June 2022 – Tiepolo Blue by James Cahill – DULWICH (and Cambridge)

9th June 2022

Tiepolo Blue by James Cahill, coming of age novel set mainly in Dulwich (and Cambridge).

Coming of age novel set mainly in DULWICH

The cover drew me to pick this book up and also, Tiepolo, a Rococo artist of the 18th Century, was part of the title (although his work is not really my cup of tea), It hinted at a novel with artistic content.

The novel starts out in Cambridge, at Peterhouse College where we meet Don, a don, professor, whose speciality is art history and who is currently involved in studying the skies in Tiepolo’s paintings. He lives a fairly secluded life, it’s very safe, sheltered from the exigencies of the world and he likes his routines. He has a room and study, he eats regularly in the refectory with other highfalutin minds from the world of academia and life is acceptable and certainly not challenging in a worldly way.

In the era of Tracey Emin’s My Bed, he is vexed to discover that a piece of modern art, constructed out of rubbish, has been dropped in the grounds beyond his window. It feels like this is the first time in his life that he has a fundamental and violent emotional response to something – his ire is well and truly fired. That is quite a new sensation, it almost feels like a misstep, a peek into a world of emotional cognisance which is very unfamiliar. His older, more senior friend Val suggests that he should leap into the unknown, leave Peterhouse, and take up the headship of the Brockwell Collection in Dulwich. Val eases his entry into the real world by lending him his house in suburb, which is but a hop and a skip from where he will be working. It seems like a good enough move, lured by the promise of a prize piece of artwork heading for the Brockwell Collection, he is soon ensconced in London.

This is a story of a man who has for most of his life to date preferred the hallowed halls of Cambridge University, rather than embracing the wider world and allowing himself to grow as a person. Literally pushed out into his new job by Val, he is like a man sliding around on an ice rink, away from the rarified atmosphere of Cambridge. His points of reference are skewed, he has little to anchor himself. Until now he has not bothered to engage with everyday life – he has had no real need –  but something is stirring within him and he needs to identify what it is.

There are all kinds of awakenings and disappointments for him along the way, cruel understanding of human nature and some fun, a lease of new life. His story is told with poignancy, dark humour, sadness and wit and I really enjoyed the story and the exceptionally good writing. I particularly liked being transported back to Dulwich where I grew up, there were so many familiar elements that I read the book with heightened pleasure. I’ll leave you with the bucolic picture of Dulwich Village:

In the early summer, Dulwich feels different. It is no longer the sedate suburb it was when he [Don] arrived – more an idyllic garden in which the houses and shops are scenic follies. He notices the detail and variety of things: the horse chestnuts bulging with leaves, the picket fences that border the pavements (white as cricket screens), the strips of manicured turf at the roadsides, and the mock-Elizabethan houses with their pastel-pale pebbledash.

Dulwich sounds lovely, doesn’t it? This novel is worth your time.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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