Headlong by Michael Frayn

Headlong In Brief Determined to keep his butterfly mind on his new project, Martin Clay has installed himself, his art historian wife Kate and their baby daughter Tilda in their weekend cottage, far away from any distractions. But soon Martins mind is first wandering, then cantering, down a track heading for either disaster or fame, fortune and his name enshrined in the annals of art history. Invited to dine with the Churts, the local, somewhat fraying, landed gentry, Martin and Kate find their opinions solicited on several paintings. Martin convinces himself that hes found a missing work by Pieter Bruegel, a discovery he keeps not only from his hosts but also from his wife. Casting aside his original plans and shrugging off any troubling little ethical concerns, Martin immerses himself in researching Bruegel in the London Library, hatching precarious schemes to get his hands on the supposed missing masterpiece and taxing the patience of the long-suffering Kate. With a cast of entertaining characters, Headlong combines erudition with high farce and a page-turning pace. Background Few writers can match either the diversity or the prolific output of Michael Frayn, let alone the skill with which he seems able to adapt himself to whatever genre he chooses. An acclaimed playwright whose work ranges from the farce of Noises Off to Copenhagen which combines nuclear physics and history with a study in morality, he began his career as a journalist writing for what was then the Manchester Guardian. Before studying philosophy at Cambridge, where he wrote for both the Footlights Revue and Granta magazine, he became a Russian interpreter during his two-year National Service stint, a skill he later put to use as a translator of several works of Chekhov. In keeping with this versatility Headlong manages to combine the erudition of academic research with moments of downright farce which would not be out of place in one of Frayns comic plays. He has said that the idea for the novel came from a visit to the Bruegel room at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna: It had never dawned on me before that those pictures side by side are thought to be part of a series. A little notice said that there were originally six and one is missing. And it just came into my head straight away. What if someone saw a painting that he thought was the missing Bruegel? Would he just say Oh, that's the missing Bruegel or would he be a little more devious and try and to do something good for the world by saving it and make a little money in the process? I guessed there could be a fatal mixture of motives. Frayn embarked upon a programme of meticulous research for the novel during which I discovered that everything about Bruegel is mysterious and subject to speculation, including the question of this missing picture. Headlong attracted a good deal of praise when it was published. Ian McEwan described it as a very strange novel . . . Unlike anything else around. I know the banal view will be that it shakes under the weight of its research and scholarship. But people who say that just don't get that he is trying to do something quite odd. He really engrosses the reader in the process of scholarship and it's a remarkable intellectual exercise.
Faber Book Club Guides: Headlong

In The Spectator Anita Brookner agreed declaring the scholarship is dreamy, persuasive, exalted, the present-day ruminations jaunty, defensive and equally misleading. Indeed the entire novel is an intricate brainwashing puzzle, alternating abstruse objectivity with feverish intentions. Surely the most gratifying of accolades from such a respected art historian and writer.

For Discussion . . . What is the ethical conundrum with which Martin finds himself presented? How does he justify his confidence trick as he frequently refers to it? Several other characters in the book behave badly which did you feel behaved the worst and why? How do we get into these ridiculous situations with the people we love? (page 74). Why doesnt Martin tell Kate of his great discovery? How does his policy of no lies, no unnecessary truths (page 74) effect their relationship? Can it ever recover from the damage Martin inflicts on it? Jealousy gives way to curiosity. What did she see? What did she think? And instantly curiosity gives way in its turn to uneasiness. (page 207). Why does Martin see Kate as such a threat? How does she differ from him in her approach to her work? Youre implying that a painting might be worth more than us? Than you and me? (page 258) Martin speaks these words to Kate with outraged incredulity. Were you surprised by his outrage? What is Kates reaction? Why is the epitaph that Kate translates as This Bruegel . . . painted many things which cannot be painted, as Pliny said of Apelles. (page 165) so convincing to Martin? What conclusions does it lead him to? What do you make of Martins interpretations of Bruegels work? He describes himself as an iconologist rather than an iconographer. How does this inform his interpretations? The Manichaeans are right: the darkness balances out the light, the evil balances out the good. (page 378). Does this prove to be the case in the novel? Laura first, twine afterwards (page 388) thinks Martin as the Landrover burns. What seems to be the basis for his decision? What kind of man is Martin? How well does he appear to know himself? In what ways has he changed at the end of the novel? How does Michael Frayn convey his character? Frayn is well-known as a dramatist. To what extent have his skills as a playwright influenced the structure and style of Headlong? How well did you think that Frayns carefully researched art history merged with the Martins story? Did it awaken an interest in the subject for you? Headlong is a comic novel. Were there particular scenes that amused you and if so what were they? Why do you think Frayn chose the single word Headlong for his title? How appropriate did you find it?

Faber Book Club Guides: Headlong

Suggested Further Reading Fiction Possession by A S Byatt Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier Keeping the World Away by Margaret Forster Tulip Fever by Deborah Moggach Mary Swann by Carole Shields Girl in Hyacinth Blue by Susan Vreeland Non-fiction Bruegel (World of Art Series) by Walter S. Gibson A History of the Dutch-Speaking Peoples, 1555-1648 by Pieter Geyl Other Books by Michael Frayn Fiction The Tin Men The Russian Interpreter Towards the End of the Morning A Very Private Life Sweet Dreams Plays The Two of Us Alphabetical Order Donkeys Years Clouds Balmoral Make and Break Noises Off Democracy Film and Television Clockwise First and Last Remember Me?

About the Author Michael Frayn was born in London on 8th September 1933. He read philosophy at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, then worked as a reporter and columnist for the Guardian and the Observer. He is an acclaimed playwright, novelist and translator who has won several awards for his writing, including the 2002 Whitbread Novel Award for Spies. Headlong was shortlisted for the 1999 Booker Prize, the Whitbread Novel Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. Michael Frayn is married to the biographer and critic Claire Tomalin.

Sweet Dreams The Trick of It A Landing on the Sun Now You Know Spies

Benefactors Look Look Here Now You Know Copenhagen Alarms & Excursions Democracy

Non-fiction Celias Secret (with David Burke) Genesis (September 2006)

Resources
Review by the academic Michael Wood published in the LRB: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v21/n20/wood01_.html Review by Michiko Kakutani published in the New York Times: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404E0DB1138F937A1575BC0A96F9 58260&pagewanted=2 Profile by the novelist Nicholas Wroe published in the Guardian: www.guardian.co.uk/saturday_review/story/0,3605,268186,00.html Profile at the British Council website including an essay by the drama critic Michael Billington: www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth114 Biographical page for Bruegel from the Web Gallery of Art site which includes links to reproductions of his paintings: http://gallery.euroweb.hu/bio/b/bruegel/pieter_e/biograph.html Page giving an overview of the Netherlands in the 16th century from the Historyworld site: www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=3104&HistoryID=ac90

Faber Book Club Guides: Headlong