All too often, when novelists write about the artistic process, they treat it as if it is a Serious, Weighty Matter. (I’m thinking of novels like The Blazing World, for one.) As a result, we, as readers, never get the sense of well-rounded characters.For the most part, Deirdre Madden gets it right. In Authenticity, we meet three artists: Roderic Kennedy, whose single-minded passion for his art has turned him into a success but who leaves behind a broken marriage and severe bouts with alcoholism in its wake…his much younger lover, Julia Fitzpatrick, who is also driven by her artistic muse and who may very well be at a breakthrough in her career…and William, the man she chances upon who has relegated his muse to second place as he dutifully follows his destiny to money and position.When Julia meets William on a park bench, she senses that he is despairing and quite possibly suicidal. She befriends him; while her relationship isn’t sexual, it offers the reader a contrast between the two men. Roderic is – quite literally – bigger than life, a giant of a man with a great sense of charisma. William, who has not followed his art (and his heart), is more diminutive, drained of a joie d’vivre and a reason to live.The theme is summed up at one point by Roderic: “Unfortunately, William really has made a huge mistake. He’s done the wrong thing. It isn’t just what he thinks he’s wasted his life, he knows he’s wasted his life…It’s not enough to have a gift. You have to have the courage of your gift as well.”Art, Ms. Madden suggests, is giving up something private and precious. The pursuit of art to someone with the calling is not optional; at least, not if the artist wishes to live an authentic life. The artist does not serve his/her art; the art serves the artist. In a particularly illuminating passage, Roderic muses, “He thought of his painting as though it were a flame, a fragile lit thing that he had guarded with his life. Entrusted to him, he had succeeded in keeping it from being extinguished in spite of the winds and storms through which he had carried it; in return, down through the years, it had afforded him a subtle and complex joy.”This is a stunningly accurate portrait of the artist. Even though the characters tend to be more reserved – more distanced – than I typically like, the portrayal of those for whom art serves is extraordinarily well done. Definitely recommended.
I really enjoyed this book. It's set in Dublin and focuses on the lives of a small cast of characters who are all linked to each other through art and love. The writing is subtle and nothing terribly dramatic happens but it's the characters that draw you in... They're still hanging somewhere in the back of my sub-conscious. It's probably not everyone's cup of tea as it does move quite slowly and, as some of the characters are artists, it does go on a bit about the nature of art (which I loved). But I definitely recommend it. In fact writing this has made me want to read it again.
