The New Life of Hugo Gardner
A Novel
(Sprache: Englisch)
Beloved author Louis Begley returns to the monied halls of the Upper East Side with a sharp new comedy of manners. Divorced after decades of comfortable marriage, retired journalist Hugo Gardner sets out to explore paths not travelled.
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Beloved author Louis Begley returns to the monied halls of the Upper East Side with a sharp new comedy of manners. Divorced after decades of comfortable marriage, retired journalist Hugo Gardner sets out to explore paths not travelled.After four decades of what he believes to be a happy, healthy partnership, Hugo Gardner's world is overturned when he learns that his wife, Valerie, is not only requesting a divorce but has left him for a younger, more vital man. Hugo, an octogenarian political writer and retired journalist for Time, must rethink the way he's lived, and reassess how he'd like to spend his remaining years.
Reconsidering past relationships in his mind, with years of distance, Hugo begins to see things in a new light: Valerie, whose youth and ambition eventually came between them; his children, whose support might be more financially than emotionally motivated; and his friends, who, like him are rapidly aging before his very eyes. With an ominous oncologist's report hanging over his head, Hugo decides to get away for a bit, to a conference in Paris. There, a new romance blooms and Hugo finds himself wondering if growing old in Paris might be the perfect antidote to the drama he left behind in New York.
Unflinching, witty, and urbane as ever, Louis Begley delivers a spot-on satire of the world of New York's aging elite, and uncovers the unexpected delights a late-in-life change can offer.
Lese-Probe zu „The New Life of Hugo Gardner “
IThe telephone rang just as I was about to go out to lunch. In the caller-ID window, ny followed by a number I didn t recognize. I shrugged. To hell with it. I ll answer.
Is Hugo Gardner available?
A voice hard to classify. Tough, no effort to make himself pleasant. Perhaps a fund-raiser for retired police chiefs.
Who s calling?
Attorney William Sweeney. Is Hugo Gardner available?
I admitted I was and asked what I could do for him.
I represent your wife, Mrs. Valerie Gardner. Does an attorney represent you?
I m not sure I understand, I told him. Why are you asking whether I have a lawyer? What are you representing my wife about?
You ll understand that I can t discuss a case with a party who is already represented by an attorney. Anyway, it would be better if I spoke to your attorney.
Well, I replied, you had better tell me what this is all about. Depending on what you say, I may or may not think I need a lawyer. So please go ahead.
All right, Hugo. It s my understanding that your wife is away for a few days on business. Is that right?
I was about to ask this fellow to address me as Mr. Gardner. Instead, I said, Yes, that s right.
Mrs. Gardner wishes to obtain a divorce. She has asked me to inform you and to urge you to retain counsel so we can get the work done promptly and smoothly. That s the reason for my call. Mrs. Gardner told me that your email address is hugo.gardner1932@gmail.com. If that s correct, I ll send you an email with my contact information as soon as we hang up, so that your attorney can reach out to me.
Wait a moment, please, I said. What do you mean: my wife wants to divorce me? I ve never heard any such thing.
She thought you might act surprised. She wants a divorce on the grounds of your cruel and inhuman treatment of her, and the irretrievable breakdown in your relationship. You surely recognize that this is so.
Like hell I do.
Let s not argue, Hugo. You ll get my email.
... mehr
After that I ll expect to hear from your attorney.
He hung up.
I was going to have lunch alone at my club and afterward see a photography show at MoMA. All that could wait. Twelve-fifteen. Therefore nine-fifteen in San Francisco. I called Valerie s cell-phone number. She wasn t an early riser. I guessed she d be having breakfast in bed in her room at the Fairmont. Several rings. Was she in the bathroom, or had she decided not to answer, once she saw that the call was from me? But no, she answered. A weary: Yes.
Hello, Valerie, I said, I ve just had the strangest conversation with a man called Sweeney. He claims he s your lawyer and you want a divorce. What s going on?
What s going on is that it s just as Bill Sweeney told you. I can t go on living with you. I d rather be dead. I want a divorce, le plus vite possible.
Why she should find it useful to insert French into the conversation was beyond me. The whole thing was beyond me.
I must be dreaming, I replied. You left two days ago. On the morning plane. Very affectionate goodbye. We made love the night before. You certainly seemed to enjoy it. I told you I was getting tickets for Eugene Onegin and you said that was a great idea. Tickets for you and me. What happened between then and now? Is this some sort of bad joke?
What happened is that I let you fuck me last Tuesday the way I usually do to get some peace and some rest before going on a trip that s important to me professionally. Do you understand what that means? Do you ever pay attention? Do you ever notice what goes on around you? Don t you know that living with you is like living with a corpse? Not even a zombie. An unburied corpse! I can t stand you
He hung up.
I was going to have lunch alone at my club and afterward see a photography show at MoMA. All that could wait. Twelve-fifteen. Therefore nine-fifteen in San Francisco. I called Valerie s cell-phone number. She wasn t an early riser. I guessed she d be having breakfast in bed in her room at the Fairmont. Several rings. Was she in the bathroom, or had she decided not to answer, once she saw that the call was from me? But no, she answered. A weary: Yes.
Hello, Valerie, I said, I ve just had the strangest conversation with a man called Sweeney. He claims he s your lawyer and you want a divorce. What s going on?
What s going on is that it s just as Bill Sweeney told you. I can t go on living with you. I d rather be dead. I want a divorce, le plus vite possible.
Why she should find it useful to insert French into the conversation was beyond me. The whole thing was beyond me.
I must be dreaming, I replied. You left two days ago. On the morning plane. Very affectionate goodbye. We made love the night before. You certainly seemed to enjoy it. I told you I was getting tickets for Eugene Onegin and you said that was a great idea. Tickets for you and me. What happened between then and now? Is this some sort of bad joke?
What happened is that I let you fuck me last Tuesday the way I usually do to get some peace and some rest before going on a trip that s important to me professionally. Do you understand what that means? Do you ever pay attention? Do you ever notice what goes on around you? Don t you know that living with you is like living with a corpse? Not even a zombie. An unburied corpse! I can t stand you
... weniger
Autoren-Porträt von Louis Begley
Louis Begley's novels include Memories of a Marriage, Schmidt Steps Back, Matters of Honor, Shipwreck, Schmidt Delivered, Mistler s Exit, About Schmidt, As Max Saw It, The Man Who Was Late, and Wartime Lies, which won the PEN/Hemingway Award and the Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize. His latest novel, Kill and be Killed, was published in 2016. His work has been translated into fourteen languages. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Louis Begley
- 2020, 224 Seiten, Maße: 14,7 x 22,1 cm, Gebunden, Englisch
- Verlag: Penguin Random House
- ISBN-10: 0385545622
- ISBN-13: 9780385545624
- Erscheinungsdatum: 14.03.2020
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
Wily and adept . . . With discerning, amusing, and cutting commentary on everything from food and wine to politics, sex, and the right to die with dignity, Begley seduces and provokes with fiercely urbane wit."Booklist
Begley turns in a spry, unerringly smooth performance . . . A sharply amusing novel in which an octogenarian pundit rediscovers his past.
Kirkus
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