12:37pm Friday 23rd July 2010
By Rebecca Cain
FANS of modern metafiction have generally to contend with the (allegedly) cool urban scenarios of London and New York.
In contrast Dave Kyle's Aaaargh!” ingeniously lures us into a comic-absurd world superficially, at least, familiar from the works of Wodehouse and Waugh: English eccentricity, weirdly-named characters, exotic foreign parts and bizarre turns of plot. Yet, beneath the spunky satire, deeper currents flow.
Simon Hamartian, Boadicea University's Egregius Professor of History, may seem an unlikely protagonist, but his very name recalls the flaw that, in classical tradition, ultimately destroys the tragic hero. Readers of “Aaaargh!” must summon the help of the Muses (Thalia and Clio are cited in the dedication) to follow the picaresque exploits of Hamartian, in the context of Britain's exit from Empire, and all the tumultuous change that this represents.
Hamartian's terminal expletive provides not only the book's title, but a fitting commentary on the destructive forces of the twentieth century. Anyone who has enjoyed the deranged campus scenarios of Barth and Bradbury, or revelled in the cosmic jokery of Vonnegut, will find themselves on familiar ground. Our age had seen the apparent solidities of space and time, of cause and effect, dissolve into a dew, leaving not a rack behind: “Aaaargh!” reminds us that it was ever so. The sages of Greece, not to mention Lawrence Sterne, were as perplexed as we are by the absurdity of existence.
Read “Aaaargh!” then, not just as a comic romp (though it is a very good one) but also an extended meditation on the nature of life, the universe and everything. Take your time and relish a long, winding journey. You will be richly rewarded.
By David and Mary Tester
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