A one off
John de Falbe MY TANGO WITH BARBARA STROZZI by Russell Hoban Bloomsbury, £10.99, pp. 162, ISBN 9780747590286 © 8.79 (plus £2.45 p&p) 0870 429 6655 Late in My Tango with Barbara Strozzi, Phil Ockerman, the main narrator, goes to Diamond Heart in Scotland, 'a centre of dynamic calm in which mind and spirit gather energy for the next forward move'. He is the standin writer to teach a course on 'The Search For Page One'. If Russell Hoban finds it difficult to get started on a novel then I suspect he refers back to something like this: Girl meets Boy; people may be drawn in more than one direction at once; they often have their own agendas: love is not simple. Will he/she, won't he/she?
Characters from other books wander in to say hello; images recur. Phil reminds us that we were introduced to Diamond Heart in Her Name Was Lola — 'Bloomsbury, 2003'. Because Hoban's books are so self-referential, we might almost think that the identities of the protagonists don't matter. But though Phil and Bertha Strunk are characterised in ways that are peculiar to Hoban, and the story is driven by his habitual mix of romance and questing cultural references, it is a measure of Hoban's technical skill that we care very much what happens with this particular couple, and want to read on. We're definitely in Hoban-land, but the story is different.
The most distinctive thing about Hobanland is the combination of the weird and the everyday. Characters may consult astrologers or have a sudden passion for a 17thcentury Venetian singer after whom they name a baseball bat. They often say very surprising things, like 'as I was putting the zaddikim back on the shelf Rabbi Moshe Leib slipped out. . .' But they also live very ordinary, human lives. They travel on the tube (Fulham, Clerkenwell), buy plonk at Waitrose, and say, 'Let's meet at Domino's Pizzas.' When people speak of Russell Hoban, the word 'quirky' soon emerges, as if this is no more than a stylistic point. But Hoban's work constitutes a prime example of style being integral to content because there is depth to his quirkiness. With him, it always reflects how a profound sense of life's strangeness can sit alongside our desire for the ordinary and comfortable.
My Tango with Barbara Strozzi is full of arcane artistic, musical and mythical references as his characters struggle and reach for images to help them resolve sadness and difficulty, but we care about them because they laugh at themselves. Hoban is often very funny. His lightness of touch has irresistible charm. But it is underpinned by exceptionally deft craftsmanship. It is easy to overlook how brilliantly he represents the dynamics and rhythms of conversation, for example, and uses them to generate character.
I adore Russell Hoban's work. Like his characters, it has pride but also an attractive modesty which ensures that he never gets listed for grand literary prizes. I urge anyone who thinks of arming or improving themselves with this year's Booker shortlist to tuck up instead with the collected works of Russell Hoban and a bottle of Glenfiddich. He is fun, shrewd, humane; and unique.
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