One aspect of William Boyd’s writing that always seems close to the surface of his work is an examination of selfishness. At the very least, his characters serve his own interests. One is reminded of how the events of The New Confessions or Any Human Heart unfold, how in both cases the central character’s aspirations are always paramount, often to the detriment of those he claims to love. But it is probably in his stories that this theme is best illustrated and his collection, The Tragedy Of Natalie X, does just that.
Two of the stories, The Dream Lover and Alpes Maritimes, in barely twenty pages each, delve into his ideas. In the first, a student at a southern French university envies the obvious wealth and easy-going lifestyle of a fellow American student. This wealthy American spends money, advertises his talents, and gets the girls, at least in theory. He even has a handsome afghan coat. By the end of the story, the narrator has completely reversed the roles. He not only wins financially, but he goes with the girl and even keeps the coat. In addition, he has benefited from the waste of the other on the road.
Another side of selfishness is expressed through responses to temptation, specifically to the proximity of opportunity. Even a man in a stable and happy relationship can’t help but speculate about what trying something different might bring. The possibility that he could sour everything else, of course, is never contemplated. In the Alpes-Maritimes, a vigorous young man cannot resist the thought that the grass is greener on the other side of the twins. His partner is a twin, his wish could be the other. Years to prove what he seems to see as the merchandise.
So while it’s in progress, William Boyd suggests that life can be a neurotic search for ever greater satisfaction, even if that’s only imagined. The future promise, it seems, always outweighs the experience. However, when it ends, life seems inconsequential. We live, we love, we dream, we die. And soon we are forgotten, even the turbulence of the journey soon smoothes out. Those with whom we have shared our lives may remember us for a time, but even memory, it seems, is based on self-interest. Perhaps the memory of a deceased is the mechanism of the living to face their own future.
The Destiny Of Natalie X, the main story, is about the making of a movie. Addresses pretense and ego inflation. But it also makes us think about the mundane and how, for each individual, it remains special, the only possible existence.
As always, William Boyd uses many different ways to express his ideas. For some readers, this variability may hinder appreciation of the material. But rest assured, the material is worth your time, and if it forms a barrier, it’s worth reading through the stories a few times until your challenges are overcome.