The Book of Evidence
Encyclopedia
The Book of Evidence is a 1989 novel by the Irish author John Banville
. The book is narrated by Freddie Montgomery, a 38-year-old scientist, who murders a servant girl during an attempt to steal a painting from a neighbour. Freddie is an aimless drifter, and though he is a perceptive observer of himself and his surroundings, he is largely amoral.
The Book of Evidence won Ireland's Guinness Peat Aviation
Award in 1989, and was short-listed for Britain's Booker Prize. In reviewing the book, Publishers Weekly compared Banville's writing to that of Albert Camus
and Fyodor Dostoevsky
. The writing style continues Banville's attempt to give his prose "the kind of denseness and thickness that poetry has".
Many of the characters in The Book of Evidence appear in the 1993 sequel Ghosts
.
, then the Irish Attorney General
, where he was ultimately arrested. A serious effort was made to prevent the relationship with Connolly and MacArthur becoming public. Then Taoiseach
Charles Haughey
, described the incidents as "a bizarre happening, an unprecedented situation, a grotesque situation, an almost unbelievable mischance". The acronym GUBU
was coined by Conor Cruise O'Brien
and later applied to reflect the entirety of Haughey's March-December 1982 government, a government marred by constant turmoil.
who tells his life-story and recounts the events leading up to his arrest for the murder of a servant girl in one of Ireland's "big houses". A cultured but louche Anglo-Irish
scientist who has been living abroad for many years, Freddie returns to his ancestral home seeking money after falling foul of a gangster in the Mediterranean. Shocked to discover that his mother has sold the family's collection of paintings, Freddie attempts to recover them. This leads to a tragic series of events culminating in Freddie's killing of a maid while stealing a painting. On the run, he hides out in the house of old family friend, Charlie, a man of some influence, before being arrested and interrogated. The novel ends as Freddie sits in jail and has the first feelings of remorse for the girl's death while casting doubt on the truth of what he has recounted.
John Banville
John Banville is an Irish novelist and screenwriter.Banville's breakthrough novel The Book of Evidence was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the Guinness Peat Aviation award. His eighteenth novel, The Sea, won the Man Booker Prize in 2005. He was awarded the Franz Kafka Prize in 2011...
. The book is narrated by Freddie Montgomery, a 38-year-old scientist, who murders a servant girl during an attempt to steal a painting from a neighbour. Freddie is an aimless drifter, and though he is a perceptive observer of himself and his surroundings, he is largely amoral.
The Book of Evidence won Ireland's Guinness Peat Aviation
Guinness Peat Aviation
Guinness Peat Aviation was a Commercial Aircraft Sales and Leasing company set up in 1975 by Aer Lingus, the Guinness Peat Group and Tony Ryan, then an Aer Lingus executive.-History:...
Award in 1989, and was short-listed for Britain's Booker Prize. In reviewing the book, Publishers Weekly compared Banville's writing to that of Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
and Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
. The writing style continues Banville's attempt to give his prose "the kind of denseness and thickness that poetry has".
Many of the characters in The Book of Evidence appear in the 1993 sequel Ghosts
Ghosts (1993 novel)
Ghosts is a novel by Irish author John Banville. Published in 1993, it was the first novel by the author since the publication of The Book of Evidence , which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and features many of the same characters...
.
Background
The central events of the murder and subsequent flight are based on the 1982 case of Malcolm Edward MacArthur, who killed a young nurse in Dublin during the course of stealing her car. MacArthur, a well-known eccentric in the city's social circles, took refuge (as a guest) at the home of Patrick ConnollyPatrick Connolly
Patrick Connolly is a former Attorney General of Ireland who was appointed by Charles Haughey. Connolly resigned after Malcolm McArthur, who had been a house-guest of Connolly's, was later convicted of the murder of a nurse, Bridie Gargan ....
, then the Irish Attorney General
Attorney General of Ireland
The Attorney General is a constitutional officer who is the official adviser to the Government of Ireland in matters of law. He is in effect the chief law officer in Ireland. The Attorney General is not a member of the Government but does participate in cabinet meetings when invited and attends...
, where he was ultimately arrested. A serious effort was made to prevent the relationship with Connolly and MacArthur becoming public. Then Taoiseach
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government or prime minister of Ireland. The Taoiseach is appointed by the President upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann, the lower house of the Oireachtas , and must, in order to remain in office, retain the support of a majority in the Dáil.The current Taoiseach is...
Charles Haughey
Charles Haughey
Charles James "Charlie" Haughey was Taoiseach of Ireland, serving three terms in office . He was also the fourth leader of Fianna Fáil...
, described the incidents as "a bizarre happening, an unprecedented situation, a grotesque situation, an almost unbelievable mischance". The acronym GUBU
GUBU
GUBU is an acronym standing for grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented.The phrase was paraphrased from a comment by then Taoiseach of Ireland, Charles Haughey, while describing a strange series of incidents in the summer of 1982 that led to a double-murderer being apprehended in the...
was coined by Conor Cruise O'Brien
Conor Cruise O'Brien
Conor Cruise O'Brien often nicknamed "The Cruiser", was an Irish politician, writer, historian and academic. Although his opinion on the role of Britain in Northern Ireland changed over the course of the 1970s and 1980s, he always acknowledge values of, as he saw, the two irreconcilable traditions...
and later applied to reflect the entirety of Haughey's March-December 1982 government, a government marred by constant turmoil.
Plot
Freddie Montgomery is the unreliable narratorUnreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
who tells his life-story and recounts the events leading up to his arrest for the murder of a servant girl in one of Ireland's "big houses". A cultured but louche Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish was a term used primarily in the 19th and early 20th centuries to identify a privileged social class in Ireland, whose members were the descendants and successors of the Protestant Ascendancy, mostly belonging to the Church of Ireland, which was the established church of Ireland until...
scientist who has been living abroad for many years, Freddie returns to his ancestral home seeking money after falling foul of a gangster in the Mediterranean. Shocked to discover that his mother has sold the family's collection of paintings, Freddie attempts to recover them. This leads to a tragic series of events culminating in Freddie's killing of a maid while stealing a painting. On the run, he hides out in the house of old family friend, Charlie, a man of some influence, before being arrested and interrogated. The novel ends as Freddie sits in jail and has the first feelings of remorse for the girl's death while casting doubt on the truth of what he has recounted.