waiting for him.

A side trip to Greece reveals that North's late parents' enjoyed a diplomatic career. Leá is a painter, besides being a journalist, and North's good friends in Paris are art dealers. His wife is a medical researcher, and her family is established New England gentry.

This glimpse into the world of international high class and culture is intriguing and provocative. On another level, though, the reader is led into a growing suspicion that everything North relates serves a case he is making before his anonymous confessor.

North is putting himself on trial for his past actions. He would like to show that those actions, if not justified, at least arose from a deep moral or artistic struggle, rather than from common adulterous urges.

There are times when the story drags on while North goes into long explanations and apologies, full of false modesty and insincere self-deprecation. He details his internal struggles, for which the reader (if not the anonymous listener) will have decreasing sympathy.

North's underlying motivation for making his confession comes out in sharp relief when we learn about the end of his relationship with Leá. Sorry, no spoilers here, since the conclusion comes as a surprise.

Suffice it to say that many details of North's behavior suddenly come to light. Descriptions of his character and actions, which sometimes seem pointless during the middle of the book, form a cascade of understanding and provide new insights into human nature.

Ultimately, what might have been a lesser book is happily rescued from the deep.

Eric J. Blommel is a freelance writer living in Centennial.

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