Discovering the Creative Universe of Novelist Paul Bailey
The novelist Paul Bailey, who passed away last year at 87, was celebrated for possessing a witty genius, intense sympathy including for the worst personalities in his stories, and a sharpness that avoided being sterile. His novels repeatedly investigated the role of remembrance on human existence, fueled by witty, staccato exchanges. Beyond novels, he worked as a memoirist, poet, and more—here is a guide to the books he left behind.
Books for Companionship
Paul Bailey proved a social being, an excellent talker with a love for “trivial chit-chat”, according to a fictional persona. He and friend author Beryl Bainbridge would watch the TV show Coronation Street and debrief by phone. This pleasure in gossipy exchanges shines through in his novels Trespasses (published in 1970) along with the title Peter Smart’s Confessions (dating to 1977). The two present a main male protagonist besieged by humorous, irritating, exaggerated personalities, often close relatives whose impact cannot be avoided. “Who wants to be normal anyway?” Ralph’s mum questions within Trespasses upon his coming out. Comparable to hanging out with your most clever, daring companion.
The Ones to Make You Laugh and Cry
The novelist penned superbly on old age, at both ends of his writing journey. His debut novel At the Jerusalem (published in 1967) follows Faith Gadny’s experiences as she adjusts to a nursing home, in which other inhabitants offer warmth absent in employees, whose concern through questions “Why aren’t you ladies watching the television?”. In the novel before his final Chapman’s Odyssey (2011), a senior in hospital alternates between disputing with medics (“My wine selection is exclusive”, he states when scolded for liver results) and being flooded by memories involving his mum, partners, classic characters such as Pip from Dickens or Emma from Austen. The two works contain funny exchanges yet shadowed by approaching finality. Throughout his novels, grins are unreliable. In At the Jerusalem, “the matron beamed, then stopped suddenly”; Faith Gadny chuckles anxiously if her actions are questioned. Within Chapman’s Odyssey, Harry advises that “my laughter is not genuine”. Your laughter, nonetheless, is sincere.
To Understand the Truth Beneath the Tales
Apart from his stories, Paul Bailey served as a talented life writer, releasing two self-written volumes. An Immaculate Mistake (1990) is a masterwork of memory, its title derived from his mother’s words labeling him an “accident” and questioning his presence. (“Elderly, she disclosed hidden truths,” he comments. “This secret, she realized, would intrigue me.”) Here we see the sources for confused, affectionate, irritating parental figures within his fiction. It likewise portrays an evocative portrait of a boy discovering his sexuality during the mid-20th century, during a time of anti-gay laws, and his relatives considered it strange if a male child gifted blooms to his parent; and of a hopeful performer (The writer was on stage before writing) who memorized Hamlet at 15. His subsequent life story A Dog’s Life (from 2004) focuses on life with his mongrel puppy Circe, his previous lover David, his love for Romania—which motivated subsequent books such as the novel Kitty and Virgil, Uncle Rudolf, as well as The Prince’s Boy—and loads of chatter, featuring an anecdote about Iris Murdoch calling an audience member a “stupid cow”.
When Time Is Limited
The author’s fiction are mostly concise—the powerful Old Soldiers (1980) is barely 100 pages—but for something shorter, sample his verse from his later career. The two books the poetry collection Inheritance (2019) along with the title Joie de Vivre (from 2022) display Bailey’s wit, empathy, precision in small packages. These verses are full of endings and beginnings. Two love themes recur: for his mother (“Now I’m closer—/ I have to say—/ than in life”) and for his partner Jeremy Trevathan. Within the poem Amazement, he depicts the happiness from enjoying “foolish television” side by side, ending with: “It’s awesome, in its way, this act of eating cheese / and drinking wine, as the world keeps darkening.”
For a Single Must-Read
It is widely accepted that Paul Bailey’s boldest work was the novel Gabriel’s Lament, nominated for the Booker in 1986. (He also judged the prize in 1982, an experience he despised.) This novel the author was most proud of, even though “it exhausted him completely”. It tells the narrative of Gabriel Harvey, whose mum disappears while his dad transforms into an insufferable elitist following a financial windfall, and the two might be related. It acts as a representation of London in the 1900s, a story of mental breakdown, and both comic and tragic as anything Bailey wrote. Additionally, it prompted a sequel, Sugar Cane (published in 1993), which the author studied by visiting brothels as an observer.
