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50 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Chaotic Life, May 13, 2007
Edmund White in his novella CHAOS covers much of the material he wrote about in his recent MY LIVES: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY so it's probably safe to assume that some of this story is autobiographical. Jack is 66, teaches at a university, is more in demand for blurbs he writes for other writers' books -- although since his computer crashed, he often has to ask for their last names-- occasionally gets one of his old novels translated, and spends a lot of his time worrying about his dwindling income and his eternal quest for sex. He of course is attracted to men 40 years his junior and prefers Craig's List rather than Silverdaddies as a source for finding them. He is willing to pay for sex; he mets Seth, a tall, blond Mormon with aspirations of being a writer and has no problem dishing out over a hundred dollars for each session with him even after they become friends. Then there is a young Italian, etc., etc., etc. Jack lives for "a cultural life, good food and a supply of available men." He, however, is also a good friend, perhaps the saving grace of this man with a truly chaotic life, particularly to his friend Marie-Helene who is diagnosed with cancer.
Regardless of whether or not you sympathize with White's characters, you have to marvel at his language. His prose can be as dense as anything Henry James wrote and as transparent as the writing of Truman Capote. His description of memory loss, particularly forgetting names, is both scary and sounds too familiar: "He made lists of things to do but forgot to consult them. Nothing yet was completely lost, but he had to write down his appointments right away or they would escape him an hour after he'd worked them out in detail and he'd have to make a humiliating second call ('Did we say Tuesday at three?' 'No, a week from Thursday at four.'). You also have to grudgingly admire White's chutzpah for letting Marie-Helene describe Alan Hollinghurst as the greatest critic "if he weren't already the greatest novelist." Aren't White and Hollinghurst good friends?
In addition to CHAOS, there are three short stories, two about older men and younger "boys," and a third one about a lonely adolescent who listens to classical music in the 1950's.
Mr. White supposedly is working on a novel about the writer Stephen Crane. We can only hope that gets published soon.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Pleasures of His Company, October 9, 2007
Edmund White remains one of the reigning masters of committing the English language into models of communication in his intelligent, witty, wise, and compassionate novels. While some critics and admirers tend to place CHAOS: A NOVELLA AND STORIES in a lesser important ring of his work, for this reader this book works on every level. Yes, some of the ideas on which the stories are based have been the nidus for other of his more famous works, the current work (especially CHAOS) has polished the atmosphere of the plight of the aging gay man to a jewel-like presence. Reading Edmund White is as much a pleasure of the joy of reading superb prose, as it is an entry into the fascinating lives of his created characters.
In 'Chaos' we meet Jack, a man whose once successful life as a writer afforded him the luxuries of satisfying his physical needs at will. Now, his career careening down toward desperation, Jack finds his gratification in hiring men for sex. His 'employees' include a strangely assembled ex-Mormon lad named Seth and an Italian club dancer Giuseppe, both of whom, while fond of Jack's kindness and patronage, always demand cash on the line, no matter the frequency of their daily episodes with Jack. Jack's cultural needs are played out in fascinating asides, moments when the intellect must emerge and steal the podium from sensuality. And it is precisely in these moments that White exercises his facility with the language. 'Both statements were more or less true, but these half-shades became startlingly emphatic colors only because it was easier to write declarations than nuances - and sentences, once awakened on the page, began to rattle and writhe in their own direction, dangerous and hissing and no longer submissive to meaning'.
Each of the four stories carry the theme of aging, of recollection, of longing for the unattainable made out of grasp because of the erosion of time. 'Time was speeding up just as it was running out, like the last of the water draining form the sink'. But the manner in which Edmund White carves these tales is not one of desperation, of nihilism. His characters retain the sensual longing yet the inherent dignity of the Marschallin of 'Der Rosenkavalier'. And the stories are just about that operatic. Reading Edmund White is a feast, beautifully prepared. Grady Harp, October 07
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Always interesting, sometimes titillating, and ultimately satisfying., August 24, 2007
I've been a fan of Edmund White ever since States of Desire which I received as a gift at a surprise birthday party when I was much younger and starting to come out. As is sometimes the case, Chaos is not an easy read, not only because of Edmund White's superior command of language, but also because he captures the truth of middle-aged gay men of my generation so well. I found myself wondering how much of what I was reading was reflective of the author and those he has known in his life and how much was from his imagination. Regardless, the book felt honest and accurate, even though fiction.
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