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Cecily's Reviews > Nothing But the Night
Nothing But the Night
by
by
Night, not Day
�In all the endless road you tread / There’s nothing but the night.� - AE Housman
A young John Williams penned lush language to describe a single day in the life of another young man. He minutely observes everything, however trivial: two sentences to describe an envelope, and starting(!) to sit down. But it is profound and bewitching. The multi-sensory sights, sounds, textures, tastes, and smells of a dramatic day are poetic, sensuous, and sublime. (The sexual references are the least sensual.)
�Father, he thought. It is a word.�
Arthur is traumatised by an incident involving his father. A memory he strives to suppress. A man he tries to avoid. In contrast, his memories of his mother are fond, intimate, and intense.
Watery Dreams
Dreams are paradoxical: you have strange powers, but also no power. Such is the opening. Such is Arthur’s life:
�The tool of a dark prankster, a grim little joker who creates worlds within world, lives within life, brains within brain.�
Arthur feels he is the victim of external forces, exacerbated by his drifting in and out of consciousness - sleep, daydreams, and drunken haze:
�With mind and memory he could go back in time� into a dream which was more actual than the unreality of his present existence.�
It’s dripping with watery metaphors.
�His pain flooded like a drowning wave.�
He goes with the flow one minute:
�A bit of flotsam tossed and carried along between narrow banks.�
But resists it another:
�Time rushed about him and he was dull and silent, an immovable rock in a rushing stream.�
Remembering to Forget
The delicate heart of the story is an unspecified, but terrible, incident that Arthur tries to forget, as he was advised to do. Awake or dreaming, he tiptoes around the edge of memories of the event itself, like picking a scab, but not daring to pull it off and expose the wound. It is “obscured by the habitual force of conscious will�.
There is no escape:
�Remembrance� followed him as a ravenous animal follows its wounded prey�
There is another sort of repression: clumsy and pejorative hints about the probable homosexuality of at least one character, but that is never fully explored.
Power and Powerlessness
Cartoon: �Don’t kid yourself. Free will is an illusion�, one Bizarro puppet tells another.
The dreaminess and conscious forgetting compound Arthur’s sense of being controlled: by events, by his father, and of course, his memories.
He projects that back to his whole life, and onto others:
�People� oozed onto the dance floor� like so many dumb puppets manipulated by unseen hands.�
There’s even a mesmerising showgirl called Volita, who dances more like a puppet possessed, than of her own volition.
Such a view can absolve one of guilt for anything and everything, but the price is to accept and entrench one’s powerlessness. Who wants to be a victim or a toy? Isn’t it better to face the truth and be free - to feel, even if it’s painful?
Falling Apart
�The thing which had been nameless could now be spoken� He remembered.�
Confronting our demons is meant to be good. But when the unexpected brutality that caused Arthur’s likely PTSD is finally revealed (emotional as much as physical), the exquisite writing slips away. The delicately decorative words are suddenly mixed with clichés and awkward metaphors:
� “Drawn forward by a sanguine magnet of terror.�
� “His arms were a resilient vice.�
� “There was a swollen river in him�, so the dam wouldn’t hold.
Maybe Williams lost the momentum to polish the final rough stones, and that is why he later disowned it.
Maybe it was a deliberate reflection of the arc of Arthur’s life.
Other Quotes
� “Morning rays of sunlight poked inquisitive fingers through the half-opened shutters� and touched his face softly, warmly, impersonally.�
� “Last night’s cheap perfume, so strong that the sickening odor of morning food and the kitchen smell could not obscure it.�
� “The drapes had been drawn aside to disclose the vapid stare of the windows. They leered down at him.�
� “The stern implacability of the [college] buildings� a holocaust of faces which had no names.�
� “The rain as it descended in light, wet thongs, inexorably graying and immobilizing the city which huddled patiently beneath its gentle lash.�
� “There’s nothing worse than being alone when you aren’t strong enough to face your own thoughts� You’ve got to make yourself believe you’re not alone, even if you are.�
� “He breathed deeply, shuddering of the corrupt air.� (Yes, “of�.)
