The Book Depository The Man in the Red Coat by Julian Barnes

Author: M. Dowden

Rating: 5

Review: Julian Barnes is hardly one of my favourite authors, and the reason why I read this was because this is the next book choice for our local reading group. I must say though, that this has proved to be the most enjoyable book that I have read by this author, perhaps because before I have only ever read some of his fiction. The starting point for this book was when Barnes saw the portrait of Dr Pozzi at Home by John Singer Sargent, and his then wanting to know more about the man in the portrait. This led to finding out about a trip that the doctor made to this country with a prince and a count and builds upon that. We are then taken back to the Belle Epoque and mainly Paris at the time, and the various characters that were alive then, which of course includes a number of people still well known today. This book will obviously not suit some as it is not simply a biography of Pozzi and his relationships and entanglements with others, as you can see there is a biography of a period here as well. Along with this there are more elements from essays, as the author ponders what we can never know, and how things that we do know can be clouded by different outlooks on life and morals, as well as what fashion dictates on many issues at different times. I enjoyed the way that Barnes at times changes subject matter as he expands on something he has mentioned only briefly, which means that this never gets boring and repetitive. With numerous paintings and photographs here, we also can see what is being mentioned, and what so many diverse people actually looked like. Dr Samuel Jean Pozzi then was hardly perfect, but then no one is, and we can see that he was quite a charming person and managed a number of conquests over the years, whilst being married, and then separated. As we are taken fully into this era, we can see that Pozzi along with certain others were far more cosmopolitan and eager to learn new things and practices, irrespective of where they came from, and in this way, he was to advance gynaecology throughout France, as well as pioneer hygiene and cleanliness in hospitals, and the use of antiseptics. This is never dull, and there is quite a bit of humour here, reminding us all that true life is stranger than fiction. As the author points out, some things you could only start to delve deeper with would be in fiction, but then with some of the incidents you would not believe that they really happened, unless you were fully aware beforehand. One thing that comes up here time and again is the cooperation and freedom of movement and ideas throughout nations on the international stage, and thus with our own relationship with France. As he questions at the end of this, are we going to lose such things because of a certain vote and a movement by some of the population towards a more isolationist position?

Author: Patrician

Rating: 3

Review: Barnes is undoubtedly one of our greatest writers, & accordingly his books cover a variety of topics & employ various narrative voices & formats. While I’ve read & enjoyed several I’ve found others difficult. I thought this one looked intriguing, informative & entertaining, & reading a ( long) sample on Kindle seemed to confirm this. But as I got deeper into the book I began to struggle. Mostly taking place during the era of La Belle Époque in France, the narrative is based around 3 wealthy Parisian characters who visit England, with a letter of introduction to Henry James. They come because they admire England’s culture & aesthetic sensibility (eg, The Pre - Raphaelites, William Morris), & to shop for clothes & fabrics in the English style. They are a disparate group, a prince, a count & a commoner - the latter a successful doctor/surgeon, Samuel Pozzi, the eponymous Man in the Red Coat. What links them - apart from wealth & status - is their shunning of modernism & of the parochial; they tend towards the effete, are cultured, sophisticated & dandified & move in bohemian circles. From here Barnes widens the narrative to introduce a large cast of often exotic characters, some whose reputations have survived to the present day, such as Oscar Wilde, Proust, & Sarah Bernhardt, others largely forgotten. The narrative voice is striking, combining erudition with an informal, even chatty style, as if he is addressing the reader personally in the manner of a friend. It is often witty & he even makes jokey asides to the reader - not always successfully. Coining the word Frenchly as an adverb to mean ‘in the French fashion’ was amusing the first time... I did find this style of writing confusing at times, where, for example his use of quotation marks suggests he is directly reporting the words of one of the characters, but then he seems to develop the idea minus quotation marks, and it’s not clear if this is still the character or Barnes as narrator. As you might expect with Barnes, a phenomenal amount of careful research has gone into the book, & this is a fascinating account of the mores of a particular social class during a particular era. Pozzi, for example is a superb, pioneering practitioner & does a a great deal of good, but routinely seduces his female patients; and such licentiousness seems to be the norm, along with gossip & scandal, quarrels & bitchiness & frequent, often fatal duels. I haven’t yet finished the book; the difficulty for me has been that the sheer volume & variety of information, no matter how interesting the individual units, becomes difficult to negotiate. I’m persevering because so far there has been much to enjoy & I’m sure it has more to offer. But I feel rather like a swimmer in a clear blue sea who finds themselves out of their depth, struggling through ever- increasing shoals of exotic creatures.