Customer Reviews

At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

It's not mandatory to read "Portuguese Irregular Verbs" and "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs" before reading this book, but you might as well, because (a) they're very short, (b) they're very funny, and (c) there are references to stories in the preceding books.

I found this the weakest of the three books about the misadventures of Professor Dr Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld of the Institute of Romance Philology. Perhaps it's because there are only two stories in the novella, so each must be sustained over sixty pages or so. Maybe it's the stories' length that makes them seem so much more improbable than the improbable stories in the other volumes.

Still, the misadventures of Dr von Igelfeld, once again experienced as a result of searching for that elusive recognition he believes he deserves (Did you know he wrote the master work, Portuguese Irregular Verbs? It's the most important philological work of the last one hundred years, you know.), are very amusing. He accepts a visiting fellowship at Cambridge, where a shadowy plot to overthrow the faculty government is brewing, as if worries over his (less-deserving) colleague taking over his office in his absence were not enough. After that, he visits Columbia (the country), where he stumbles into yet another revolutionary plot.

Although I found this book the least amusing of the three Professor Dr von Igelfeld Entertainments, I still laughed out loud. It's light-hearted. It's short. It's just fun.

The two chapters of Alexander McCall Smith's At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances tell two almost independent stories featuring Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld--the renowned author of that 1200-page philological masterwork Portuguese Irregular Verbs. When the book opens we find von Igelfeld embroiled in the latest battle in his protracted but unacknowledged war with Professor Detlev Amadeus Unterholzer, von Igelfeld's colleague and nemesis at the University of Regensburg's Institute of Romance Philology. Specifically, von Igelfeld is intent on occupying the most comfortable chair in the Institute's coffee room, a chair which Unterholzer is wont to claim for himself on most occasions: "As the best chair in the room it should by rights have gone to him [von Igelfeld], as he was, after all, the senior scholar, but these things were difficult to articulate in a formal way and he had been obliged to tolerate Unterholzer's occupation of the chair." As it happens, von Igelfeld's successful claiming of the chair on the morning in question--in fact his birthday--leads to his taking a sabbatical at Cambridge University, where he becomes involved in the petty politics of that august institution. Von Igelfeld's experiences abroad--with scheming dons and their lachrymose Master, with an inappropriate Porter, with the University's intolerable toilet situation--leave him more certain than ever of the German's superiority to the Anglo-Saxon.

Not long after his return to Regensburg von Igelfeld sets off on another foreign adventure, as he is to be inaugurated into the Colombian Academy of Letters as a Distinguished Corresponding Fellow. His experiences in Colombia, and in particular at the Villa of Reduced Circumstances of the book's title, are not at all what he expected from his trip, including as they do being held captive by revolutionaries. The Colombians are even crazier, it would seem, than the English. This second story, while amusing enough, is less successful than the first because it is rather too absurd. Smith's comedy of academic manners and madness is at its best when his wry humor settles on the more mundane, when he mocks the pretensions and petty disputes of von Igelfeld's small academic department. (Here, for example, are our hero's reflections on the prospect of a student coming to work at the Institute: "Von Igelfeld was dubious; students had a way of creating a great deal of extra work and were, in general, the bane of a professor's life. That was why so few German professors saw any students; it was regrettable, but necessary if one's time was to be protected from unacceptable encroachments.")

In von Igelfeld Smith has created a charmingly flawed character--pretentious, egocentric, oblivious to the needs of others, yet sometimes capable of nobility. The two stories in this collection are each nearly perfect little gems, almost old-fashioned in their mood and quiet humor. And it may be a small thing, but both end particularly well, with sentences that tie up their respective stories perfectly. I am eager to read Smith's two other von Igelfeld books, and to discover as well what he has waiting for readers in his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series and his Sunday Philosophy Club Series.

Reviewed by Debra Hamel, author of Trying Neaira: The True Story of a Courtesan's Scandalous Life in Ancient Greece

Like many readers, I came to the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series through Alexander McCall Smith's charming "Number One Ladies Detective Agency" series. Right off the bat, beware that this series has nothing in common with his beloved detective novels set in modern day Botswana. It is hard to believe that he wrote too such different types of books.

The Portuguese Irregular Verb series of which "At the Villa Reduced Circumstances" is just one book can best be described as a droll send up on the absurdities of academic life. McCall's style can best be described as extremely dry and verging on the absurdist. This type of subtle humor is not for everyone.

The books in the series do not need to be read in order. I would recommend that you start with "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs", the best book in the series. If you like this type of humor gone onto the other two books. If you like your humor dry and way over the top, this is the series for you.

This, the third installment in the Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld series, is witty and sly like the predecessors, but I found it to be slightly weaker than the first two. The first volume "Portuguese Irregular Verbs" is my clear favorite, and is one of the best things written in the last ten years; likewise "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs" never fails to entertain (I still laugh when I think about von Igelfeld practicing veterinary medicine without a license.) The primary weakness of this volume is the reduced number of chapters versus the predecessors. In the earlier books, von Igelfeld had more numerous (but briefer) adventures that allowed for a quick pacing; this volume only has two chapters and as a result the plotlines begin to drag a bit. Don't misunderstand me, I loved "At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances," I just liked the other books more. Since this book makes reference to events and characters in the first two volumes, I do recommend reading them in order, though it isn't strictly mandatory.

In this book, von Igelfeld absorbs himself in a faculty political intrigue (which is sly, yet at times candidly accurate in its absurdity) as he takes a visiting professorship at Cambridge. Not only does he get totally immersed in academic political struggles, he has major issues with English toilets. (These two parallels surely can't be coincidental.) In the end his dealings with the politics of Cambridge and English bathroom design leave a clear opinion of Germanic superiority in von Igelfeld's mind.