� “He who is alone in a desert is always aware of his own significance� But one who is solitary in the midst of a teeming swarm loses awareness of himself as an individual.�
� “He� waited for the evening to reveal itself to him, sentence by sentence, like an unread book.�
� “Remembering with sudden certainty the loveliness of unimportant, unostentatious little things. The green velvet feel of damp grass beneath his feet; the soughing of the wind through the maple trees; a night-bird’s lonely call.�
� “Moonlight slithered through the open lattices� and later it “sifted�.
� “A sickly cloud of almost tangible sordidity.� (In a nightclub.)
� “Her warm moist breath crept daintily on his skin�
Williams� Oeuvre
Three Novels
John Williams (not the of Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters, Superman, ET, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Harry Potter, and others) published three novels between 1960 and 1972 (the era of the Cold War, of the Cuba crisis, the Vietnam War, the Black Panther movement). The last of them, Augustus (review HERE), winning the National Book Award.
But his works gradually gathered dust on forgotten shelves until Stoner (nothing to do with dope - see my review HERE) was reissued in 2003 by Vintage and then by New York Review Books Classics in 2006. Its popularity slowly swelled, bringing Augustus and Butcher’s Crossing (review HERE) in its wake. Momentum built on GoodReads, too.
� Stoner currently (10 July 2018) has 66,679 ratings, averaging 4.29*, with 8,138 reviews.
� Butcher’s Crossing has 8,997 ratings, averaging 4.11*, with 940 reviews.
� Augustus has 6,259 ratings, averaging 4.19*, with 677 reviews.
The Fourth Novel - First and Last
But this, his first novel from 1948, was left behind. He wrote it when he was only 22, while he was in Burma during the war, recovering from plane crash. It has only 519 ratings, averaging a mere 3.11*, with 66 reviews. But maybe that will change, now it's been reissued (February 2019) by New York Review Books Classics.
Having loved the other three, and knowing Williams had disowned this youthful (aged 26) work, I was wary of reading it. But I succumbed, and am glad I did, even though it could not and did not reach the brilliance of its successors.
Four Novels, Compared
All four are more about character than plot, and start with a young man breaking away from his roots, trying to find himself, and forge his life.
But whereas Stoner and Augusts chart a lifetime, and involve complicated relationships with wives and daughters, Butcher’s Crossing is a few months, and this a mere 24 hours.
Butcher's Crossing has something of the detail of tiny sensation that are so noticeable here.
The relationships between men are generally complex, and often problematic; women are significant, but have softer power.
Augustus is startlingly different in form, being epistolary and historical.
All have a degree of bleakness, but the better known trio have plenty of hope and beauty for balance.
See this interview with Nancy Gardner Williams: .
Other Influences?
The novel-of-a-single-day, with incredible attention to detail, reminded me of Nicholson Baker’s 1988 novel, The Mezzanine (see my review, HERE). And for a few chapters, the telephone assumed huge significance. Not in a sexual way, but it again brought Baker to mind, for Vox (see my review HERE). I doubt there’s a connection, but if so, Williams was first.
The strongest theme, of suppressing what one doesn’t want to know or remember, has many parallels with Ford Madox Ford’s 1915 novel, The Good Soldier (see my review, HERE). However, the protagonists of the two books are trying to ignore very different things.
Kafka is also relevant. Like Arthur, he sometimes felt parasitic and controlled, and he had a very fraught relationship with his father, albeit for different reasons. Kafka wrote his grievances in Letter to His Father, whereas Arthur receives a life-changing letter from his father.
Read This Because�
This is a good book, but not a great one. If I hadn't known the author and adored his later works, I think it would have been only 3*. Its importance lies in seeing the early work of a superb writer. I strongly suggest you read those greats first. Then you can more easily spot the gems in the shingle. And they are many.
In a similar way, Arnold Bennett's first novel(la), A Man from the North, is really only worth reading for seeing the seeds of the author he would become. See my review, HERE.
�In all the endless road you tread / There’s nothing but the night.� - AE Housman
A young John Williams penned lush language to describe a single day in the life of another young man. He minutely observes everything, however trivial: two sentences to describe an envelope, and starting(!) to sit down. But it is profound and bewitching. The multi-sensory sights, sounds, textures, tastes, and smells of a dramatic day are poetic, sensuous, and sublime. (The sexual references are the least sensual.)
