Gilbert
Adair, award-winning novelist, film critic and essayist, scriptwriter
and award-winning translator of Perec, died on Friday at the age of 66.
Many tributes appeared in the press over the weekend.
Author of
works such as The Evadne Mount Trilogy (an homage to Agatha Christie's
novels), THE HOLY INNOCENTS, his first novel which was filmed by
Bertolucci as THE DREAMERS) and translator of George Perec's 1969 novel
written without the letter 'e', LA DISPARITION, which was published in
English as A VOID. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian remarks that this was a challenge Adair could not resist' and 'his single most gasp-inducingly clever achievement'.
In another tribute in The Daily Telegraph,
Jake Kerridge notes that Adair's novels are 'witty, allusive, full of
cultural jokes both high (Evadne's catchphrase is 'Great Scott
Moncreff!) and low ('This time' said Evadne, 'it's personal')...the
honesty with which Adair faces his own regrets and inadequacies makes
this book extremely poignant as well as riotously entertaining.'
Mike Higgins, in The Independent,
reflects that when Gilbert was the chief film critic of The
Independent: 'As he pronounced upon, damned and just occasionally
approved of the week's offerings, he did so in a voice that deprecated
its owner's undeniable cinephile authority - a ludic, knowing quality
that extended beyond his writing on film.'
In his moving tribute to his close friend in The Observer, novelist Henry Porter observes that in the last year of his life, Gilbert discovered kindness and compassion:
'Gilbert
was an extraordinarily fastidious and cerebral person, who veered
towards scepticism and a wry suspicion that life always disappointed in
the end. Yet this discovery that kindness was the rule rather than the
exception in the scores of people who treated and helped him over the
year was a revelation...He will be missed greatly by his admirers and
friends for his unique intelligence, talent and delightful company. He
leaves a void, in more ways than one.'
Blake Friedmann were proud
to represent his books and scriptwriting for the past 29 years,
beginning with his extraordinary 'Alice' novel, ALICE THROUGH THE
NEEDLE'S EYE, the first-ever 'Alice' pastiche Macmillan ever published,
even though, as the original publishers of the Lewis Carroll books, they
were offered many.
A few press comments on his novels:
'As
a writer, Gilbert Adair is something of a polymath who defies
categories ... as you surrender to Adair's narrative conjuring tricks,
the novel reveals itself to be a witty and thoroughly engaging Chinese
puzzle of a book that confirms him as one of the most inventive writers
working today.' - Attitude Magazine
'I read this book in a
constant state of admiration: smiling, chuckling and often laughing out
loud.'-- Philip French, The Observer
'This is a delicious
confection; an expert pastiche full of clever jokes and a gripping
murder mystery. Adair provides a perfect tribute to Christie in every
respect save one: it is far too well written.'-- Michael Andritti,
London Lite
'The English author Gilbert Adair is a vocal imitator
of the first order, who parodies and even surpasses his role models.
But he doesn't show them up, he just takes a bow … For Adair, the fact
that literature almost invariably alludes to literature is the origin
of an exhaustless lust to play with parody and irony … Gilbert Adair is
an intimate connoisseur of literature and an extremely clever craftsman.
He combines ingenuity, wit and precision.' -- Die Zeit
'Diabolically
clever and insidiously gripping, a darker, self-referential version of
Peter Shaffer's SLEUTH. A fast, compelling read with a stunning but
perfectly logical final twist.' -- Michael Dibdin
'The Holy
Innocents is an art documentary of a state of mind, a libido in revolt
at a period in Paris that none who were there have ever escaped in their
insight and dreams.' -- Andrew Sinclair, The Times
'A very funny
portrait of an extraordinarily unworldly academic's introduction to the
dizzyingly incomprehensible realm of popular culture.' -- Nick Hornby,
And on MYTHS AND MEMORIES:
'A
book that we need, and have needed for some time. A witty French
sensibility has been brought by an Englishman to an examination of
English manners and morals as they are now ... he has given us a brisk
survey of ourselves, both piquant and riveting. This is a book not to
be missed.' -- Anthony Burgess
On his Perec translation:
'The
translator's dazzling feat of re-creation conveys the author's
near-magical cleverness while preserving an underlying seriousness that
makes the book much more than a mere curiosity.' -- The New Yorker
'Adair's
energy and ingenuity are almost bottomless … The novel's flippancy of
tone, fluctuations of register, and eerie precision have all been
maintained, along with the excess and the exuberance.' -- Times Literary
Supplement
'Gilbert Adair has now shown quite brilliantly that a
lipogrammatic text in one language can be more than adequately done in
another, retaining not only the alphabetical constraint but much of the
virtuosity of the original.' -- London Review of Books
'It needed
a madman or a genius to want to translate this accursed book into
English. In Gilbert Adair it has found both. '-- The Guardian
A full list of his publications is:HOLLYWOOD'S VIETNAM: Proteus 1981
ALICE THROUGH THE NEEDLE'S EYE: Faber 1984
MYTHS AND MEMORIES: Collins 1986
PETER PAN AND THE ONLY CHILDREN: Macmillan 1987
THE HOLY INNOCENTS: Heinemann 1988 (republished as THE DREAMERS, Faber 2004)
LOVE AND DEATH ON LONG ISLAND: Heinemann 1990
THE DEATH OF THE AUTHOR: Heinemann 1992
THE POSTMODERNIST ALWAYS RINGS TWICE: Fourth Estate 1992
FLICKERS: A History of the Cinema in 100 Images: Faber 1995
THE KEY OF THE TOWER: Secker 1997
SURFING THE ZEITGEIST: Faber 1997
A CLOSED BOOK: Faber 1999
THE REAL TADZIO: Short Books 2001
BUENAS NOCHES BUENOS AIRES: Faber 2004
THE ACT OF ROGER MURGATROYD: Faber 2006
A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR OF STYLE: or Evadne Mount Rides Again: Faber 2007
AND THEN THERE WAS NO ONE: Faber 2009
Please click on the following links to read more tributes to Gilbert Adair.
http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/gilbert-adair-1944-2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/dec/09/gilbert-adair-dies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/dec/09/gilbert-adair
http://mhpbooks.com/45414/hail-farewell-gilbert-adair/
