Reviews

“With the publication of her novella, A Feast of Small Surprises, author Corinne Van Houten joins a group of feminine writers, like Susan Choi, Terry McNichol and Elizabeth Vaughn, who attempt, as Van Houten says, to make sense of an unpredictable universe. I don’t use the term “female” or, God forbid, “feminist” but “feminine,” for that is the emphasis of her novella. Van Houten takes no prisoners. Either you get it or you don’t but most of the time you do and it is worth the effort.

Van Houten’s novella could be explored and appreciated in terms of three “in’s”: intelligence, introspection and indulgence. Intelligence is exhibited in the references to Caravaggio, Raphael and Poussin and in the references to light, death and beauty attributed to the mysterious Edward Donant who seems to be the Magus for Maya Kelly and Anne Langlais. Introspection is exhibited in the musings of the two women who are intensely self-absorbed, staring into their reflections, obsessing over their beauty, their desirability as mirrored in the eyes of men, and meditating on matters of mutilation, parents, and death. This is not, however, an instance of Narcissus staring, fatally paralyzed, into his pool. Their thoughts are mirrored in ways that invite the reader to consider his/her own image and to act upon it. Self-indulgence is another, most attractive, aspect of Van Houten’s writing. Her characters enjoy food, wine and the vibrant scene of Rome, as well as each other (although not always happily) and, on occasion if it suits them, sex.

One is tempted to call Feast a tour de force, like Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying but that would create a false impression. The beauty and mystery that Van Houten alludes to in her acknowledgement of Irene Belknap, the artist who composed the lovely painting on the cover of Feast, are realized but there is also an intelligence and craft that makes Van Houten’s novella attractive and worth reading.

And so, carissima senora, we look forward to your next offering, a buffet of still smaller surprises to make us hunger for the prose out of which your feasts are composed.”

Robert Detweiler is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature in the Graduate Institute of the Liberal Arts (ILA) at Emory University, and served as the Institute's director for eight years. Detweiler has published extensively on the intersection of religion, literature and culture. Among his many books are John Updike (1972, 1979, 1984), Story, Sign and Self: Phenomenology and Structuralism as Literary Critical Methods (1978, 1984), Breaking the Fall: Religious Readings of Contemporary Fiction (1989), and Uncivil Rites: American Fiction, Religion, and the Public Sphere (1996). Breaking the Fall (reissued 1995) was honored with a 1990 American Academy of Religion Award for Excellence in Religious Studies.

On Georgia’s Cosmopolitan Coast, An Author Explores Europe’s Treasures, Local Amenities
The Harbor Sound
Brunswick, GA
November, 2006
By Charlotte Harrell

The group sat around a sidewalk table in perfect weather, the author, her graduate studies professor and his wife, another friend, and the author's publicist. The night scene could have been in Italy: the chef came out to check on the crab bisque, the waiter spooned sherry over it. All around, lighted up in the dark, beyond thick crepe myrtle trees dividing the avenue, pastel-colored buildings rose just two stories, as they had in 1910. Shops in a coastal village in Capri would be no taller. But this was October on the corner of Newcastle and Gloucester Street in modern day Brunswick. The restaurant was Cargo Portside, the author was Corinne Van Houten, the occasion was her presentation at Brunswick's ample new library. Ms. Van Houten spoke and showed slides on art and literature, introducing her book, aptly titled, A Feast of Small Surprises.

This is a novel, but people have long since read fiction as truer than fact. Lucky Coastal Georgia residents can imagine themselves dining outdoors in Italy, as the book's characters often are. In this feast of small surprises, the characters entangle their personal foibles, their ex-married statuses, and their intellectual ambitions, with the splendor and thrill of the old Grand Tour, once every educated person's dutiful delight. In the world's most-toured European countries, among the art world's richest treasures, a mystery appears early on, one that does not involve a dead body. An original Caravaggio painting is discovered in a church basement in Messina. Is it real, or a fake? Violence does ensue, but let it wait.

