Eureka by Anthony Quinn

published 2017



Eureka



[1966. Nat Fane, writer and man about town, is visiting his agent.]


Nat angled the Silver Cloud through the slender funnel of the mews entrance and parked. He could have come on foot – it was only a 10-minute stroll -but arriving by car felt more appropriate to his status as a client. It tickled him to think how much he loved this car… The one ant at the picnic was the appearance of an identical motor in Antonioni’s latest, Blow-Up. Now people would assume that he was trying to emulate David Hemmings, looking oh-so-cool in his white jeans and shirt unbuttoned down to here as he piloted his Rolls around London. Nat had bought his a year before, but sensed he would still look like a copycat.

In the foyer of Penelope Rolfe Management he flashed a smile at a couple of dolly birds clicking by, their outfits and make-up as vividly coloured as a kingfisher. Their smiles in return inclined Nat to wonder if they had the smallest idea who he was…

Penny cradled the receiver and spread her palms in beatific welcome. She was wearing one of her paisley turbans and a sky-blue star-printed jersey dress (‘Biba, darling’). Her face , tanned and shielded by the huge tinted lenses of her spectacles, have her a faintly mythological aspect: half agent, half owl.



Eureka 2


commentary: Everyone writing about London in the 1960s puts the women in Biba dresses, or features a trip to the iconic shop: but you can’t criticize them for that – it’s not a cliché, just a reflection of real life. It would be interesting to know when Biba was first mentioned in a contemporary novel of the 1960s. I had a quick look and couldn’t find anything that wasn’t from much later – but perhaps a Margaret Drabble novel might feature Biba?

This extract is typical of the book: it is well-written, interesting, carries the plot further – and also gives you plenty of anchors for the time and place, without shoving the research in your face. Quinn is very good on the clothes of his era…

This is the third in a loose trilogy: Curtain Call was set in the 1930s, then Freya took the story of some of the characters from the end of WW2 into the 1960s: now the story is picked up and moved on again. I’ve liked the series more and more as it goes on – I thought Curtain Call didn’t need the murder plot imposed on it (and I wasn’t convinced by the clothes - see the blogpost). But I loved Freya, and then this one even more, and hope there will be more.

The publisher’s blurb says ‘Sexy, funny, nasty, Eureka probes the dark side of creativity, the elusiveness of art and the torment of love’ and that’s a fair description. The characters are very rounded, and the book is entertaining and funny. It also contains a surprising amount of sex:
He briefly wondered if his hostess would provide the necessary, and, deciding not to leave it to chance, packed two Venetian carnival masks and his riding crop.
The framework of the novel is a film Nat is writing (called Eureka), a tale with Henry James (who is quite the blog favourite) and ‘the figure in the carpet’ at its heart. The shooting of the film allows Quinn to bring in a wide range of characters and settings: from respected British actor to young actress/waitress; from German avant-garde director to East End gangster. And there are plenty of parallels between the film and the book, and we can look for our own figure in the carpet.

It’s a solid satisfying read, and particularly enjoyable because it has such a wide range of ages in the major participants, the story is not at all confined to any one age group – or to any particular world or milieu. I have read a lot of books  set in the 1960s in recent years, and this is most definitely one of the very best.

I hope Anthony Quinn isn’t moving through the years too fast, and that there will be more of his history of the world…

Top picture is a Biba dress, second one shows David Hemmings taking his photos of the vivid dolly birds in Blow Up.

















Comments

  1. I always appreciate it so much when a novel reflects the time and place in which it's set, Moira. And that does come down to thoughtful research. The trick of it is, as you say, to show that research without going on and on about it. No mean feat, and it sounds as though Quinn's done it here.

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    1. I was very impressed with his details, Margot, and you know how fussy I am - both about mistakes, and about too much showing off research. I think this writer is getting better and better.

