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Human Traces is epic in scope, following the lives of two men born in 1860.
Jacques Rebière and Thomas Midwinter become pioneering doctors, devoting their careers to the care of the mentally ill. In part, Jacques is driven by the need to understand the malady afflicting his beloved elder brother, Olivier.
![An abandoned asylum [Image: phill.d under CC-BY-NC-SA licence]](/openlearn/files/ole/imported/13929/asylum_catland.jpg)
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An abandoned asylum [Image: phill.d under CC-BY-NC-SA licence]
When Jacques and Thomas first encounter each other, there is a true meeting of minds. They embark upon "the project of a lifetime", motivated by the challenge to comprehend "the way in which functions the mind of the human" (sic).
This quest takes them all over the globe, from France and England to Germany, Austria-Hungary, America, and to Africa, where Thomas senses "the grandeur of human insignificance".
Drawing inspiration from his passion for literature, he reflects upon life's mysteries and suggests that: "The failure is not in the answers, but in the questions."
Later he will argue that the insane "pay the price for all of us", and advocates that we should turn our healthy lives "day by day, into an extended rapture".
The novel addresses profound issues, sometimes presenting the lectures delivered by Jacques and Thomas, and including meaningful debates about Darwinism and scientific and medical developments.
However the engrossing intellectual content does not distract us from the characters and their family relationships. Sonia is a particularly engaging heroine and, later in the book, Daniel Rebière's wartime experiences evoke the poignant, haunting quality of Birdsong.
The final sequences of Human Traces are stunning and affecting in their beauty, offering a serene conclusion.
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Comments on: "Human Traces"
has started a thread discussing Human Traces.
Re: Comments on: "Human Traces"
I'm about half way through this rather tedious novel the plot of which seems, annoyingly, vaguely familiar. Human Traces seems to be a platform for the presentation of the author's erudition rather than an entertainment. Sometimes Faulks seems not to know which way to turn because he has so many clever things to say. I suppose that's why he's had to cut back on characterisation and relies so much on his source materials to fill all those pages. That's perhaps why it seems familiar. Certainly there have been no surprises in the unfolding of the slender plot so far.
I might look it up on the Internet to see if I'm missing the point somehow - if I can be bothered.
Re: Comments on: "Human Traces"
Don't mince words - tell us what you really think!!!!! Hi marilyn! Glad to have a bit of controversy this month! I loved this book and was absolutely hooked from the start. I had a feeling that some parts of the text might arouse some ire, but I enjoyed everything.
Re: Comments on: "Human Traces"
I think that so much of the book could seem familiar because Faulks has maybe lifted a lot of the stuff that I read when I studied for a degree in psychology and integrated it into his narrative. It's a long time since I was a psychology undergraduate and my memory could be faulty but, for instance, the dance in the asylum was not a new idea for me. The background" material seems to me to be not well integrated either but chunks of it lobbed in more or less wholesale. I could be wrong. Maybe knowing or not knowing the likely source materials affects the way that the novel is read.
Re: Comments on: "Human Traces"
These are very fair points, and you may well be right. I drank it all in!
I also loved the character Sonia, and the two 'heroes'.
Re: Comments on: "Human Traces"
Did you really want or need to know in such detail the technical specifications and processes for the installation of a funicular railway, for example?
The inclusion of data seems to be driving the plot and in my view, that is the wrong way round. I thought that writing (of any kind - but certainly novels) meant knowing what to include and what to leave out. This novel seems not to have been purged at all. Redrafting is surely a process of reduction and selection but I can imagine Faulks re-reading and, instead of reducing, thinking "Oh I could look up some references and put some more in about that." Less is more - and in this case, more is certainly less - as I see it.
(Have you ever read The Wonder Boys or seen the film? The central character within that story is a writer who lacks the ability to sift out the unecessary. He can't sort out what's essential and what's not so everything goes in and stays in. Same as in his life. Detail is his downfall.)
The cover of my copy of Human Traces claims that the novel is a work of great imagination but there seems to me to be more factual (or pseudo-factual) content than imaginative/creative writing - plot, characterisation etc. There are just little glimpses of human relationships clouded by the context; and some of those seem to be included as salacious.
Overdone and selfconsciously clever, I think. And heavy - in terms of weight and readability. And boring.
Re: Comments on: "Human Traces"
I have been teaching this book recently, and wondered if the following info and discussion points might be of help to readers.
DISCUSSION POINTS
What is the message of this novel?
Consider the form of the novel. What different types of writing are involved? What do you think this variety adds to the novel?
‘His traditional narratives seem to belong to another age.’ Does Human Traces remind you of any other books?
To what extent are Jacques and Thomas parallel characters?
In what ways are they opposites? [Consider their differing theories on the human mind]. What other oppositions are set up in the novel?
Did you empathize more with Thomas than Jacques (or the other way round)?
Discuss the character of Sonia. What roles does she play in the novel?
Note the significance of footprints at various points in the novel.
To look up:
Chapter of a book Madness to Mental Illness: [Moderator: URL removed - page not found] -
Charcot: wapedia.mobi/en/Jean-Martin_Charcot wapedia.mobi/en/Pitié-Salpêtrière_Hospital –
The International Kraepelin Society: www.kraepelin.org/ -
The Rest Cure: [Moderator: URL removed - page cannot be found] –
Hello, and welcome (a little belatedly) to our March 2009 book, Human Traces.
Continuing our Darwinian theme from last month, we're turning our attention to Darwin in fiction and invite you to join us reading, and discussing, Human Traces by Sebastian Faulks.
Stephanie introduces the novel here:
http://www.open2.net/reading/human_traces.html
But what do you think?