The Story of the Night
 Paperback edition book cover | |
| Author | Colm Tóibín |
|---|---|
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Picador |
Publication date | 27 September 1996 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 312 pp |
| ISBN | 0-330-34017-4 (hardback edition) & ISBN 0-330-34018-2 (paperback edition) |
| OCLC | 36712956 |
| 823/.914 21 | |
| LC Class | PR6070.O455 S76 1996 |
The Story of the Night is a novel by Irish novelist Colm Tóibín. The novel interweaves the personal story of Richard Garay, a gay Argentinian man with an English mother, and the political history of Argentina through the late 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s.
Told entirely in the first person, the novel presents a wholly convincing picture of a character who could almost be described as an anti-hero, and who distills not just the Argentinian but the global late 20th century mix of sexual and economic "freedoms" in a single life: a "story of the night" lights otherwise shadowy places.
The publisher blurb, with its emphasis on only the first part of the novel, and in particular, the Falklands War, is misleading, but may have been crafted to attract buyers unlikely otherwise to be interested in the book.
Plot
The novel is split into three. Part one provides backstory and insight into Garay's upbringing, the circumstances of his parents' marriage, and he and his mother's impoverishment after his father's death. Garay conceals from, but eventually reveals his sexuality to, his mother, the revelation in part a by-product of his friendship with his English language student Jorge Canetto, the (straight) son of a wealthy family. In the company of Jorge, Garay pays a three week visit to Barcelona (a friend of Jorge's had pulled out at the last minute). In Barcelona the two meet up with young Chilean refugees from the Pinochet regime; one of the recurring themes of the book is the way that "ordinary" people do - or do not - become aware of the sufferings of others in police states, including their own. Back in Buenos Aires, the Falklands War features, seen entirely through Argentinian eyes, including Garay's, whose response is patriotic; and who also welcomes, and will then be able to take advantage of, the new political climate ushered in by the collapse of the military regime.
Part two opens with Garay's introduction to Donald and Susan Ford, an attractive and congenial young North American couple, both working, it can be inferred, for US intelligence. They befriend the bilingual Garay and offer him work aimed in effect at facilitating Argentina's integration into the US-led global economic order: Garay's first clients are IMF officials, and many others are from the oil industry. Garay's life takes on a sheen and ease formerly absent and this trajectory is paralleled by his growing sexual confidence, which takes a particular turn when he embarks on an affair with Jorge's younger brother Pablo, recently returned from the US.
Part three is shaped around the relationship with Pablo. Garay sublets an upscale marina house from a US diplomat and invites Pablo to share it with him, which the latter agrees to do, while keeping the relationship secret from his parents and Jorge (who is himself having an affair with Susan). Garay continues his lucrative way of life, while Pablo works for his family's business. They enjoy domesticity, holiday in Montevideo, welcome friends of Pablo's from the US, but the relationship then founders under stresses which play out through the final pages of the book.
Characters
- Richard Garay – an initially closeted young gay man living in Buenos Aires who first finds work as an English teacher. His friendship with the Canetto family (see below) provides a pathway to a more remunerative and exciting life as a go-between for American interests in Argentina after the fall of the military regime. The novel is seen entirely through Richard's eyes and thoughts and is a compelling portrait of an individual who struggles with intimacy and, perhaps as a result, is susceptible to venal and calculating approaches by other individuals.
- Richard's father – An Argentinian who died when Richard was young. His family, the Garays, owned a small shipping business, which was slowly declining, and he was the third son. Richard recalls that his father paid little attention to him, but how special it felt when he did.
- Richard's mother – An English woman whose father brought her and her sister to Argentina after his wife died, in the 1920s. In the aftermath of Richard's own father's premature death, and their consequential impoverishment, Richard and his mother have a close but not intimate relationship. She takes refuge in a cultivated and intense Englishness, while Richard himself, fully identified with Argentina, disappoints her career-wise and conceals his homosexuality until shortly before her death.
- Jorge Canetto – The Argentinian son of a potential Presidential candidate – Señor Canetto. Richard meets Jorge at university. Richard tutors him in English and they become friends. Richard claims to have fallen in love with Jorge but it proves to be more lust than love. They travel together to Barcelona where they meet a group of young Chilean refugees. When they return to Argentina Richard becomes more closely acquainted with the Canetto family; Jorge remains a minor figure through the rest of the novel, his sexual activity being a counterpoint to Garay's own.