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  2. It's weird, but I came across a review of this novel a short time ago, and wonderered whether or not to go for it. It mentioned how fun it was, and drew attention to some of the slightly malicious caricatures of real '60s icons (Ronnie Stiles, the irritating cockney superstar in the making who has just appeared in the imperial epic MAFEKING....I wonder just WHO that could be!) Now that you've reviewed it I suspect that I'm going to have to buy this at some point.

    Just the other day I was watching an episode of the '60s thriller series DEPARTMENT S. A lot of the filmed British TV of that era tended to try and avoid being too 'of the moment' but this particular episode (SOUP OF THE DAY) seemed obsessed with capturing end-of-the-decade London. The villains all wore Mod gear and at one point a youthful Ronald Lacey wearing a highly fashionable hat attempts to sell a stolen transistor radio to a couple of blond dolly birds who run a groovy curio shop. It made me quite nostalgic for Swinging Era London even though I wasn't around there at the time!

    ggary

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    1. It was a very enjoyable book...
      I think maybe TV series either tried to be timeless or went for being of the moment. Department S, what a programme of its time. Did it morph into Jason King or was it the other way round?

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    2. It morphed into Jason King. The latter series is a wonderful window into the world of the very early '70s. It's barking mad, and the episode WANNA BUY A TV SERIES? where Jason attempts to sell the rights to a show about his series hero Mark Caine is wonderfully odd. It shows the reality of King pitching his show to the network head, then we see an episode play out in front of our eyes, but as the studio head argues about the content of the show it changes on screen (King's sidekick morphs from white to black to oriental from shot to shot as they debate about which market to try to attract!).

      ggary

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    3. That is absolutely extraordinary, I am longing to see that, I must hunt it down...

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  3. I had never heard of a Biba dress. Interesting. I think I would miss a lot of the references, but the setting of the film shoot would be good.

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    1. Biba was so much of its time here, Tracy, I don't know what the US equivalent would be. The film setting is excellent.

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  4. I always regret that I was too young (by just a tiny smidge) and too far away for Biba!

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    1. I was too young really, but I do treasure the mail order catalogues I pored over as a fascinated young teen...

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    2. Oh, I wish I could see those! I've bought a few trinkets online, and I have that iconic poster of Ingrid Boulting on my bedroom wall. She has such a sixties face.

      I don't think we can post images here, but I've saved one of the poster. I wasn't able to get to your email, but if you're interested email me, and I'll reply with the image.

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    3. I would love to see it! Try
      clothesinbooks@hotmail.co.uk
      or
      moirar@msn.com

      I don't think I have your email.

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  5. I thought this might be an author I have in the tubs, but mine is Anthony J Quinn, author of some Irish mysteries. Close but no cigar, I'll leave you to yours and me to mine.

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    1. Funny. The only Anthony Quinn I know is the actor. Didn't know there were so many AQ authors!

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    2. Col & Paula: who'd have thought it was such a popular name? I thought his name sounded like the kind of boy who was in my primary school - then found he was from Liverpool, like me... but I don't think we coincided. A good Liverpool Irish Catholic name...

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    3. Yes, sounds very Irish, but Anthony Quinn, the actor, was mostly of Mexican ancestry!

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    4. Not at school with me then, any more than the author! Was AQ his real name I wonder?

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    5. Almost! His birth name was: Antonio Rudolfo Oaxaca Quinn.

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    6. Great name, and nicely diverse...

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    7. Yes, there was actually a sizable number of Irish immigrants to Mexico in the late 19th-early 20C. A smaller number of Chinese, too. We had a kid in the youth group I worked with a number of years ago, who was ethnically Chinese, but whose family was from Mexico. His surname was spelled Cuan, when that name is more typically transliterated into English as Kwan or Quan.

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    8. You knew about the Japanese immigrants to Peru (and a few other countries in South America)? The president of Peru a while back was from that group (Fujimora?). I had a co-worker who was from South America, and he had the best name -- Jose Yamasaki. His daughter was a Tournament of Roses princess. Although they were quite assimilated and didn't look Japanese at all.

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    9. I did know about the Peruvian Prime Minister - but wasn't aware that there was a whole community. How fascinating...

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