This book is not about brevity, but about richness. Someone has written that an intellectual is a person who has discovered there is something more interesting in the world than sex. The main character, Anne, and her friends, Edward and Maya, however, never let their considerable braininess interfere with their humanity--or exclude sex. Perhaps because author Van Houten has a PhD and moral support from Emory University's department of Liberal Arts, including Women's Studies and Art History, the observer—not just the observed—in these various erotic encounters is often female. One never forgets that the author is a woman, but because of her ability to absorb and render—virtually EVERYTHING—her book is never boring or trivial. It's the kind of book that makes you wish you took it on vacation, didn't have to put it down. On the other hand, its chapter divisions, rich quotations about art and love, make dipping in and out of its pages also rewarding. Physical details, exactly what wine and delicacies can be ordered on a train in Italy, outdoors in Paris, and what is said between friends and lovers before which artifact—all these put you into the flavor and feel of this journey.

Lucky Corinne Van Houten, to have such a well-funded brain to take on her European journey. Yet, in love and friendship, her characters are no luckier than other mortals—except for the richness with which they examine their lives. Her friend Maya spends a lonely Parisian afternoon staring at contemporary sculpture—black skeletons and blue bowler hats and hearts, twirling in the Stravinski fountain. Van Houten enlightened her audience at the library with a power-point slide of this work, one to chill any afternoon. In short, the book is almost frighteningly rich with ideas, challenges, and yet, cherished human experience. In this Power Point world, where images can be extracted and displayed in seconds on a screen, one must now beg and steal time to READ an experience. Even one enlivened by art and intellect, incarnated into food, coffee, aperitifs, travel, and erotic embraces.

So one goes around the corner to the outdoor cafe, in a throng of others, and looks out at the illuminated night in Brunswick. Liberal Arts is almost old-fashioned now, though as much cherished as a Caravaggio, while large libraries are new, and rows of computers for privacy-protected use dominate the reading room. Even so, Prince William, young and privileged--wants to major in Art History. Into the old and respected, the long-used, one folds the high-tech, hoping not to be robbed of life itself by the promise of "more time". What time one has can be well spent reading rich books, like this Feast of Small Surprises, or listening to them on tapes, from Brunswick's constantly up-building regional library. Meanwhile, for this book itself, (15.00, paper) contact corinnevanhouten.com

Charlotte Harrell is an artist and writer, and longtime St. Simons Island resident, and Glynn County community activist for the arts. She is currently teaching art and writing for publication while editing her memoir/novel, Blue Heaven.

Paola Gianturco, author of In Her Hands and Celebrating Women, describes A Feast of Small Surprises as "a lively tale for people who love art, Italy and reading thrillers. Corinne Van Houten's first novel is, as the title promises, full of unexpected twists, and it's terrific entertainment."

"In A Feast of Small Surprises, Corinne Van Houten's profound knowledge of European Art History and Italy in general provides the backdrop for a brilliantly written novel of narcissism and deceit, theft and murder."

Rene Detroye is an internationally acclaimed Art Curator and author of numerous catalogues on artists such as Ken Currie, Stella Pace, and Phillippe Desmonts as well as books on Jean Paul Riopelle and Bram van Velde.

"A Feast of Small Surprises tastes fabulous. It's like taking a trip to Italy with an interesting, provocative cast of characters. Anne, Maya, Edward, and John dodge bullets, chase art fraud, and survive a car bomb.
Beautiful settings and Renaissance art form a backdrop to unpredictable action and adventure. Descriptions of art and art commentary take the reader to an interesting art history class.

"Paint never forgets the memory of being liquid..."

"The use of egg yolk and oil is basic to both painting and cooking...and, in Florence, the chefs and painters belonged to the same guild..."

Desire motivates the characters in a Feast and weaves a philosophical thread throughout the novel. Desire for food, wine, sex, and beauty - sit at this table and devour this Feast of Small Surprises"

Marianne Gardner - www.southerndrivingtours.com