�Father, he thought. It is a word.�
Arthur is traumatised by an incident involving his father. A memory he strives to suppress. A man he tries to avoid. In contrast, his memories of his mother are fond, intimate, and intense.
Watery Dreams
Dreams are paradoxical: you have strange powers, but also no power. Such is the opening. Such is Arthur’s life:
�The tool of a dark prankster, a grim little joker who creates worlds within world, lives within life, brains within brain.�
Arthur feels he is the victim of external forces, exacerbated by his drifting in and out of consciousness - sleep, daydreams, and drunken haze:
�With mind and memory he could go back in time� into a dream which was more actual than the unreality of his present existence.�
It’s dripping with watery metaphors.
�His pain flooded like a drowning wave.�
He goes with the flow one minute:
�A bit of flotsam tossed and carried along between narrow banks.�
But resists it another:
�Time rushed about him and he was dull and silent, an immovable rock in a rushing stream.�
Remembering to Forget
The delicate heart of the story is an unspecified, but terrible, incident that Arthur tries to forget, as he was advised to do. Awake or dreaming, he tiptoes around the edge of memories of the event itself, like picking a scab, but not daring to pull it off and expose the wound. It is “obscured by the habitual force of conscious will�.
There is no escape:
�Remembrance� followed him as a ravenous animal follows its wounded prey�
There is another sort of repression: clumsy and pejorative hints about the probable homosexuality of at least one character, but that is never fully explored.
Power and Powerlessness
Cartoon: �Don’t kid yourself. Free will is an illusion�, one Bizarro puppet tells another.
The dreaminess and conscious forgetting compound Arthur’s sense of being controlled: by events, by his father, and of course, his memories.
He projects that back to his whole life, and onto others:
�People� oozed onto the dance floor� like so many dumb puppets manipulated by unseen hands.�
There’s even a mesmerising showgirl called Volita, who dances more like a puppet possessed, than of her own volition.
Such a view can absolve one of guilt for anything and everything, but the price is to accept and entrench one’s powerlessness. Who wants to be a victim or a toy? Isn’t it better to face the truth and be free - to feel, even if it’s painful?
Falling Apart
�The thing which had been nameless could now be spoken� He remembered.�
Confronting our demons is meant to be good. But when the unexpected brutality that caused Arthur’s likely PTSD is finally revealed (emotional as much as physical), the exquisite writing slips away. The delicately decorative words are suddenly mixed with clichés and awkward metaphors:
� “Drawn forward by a sanguine magnet of terror.�
� “His arms were a resilient vice.�
� “There was a swollen river in him�, so the dam wouldn’t hold.
Maybe Williams lost the momentum to polish the final rough stones, and that is why he later disowned it.
Maybe it was a deliberate reflection of the arc of Arthur’s life.
Other Quotes
� “Morning rays of sunlight poked inquisitive fingers through the half-opened shutters� and touched his face softly, warmly, impersonally.�
� “Last night’s cheap perfume, so strong that the sickening odor of morning food and the kitchen smell could not obscure it.�
� “The drapes had been drawn aside to disclose the vapid stare of the windows. They leered down at him.�
� “The stern implacability of the [college] buildings� a holocaust of faces which had no names.�
� “The rain as it descended in light, wet thongs, inexorably graying and immobilizing the city which huddled patiently beneath its gentle lash.�
� “There’s nothing worse than being alone when you aren’t strong enough to face your own thoughts� You’ve got to make yourself believe you’re not alone, even if you are.�
� “He breathed deeply, shuddering of the corrupt air.� (Yes, “of�.)
� “He who is alone in a desert is always aware of his own significance� But one who is solitary in the midst of a teeming swarm loses awareness of himself as an individual.�
� “He� waited for the evening to reveal itself to him, sentence by sentence, like an unread book.�
� “Remembering with sudden certainty the loveliness of unimportant, unostentatious little things. The green velvet feel of damp grass beneath his feet; the soughing of the wind through the maple trees; a night-bird’s lonely call.�
� “Moonlight slithered through the open lattices� and later it “sifted�.
� “A sickly cloud of almost tangible sordidity.� (In a nightclub.)
