THE NEWTON LETTER by John Banville (Picador Books, 1982)
In this dull and pretentious novella, a nameless narrator seems locked in an academic conundrum of his own making.
An ageing and struggling writer is half-heartedly seeking to understand the significance of a curious letter Isaac Newton wrote to philosopher John Locke in 1693 which hinted that Newton was losing his faculties. This letter is referred to but not quoted from and serves as a metaphor for the biographer’s vain quest for certainties and absolutes in a world of shifting sands.
The story can be dated at 1979, the year Lord Mountbatten was assassinated by the IRA. This event is mentioned in passing although politics and religion have no overt role in the story.
If the blocked writer in the story had the idea that relocating to a rural retreat would release his creative potential, this dream is soon shattered when carnal pursuits take precedence over intellectual ambitions. Continue reading
