Thoughts: Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

I had an audible credit this week and ended up buying Tigana, by Guy Gabriel Kay and read by Simon Vance.

I read pretty much constantly, so I’ve decided to jot down my thoughts as I finish them. This is in no way a review, I’m in no way qualified for such a task, but I will comment on what I think.

One of the reasons I like audible.com’s audiobooks is the occasional author afterward or forward. These are sometimes included with the published books, other times they are not, but it’s always interesting to hear the authors read their statements themselves.

Tigana is about a country, a princedom, which loses its name. The people of the nation can remember and speak it, but anyone not born in Tigana while it was called Tigana cannot grasp the word. It slides out of their awareness.

Kay writes fantasy in the true, Tolkienesque tradition, and, thus, the loss of a name was handled through a spell. Forcing a name out of existence has become a common trope now, much like when a side-character/object-of-desire of the protagonist loses her insanely long locks for some reason, and the Hero uses his mojo to grow the hair back.

The plot centers on a group of these refugees who are trying to reacquire their country’s name. The characters are strong, and aside from a love story that left me scratching my head at the end, the novel is beautifully written. The exploration of the subjugated peoples and their public and private lives, especially unstable sexuality of subjugated peoples, is rich and enjoyable.

Due to his comments, I’ll likely be reading Milan Kundera’s books that focus on the problem with the identity and sexuality of subjugated peoples. In Tigana the full, heterosexual gambit is explored, and it felt like too much at one point while I listened. The afterward, though, tells a different story, on how Kay was exploring the problems people have with stable, societaly acceptable sexuality in a subjugated situation. The characters are refugees without power or an identity, and this is illustrated in all aspects of their lives, and, especially, their sexual escapades.

Kundera, was, and still is I suppose, a Czech refugee, and he speaks from experience while under Soviet rule. This might also, partially, explain some of the behavior of people on Jerry Springer and similar television shows. Perhaps the poor feel subjugated, and turn to rampant, aimless sex to compensate? Anyway, he’s definitely on my book list now.

He also mentions the notion of erasure from history. It was photos like these that gave him the thematic spark:

The Soviets would treat culled men as if they had never existed. It was Stalin’s genius to do so, because a dead man can be a martyr, but a man who has disappeared and is not even acknowledged is just a ghost. And that’s what Kay’s characters are in Tigana, ghosts, and would remain thus forever if not for the efforts of a few men.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough food for thought, he goes on to mention a stage play called Translations by Brian Friel. Friel explores the idea of renaming Irish landmarks, towns, roads, etc, in order to disconnect the Irish people from their heritage. The play is a conversation between British characters, and follows in the same vein as the harsh laws of subjugation the British Empire imposed on the Irish people:

• The Irish Catholic was forbidden the exercise of his religion.
• He was forbidden to receive education,
• He was forbidden to enter a profession.
• He was forbidden to hold public office.
• He was forbidden to engage in trade or commerce.
• He was forbidden to live in a corporate town or within five miles thereof.
• He was forbidden to own a horse of greater value than five pounds.
• He was forbidden to purchase land.
• He was forbidden to lease land.
• He was forbidden to accept a mortgage on land in security for a loan.
• He was forbidden to vote.
• He was forbidden to keep any arms for his protection.
• He was forbidden to hold a life annuity.
• He was forbidden to buy land from a Protestant.
• He was forbidden to receive a gift of land from a Protestant.
• He was forbidden to inherit land from a Protestant.
• He was forbidden to inherit anything from a Protestant.
• He was forbidden to rent any land that was worth more than thirty shillings a year.
• He was forbidden to reap from his land any profit exceeding a third of the rent.
• He could not be guardian to a child.
• He could not, when dying, leave his infant children under Catholic guardianship.
• He could not attend Catholic worship.
• He was compelled by law to attend Protestant worship.
• He could not himself educate his child.
• He could not send his child to a Catholic teacher.
• He could not employ a Catholic teacher to come to his child.
• He could not send his child abroad to receive education.

MacManus, Seamus, Story of the Irish Race, Devin-Adair Co., Grenwich, Connecticut, 1979 p.458-459

To audiences who enjoy the fantasy genre, Tigana is a great read.

Let me close by mentioning that this book was written pre-google, and one of those little mistakes that don't happen after search engines was made with the title. There is a French futball player named Jean Tigana. Kay was unaware of this at the time of writing, so, in certain Eurpoean markets, the book is named Tigane.