Sympathy for the Devil

As I have spent more time with the novel, I am getting more of an appreciation for Donleavy’s Ginger Man, and am coming to terms with Sebastian Dangerfield, the reprehensible main character. Here’s what I can say about my experience reading the book so far. (After all, the blog’s subtitle is “My response to what I’m reading”, so my goal isn’t to necessarily give a review of a book, but more of a reaction to it.)

The novel is written untraditionally. I do not know if it would be considered “stream of consciousness”, but if it’s not technically that style of writing, it is reminiscent of it. At times, it is told in first person, but most of the time it is from a limited third person narrator’s voice, with access to what the main character is thinking and feeling. Even more pronounced than the movement between voice is the frequent use of sentence fragments. Here is an example from the opening paragraphs:

Today a rare sun of spring. And horse carts clanging to the quays down Tara Street and the shoeless white faced kids screaming.

O’Keefe comes in and climbs up on a stool. Wags his knapsack around on his back and looks at Sebastian Dangerfield.

I have found that it does not really take that long to get used to unique writing style, like this, provided that one just jumps in and reads rather than spending too much time lingering over it. What seemed pronounced and almost distracting initially now is kind of fun.

However, I am reading this book on a Kindle, and I’ve found that the Kindle versions of many older books are prone to errors. So, in a book like this, where the writing style is unusual, and also where much of the word choices are tied to the time and location of the novel, there have been several times when I can’t tell if a strange spelling or word choice is the intention of the author, or just an erratum in the move to the Kindle format.

Now, in terms of my relationship with the main character, I would say that I have developed a sympathy for Sebastian Dangerfield. He still is exasperating, and many of his actions absolutely make me cringe. The way he callously uses everyone he encounters is almost painful to read, and he is most abusive toward those who have a little faith in him.

However, I have more sympathy for Dangerfield than I did in the past. I am rooting for him, in a way, though I’m not really a fan of all of his actions. We are given occasional glimpses deeper into Dangerfield, and those glimpses do much to soften my attitude toward him.

My sympathy for Dangerfield may also be prompted by my own experiences this week. I have been traveling, and working very long hours. (I worked a 30-hour stint from Tuesday morning into Wednesday morning.) The stresses of travel and sleep deprivation have combined to make me feel somewhat out of control, like Dangerfield feels at times.

Maybe that is the key to reading and enjoying this book: do it while you are sleep deprived and harried, and the wild actions and thoughts of Sebastian Dangerfield will seem slightly closer to home.