Wondering who we are, what we will become and what we have been are questions of identity that everyone grapples with at some time in their life.??Far from ever being given a direct answer, it is the courage to explore ourselves that is the most important, at least according to John Banville's new novel, \Shroud.""??
In ""Shroud,"" it is this courage that the characters initially lack.??The book is narrated from the viewpoint of Axel Vander, a venerable professor who is long retired and telling the story of his past.??What distinguishes Vander is that his identity has always been made up of lies: ""All my life I have lied.??I lied to escape, I lied to be loved, I lied for placement and power; I lied to lie,"" he explains.
When Vander receives a mysterious letter from a young woman who wants to meet him, he flies to Turin, Italy, the site of the famous Shroud of Turin, to meet her.??As their time together progresses, the plot becomes a bit schizophrenic, as alternate storylines are presented one after another in a collage of self-discovery.??
It turns out that the girl he met, Cass Cleave, is as lost and unbalanced as he is, and the mixed storylines are each told from one of their viewpoints in examining the other person.
The greatest insights are garnered during these cross-examinations, as neither character has any self-intuition but is extremely perceptive of the other.??The text requires patience and a slow and methodical reading, because the characters speak like Shakespearean fools with deep insights embedded amongst so much nonsense and randomness of thought.??
As the book progresses, Cleave and Vander find comfort in one another's presence. Vander likes the fact that there is someone more unbalanced than him, and Cleave, having read most of Vander's academic work, admires him for what she sees as his sharp intellect.??
Unfortunately, Banville spends too much time writing about the random and the meaningless, things that do nothing but drive home the helplessness of the characters.??Sometimes, however, Banville uses the same randomness to great effect, as in Vander's repeated flashbacks of his wife. Such excursions allow the characters to incrementally learn who they are.
By the end of the novel, Banville has allowed enough of his characters' personalities to leak that we finally can see the pattern of self-recognition. Cass Cleave becomes sick and Vander finally begins to have moments of insight about himself, although he cannot handle it:??""... the source of my embarrassment, the fact, simply, that I loved her.""??
By this point, Banville stitches everything together as Vander's journey of self-discovery begins to bear fruit, yielding things he never even knew about himself. Cass Cleave, for her part, also reconciles her troubled mind.??
The first 100 pages or so can seem tedious and confusing because of the random thoughts and shifting viewpoints but, as the book nears its end, all the pieces come together and leave an indelible mark. Although the book does not offer any definite closure, it is guaranteed to be one that will start the kind of thinking that will last for weeks on end.
""Shroud"" is published by Alfred A. Knopf.
