Than is fair to author or reader, to indicate just how mechanical the tale becomes. It is not possible, short of giving away a good deal more of the plot Burgess has surely earned the right to say so.īut few readers will know what to make of the novel's climax, in which Ellen's desperate dad hires on with a promoter for a piano marathon - 30 days of nonstop music or die. Music hall comedians like Stan Laurel and Charlie Chaplin ''became ghosts, my dad would say, and even the big money they earned was a kind of ghost money.'' As an author who has been victimized by Hollywood (see To her father, our heroine recalls, movies were unnatural, and even one-time In another familiar Burgess theme, playing Roman Catholic hymns despite the admonition that only the Church of England's were acceptable.īut it's when the talkies arrive and dad's career - such as it is - appears doomed that the novel's didactic side begins to undermine its playfulness altogether.
He's a Jolly Good Fellow'' during a reverent cinematic portrayal of the Resurrection of Christ, and ''I'm a Girl What Works Hard for Her Living'' at the appearance of Mary Magdalene. Burgess's own father, our narrator's dad does his poor little career no good by breaking into ''For
Best of all are the song titles: ''You've Worked All Your Life for Me Mother Now Go Out and Work for Yourself'' and ''She Was asīut silent films put an end to burlesque, and the talkies, as the world knows, to live musical accompaniment in theaters. The Cockadoodle Doos and the long-legged soubrette Maggie Paramour. Burgess summons up wonderfully corny music hall routines featuring Joys of working-class Manchester and Blackpool during the 1920's: HP sauce and chips, pork sausages, tea with condensed milk, but above all music and song. But for all that, the most memorable of the novel's modest charms is its vivid re-creation of the humble Like the author,Įllen recalls terrifying nightmares inspired by a bedroom picture of a fortune-telling gypsy entitled ''Beware'' - a picture that ought to have been taken down, but wasn't.ĭoubtless there are more parallels than this reviewer, alerted by the texture of the narrative, was able to glean in a quick visit to the library. Burgess has complained of to interviewers (''Hate? You've just no idea''). There is a meanspirited, pub-keeping stepmother much like one Mr. Like her creator's,Įllen's mother died in the flu epidemic of 1919.
Trained in a mock convent outside Brussels where the ''nuns'' wore high heels, our decorous prostitute with the matey air of England's industrial north also parallels the author in certain biographical details. Still, they paid for their bit of a tune.'' Played on by players who could hardly manage chopsticks.
#Child piano prodigy on ellen professional#
As La Belle Helene, our narrator ''was a professional too, just like my dad, but I was more the piano than the player, and I was usually Providing musical accompaniment for silent films in the author's native Manchester. But, as I used to point out to him, professional also means earning your living by it.'' To be precise, Ellen's dad, exactly like Mr. He wasn't too sure that he deserved that word. Ellen Henshaw's dad was a professional piano player. Tells the story of her long-dead father's sad demise. Narrated by an English courtesan tastefully retired in Provence - ''a nice slim elderly lady, a bit scrawny round the neck as is only natural, but with her white hair nicely blued at the best hairdresser's in Cannes'' - the novel The difficulty lies in discerning just what that purpose may be. Of autobiographical significance that make it clear it's a little tale with a purpose. Specifically, ''The Pianoplayers'' comes equipped with overtones of parable and hints Burgess's work, however, trifles are rarely so playful as they may at first appear. candidates actually prefer Mr.īurgess's lesser works, finding the intricate narratives and multilingual punning of his major novels too mugged-up in the genius-at-work mode to be read for pleasure). Compared with such vast and eruditeīurgess productions as ''Earthly Powers'' or ''MF,'' ''The Pianoplayers'' seems a relative trifle (though many who are not Ph.D. $16.95.ĪNTHONY BURGESS'S 29th novel - a total just about matching that of his nonfiction books, plays, translations and children's stories - poses the reviewer a bit of a problem. Section 7, Column 1 Book Review DeskīY GENE LYONS Gene Lyons, a freelance writer, is working on a book about an Arkansas murder case. November 2, 1986, Sunday, Late City Final Edition
'SHE WAS AS PURE AS SNOW AND SHE DRIFTED' The New York Times: Book Review Search Article
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