With or Without Angels by Douglas Bruton

 

With or Without Angels

by Douglas Bruton

I first came across the name of Douglas Bruton in connection with his short story titled “Thirteen Wedding Dresses”, featured in the Fiction Desk anthology And Nothing Remains. That wistful, lyrical piece had made a good impression on me but did not prepare me for the brilliance of last year’s Blue Postcards, a novella published by Fairlight Books as part of its “Fairlight Moderns” series.  Weaving together three storylines, chief of which is a Sebaldian retelling of the life of artist Yves Kelin, Bruton skilfully managed to combine an experimental structure with heart-warming storytelling.

Bruton returns to Fairlight with an equally striking and interesting novella – With or Without Angels.  There are parallels with Blue Postcards in the work’s artistic inspiration and its weaving of fact and fiction. The author describes the novella as a “response through fiction” to “The New World”, a set of photo collages by the late Scottish artist Alan Smith, which is itself a tribute to or meditation on “Il Mondo Nuovo”, a fresco by 18th century artist Giandomenico Tiepolo.   In an afterword which doubles as an acknowledgments section, Bruton describes learning of this work after meeting Smith’s widow.  Browsing the artist’s website, Bruton came across a video in which Smith described the genesis of The New World, a work he devised and created while seriously ill with cancer.

Tiepolo's "Il Mondo Novo"

Tiepolo’s Il Mondo Nuovo is an enigmatic work, showing a diverse crowd with their backs to the viewer. Smith’s response is equally mysterious, the photo collages combining figures from Tiepolo’s original with contemporary images and elusive symbolism.  Bruton’s novella incorporates each of the pictures in Smith’s series as a pictorial conclusion to each chapter, which re-imagines Smith as an unnamed “old artist” who creates art with the help of young photographer Livvy, and the encouragement of his loving wife. The artist is aware that he is losing grip on his life and his cherished memories.  The images which he conjures up with Livvy’s support are his way of surviving and possible injecting vitality into the images which have marked his life and which now seem to be slipping his grasp.  The novella therefore explores the creative process, the permanence of art and the impermanence of life. 

One of Smith's "responses" to Il Mondo Novo

With or Without Angels is a lyrical ode to art, life and love. It is at once elegiac yet hopeful, understated yet poignant, experimental yet perfectly accessible.  I am often wary of using hackneyed adjective “haunting”, but it seems perfectly fitting for this novella.        

Format

112 pages, Paperback

Expected publication

February 16, 2023 by Fairlight Books

Smith's works are taken from the artist's website.