� “Her warm moist breath crept daintily on his skin�
Williams� Oeuvre
Three Novels
John Williams (not the of Star Wars, Jaws, Close Encounters, Superman, ET, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Harry Potter, and others) published three novels between 1960 and 1972 (the era of the Cold War, of the Cuba crisis, the Vietnam War, the Black Panther movement). The last of them, Augustus (review HERE), winning the National Book Award.
But his works gradually gathered dust on forgotten shelves until Stoner (nothing to do with dope - see my review HERE) was reissued in 2003 by Vintage and then by New York Review Books Classics in 2006. Its popularity slowly swelled, bringing Augustus and Butcher’s Crossing (review HERE) in its wake. Momentum built on GoodReads, too.
� Stoner currently (10 July 2018) has 66,679 ratings, averaging 4.29*, with 8,138 reviews.
� Butcher’s Crossing has 8,997 ratings, averaging 4.11*, with 940 reviews.
� Augustus has 6,259 ratings, averaging 4.19*, with 677 reviews.
The Fourth Novel - First and Last
But this, his first novel from 1948, was left behind. He wrote it when he was only 22, while he was in Burma during the war, recovering from plane crash. It has only 519 ratings, averaging a mere 3.11*, with 66 reviews. But maybe that will change, now it's been reissued (February 2019) by New York Review Books Classics.
Having loved the other three, and knowing Williams had disowned this youthful (aged 26) work, I was wary of reading it. But I succumbed, and am glad I did, even though it could not and did not reach the brilliance of its successors.
Four Novels, Compared
All four are more about character than plot, and start with a young man breaking away from his roots, trying to find himself, and forge his life.
But whereas Stoner and Augusts chart a lifetime, and involve complicated relationships with wives and daughters, Butcher’s Crossing is a few months, and this a mere 24 hours.
Butcher's Crossing has something of the detail of tiny sensation that are so noticeable here.
The relationships between men are generally complex, and often problematic; women are significant, but have softer power.
Augustus is startlingly different in form, being epistolary and historical.
All have a degree of bleakness, but the better known trio have plenty of hope and beauty for balance.
See this interview with Nancy Gardner Williams: .
Other Influences?
The novel-of-a-single-day, with incredible attention to detail, reminded me of Nicholson Baker’s 1988 novel, The Mezzanine (see my review, HERE). And for a few chapters, the telephone assumed huge significance. Not in a sexual way, but it again brought Baker to mind, for Vox (see my review HERE). I doubt there’s a connection, but if so, Williams was first.
The strongest theme, of suppressing what one doesn’t want to know or remember, has many parallels with Ford Madox Ford’s 1915 novel, The Good Soldier (see my review, HERE). However, the protagonists of the two books are trying to ignore very different things.
Kafka is also relevant. Like Arthur, he sometimes felt parasitic and controlled, and he had a very fraught relationship with his father, albeit for different reasons. Kafka wrote his grievances in Letter to His Father, whereas Arthur receives a life-changing letter from his father.
Read This Because�
This is a good book, but not a great one. If I hadn't known the author and adored his later works, I think it would have been only 3*. Its importance lies in seeing the early work of a superb writer. I strongly suggest you read those greats first. Then you can more easily spot the gems in the shingle. And they are many.
In a similar way, Arnold Bennett's first novel(la), A Man from the North, is really only worth reading for seeing the seeds of the author he would become. See my review, HERE.
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Reading Progress
October 6, 2015
– Shelved
October 6, 2015
– Shelved as:
to-read
June 18, 2018
–
Started Reading
June 20, 2018
–
42.28%
"Lush language, minutely observing the multi-sensual experiences of a single day in the life of a young man. He’s traumatised by an incident with his father, a memory he tries to suppress. It’s more reminiscent of Nicholson Baker’s Mezzanine and Ford Maddox Ford’s The Good soldier than John William’s own Stoner, Augustus, and Butcher’s Crossing."
page
52
June 25, 2018
–
100.0%
"A surprisingly brutal ending, emotionally as much as anything else. And towards the end, some of the metaphors were a little odd or clichéd. Still, a really good book, but not up to the level of his better known trio."
page
123
July 12, 2018
– Shelved as:
solitary-protagonist
July 12, 2018
–
Finished Reading
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Lynne
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rated it 4 stars
Jun 24, 2018 05:41AM
Cecily, I'm thrilled that you are reading William's first novel (which he disowned). Yes, you're quite right about it being reminiscent of The Good Soldier. Still this was William's first novel and the groundwork was being established for his later work.
