Variations on a theme.

Something occurred to me about Bel Canto last night (I'm about half way through). As the characters emerge further and the story progresses, I detect a similar construction as in Patchett's The Magician's Assistant. The opera singer is this incredible, strong person; a woman surrounded by men. In particular, two men--Mr. Hokosawa and Gen, the translator. The whole of the narrative revolves around her and she, in a really lovely subtle way, holds a lot of power over the others and makes things happen. She holds them all in thrall.

Sabine, the magician's assistant, is in a similar position. She has her two men--the magician, Parsifal, and his lover. They share a house, as do the characters in Bel Canto, though for very different reasons...perhaps. I guess one could argue there are many definitions of being held hostage.

To date I have only read the one and a half Ann Patchett novels so I am curious about this theme popping up elsewhere in her oeuvre. I do love writers who seem to have something "stuck in their craw" and try to work it out again and again, book after book. Murakami is one of these novelists, as is Kazuo Ishiguro. Both write with such musical tone and cadence.

I started to wonder if this musicality was a common characteristic of Japanese writers and find it an immensely interesting coincidence that the two men of Patchett's novel are Japanese. I also started to seek out more contemporary Japanese writers in an attempt to broaden my frame of reference even just a little and read Out: A Novel (Natsuo Kirino) last year. (Warning: not for the squeamish!) Such a different tone here and definitely more rough and edgy. It is about a female serial killer so that shouldn't have surprised me! Of course this helped not at all with my probably incredibly naive theory. It only raised innumerable questions about male v. female writers, the Japanese culture then and now, and translations.

Variations on a theme is also prevalent with film writers/directors. One of my favorites is John Dahl. He wrote and directed three films back-to-back, all with the same structure and basic story line, though they are all very different in every other way. Check out Kill Me Again (1989), Red Rock West (1992), and The Last Seduction (1994). All involve one woman, two men (one good, one bad) and a large sum of money. In each story a different one of the three ends up with the cash. I couldn't choose a favorite...they are all absolutely divine. Go get 'em!