Bingo Square: Back to School
Henri works in the kitchens during the Napoleonic Wars. A naive young solider he has nothing but love and admiration for Napoleon and longs to be of service. But as the years pass and the zero winter sets in, Henri becomes disillusioned, especially when he falls in love. Villanelle is a boatman’s daughter of Venice. She has bright red hair and webbed feet and spends her time in the casino, picking pockets and dealing cards. She has literally lost her heart to a noble woman and uses Henri to get it back. His love for her leads him away from his own beliefs and into the realms of madness.
This is the first book of Winterson’s that I read, as part of a class at university. I enjoyed it a lot then, (probably thrilled to escape the endless discussions of poetry) and feel the same now. I am not sure if I totally get it, if I am honest. It was written in 1987 and in a brief note from 1996 Winterson says it was written in the boom-time of Thatcher and yuppies and she wanted to hold up a mirror to that. I think most of it is lost on me and I read it at face value rather than trying to dissect it for more meaning. I do think this could be written about now, though:
Nowadays people talk about the things he did as though they made sense. As though even his most disastrous mistakes were only the result of bad luck or hubris. It was a mess.
I wish I was smarter and could say more about it, other than it’s written beautifully and strangely and is very affecting because of both. I enjoy that she wrote about Venice without ever having been there, making it an entirely fictional place, but one I believe in wholeheartedly. I love Villanelle even though she cannot love poor Henri back. It’s a lovely one. I should read more of hers.