Book 38 - Stephen Vizinczey "In Praise of Older Women"
Stephen Vizinczey "In Praise of Older Women" (Penguin Modern Classics)
The notion that older women make the most interesting and satisfying lovers is one of the most persistent in the general understanding of human relationships, and there are several reasons for believing in its veracity, particularly in cases where their partners are either virginal or barely experienced. This well-established novel explores the possible reasons in the form of an autobiographical account of the amorous progress of a young man from his early pubescence in his native Hungary during the transition from post-Nazi to Soviet occupation. The low priority of sexual mores during such times emerges as a clear influence on him. For me the book recalled the social situations described more ably by the similarly nationally occupied Czechoslavakians Skvorecky and Kundera, even though these authors eschewed the narrow focus of erotic education that dominates Vizinczey's novel. The supposed subject eventually leaves Hungary to pursue an academic career in Canada, opening a broader landscape of human relationships. The sociological backgrounds of the women who contributed to the education of the young narrator, necessarily twisted by their own, possibly atypical, experiences may well have influenced his analysis of their relationships with him, but their variety certainly adds richness to the descriptions of their needs and emotions. It's an interesting book, relatively clinical rather than erotic in its narrative style.
The notion that older women make the most interesting and satisfying lovers is one of the most persistent in the general understanding of human relationships, and there are several reasons for believing in its veracity, particularly in cases where their partners are either virginal or barely experienced. This well-established novel explores the possible reasons in the form of an autobiographical account of the amorous progress of a young man from his early pubescence in his native Hungary during the transition from post-Nazi to Soviet occupation. The low priority of sexual mores during such times emerges as a clear influence on him. For me the book recalled the social situations described more ably by the similarly nationally occupied Czechoslavakians Skvorecky and Kundera, even though these authors eschewed the narrow focus of erotic education that dominates Vizinczey's novel. The supposed subject eventually leaves Hungary to pursue an academic career in Canada, opening a broader landscape of human relationships. The sociological backgrounds of the women who contributed to the education of the young narrator, necessarily twisted by their own, possibly atypical, experiences may well have influenced his analysis of their relationships with him, but their variety certainly adds richness to the descriptions of their needs and emotions. It's an interesting book, relatively clinical rather than erotic in its narrative style.