Balzac's short story Le
Chef-d'oeuvre inconnu (The
Unknown Masterpiece) was followed by a bonus even shorter story, La
Leçon
de Violon
(The Violin Lesson) by E T A Hoffman.
I
found Le
Chef-d'oeuvre innconnu quite
heavy going to begin with – it mostly seemed to be a discussion on
artistic philosophy disguised as a conversation between Frenhofer, an
elderly, gifted artist, and two younger painters, made even denser by
the language barrier. Until the last few pages I thought that would
be it, but the surprising and touching ending made up for it.
The
two young painters are intrigued by their older friend's enthusiastic
talk of his masterpiece which has taken him 10 years to complete, but
which he won't allow anyone to see. When he finally allows them to
view it, it turns out that spending so long on one picture has
completely distorted his view, and that what was once a wonderful
painting is ruined. When the young friends break this to him, he collapses down in misery. One of them returns the next day to check on
him, and it turns out he passed away in the night, after having
destroyed his entire works.
Having
pushed through and finally finished the story, I could see that the
rather dull majority of it was necessary for the effect of the final
scene. However, I can't help but feel that a smaller quantity of the
philosophical discussion would have been fine for building up the
suspense for the final reveal.
La
Leçon
de Violon
was more approachable, if also rather shrouded in artistic
philosophy. A promising young violinist is introduced by his tutor,
Haak, to Haak's own patron, a baron who was once one of the foremost
violinists of the age. After an extended theoretical and
philosophical speech (again), the baron allows the narrator to try
out his own antique violin. Frustrated with his lack of technique, he
shows him how it's done – except that his ability to play has
completely disappeared, and only his belief in his own genius
remains.
Both
stories were interesting studies of human nature, although I can't
help feeling they'd be more interesting if I actually cared much
about artistic theory.
Next
up: The
Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever
by Stephen Donaldson
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