- Pablo Canetto – The second son of the potential Presidential candidate. Richard’s first real love; the relationship dominates the third part of the book.
- Susan & Donald Ford – Two Americans who dominate the middle section of the book. They enlist Richard's help as a translator and aide, mainly to ensure a peaceful and smooth Argentine transition to a new political order, with an economy adhering to the norms of international business and open to foreign investment.
- The Chileans – Refugees who live in Barcelona. Richard and Jorge meet them in the communal room of the pensión in which they are staying.
Themes
Tóibín's work regularly explores the themes of living abroad, creativity and personal identity, focusing especially on homosexual identity, and on identity when confronted with loss.
In The Story of the Night the following themes are prominent
Identity Garay's identity is complex and layered. His homosexuality is for the most part hidden; he has mixed origins (an English mother); his class status is fragile (he and his mother are middle class but impoverished); he is affected, like all Argentinians, by the atmosphere of fear marking the years of military dictatorship; the neoliberal turn in Argentina provides him with the opportunity to adopt new identities but they come across as just that - adopted.
Masculinity Richard describes how in his youth he flirted with cross-dressing and a female persona. As an adult he is attracted to masculine men. He enjoys working with the American businessmen and ‘mimicking their masculinity’ as it gives him a sense of control. With his lover Pablo however, he finds himself able to be gentle and protective and to elicit the same responses from Pablo.
Argentina and England Richard's mother's preoccupation with Englishness is a mirror of her failure to flourish in Argentina, particularly once her Argentinian husband has died leaving her reliant on the limited charity of in-laws and the local Anglican church, in particular its vicar. Mother and son live together in a shabby apartment, but Richard distances himself from his mother's outlook. This may be in part because of his concealed homosexuality, which she only becomes aware of shortly before she dies. The Falkland War follows soon after. Richard's responds as a patriotic Argentinian, even though his acquaintances at times are concerned for him, given his part-English origins. Richard's bilingualism opens the way to many opportunities but they draw him into the orbit of the United States, not England, about which he exhibits neither interest nor a desire to visit.
Moral choices In an important discussion, the Chilean refugees acquaint Richard with their experiences when the Allende government was overthrown. In particular Raul's torture at the hands of the incoming Pinochet regime is detailed. Richard realizes he has always averted his gaze from evidence of police and official brutality in then military-ruled Argentina, the era of the Dirty War. At other points of the book two instances are detailed. The first occurs when Richard is having sex against a backdrop of noise from car engines revving and then being told by his pickup that the cars were powering cattle prods used to torture suspects at the police station opposite: "I still do not know if what he said was true . . . I did not pay much attention [then], I remember the pleasure of standing at the window with him, my hands running down his back, more than anything else." (p.8). Years later an acquaintance from his university days, Francisco, challenges Richard over his seeming indifference to the disappearance and likely death of one of their fellow students at the hands of the authorities - Richard claimed ignorance (pp 118-20). Later again, Susan Ford confesses to Richard that she was working for US intelligence in Santiago at the time of the overthrow of Allende (albeit in a subordinate role). Only years on did she fully realize her complicity in what happened at that time (pp 157-58). The theme is never fully worked out - that is, Richard does not become more morally aware in the course of the novel, unless his loyalty to Pablo could be so construed. The theme seems to be used to signal how morally numbed an individual can become living in a police state, or perhaps in almost any circumstances.
Neoliberalism The two Americans, Susan and Donald Ford, are exemplary of the US wish to incorporate post-military Argentina into the US-led liberal world order. This includes shoring up a democratic political system but one which would not allow the return of Peronism, Argentina's mid-century experiment in radical (but more or less democratic) economic nationalism, to which the US had always been hostile. Lacking any strong political attachment Richard goes along with this, in part because he is made to see (a telling episode comes when he assists some visiting IMF officials: "did I know, they asked me that the train system of Buenos Aires lost five time its annual revenue?", p 115) that the existing political economy of Argentina was deeply corrupt. On another occasion he himself becomes complicit in a corrupt transaction. Rueful after the event, he is told some time later by Federico, his accomplice, that "things were different now . . . every move you make is watched, everything is countersigned" (p 245). At one point during the lobbying over the privatization of the country's oil industry, Richard becomes convinced that the privatization would be bad for Argentina (p 260), but the insight is not further developed nor does it lead to any change of course on Richard's part.
