Sally Rooney is a 33 year old irish writer and her third novel Intermezzo was published last year. She is one of the most interesting novelists of our time. Here is my letter to a younger friend about contests of Intermezzo, and what kind of thoughts and memories it has brought to me:
Hi my Friend,
thanks for your first comments!
I suppose intermezzo as a term not only mean “välisoitto” of classical music but also some kind of transforming process (in writers mind). From that point there are several transforming aspects Ive got:
Ivans growth from a special kind of boy (asperger- and intellectual -aspects) to be a man.
Sorrow of loosing his father and finding his elder brother Peter after fighting with him.
Ivan feared his brother would kill him!
When I was 16 years old, I had same kind of experience with my elder brother myself.
We argued and my brother was so hateful that I realized he could kill me if we would go on fighting. Not by purpose, but he was three years older and used anabolic steroids to get stronger…
And – not least – Ivan (23 years old) is growing a man when meeting an divorced woman, Margaret (36). Rooney has described their sexual appeal to each other in a very sensual and realistic way (no cliches), which is quite rare in literature, films and media.
Peters growth from a young adult (32), who has been performing his life according to the fathers expectations until his death, which makes him collapse. His state of mind is very chaotic – his ideals of being lawyer and change the world has collapsed. He drinks and uses drugs and in a chaotic way thinks a lot of suicide, too.
Peter cannot feel much empathy or understanding to his brother who is so different and so much younger than he. Peter also feels he has betrayed his first love Sylvia and has a very complexed affair with Naomi, 22 years old. How to combine idealistic (romantic) love and sexual lust – a question every one need to solve on his/her path to adulthood!
You wrote:
“…made feel like I am both running out of time yet having so much ahead of me. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I think no matter how you look at it, Ivan and Peter are two sides of the same coin and they can’t escape each other’s destiny.”
I see how you feel about brothers. But I think there are some differences between them, too.
Peter has made his way very expected, directly, and idealistic. I feel that Ivan and Margaret have already been hurted in the world and in their relationships to the others. It may be possible for them to have a more autenthic relation with each other?
But anyway. When 25 years old I felt myself so tired and wornout. I had two long relationships (3 and 2,5 years) and the last one had ended nine months earlier. I had studied law six years and made my “gradu”. I felt totally alone and despaired. That’s when I thought I could leave everything – including my life. I had lived my life and given already everything I had got, I supposed.
BUT. I still had yearning to share my life with someone. And I also had a very good threrapist. I survived.
After examination a half year later I started to work for the city and for its people and surprisingly found it interesting and motivating. I lived 6 years as a single before I met my wife. I was 31 and she was 23. Paradoxical but true, there wasn’t such gap of age that couldn’t be overlapped.
Dear friend, I cant wait to hear your thoughts and responses!
