Good Read: Incline Our Hearts by A. N. Wilson

Before my trip to the hospital for some in-and-out thyroid surgery, I made sure to have a stack of books to read when I got home. I logged into LEO on the New York Public Library's website, and reserved several books to be picked-up at my local branch for the convalescent period.

I've long been a fan of A. N. Wilson, and have enjoyed his theological works as well as the odd novel. For this lie-in I decided to take on his five novel series known collectively as the Lampitt Chronicles.

The series begins with Incline Our Hearts which introduces our narrator Julian Ramsay. Julian is a World War II orphan living in a Norfolk vicarage with his Aunt Deirdre and Uncle Roy. The Ramsays have a terrible marriage and Uncle Roy is a figure of ridicule and animosity for Julian. The title of the book comes from the 1662 Book of Common Prayer of which Uncle Roy is a devoted adherent. In a hilarious scene of an early morning somewhat desolate Sunday service, it is only Aunt Deirdre in the congregation, Julian is the server and poor Aunt Deirdre is the sole worshiper. Uncle Roy recites the Decalogue as per the rubricks to unintentional effect:

Minister. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
People. Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.

Yes, well, one would hope poor Aunt Deirdre's heart will be so inclined.

The novel follows Ramsay through the "English Gulag" of public school where he is terrorized by mildly pedophilic headmasters and falls hopelessly involve with the art teacher. Julian becomes a chronic cryer after the death of his parents and wails endlessly when sent off to school. He grows into a cruel adolescent -- at least towards his aunt and uncle, and less so towards his cousin, the inaptly named Felicity. In his late, take-no-prisoners teens, Julian is sent abroad for the summer to Normandy where he is initiated into adulthood by the daughter of his hostess. Upon returning to England, Julian begins his compulsory National Service as a soldier at British stations in the Mediterranean.

All thorough this early stage of Julian's life, his existance and that of his closest family is shadowed by that of the Lampitts. The Lampitts are a newly aristocratic family deceded from a weathly brewer. The most prominent member, Lord Lampitt is a Labour peer. His son, "The Honourable Vernon" is a Labour MP. Lampitt cousins are parishioners of Uncle Roy's and the village vicar becomes obesessed with the family. He becomes a encyclopedic source of all manner of Lampittology, and a nearly life-long friend and aide-de-camp of Sargeant Lampitt, his closest neighbor.

The Lampitts serve to give Wilson the means with which to examine the upper classes from the vantage point of the middle classes. And he does so hilariously as the Lampitts fail to live up to their potential time and again. Sargie becomes ridiculous and Lord Lampitt becomes more and more radical as the post-war era gives way to the Swinging Sixties.

But it is his examination of Julian, a middle class boy coming of age in post-war England that is the novel's greatest achievement. The schoolboy crush Julian has on the art mistress is so painfully portrayed, with equal measures of comedy and tragedy. There seems not a turn of the tender heart of a growing boy that is omitted. Each pining throb rings true. Julian's teenage arrogance and cruelty is painstakingly recounted, and in embarrassingly honest episodes, Wilson shows us just how heartless the young at heart truly are. Julian's sexual initiation is depicted with equal honesty and the obsession and ambivalence of lost virginity is accutely drawn.

I find Wilson's prose to be artfully beautiful in a the best modern tradition -- and immensely readable. His style propels you forward both in pursuit of the narrative and by the fluidity of the writing itself. Wilson is culturally and artisticially articulate, and the education his referents provide are worth the read.

I found Incline Our Hearts to be a great read. Smart and funny and insightful. This is what the post-war literary boom was supposed to be. Wilson fulfills those expectations and then some. I'm on to the next installment of the book and will report here how I find it.