Sexual freedom and AIDS The novel was published in 1996, at a time when new drugs, in particular AZT and protease inhibitors, were holding out the possibility of living rather than dying with HIV/AIDS. The novel captures a time - from the mid 1980s to the mid-1990s - when AIDS was not only deadly and fearsome but played havoc with many for whom neither their sexuality, nor the cause or character of their ill-health, could be disclosed to their families. No explicit parallel is drawn between this phase of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the advent of economic liberalism in Argentina - the novel eschews such heavy-handedness.
Style and Genre
Tóibín writes in a direct and unembellished language. He’s a master of using this apparent simplicity to convey powerful atmospheres that remain with the reader long after the experience of reading the novel is finished. Reading his work a second time is strongly recommended, as there are layers of nuance to be discovered and explored (Sette, Jorge).
The tone is cool and discreet; Tóibín's fondness for understatement when describing emotional turbulence is admirable and quite effective.
The genre is ambiguous as the novel can fit into a plethora of categories not limited to and including: a political novel, gay romance, historical fiction, a thriller, a mystery, etc.
Tóibín seems to be fascinated with the ways that suppressed feelings can shape and deform character, and the often destructive and always disruptive manner in which long repressed emotions can emerge (Kirkus Reviews).
About the Author
Colm Tóibín (Irish pronunciation: [ˈkɔl̪ˠəmˠ t̪ˠoːˈbʲiːnʲ]; born 30 May 1955 – age 62) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, journalist, critic and poet.
Tóibín is openly gay. In 2015, ahead of the Marriage Equality referendum, Tóibín delivered a talk titled "The Embrace of Love: Being Gay in Ireland Now" in Trinity Hall, featuring Roger Casement's diaries, the work of Oscar Wilde, John Broderick.
Politically, he refrains from watching television, admitting to having experienced confusion between the politicians Ed Miliband and Ed Balls.
As a young man, Tóibín spent time in Barcelona, and his first novel, 1990’s The South, was partly inspired by his time in Barcelona, as was, more directly, his non-fiction Homage to Barcelona (1990). The South was followed by The Heather Blazing (1992), then The Story of the Night (1996).
Tóibín is currently an Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester. He was appointed Chancellor of Liverpool University in 2017. Hailed as a champion of minorities as he collected the 2011 Irish PEN Award, that same year The Observer named him one of Britain's Top 300 Intellectuals despite being Irish.
Origins
The novel was inspired by Tóibín's experiences of visiting Argentina as a young man and attending the trial of Leonardo Galtieri, the general and leader of the Argentinian military junta that lost power after the defeat in the Falklands War.
Reception
"A brave and remarkable novel, the impact of which no reader will shed" Dermot Bolger, Sunday Independent
"The Story of the Night is a love story of the most serious and difficult kind. Tóibín has told it with profound artistry and truth" Tobias Wolff
"Nobody before Tóibín has made such honesty stand so clearly for political and personal integrity…In each of his first three novels he has invented a strong central character but Garay is by far his most memorable" Edmund White, Sunday Times
"He writes sentences of classical elegance with staccato insistence… Tóibín is not a writer who lets reders go once he has them in his grasp. There is always, you feel, the potential for surprise, that silences will be exploded, that a revelation is coming" Alan Taylor, Scotsman
However, some reviewers have also argued that Tóibín's political views often overshadow the more personal themes in his works, citing Homage to Barcelona and The Story of the Night as examples (eNotes).
Awards and nominations
It won the Ferro-Grumley Award for the "Best Gay Novel of 1997".
Bibliography
- “Colm Tóibín Critical Essays.” Enotes.com, Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/topics/colm-toibin.
- “In Depth.” BBC News, BBC, news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/spl/hi/guides/457000/457033/html/.
- Tóibín, Colm, and Colm Toibin. “THE STORY OF THE NIGHT” Kirkus Reviews, www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/colm-toibin/the-story-of-the-night/.
- Sette, Jorge. “Review: Colm Tóibín's The Story of the Night.” Bookwitty, Bookwitty, 30 Nov. 2016, www.bookwitty.com/text/review-colm-toibins-the-story-of-the-night/5835d88250cef76fe7def833.
- “Fiction Book Review: The Story of the Night by Colm Toibin, Author Henry Holt & Company $23 (312p) ISBN 978-0-8050-5211-4.” PublishersWeekly.com, www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8050-5211-4.