Book Review

[kenjari]

Charles Jessold, Considered As A Murderer
by Wesley Stace

This novel is amazing, achieving a great balance between being entertaining and profound. Narrated by upper crust music critic Leslie Shepherd and set in the early part of the 20th century, it tells the story of Charles Jessold, an up and coming young British composer whose life and career end in a tragedy that eerily mirrors that of the Renaissance composer Carlo Gesualdo and that of the old English ballad upon which Jessold's opera Little Musgrave is based. I really liked the way Stace linked these three versions of this story, each belonging in a different time: there was the factual and historical Gesualdo story from the past, the fictional and timeless tale of Little Musgrave, and the present day* story of Charles Jessold where the relationship between fact and fiction is not always clear. The book is split into two halves; Shepherd tells the story of Jessold in each, but with some very crucial differences.
Stace gives us an intricate and heady mix. Charles Jessold is a clever mystery, a moving story of love, art, and tragedy, and an interesting look at the relationships between criticism and art and between real life and artistic creation. Stace also gives us a good view of the different things going on in the classical music world of the early twentieth century, especially the rise of interest in traditional folk material and the reception of atonality.


*Present day in the novel's terms, that is, since the story takes place from 1910-1923.

Comments

[karakara98.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a neat book. I've liked the music Wesley Stace has recorded as John Wesley Harding, and it looks like he's going to release a new album under his real name next fall. Thanks for the review.