Hound Dog?

I was going to embark on a new story this week, a new book, that is, but I’ve been enjoying the David Szalay book, All That Man Is, so much that I wanted to focus on one more of its stories, the third one, also untitled.

As we’ve noted, all the stories in this collection have as their protagonist, a man of a particular age. This story has to do with Balazs, a Hungarian man in his late twenties. So, in keeping with the rest of the book, we would expect this story to explore issues relevant to men in their late twenties.

Here is the first line: “It is ten o’clock in the morning and the kitchen is full of standing smoke and the smell of stuffed cabbages.” In short order, we are introduced to an entity known as Emma’s mother, and then to Gabor, who we learn is “off” to London. Halfway down the first page, a third character appears: “She puts a plate with two slices of bread on it on the small square table next to Balazs’ Michaelangelesque elbow. (His mouth working, he acknowledges it with a nod of his head).”

I have to confess I had some trouble making sense of this first scene, as far as who is the protagonist—is it Emma’s mother? Gabor? Balazs? (Hint: it’s Balazs)

So what questions arise in this beginning? Whose kitchen are they in, and why does it smell of smoke and cabbage? Who are these people? Who and why are they traveling to London? What’s going on with Balazs’ Michaelangelesque elbow? This seems to imply that he’s well-muscled. What of the names? Balazs and Gabor are well…Hungarian sounding names in a story written in the English language. Please remember: there are no coincidences. Nothing is random. A skilled writer like Mr. Szalay doesn’t just name characters because he feels like it; the names have some meaning. In this case, I believe they establish one of the themes of all the stories in this book, that the protagonists are all men who are living in and/or journeying to a country not their own. Finally, thus far, can we detect anything relating to a theme? (we’re on the lookout for something late twenties).

Nope. Not yet, best B.

As is true with all the stories, the narrative is in present tense and third person. And there is a somewhat hidden narrator who directs our attention and describes people and things. (Please see the first line).

In the story’s first scenes, we get a sense of the characters, particularly Balazs. He is a veteran of Hungary’s military deployment to Iraq, a time in his life he remembers fondly as “safe, and there were things to do.” Now, he is Gabor’s personal trainer and works for him sometimes to provide security, a role that he assumes in this story. Gabor is a shady businessman who is perhaps involved in making pornographic films. His wife is Emma (Emma Bovary?) a beautiful woman whom Balazs lusts after although she is aloof. Balazs has no lady friend, and his attraction to Emma preoccupies him.

“It is extremely stressful, he finds, to be in her presence outside the safely purposeful space of the gym…he would be so intensely aware of her presence, of the miniscule squeaks when she moved on the leather seat” (of the car) “or flipped down the sun visor to tweak an eyebrow in the vanity mirror, that, just to hold himself together, he had to fix his eyes on some object outside the darkened window.”

This, then, is Balazs’ state as the story begins—single and well…horny. And he is somewhat adrift, having no career interest. He is nostalgic for his military service when, we can infer, his life was organized by others. Perhaps we see here a presentation of the state of some men in their late twenties. (Aha!) We should contrast this presentation with Karel, the man of the same age as Balazs in story number four, which we looked at a couple of weeks ago. He is deeply immersed in his career as an academic but coming to terms with the needs of his pregnant girlfriend. He is similarly pre-occupied with sex but is a different beastie than Balazs who has no other interest.

The precipitating event occurs when Balazs and the reader learn more about the purpose of the trip to London.

“Gabor says, ‘Emma’s going to be doing some work in London…And your job…’ He finds a more satisfactory pronoun. (The narrator’s voice) ‘Our job is to look after her. Okay?’”

Balazs, Emma, and Gabor journey to London where they meet a man named Zoli and go to a hotel. Balazs learns Emma will be going to work right away—that night. She leaves the guys, disappearing into the bathroom with her make-up bag. When she emerges, standing in the doorway, dressed for the evening, the guys are awestruck by her beautiful appearance.

“’Wow,’ Zoli had said…‘Wow.’” (Italics for emphasis).

While it is never explained explicitly, it has become clear to the reader and to Balazs that Emma is a high-class prostitute, and that they have all come to London so she can work.

‘Kay.

Let’s stop there and resume next time.

Till then.

#AllThatManIs #DavidSzalay #AlanBray