The Wall Street Journal-20080125-WEEKEND JOURNAL- Adviser -- Books- A Portrait of Wartime- Pat Barker-s -Life Class- takes on issues of art and censorship
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WEEKEND JOURNAL; Adviser -- Books: A Portrait of Wartime; Pat Barker's 'Life Class' takes on issues of art and censorship
'Life Class'
By Pat Barker
Pat Barker is fighting World War I for the fourth time. The British novelist, who made her name with three World War I novels, known as the "Regeneration" trilogy, is out with a new book set in the same era, "Life Class."
The main characters are fictional, though "Life Class" has appearances by actual people, including the painter Augustus John, the benefactor Lady Ottoline Morrell and the artist-surgeon Henry Tonks. Much of the action is set at the real Slade School of Art, in London, and revolves around a group of young students in 1914 through the early months of the war. Paul Tarrant, a landscape artist in training, falls for a fellow student, Elinor Brooke, another landscape artist, whom the author modeled after the real-life painter Dora Carrington. A third student, Kit Neville, has designs on Elinor as well. Meanwhile, war breaks out, and while Neville and Elinor remain in England and work on their paintings, Paul volunteers for the Belgian Red Cross, and is assigned to Ypres, where he tends to the wounded and paints when he can.
The novel cuts between people such as Elinor, who strive to remain unaffected by the war, and those like Paul, whose lives are given meaning by its horrors.
Ms. Barker, who won a Booker prize for "The Ghost Road," the final "Regeneration" novel, says she was fascinated by how art sometimes censors itself. In "Life Class," Ms. Barker's protagonist, Paul, shows a teacher at his old school some of his art that depicts such images as a soldier with a disfigured face, and the teacher doesn't think it can be shown during a time of war. "It raises a question," Ms. Barker says. "If you're painting something that you think cannot be shown, why are you painting it? . . . The most horrific sights of the war are only allowed to appear when the war is being rethought."
The novel has received good reviews. In Britain, the Observer praised "Life Class" for its "elegant subtlety."
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Tracks:
Songs With 'Sting'
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Singer Thao Nguyen breaks down her new album
Growing up in a Virginia suburb, Thao Nguyen taught herself acoustic guitar and modeled herself after such musicians as pop-folk singer Sarah McLachlan and bluesman Mississippi John Hurt. On her album, "We Brave Bee Stings and All," (out Jan. 29) Ms. Nguyen uses elliptical lyrics, bright guitar work and a versatile band, the Get Down Stay Down, to build on her influences. Below, Ms. Nguyen discusses some selected songs from the album:
-- John Jurgensen
Beat (Health, Life and Fire)
"It's the one I'm most proud of," Ms. Nguyen says. Written after she graduated from the College of William & Mary in 2006, the album's first song announces a break from past relationships.
Bag of Hammers
Ms. Nguyen says she heard an actor use this phrase on TV to describe the burden one carries through life. Her swirling acoustic guitar and piping vocals on this track are reminiscent of Talking Heads.
Feet Asleep
A tribute to Ms. Nguyen's mother and her workload in the laundry she owns, the song expresses "my indignance on her behalf." Banjo, piano and horns raise the spirits of the song. "I like a good hootenanny," Ms. Nguyen says.
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Datebook
Friday 25
While Conor McPherson's acclaimed "The Seafarer" plays on Broadway, Chicago's Goodman Theatre is staging the Irish playwright's Tony- nominated "Shining City," through Feb. 17. It's a ghost story set in present-day Dublin.
Tuesday 29
Vampire Weekend, a quartet featuring Columbia alumni, releases its self-titled debut album. The group's music evokes styles from African pop to alternative rock.
Thursday 31
ABC's eerie sci-fi series "Lost," about survivors of a plane crash on a mysterious island, returns for its fourth season with a new episode at 9 p.m. EST. At 8 p.m., ABC airs a show that recaps the first three seasons.
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Opening Today
A veteran actor returns in a familiar role
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