The Two Lonely People

We left off last time in our consideration of David Szalay’s fourth story in the collection All That Man Is, with the protagonist, Balazs, realizing, perhaps belatedly, that the object of his erotic obsession, Emma, is a high-class prostitute. Moreover, he is employed by her husband, Gabor, to provide security for her during a working trip to London.

“It is awkward, especially that first night.” This describes Balazs’ experience sitting most of the night in a car with Gabor, waiting for Emma to finish working.

‘Kay.

Once the guys retrieve a sleepy Emma, they all go back to the hotel. Balazs handles (no pun intended) his feelings by masturbating in the shower while thinking in erotic terms about Emma. There is really nothing else in the story about his feelings concerning the situation; it is up to the reader to infer them. And this is in keeping with Balazs’ character; he is not an introspective man.

The following day, Gabor engages Balasz in conversation—Gabor apparently is introspective.

“‘Sometimes I wonder about my attitude to women,’ Gabor says… ‘what would you do in my position?’ …

‘What d’you mean?’

‘If you and Emma were…whatever,’ Gabor says impatiently. ‘Would you let her do this?’

‘Would I let her?’ …

Balazs is having trouble imagining, with any emotional specificity, the situation Gabor wants him to—a situation in which he and Emma were…whatever. Sex is all he is able to imagine and that of an impossibly lubricious kind. ‘Don’t know,’ he says.”

Please note, first of all, the use of the word “lubricious.” This is the narrator’s voice as lubricious is not a word Balazs would use. Second, this is a fine characterization of a character who is male, late twenties, not terribly articulate, and not driven by any career plan. He is horny, best B.

After an incident where Balazs is called upon to set limits with one of Emma’s clients, (foreshadowing), he encounters her the next day. Gabor is away. In the context of Balazs waking up on the couch and seeing Emma, we have. “She looks at him, sitting there, up to his waist in the sleeping bag, his tattooed biceps and toaster-like pecs, his small pale eyes obscurely imploring.” An interesting passage, no? It would seem to be from Emma’s perspective, when she has never had one before, always being an object. I don’t know, my friends, this could also be from the narrator’s perspective, but it is a bit jarring. Why? you ask. Because texts teach us to read them by establishing rules of who the protagonist is, which characters enjoy a perspective. If you suddenly break one of these conventions, it’s a shock that needs to be reconciled. Emma has been presented as aloof and unattainable thus far, in this passage, we have evidence of her consciousness checking Balazs out. She is not who we thought she was.

The two of them decide to go out for coffee. “They are in the habit of speaking to each other now, up to a point. Still, it feels extremely intimate to pass through the downstairs hall together, to leave the house, and walk down the street.”

After coffee, they decide rather clumsily to go to Madame Tussaud’s Waxworks. Balazs suggests this because he thinks Emma would like it. She seems to agree because she thinks he wants to go. She has returned in the story to being an admired object, a “black box,” if you will, mysterious to Balazs.

The entrance line is long at the Waxworks, and they decide to go to a park. Emma asks Balazs a series of questions about himself, indicating some interest in him. Finally she says: “…Are you in a relationship?” He says no, and they go to have a drink together. Well, Emma has again emerged from the black box; she surprises Balazs and she surprises us with her interest.

Once at the pub, Emma says, “Do you know why I like you? …You don’t judge people.”

This flirtation goes on, but finally Emma says she has to return to the apartment to prepare for the night’s work. Balazs is disappointed as he would like to continue being alone with her, but they set off.

So far, then, we have a story in which the protagonist, Balazs, seems to be presented with the strong possibility of achieving his goal—bedding the beautiful Emma. Much to his surprise, she seems to be interested in him and is much friendlier than he’d previously experienced. Her questions make him confront his identity or lack there of. Balazs is, I think, on the edge of realizing he is missing something in life. He is late twenties and drifting. I think we the readers get a sense of the story being about two misfits who are lonely and find each other.

Let’s stop here and find out what happens next time.

Till then.

#AllThatanIs #DavidSzalay #AlanBray