Deborah Levy
August Blue by Deborah Levy explores the interiority of Elsa M. Anderson, the central figure in Levy’s novel.
The novel opens with Elsa, a world-famous pianist, escaping to Greece after she had abruptly walked off the stage in Vienna in the middle of a performance of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. No one knows why Elsa abandoned the concert, least of all Elsa. She drifts around in Greece and then hops off to other European cities. She gives private piano lessons, interacts with friends, and goes to Sardinia to be at the side of her former piano coach/surrogate father who is terminally ill.
The plot is skeletal, consisting mainly of scenes frozen in time. Flashbacks of Elsa’s past pepper the narrative. She is abandoned by her mother for reasons unknown. At the age of six, she is adopted by Arthur Goldstein, her piano coach, who raises her as if she were his daughter. He changes her name and molds her to his specifications. Elsa continues to be haunted by amorphous, fleeting images of her mother.
What makes this novel fascinating is Levy’s ability to conjure up an almost a dream-like atmosphere as Elsa drifts from one episode to the next, from one European capital to the next. It is as if she sleep-walks through her life. While in Greece, she encounters a woman she is convinced is her double or better half. This doppelganger appears to Elsa intermittently in various European cities. Assuming the role of an alter-ego, the double confronts and challenges Elsa in imaginary conversations.
The novel grapples with questions of identity, gendered power dynamics, abandonment, love, and grief. It also tackles the issue of female agency in a world in which Elsa’s life has been dictated to her by men. She colors her hair blue to assert her freedom of choice and independence. Her refusal to continue with the public piano performance is an act of defiance. She openly rejects the path pre-planned for her by others. The narrative follows her as she struggles to find her own path and articulate her identity and self-expression.
A slow, meandering novel that is both mesmerizing and atmospheric.