The Yann-ish Inquisition

I met Yann Martel briefly on Friday, ahead of his Black Box appearance in Belfast. The writer had noticed a line about the Miami Showband killings and he wanted to know how a bunch of musicians were shot at point blank range on the way home from Banbridge and why a the paramilitaries had pretended to be a 'proper' security force. Why were they planting a bomb in the band's tour van? What was the point of it all?

It's an unpleasant story and I wasn't especially comfortable with the details. Then again, I had yet to read the author's new story, 'Beatrice And Virgil', which circles the Holocaust with layers of fable and banality, revulsion and evasion. Later, I find out that Yann Martel has spent many years trying to make resonant art out of a horrendous history.

There was a play, and essay and some kind of flip book, combining different kinds of response. Some years later and after consulting with editors and publishers, parts of this process were included in the novel, reduced to fragments, macabre games and ghosted visions.

The millions who appreciated his Booker-winning Life Of Pi, may not find this book so easy. With Pi, even the American president had been moved to send Yann a hand-written note, calling it, "a lovely book - an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling". But the new publication has sent a few critics in a lather and it may confound the book clubs.

It took almost nine years to deliver 'Beatrice And Virgil' and it may take a proportionate time to reveal its worth. It's a slender book, but dense with it. The guy is no slouch. Yann has not been hurried and neither should we rush the jury.