The New Canon is a regular feature, contributed by Ted Gioia, focusing on great works of fiction published since 1985. These books represent the finest literature of the current era, and are gaining recognition as the new classics of our time. In this installment of The New Canon, Gioia looks at Bel Canto by Ann Patchett.
A Third World terrorist group holds hostage a prominent group of politicians, executives and a famous American soprano who had the bad fortune to be entertaining the wrong audience at the wrong time. Government authorities settle in for a long stand-off, and attempts to negotiate the release of the hostages falter in the face of untenable demands. A bloody confrontation seems likely.
Sound familiar? We have all seen similar set-ups in countless Hollywood action films. But Ann Patchett’s Bel Canto will defy every expectation you bring to this rich book. Her story has nothing in common with Die Hard or Air Force One or Speed or the many other good-versus-evil stories that fill up the racks at Blockbuster.
Every stereotype of the genre is over-turned - first of all, because Ann Patchett has no interest in writing an action novel, or even a suspense novel. But also because her most interesting developments take place in the inner lives of her characters. Imagine Henry James tackling a Tom Clancy scenario, with a dose of Lost in Translation added in for good measure, and you will get some idea of the piquant flavor of this odd, but endearing, book.
The reader soon learns that the “good guys” aren’t quite so good as one would like. And the “bad guys” aren’t so bad. And before Bel Canto concludes, the roles have become entirely reversed, with the traditional heroes falling short of the villains. This goes beyond the famous Stockholm Syndrome, in which hostages begin to sympathize with their captors. In Bel Canto, the terrorists are gradually co-opted by their victims - especially by the singing of Roxane Coss, the opera star whose brief visit to South America to perform for a private audience at the Vice President’s home now stretches into an indefinite stay under house arrest.
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