Why has Otesa Moshfegh written a bad medieval fantasy novel? Again, this raises the question of whether it is possible to write a good medieval fantasy novel. Tolkien is, of course. But there is everyone there too. In the first chapter of George RR Martin’s A Game of Thrones, the following lines appear. “‘The direwolves loose in the realm after so many years,’ said the horse’s owner Hullen. ‘I don’t like it’.” Portentus kitsch, this. But people love it. Martin’s books have sold millions. So are Robert Jordan, Tad Williams, Raymond E. Feist, etc. but another part of the cod-courtly flapdoodle loose in scope? I don’t like it.
On the other hand, when a style becomes so popular, it attracts the attention of ironies—that is, writers of more contemplative or parodic leanings, who are interested in what can be said about a style being less kitsch. Maybe a more serious topic. this could be a reason why lapvonaOtesa Moshfeg’s fourth novel, takes place in a typical medieval manor, and why it centers around some of the tropes of medieval fantasy.
Seven years into an illustrious career, Moshfeg continues to unravel through modes and genres, exploring its themes: hatred, self-deception, greed, grief, self-love. His first novel, Eileen (2015), was essentially a Patricia Highsmith thriller. his second, my year of rest and relaxation (2018), based on the novels by Brett Easton Ellis. his third, death in his hands (2020), paired Vladimir Nabokov with Agatha Christie. and now lapvona: A medieval fantasy novel.
Like I say, bad enough. Not interesting at all though. The setting is less medieval Europe than “medieval Europe”: placenames are make-up (Iskria, Bordijn); Character-names are based off of specific national associations (Marek, Klarek, Klod, Agata). lapvona, a pathetic collection of hovels, ruled by a psychopathic feudal lord, William. Marek, a disabled young boy, semi-accidentally kills William’s son Jacob. William takes Marek to the manor as his replacement son. Meanwhile, William has created an artificial drought; Lapvonians turn to cannibalism to survive. The drought is followed by heavy rains. Grief is universal. Highlights of this very violent book include: rape, incest, a blind horse, a man vomiting a neighbor’s pinkie finger he just ate, bloated corpses, and so on.
romantic gesture
It does not seem to be intended for any specific historical moment and, in fact, chronologically disseminates. At one point, the villagers imply that Christ was born “hundreds of years ago”, but on the other hand, the characters are aware of the germ theory of disease (19th century) and psychoanalytic concepts such as denial (20th century). Have thoughts like “Maybe it was her big romantic gesture” and say things like “whatever.” Lapvonians can live in shovels and put bandits in stock. But they all act like Americans of the 21st century.
This may be the case; We can have Moshfeg. She knows it’s redundant to write a medieval fantasy novel in 2022. So she doesn’t really bother. Instead she writes a big, frank, vicious allegory about contemporary America, dressed in the finest horse manure of the medieval fantasy genre. William (so called because he’s a villain, understand?) lives in obscene luxury at the manor, distracting himself with silly games while the farmers in Lapavona below eat each other.
William reminds you of Donald Trump, although he can only represent all the elite. Moshfeg might be saying: Our era is seriously neo-feudal, so let’s tell seriously neo-feudal stories about it. Lords, manors, farmers, a corrupt clergy, apocalyptic inequality. That’s us! We are Lavavona!
It is also conceivable that lapvona exists to intimidate and discourage some of the young readers who made my year of rest and relaxation Both a hit and a lifestyle accessory. hard to imagine lapvona Appearing as Indicator of Cool in Myriad Tiktok. In other words, the novel’s seriousness, satire and evil, may have been a kind of hideous career-trick designed to return Moshfeg’s reputation to elitist obscurity.
Then again, we can meet him in more than half the time, here. There may be talk of evil, but evil is still evil, even if it is deployed with a knowing wink. The basic problem is lapvona I don’t enjoy reading much. Prose is often ugly. “She had a lethargic gut, which gave her rotten tenderness to the sound of her lullabies.” come again? In a two-page sequence we get “He had to grope his torso,” “Bucket hit and split,” and “Agata was good as dead, and a lot of tears were shed”—a hoarseness of rhyme.
video of the day
Ugly, again, may be the thing: This is a book about ugliness. And ugliness in Moshfeg’s hands can become charming, even beautiful. that’s what happens in Eileen And my year of rest and relaxation, but in lapvonaUgly remains ugly; The path of beauty is blocked by what feels like unprocessed authorship rage, and by the kind of contempt that lingers right behind the characters and hits the reader instead, making us wonder why, well. , we are reading a novel that has so little interest in giving us anything to enjoy.
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Lapavona by Otesa Moshfegh
Lapavona by Otesa Moshfegh
Fiction: Lapavona by Otesa Moshfegh
Jonathan Cape, 304 pages, hardcover €19.50; E-Book £9.99
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