KEY POINTS:
This study of an ill-fated marriage is the fourth in Melvyn Bragg's semi- autobiographical series of novels recounting the story of his life from his humble beginnings towards his achievement of fame as Britain's foremost television arts presenter, crowned by his creation as Lord Bragg of Wigton.
By his own account, this is the most directly autobiographical and it is certainly the most intimate. While it does take the Cumbrian boy from university through the beginnings of his career in the media and as a writer and player in the world of the 60s art celebrities, its focus is an unsparing portrayal of his first marriage.
The young Bragg alter ego, Joe, falls in love with a slightly older and considerably more sophisticated Frenchwoman and rushes into wedlock, overcoming her reluctance with his headstrong passion. But Natasha, from a distinguished family, is psychologically troubled from childhood in a way which the less complex Joe is unable to identify or resolve. She, too, is an artist turning to painting, poetry and novel-writing but has austere standards and is never comfortable with what she sees as Joe's willingness to be seduced by media and fashion.
They have a daughter, to whom both are devoted and construct a family life of apparent contentment, but the gap grows inexorably, putting them both under emotional pressure.
Eventually Natasha goes into psycho-analysis and persuades Joe to undertake analysis too, a move which puts her into a state of catastrophic dependence on her therapist and which drives her husband to the point of a complete breakdown. When Joe begins a serious affair, the marriage goes beyond the point of no return and Natasha commits suicide.
Bragg constructs the book as Richardson's attempt many years later to examine this tragic period of his youthful life, mainly to explain himself to his daughter and to express his continuing sense of guilt, and it seems this is, in life, the mainspring of the novel for which Bragg sought the blessing of his own daughter.
The sincerity of it cannot be doubted but for long stretches the writing is plodding. Bragg rarely uses one word where many will do and many internal dialogues, of which there are a great number, loop repetitively in interminable sentences lacking impelling rhythm. The effect is self-indulgent rather than engaging.
Bragg is, by calling, an explainer and passages seeking to recapture the spirit of the times are frequently laboured and obvious. He retains, as in his previous books, an acute sense of place and of the impact of setting on people's lives.
The French episodes and the characteristics of different parts of London are particularly well observed. The closing passages - and some of the early material - overcome the failings of his style to become genuinely affecting as Natasha heads into the darkness.
As a tribute to his first wife, this is an understandable and perhaps laudable act of conscience.
As a novel, it falls short of achievement.
Remember Me
By Melvyn Bragg (Sceptre $38.99)
* John Gardner is an Auckland reviewer.
