Beatrice and Virgil afterthoughts

Beatrice and Virgil, a book by Yann Martel, is on holocaust. The holocaust of any living things. Harry the writer who gave up on his attempt to write his book on holocaust met Harry the taxidermist who has been trying almost all his life to write a play in which Virgil, a howler monkey, and Beatrice, a donkey, are the main characters. Beatrice and Virgil talk in a very roundabout manner on everything and nothing in particular, like the two characters in Waiting for Godot. Their dialogues seem to touch on all the mysteries and philosophies of life, but are mostly vague and puzzling.

Harry the taxidermist seemed to take great pride in his profession. He became a taxidermist after reading The Legend of St Julian Hospitator by Gustave Flaubert. Flaubert had described killings of animals in this book, and Harry was inspired to preserve the carcass. It was difficult to make sense of Harry the taxidermist, and the readers understand Harry the taxidermist through the perception of Harry the writer. Through their conversation which is mainly on Virgil and Beatrice, the readers catch a glimpse of holocaust and animals' cruelty.

Yann Martel's Beatrice and Virgil also brought to my mind the book by Julian Barnes entitled Flaubert's Parrot, which was about a man's obsession with Flaubert. The narrator had mentioned all the important friends and lovers of Flaubert, speculated on the thoughts of Flaubert and his girlfriends and mistress, hypothesised on the what if's of these people who once existed and also on Flaubert's protagonists, e.g. Emma Bovary. The parrot refers to stuffed parrot (taxidermy comes in here) which was at one time in Flaubert's possession. At least two museums claimed to have Flaubert's parrot. The narrator examined all the stuffed parrots and explained his own thought process on which parrot was really Flaubert's. The similarities or parallels between Flaubert's Parrot and Beatrice and Virgil are that the narrators voiced out thoughts on writing, and described and commented about characters from a couple of novels, and both books had referred to Flaubert.

Yann Martel's Beatrice and Virgil is also a tale on how to write. As Harry the taxidermist explained to Harry the writer on the symbols, allegories, allusions, the readers started to understand (sort of) the taxidermist's play, which is a sub-plot of this novel. Harry the novelist was skeptical about the play in which the characters do not seem to develop and nothing happen in the play many times over. Something finally happened in the play at the end, and also to the two Harrys. Still the ending does not tie all the pieces of the plot together coherently.

I haven't read Dante's Divine Comedy, so I don't know the characters Beatrice and Virgil in Divine Comedy. I also haven't read Yann Martel's first book The Life of Pi. Beatrice and Virgil is a strange story, with some insightful remarks thrown in here and there which bring resonance in me. The book ended with twelve game questions in a kind of epilogue. They resemble what-if questions. Questions on what you will do as you face one despair situation after another. Questions which we probably have no answers, and discussing these questions with anyone will make it a very grave and groomy interaction.