Soon after the return from Cambridge, von Igelfeld is invited to become a Distinguished Corresponding Fellow at the Colombian Academy of Letters. This eventually leads to political intrigue at a different level when von Igelfeld is held captive at the Villa of Reduced Circumstances and encounters a strange group of rebels and government loyalists. It all concludes with von Igelfeld becoming the President (yes, of the country, not the Academy) and thus a target for violent overthrow. His ability to extract himself gracefully from that situation is dealt with in a most ingenious and amusing manner.

This is another great book by Alexander McCall Smith, and I recommend it to readers everywhere with a dry sense of humor and an inclination to mock the excesses of academia.

Two shorts concerning Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld and they are both hilarious. Mr. McCall Smith possesses a subtle dry sense of humor that practically forms his writing into a rather droll literature laced with great command of the English language. "On Being Light Blue" is entertaining in the sense that it dwells on academic politics where each distinguished adult character is made to behave quite impossibly na?ve but commanding. "At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances" is full of actions where the heroic professor doesn't really have any control over anything - not even his own safety - but he comes out shining as fate (promised on him by his creator, Mr. McCall Smith) would have it. Three hours spent reading this book is time well spent.

I found this to be the weakest of the three books in this series. Without giving away the plot, I will say that the professor gets into a situation that, while humorous, is just too improbable to sustain itself well. Other reviewers have compared this series to the works of P.G. Wodehouse. There is something of that same dreamy quality to the stories, with characters whose feelings of social propriety and personal embarrassment make it difficult for them to avoid or escape awkward situations. Smith does a good job of creating characters who are sympathetic despite their flaws. But there is a feeling of something missing. Here, he never reaches the depth that he achieved in his "Ladies Detective Agency" series, and he doesn't provide enough humor to compensate for that.

In this book, the latest of the Professor Dr. Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, the Full Professor of Romance Philology, Smith reaches into the surreal. In the first instance, it should be pointed out that a German professor of Romance languages is almost surreal in itself. The Romance languages, the ones based on Latin such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Rumanian, etc. have no relationship to German at all. In fact, English is really the combination of German and Latin.

Nonetheless, the good Doctor still exists. And in this adventure, we see a story in 2 parts. The first part describes the Professor's 4 month visit to Cambridge. Smith focuses on the differences between manners, mannerisms, modes of speaking and other idiosyncrasies about England and Germany in relating his story of the Professor's stay at Cambridge.

The second part gets even more interesting as the Professor finally gets the recognition he feels he deserves. In fact perhaps he gets just a little more recognition than he bargained for when he is taken prisoner by Columbian Guerilla Fighters in the midst of a revolution. At this point, Smith moves into the dream state of a story unfolding without the protagonist having any control over the outcome. Yet the outcome is indeed a grand one.

The book is highly recommended to Alexander McCall Smith enthusiasts. It is also recommended to those who wish to see how academicians sometimes interact with the real world in a very strange manner.

This book is as far from thin as you could possibly get - it is a great evening's read, or something to savour on a long train or plane journey. It is entertainment at its best - and anyone who has stayed in dodgy Italian hotels or undergone the vagaries of academic life will LOVE this book. Read it and enjoy! Christopher Catherwood (author of CHURCHILL'S FOLLY: HOW WINSTON CHURCHILL CREATED MODERN IRAQ (Carroll and Graf 2004))

I enjoyed At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances the most of the three books in this series. I think, however, that most people will enjoy this book more if they have read at least Portuguese Irregular Verbs if not also The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs before this book.

Two things are different about this book from its predecessors in this broadly satirical series: First, von Igelfeld finds himself softening so that he's actually trying to be helpful . . . rather than superciliously putting his own interests first as he does in the earlier books; second, the two stories are longer and allow Dr. Smith more room to rove.

"On Being Light Blue", the professor is surprised when Unterholzer remembers his birthday. With some prodding, von Igelfeld admits that he'd like to be a visiting scholar at Cambridge. Unterholzer likes the sound of that because that would mean that Unterholzer could "borrow" von Igelfeld's much nicer office while von Igelfeld is away. Unterholzer finds no difficulties in making arrangements for the invitation, and von Igelfeld is soon off in England. This gives Dr. Smith an opportunity to have great fun at the expense of English academics to parallel his normal satire of German professors. Von Igelfeld arrives and is soon concerned about having to share a bathroom, which leads to many internal complications (humor intended) to the plot. There's also academic scheming in the background . . . because von Igelfeld is the potential tie-breaking vote in a faculty plot. The story has an unexpectedly heart-warming tone before it's done that will remind you of the Botswana stories a bit.

"At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances" is one of those wonderful flights of satirical fancy that so many authors have favored us with concerning Latin America including Graham Greene's Our Man in Havana. After returning from Cambridge, von Igelfeld is delighted to discover that he's being considered for an award in Colombia. That potential honor leads to lots of humorous complications as von Igelfeld finds himself in the middle of a revolution at the Villa of Reduced Circumstances. What happens from there will amuse all but the most serious. It's a wonderful take off on honors, motives and government.

Have a ball!

I started this book during a performance between my solos. I was immediately struck by the strength of invention required to create the protagonist "professor dr." von Igelfeld. The stories are funny and interesting (although the presidency of Columbia seems a bit contrived) but the character was so clear and real that I bought the rest of the series just to see what he does. Also, McCall Smith has a talent for representing the idiosyncratic thought/speech patterns of the various cultures represented, and that alone is hilarious. You have to be smart to like this book, and I just barely made it, but I made it.