Tarr

This is a novel of the pre-first world war modernist avant-garde, written by Wyndham Lewis, who was slightly better known as a painter and co-founder of the literary/art movement of Vorticism. It contains a lot of experimentation in writing style, and in a few ways pre-empts the innovation of better known subsequent modernist authors.

In plot, it deals with a group of four characters living in Paris – two male, two female – in what Lewis coins as the Bourgeois Bohemian set. As an exemplar of the abstract geometrical principles of Vorticism, their actions over the course of the novel have a quasi-symmetrical rhythm, changing, maintaining balance, and yet going nowhere. With the principles foci of Vorticism being directly counter to show more those of Futurism (Intellect vs Emotion; Spatial vs Temporal; Balance vs Movement; Contemplation vs Action), it is interesting to see here Lewis embodying on occasion the two different styles in his characters and setting them in conflict. He does this both through their actions, and more cleverly in his style of language when describing them, achieving with some success a parallel to the techniques of painting or visual representation. This novel is also partly meant to be a discussion on the incompatibility of art and life, but is at least as much a social satire and black comedy.

As a novel that was written over a hundred years ago now, it still feels experimental and modern. This is perhaps because not much quite like it has been written since, with contemporary culture never quite absorbing his style in the same way it did with that of better-known modernist writers. There are various reasons for not liking this novel, which have probably prevented its wider popularity, including brutal elements, and generally unlikeable characters. Thankfully this edition was well-footnoted, which helped a lot with a few of the anachronistic references that have not aged well. show less