Book Review: Background for Love by Helen Wolff
A semi-autobiographical novella by the famed publisher, which was recently recovered.
He can see blood, but not tears. So it is, with so many men. - Helen Wolff (Background for Love)
In the 1930s a young woman sets off to France from Berlin on a car trip with her older lover for a summer vacation. They share marvelous episodes of pleasure on their way, but the woman feels that she isn't happy with him and his likings. She abandons him and sets off on a journey of her own towards independence, settling in a cottage in Saint-Tropez amidst lemon trees and vines with a cat. She learns new lessons about being free and being in love with the help of new friends she acquires there.
'Background for Love' is a semi-autobiographical novella written by Helen Wolff, who established Pantheon Books in America after escaping Nazism with her husband, Kurt Wolff. The manuscript of the novel was found among her documents in 2020, decades after she died. On the envelope in which it was stashed, Helen had instructed to burn it if found after she died in a probable imitation of Kafka, whose works were published by her husband. I received an advance review copy of the book from its publisher, Pushkin Press, through NetGalley. The book is translated into English by Tristam Wolff, her grandson, and contains a companion essay by Marion Detjen, her great-niece, which provides insights into Helen's life and the book.
The novella is an intense tale of emotions and passion, told in evocative prose. The writer captures the beauty of every place that she describes in the minutest details. The lyrical quality of her language and its elegance add to the reading experience. At the same time, she manages to keep it intimate, making her readers identify deeply with the characters and the places. The book is written in an inspirational tone with an emphasis on personal freedom and its indispensability in one's life. It explores the themes of self-discovery, independence, love, and identity.
The narrator is the protagonist who remains nameless throughout the length of the novella. So is her lover. The narration is in first person, and the lover is addressed as 'you' in the entire plot. This essentially makes the book her monologue towards the lover and us, the spectators of the entire drama. At the same time, the entire narration happens in the present tense, which contributes to the liveliness of the narrative. Now, this is a pretty complex and modern style, and someone doing it effortlessly and exceptionally well in a period as early as the 1930s is commendable. It is a loss that Helen Wolff stopped writing as a principle to concentrate on her writing clients, who included masters like Italo Calvino and Günter Grass.
The plot could be read in two ways. When read alone, it is an inspirational story of a young woman who asserts her individual freedom, breaking away from an older lover who tries to overwhelm her with his life experiences and elitist tastes. It's also important to note how the writer reverses the gender roles eventually. But if we examine the story after reading the insightful essay by Marion Detjen, which is included in the book, we get a complete picture of the plot with the historical background.
The novel, which seems to be apolitical, except maybe in a few sentences that could be a veiled attack on the German state that was being overpowered by Nazism, provides a different story when seen through the historical context and the personal story of Helen Wolff. The escape of the protagonist can be viewed as a getaway from the decay of the then-German system to a utopia symbolized by the rustic French Riviera. One could also connect the attachment of Kurt Wolff with some right-wing associations due to business compulsions, which he soon broke away from.
'Background for Love' is an impactful and fast-paced novella that appears to be a drama between two lovers, one of whom aspires for individual freedom. But when seen in historical context, one can identify the undercurrent of the rising uncertainty due to the rise of Nazism in Germany. The protagonist's need to assert her identity could also be seen as an indication of the transition of gender roles during the 1930s.