Boris Vian’s Letters to Stanley Chapman

Letters to Stanley Chapman

By Boris Vian

Atlas Press & bookartbookshop, 2009

ISBN: 9781900565509

‘The main thing in life is to leap to every possible conclusion on every possible occasion.’

These words, the opening sentence of Boris Vian’s first novel as translated into English by Stanley Chapman, could be taken almost as a ‘Pataphysical Imperative.  That novel, Froth on the Daydream, received its first English publication in 1967, some eight years after Vian’s obscenely early death, but the two men had corresponded much earlier, in the mid-‘50s.  This elegant booklet presents facsimiles of seven of Vian’s letters.

In one, Vian writes that he has ‘had a bad time taking care of a fluttering heart’, a presentiment perhaps of the cardiac attack that would later strike him down.  Anyway, he comes across in the letters as a friendly guy, a giver, his writing full of bawdy wordplay.  There’s mention of ‘a cuntemporary celebrity’ in another letter, an epithet that should be used more often nowadays.  Limericks are discussed at the beginning and they apparently exchange some of their efforts (Vian praises Chapman’s limericks, though none are included here, showing them to a friend, the Scottish comedian Monty Landis) and in later letters the two embark on a project to write songs together.  The plan is to write songs in a rock ’n’ roll style, then a new-fangled thing, with Chapman translating and adapting Vian’s French lyrics.  The correspondence becomes a bit more business-like and matter of fact here.  Some songs, typewritten and with a few annotations, are included in the booklet – they came with the letters.

Why did the correspondence end?  Are Chapman’s own letters extant?  Is this the full haul of Vian’s letters to his English friend?  I confess I don’t know the answers to these questions.  Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention one small error in presentation: the fourth letter (dated 9 April 1956) was written before the third (3 Sept 1956), otherwise they are presented in chronological order.

For fans and admirers of Boris Vian, a man of myriad talents, this is a welcome publication.  An elegantly produced booklet, consisting of red lettering on a marbled cream cover and art paper between, it is well worthy of its subject.

Some further information about Boris Vian can be read here.

RNCM Big Band with Pete Long

RNCM Big Band with Pete Long
Royal Northern College of Music, 15 December 2010

Whoever would have conceived that the delicate clarinet could have given rise to such terrific music?

In this show Pete Long considered the role of the clarinet in jazz, from its early adoption, right through the swing era, and on up to modern times.  There were a slue of fine performances of grand works by the likes of Fats Waller, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Thad Jones.  And above all, Duke Ellington: for one of Long’s attractive qualities is that he cannot disguise his enthusiasms and passions.  Ellington is the pinnacle for Long, as he was too for Boris Vian.  Truly, there was an abundance and an indulgence of musical riches; it was like being locked overnight in a sweet shop.

As host and compere, Long was top-notch: convivial and humorous, generous towards the band (and towards the wonderful Amy Roberts in particular, a young clarinet player to watch out for in the near future), enthusiastic and erudite.  He played a mean clarinet, an’ all.  Even though ‘mean clarinet’ as an epithet probably qualifies as an oxymoron.  Discuss…

This was an evening of vivacious, energising music and most of us learnt something too.  All in all, it was splendid entertainment; what more could you ask for?  Well, free chocolate would be nice.

Gainsbourg

Gainsbourg
(Vie héroïque)
Directed by Joann Sfar
France, 2010
Cornerhouse, 1 August 2010

Still from Gainsbourg

Close to perfection: a film that engages the heart, the intellect and the senses.

This film presents the life of Serge Gainsbourg as an eventful tragedy: sad and bad things happen but there’s always a diversion, a new game in town, and our hero moves on.

The presence of Boris Vian (Philippe Katerine) in the film was surprising; I was unaware that Gainsbourg and the eminent ‘pataphysician were friends.  It caused me to wonder, also, whether Gainsbourg and Georges Perec, another young writer who’d taken inspiration and encouragement from Queneau, had ever met.  Apparently, they never did.  Jane Birkin did meet Perec in a London restaurant, though, and she told the author of Life: A User’s Manual that he reminded her of a character in a comic book she’d read as a child.  This film was adapted by Joann Sfar from his own comic about the singer.

Eric Elmosnino gives an outstanding performance in the lead role and he certainly looks the part, of that there’s no doubt.  A little bit more on the intersection where Jewish and French identity meet and cohere would have been welcome (Perec wrote W, a memoir of a Nazi-infested childhood not unlike Gainsbourg’s own) but there’s a terrific version of the French national anthem, which shows what a strange, curious and problematic beast it is.  There is enough food for the mind here, and Bardot too.  (Or rather a fair facsimile in the delectable form of Laetitia Casta.)