Martin Buber in London

When we left off looking at the fourth story in David Szalay’s All That Man Is, the protagonist, Balazs, a twenty-eight-year-old Hungarian man on business in London, has just experienced a somewhat enchanted afternoon with Emma, the object of his erotic longing. Emma, who has always seemed unapproachable and distant, shows Balazs a new side, expressing curiosity and affection toward him, which he finds stunning. Her questions force him to confront his lonely and meaningless existence. But Emma must get ready for a night’s work, and the two return to the hotel suite they share with Gabor, Emma’s husband and manager, forestalling further intimacy.

What happens next was foreshadowed in an earlier scene. Emma sends a distress signal to Balazs and Gabor who are waiting outside the hotel where she is working. They hurry in. The first time this happened, Gabor handled the conflict with Emma’s client(s), while Balazs was only a hulking presence. This time, they burst into the hotel room to find that Emma has locked herself in the bathroom and a naked man is standing by the bed. Gabor goes to talk to Emma, while Balazs stays with the man.

“…the man says, ‘You think I hurt her? I didn’t hurt her,’ he tells Balazs’ impassive face. “I just told her she’s a slut, which she is. That’s what I told her, and that’s what she is. Hey gorilla, you fucking ape! I’m talking to

Whoosh

There is a noise like a dog enjoying a knuckle of gristle as the nose breaks and fills with blood.”

‘Kay. Balazs has socked the guy. Please note the use of punctuation and line spacing. “I’m talking to” ends just like that with no emdash or close quote. And then “Whoosh” on the next line, also without punctuation. And then a line space and then the description of the effect of the punch. Other writers might have done it more conventionally. I think Mr. Szalay tries to convey Balazs’ experience here. He doesn’t think; he reacts physically to a guy who is being verbally abusive both to him and to Emma, whom we know Balazs has had a significant encounter with earlier in the day.

Indeed, after Gabor and Emma emerge from the bathroom, and express shock at the now bleeding man, Balazs flees the room, feeling a surfeit of adrenaline. He can hardly believe what he’s done, knowing that Gabor and Emma do not approve. He doesn’t believe the man will go to the police but considers just flying home to Hungary. But his passport is in the hotel room.

I think at this point, we the readers are rooting for Balazs despite his turn to violence. Emma’s client does seem like an unpleasant sort. But Gabor and Zoli, who have been arranging Emma’s work, are very angry. Zoli wants to have Balazs’ legs broken. They return Emma’s fee to the client, hoping this will mollify him.

But Balazs cares only about Emma’s reaction. Gabor tells Balazs she’s angry.

“’Is she?’ Balazs says, surprised.

‘Yeah.’”

Balazs encounters her coming out of the bathroom.

“’Look, I’m sorry,’ he said.

Still without looking at him, she nodded. ‘Okay.’

And that was it—he stood aside, and she went past into the damp reek of the bathroom.”

Gabor says Balazs’ services will no longer be needed, and Gabor and Emma leave for her next night’s work.

Balazs goes for a walk and decides to eat at a restaurant he’s been to before.

“…the girl at the chicken place. She was always there, serving the customers, but he hadn’t really noticed her until tonight. The little smile she gave him when she took his order, it occurred to him, as he sat down to wait for his food, was not the first. Part of the lace edge of her bra showed in the V-shaped neckline of her T-shirt, where a little gold cross lay on the skin. He watched her dealing with the next customer, her earnest manner, her hand tightly gripping the pen with which she wrote the orders down. He wondered what she thought about things. Though she was not smiling now, she had a nice face.”

And so this story ends. Is the final scene merely showing Balazs with his muscles and male gaze leering at a young woman? Not merely, Best B. I think it’s showing Balazs changed by his encounter with Emma. He considers the waitress as another human instead of as an object—admittedly one who wears a lacy bra. He wonders what she thinks about things—her existence, her work. Ultimately, he notices her face, that glowing, mobile locus of another person’s reality.

Balazs is perhaps the lease introspective of the men shown in this collection. He is no Tony who broods about the end of existence. He is no Simon, who ponders identity. And he is not Karel, who thinks deeply about life and impending fatherhood. Balazs is a physical being who reacts without the intervention of much thought. But Emma’s attention and gentle probing (which maybe was more her raising questions about herself) transform him into, at least briefly, a more reflective person. What is the meaning of life for Balazs? He’s never considered it but becomes aware that there are other people in the world, real people who merit his attention.

Finally, why title this post Martin Buber in London, you ask. Pretentious display of my knowledge?

Come on, it’s fun.

Austrian born Martin Buber was a famous philosopher. One of his important ideas was that the premise of existence is encounter with another person. His concept of “I-Thou” relationships has to do with two people in mutual, holistic experience of one another—not as objects, but in authentic existence.

I believe this is where Balazs and the waitress wind up. And they’re in London. Who knows what happens next?

Thanks to David Szalay for writing such a fine book.

Till next time.

#AllThatManIs #DavidSzalay #AlanBray