The Grass

It's a mystery why Claude Simon is not more widely read in the U.S. A recent visit to the largest bookstore in San Francisco revealed not one copy of any of his books, and he is hardly an unknown or obscure author (Nobel Prize winner in 1985). It would certainly not be an eccentric view, and one I would not be the first to suggest, that he could easily be ranked close to the "big four" of 20th Century literature (Beckett, Faulkner, Joyce, Proust) and based on the four Simon novels I have read, I would agree. "The Grass" is a great place to start with Simon. It is his fourth novel, but the second translated into English. ("The Wind", translated a year earlier, is also a good starting point) It is helpful to read this novelist in chronological order, as it is with most important authors, but even more here as Simon's style has considerably evolved over the course of his career. Also, as this novel is part of a five-book cycle (the "Reixach Cycle") in which some of the characters reappear in other books, it is best to read them in order. His reputation as a "difficult" writer is somewhat undeserved, and no more than ordinary alertness will allow the reader to enjoy an incredibly supple and rich experience. The translations are excellent, as far as I can tell, judging from my limited reading of him in French, and are mostly by the poet Richard Howard, as is "The Grass." This novel tells of a post-World War II family in France, largely three women, and the narrative is loosely constructed around their memories and experiences, particularly those of a young woman who describes the journey towards death of her husband's aunt. The book, as other Simon novels, is very death-haunted and are filled with a sense of melancholy and dread. The descriptions of nature and the countryside are amazingly lyrical. Simon's heroic experiences as a volunteer on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War and as a prisoner of war in WW2 and a member of the French resistance also show up in his fiction, especially "The Palace" and "The Flanders Road" which I also highly enjoyed. This was the first Simon novel I read, and I definately intend to read the others.