{"id":1695,"date":"2012-10-10T07:37:13","date_gmt":"2012-10-10T06:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1320"},"modified":"2016-02-05T19:51:45","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T18:51:45","slug":"review-of-david-constantine-pawel-huelle-by-nathaniel-ogle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1695","title":{"rendered":"David Constantine and Pawel Huelle, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Nathaniel Ogle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Homes Away From Home<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

at Manchester Literature Festival Event: <\/em>David Constantine & Pawel Huelle, 8th<\/sup> October, 6:00pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

To the mild stupefaction of the staff in the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, I arrive to this\u2014the second event of the first day of the Manchester Literature Festival, and, incidentally, the first event of this kind I\u2019ve attended\u2014forty-five minutes early. Admittedly, I\u2019m a little tense, and the milieu doesn\u2019t particularly help: the empty-chaired room I inch into is silent but for what I imagine tempered Balkan folk music to be, of which waltzes restlessly around bare Mancunian-red brickwork. In fact, it all looks a bit like a last-minute relocation of an antiques auction, since the room\u2019s furnished with solemn dark-wood cupboards, cabinets, drawers, and, fittingly, a eight-foot bookshelf.<\/p>\n

For all my disquiet, however, the venue\u2019s spot-on thematically. Evoked is the tension of culture and place\u2014the salient subject of the event. Here, bucolic and urban Eastern Europe juxtaposes industrial Western Europe complementary. And indeed, it\u2019s the ideal venue to entertain a dialogue between two writers\u2014Salford born, David Constantine, and Gdansk native, Pawel Huelle\u2014whose work is preoccupied with origins, history, exile, and national and cultural identity. Two of Europe\u2019s most esteemed short story practitioners, Constantine and Huelle (pronounced, I\u2019ve read, hioola<\/em>\u2014like hula, the Hawaiian dance, but with an I<\/em>) are currently launching new collections on Comma, Asylum <\/em>and Cold Sea Stories<\/em> respectively.<\/p>\n

After a succinct but generous introduction, Constantine\u2019s up first. He begins by commending Comma for its sincere commitment to the promotion of quality short fiction in the face of financial and commercial pressures to focus on more lucrative genres\u2014namely, the novel. To the visible assent of Huelle, his translator Antonia Lloyd-Jones, and the Comma crew, Constantine divulges the kind of tricks mainstream publishing houses sometimes employ to attract readers (which I won\u2019t divulge myself). Then he swiftly introduces his new collection and the eponymous story he\u2019s about to read, \u2018Asylum\u2019.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the story of Madeline, a mistrustful patient in a psychiatric institution, and Mr Kramer, her solicitous visitor. Contradictory connotations of \u2018asylum\u2019 are explored: on the one hand (Madeline\u2019s), \u2018asylum\u2019 is synonymous with \u2018prison\u2019 and \u2018detainment\u2019; on the other hand (Mr Kramer\u2019s), \u2018asylum\u2019 means \u2018sanctuary\u2019 and \u2018salvation\u2019. The phrase that resonates, though, is the \u2018warzones at home\u2019, and the story stresses the importance of pilgrimage and exploration as an escape from such private turmoil.<\/p>\n

Following applause, Huelle, accompanied by Lloyd-Jones, approaches the microphone. It\u2019s merely ceremonial, however, since I take the majority of the audience to be unfamiliar with Polish. Lloyd-Jones translates Huelle\u2019s reading live, and the English-version text is projected on the screen on stage. (A hard copy\u2019s handed to short-sighted audience members.) At first, the arrangement is frankly disorienting: Huelle\u2019s machinegun tenor is at times difficult to ignore, especially when trying to focus on the text and Lloyd-Jones\u2019 often sporadic translating. The experience could be altogether frustrating if you happened to read slowly (or you\u2019re trying to write notes for a review\u2026); but the senses inevitably adapt, and what unravels is a richly allusive tale of remarkable poignancy, in which an artist tries to befriend a beautiful young woman and her distrustful husband.<\/p>\n

Now for the discussion section of the event. The host, an editor of Comma, asks challenging questions about the nature of asylum, exile, and what it is to call somewhere \u2018home\u2019. Huelle approaches the subject metaphorically, and, echoing the political philosophy of Giorgio Agamben, suggests that we\u2019re all refugees, all exiled from one place or another, seeking sanctuary, seeking salvation in \u2018elsewhere\u2019. Constantine, in his own way, agrees by saying that the idea of \u2018home\u2019 is essential, but fundamentally elusive. Reiterating the phrase, \u2018warzones at home\u2019, he discusses the possible paradox of \u2018home\u2019 itself, in which physical and mental warzones both pose threat to the individual: \u2018home\u2019, in this case, can be destroyed and also destructive.<\/p>\n

\u2018Elsewhere\u2019, for both writers, is an essentially mythic concept. Utopia, the promised land, or what you will, is a place of perfection\u2014but it\u2019s inherently fictitious. Indeed, the etymology of \u2018utopia\u2019 describes its original Greek components ou <\/em>(\u2018not\u2019) and topos <\/em>(\u2018place\u2019): it literally means \u2018no place\u2019. A place of perfection, in a nutshell, is unattainable: warzones abound. But Constantine\u2019s quick to raise optimism: he comments on how fiction is itself utopian\u2014a place in which hopes are contained and sanctuary is timelessly offered. For Huelle, moreover, the power of fiction lies in its capacity to manifest historical truth, to tap in to that which goes beyond historical fact. In fiction, both public and private history is not observed, nor interpreted, but rather intuited, and an abstract \u2018higher knowledge\u2019 is attained. The reader, and all of us here in the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, are encouraged to escape the \u2018warzones at home\u2019 through fiction.<\/p>\n

So, as far as first experiences go, it\u2019s been a total success. No\u2014I\u2019d go so far to say (unashamedly!), it\u2019s been inspirational. And after the final applause, the audience and I drip out onto the wet roads of Manchester\u2014my home away from home.<\/p>\n

Nathaniel Ogle<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homes Away From Home at Manchester Literature Festival Event: David Constantine & Pawel Huelle, 8th October, 6:00pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation To the mild stupefaction of the staff in the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, I arrive to this\u2014the second event of the first day of the Manchester Literature Festival, and, incidentally, the first event of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[16,283],"tags":[24,171],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nDavid Constantine and Pawel Huelle, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Nathaniel Ogle - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1695\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"David Constantine and Pawel Huelle, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Nathaniel Ogle - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Homes Away From Home at Manchester Literature Festival Event: David Constantine & Pawel Huelle, 8th October, 6:00pm, International Anthony Burgess Foundation To the mild stupefaction of the staff in the International Anthony Burgess Foundation, I arrive to this\u2014the second event of the first day of the Manchester Literature Festival, and, incidentally, the first event of […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1695\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-10-10T06:37:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-05T18:51:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1695\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1695\",\"name\":\"David Constantine and Pawel Huelle, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Nathaniel Ogle - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-10-10T06:37:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-05T18:51:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e6deb0374609919f6e86f6ee1defe8cc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1695#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1695\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1695#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"David Constantine and Pawel Huelle, Manchester Literature Festival, reviewed by Nathaniel Ogle\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/e6deb0374609919f6e86f6ee1defe8cc\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"The Manchester Review\"},\"description\":\"The Manchester Review was founded in 2008 and is published by the Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester. 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