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Lynne wrote: "Cecily, I'm thrilled that you are reading William's first novel (which he disowned). Yes, you're quite right about it being reminiscent of The Good Soldier. Still this was William's first novel..."I've nearly finished. It's certainly not obviously by him, but I don't yet understand why he disowned it. Maybe the ending will be awful, but I hope not.
Yes I agree with you Cecily but he was developing and look at the three wonderful and yet so different books. Betsy encapsulâtes this in her review.
Lynne wrote: "Yes I agree with you Cecily but he was developing and look at the three wonderful and yet so different books. Betsy encapsulâtes this in her review."Good to know. When I've had enough uninterrupted time to write a review of this, I'll then turn to the reviews of others, including Betsy.
This may not have been a great book, Cecily, but your review is 'way beyond 'great'! Excellent++
An excellent review Cecily. I'm really glad that I read this "disowned" work after Williams' three later books. But then at that stage I just wanted to devour all of his works. I had been the same with Lawrence Durrell and had eagerly read one of his earlier books the "Black Book" which in no way was comparable with the "Alexandria Quartet" but gave an inkling of his later magnificent books, be it novels, poetry, humour, travel...'It was quite interesting to see the number of Wlliams' reviews and good to see the reissuance of Stoner in 2003 bringing into life this "buried" book.
Marita wrote: "Cecily, thanks for your comprehensive review. I appreciate the additional overview of John Williams's works."Thanks, Marita. I was glad of the opportunity to compare his books, and his first and shortest seemed as good a place as any.
Jaline wrote: "This may not have been a great book, Cecily, but your review is 'way beyond 'great'! Excellent++"You're very kind. As I said, it's worth reading (more 3.5 than 4*), but more in the light of his others.
Lynne wrote: "An excellent review Cecily. I'm really glad that I read this "disowned" work after Williams' three later books...."Yes, I think one should only read this after his others, though I hope it would stand up reasonably well in its own right.
Lynne wrote: "It was quite interesting to see the number of Wlliams" reviews and good to see the reissuance of Stoner in 2003 bringing into life this "buried" book."
Thanks. (I included the date as I have no intention of updating the numbers!)
Appears to be far too restless and vague for my taste, Cecily. I'm guessing your in-depth appraisal is far better than the book itself!
Love the links in your mind to other books. I feel we all must accommodate any new read into such networks based on various dimensions and themes of books. I admire your instinct to pursue "minor" works by favored authors, to see how they emerged in their brilliance if nothing else.
Kevin wrote: "Appears to be far too restless and vague for my taste, Cecily. I'm guessing your in-depth appraisal is far better than the book itself!"No, not really your thing, Kevin. Really, one for existing fans of his better-known works. Thanks for your kind words.
Michael wrote: "Love the links in your mind to other books. I feel we all must accommodate any new read into such networks based on various dimensions and themes of books. I admire your instinct to pursue "minor" works by favored authors, to see how they emerged in their brilliance if nothing else."Thank you, Michael. It's an approach that is largely due to GR and my friends here. I would probably never have read Stoner without GR, and the passion that roused in me and others led me to more.
T'riffic review as always, Mrs!Though I've had enough of dripping watery metaphors to last me a while. I just let them flow right through me until I finally cave in and feel able to appreciate them again.
This John "Not The ET Composer" Williams bloke seems to have done a lot of good work though. I'm glad you rescued them from the subterranean forgotten shelves, diving through the muddy water of lesser books and bringing them to light.
Apatt wrote: "T'riffic review as always, Mrs!.."Thanks, my friend.
Apatt wrote: "This John "Not The ET Composer" Williams bloke seems to have done a lot of good work though. I'm glad you rescued them.."
Thanks again, though I can't really claim any credit. It was others that first brought him to my attention. But I'm pleased to play a part in pushing the wave* further and forward.
* Sorry, not sorry, for additional watery metaphor.
What a wonderful review..."... is finally revealed (emotional as much as physical), the exquisite writing slips away."
I’ve seen this in some books before, wherein authors struggle with something hidden or broken within themselves, and once revealed, the power of their struggle is lost.
It's hard to decide whether to be happy for them, or sad.
