WORDS Rachel Fleming
Adam Foulds’ latest offering, In the Wolf’s Mouth, is an ambitious attempt to capture both the immediate horrors of violent conflict as well as the latent effect it has on the lives of soldiers and ordinary citizens. Set in North Africa and Sicily towards the end of the Second World War, the novel examines the brutal inaccuracies of battle to powerful effect.
The preface opens in a small Sicilian village oppressed by local Mafia. Descriptions of a peaceful landscape contrast with the helplessness of the villagers, introducing issues of power, violence and corruption that run throughout the novel. The first section is set in North Africa and details the experiences of two soldiers, Will and Ray, both of whom have different interpretations and understandings of war. The horrors of combat and their long-lasting effects are shown through bloody descriptions of merciless conflict as well as brief insights into the lives of the native people who have seen their lives destroyed.
The rendering of descriptions of war into poeticallly inflected narrative reflects the chaotic experiences of the characters. The dehumanising experiences of those in conflict is profoundly affecting and raw, however as Will’s interpretation and experience of war is less emotive than Ray’s, the novel is prevented from becoming trite and repetitive. Although at first Will is less affected by the horrors which surround him, by the end both characters are left with deep emotional scars. Through eloquent and sensitive descriptions of battle, Foulds emphasises the confusion and chaos of conflict, and through the development of his two characters proves the inescapable trauma of war.
The second half of the novel returns to Sicily. Foulds turns his focus to exploring the tensions between the newly arrived Allied troops and the previously existing Mafia hierarchy in the aftermath of the war is fascinating and well handled, although it is somewhat at odds with the first section. The same characters are still present but the extensive development they were afforded in the first half now seems somewhat irrelevant particularly when the new characters are given little more than a paragraph of introduction. The focus here seems to be more on plot and although this is not a bad thing, the contrast with the carefully constructed and lyrical first half is too sharp to sit easily.The fast-paced plot, with a multitude of characters and suspense comes as somewhat of a shock after the lengthy poetic descriptions, intense character development and meandering plot experienced thus far.
Foulds rose to fame as a poet, and it seems as though he is still experimenting with the best methods of combining narrative and language. If he had taken each half of In the Wolf’s Mouth, extended and developed them fully as novels in their own right, he would have been better off. Both halves of the novel are excellent. The writing is for the most part superb and the plots original and well handled. They are simply too different in style and aim to be reconciled within the same dust jacket.
Grade II.I