William wrote: "...I’ve seen this in some books before, wherein authors struggle with something hidden or broken within themselves, and once revealed, the power of their struggle is lost...."Yes! That's it. Thank you, William.
A splendid and illuminating review, Cecily, as always. I love the comparison you made to Stoner’s more mature works. I’ll like to read this early novel and spot the emerging gems in his craft.
Laysee wrote: "A splendid and illuminating review, Cecily, as always. I love the comparison you made to Stoner’s more mature works. I’ll like to read this early novel and spot the emerging gems in his craft."Thank you, Laysee. I'm confident you'll enjoy spotting the gems, and that your love of his later works (and your innate generosity) will mean you're forgiving of its weaknesses.
Thank you for those well-selected quotations, Cecily.
HBalikov wrote: "Thank you for those well-selected quotations, Cecily."You're welcome.
Beautifully written review � thanks for introducing me to a fascinating author �
Abyssdancer wrote: "Beautifully written review � thanks for introducing me to a fascinating author �"Thanks, but although the author is certainly fascinating and brilliant, I strongly suggest you start with any of his three "proper" novels, rather than this one.
Cecily, I have yet to read Butcher's Crossing but I will get to this book as well later on. Thanks for your review, as always so complete! I have heard that the revival of John Williams's fame is largely due to a translation into French of Stoner by an author Anna Gavalda. Some novels are so ahead of their time that readers need decades to catch up.
Vlad wrote: "Cecily, I have yet to read Butcher's Crossing but I will get to this book as well later on. Thanks for your review, as always so complete!..."I think you'll find Butcher's Crossing equal, or near equal to, Stoner and Augustus.
Vlad wrote: "... I have heard that the revival of John Williams's fame is largely due to a translation into French of Stoner by an author Anna Gavalda. Some novels are so ahead of their time that readers need decades to catch up."
I didn't know that! I'd heard it was "rediscovered" by either the New Yorker or NYRB, but you're right: they picked it up only because it was gaining fans in Europe! Thanks, Vlad.
An amazing review, Cecily. Some beautiful and thought provoking quotes included. I've never read Williams. I do have Stoner in my library. I must elevate it now.
Lynda wrote: "An amazing review, Cecily. Some beautiful and thought provoking quotes included. I've never read Williams. I do have Stoner in my library. I must elevate it now."Thanks, Lynda. Stoner is a good place to start, and it's where many Williams fans did.
A formidable review not just of Nothing But the Night but of John Williams authorial output, with a focus on his earliest & least reviewed novel, with interesting quotes & comments, making a compelling case for this novel. Bill
Quo wrote: "A formidable review not just of Nothing But the Night but of John Williams authorial output, with a focus on his earliest & least reviewed novel, with interesting quotes & comment..."Thank you, Quo. It's instructive to see how a very ordinary novel can be the starting point for a great one.
More interesting is that his more accomplished novels were never much celebrated during John Williams' lifetime & have been rediscovered/republished only rather recently.
When I researched Williams, I thought I read that he disowned this book.
Michael wrote: "When I researched Williams, I thought I read that he disowned this book."He did. (My review mentions it in a couple of places.)
Quo wrote: "More interesting is that his more accomplished novels were never much celebrated during John Williams' lifetime & have been rediscovered/republished only rather recently."The sad fate of many artists, whether writers, painters, sculptors, or composers.
Amazing and elaborate review Cecily. The unexpected success of Stoner years after it was first published makes me think how many writers and great novels never get discovered and go into oblivion. And some very popular novels are not extraordinary at all. The novel's success seems to be a peculiar game of luck and talent.
Lea wrote: "Amazing and elaborate review Cecily. The unexpected success of Stoner years after it was first published makes me think how many writers and great novels never get discovered and go into oblivion. ..."That's a very good point. How sad to think what we may be missing. Perhaps trawling second-hand and library listings and picking unfamiliar titles might lead to a forgotten gem. Thanks, Lea.
Excellent review. I was a bit hesitant about reading his first book. I will definitely give it a try now.
Pinaki wrote: "Excellent review. I was a bit hesitant about reading his first book. I will definitely give it a try now."I think you're right to be hesitant. It's not a great novel, but it's worth reading when you've read his big three.
