Poor Things by Alasdair Gray x Waterkloof Sauvignon Blanc
Only bad religions depend on mysteries, just as bad governments depend on secret police. Truth, beauty & goodness are not mysterious, they are the commonest, most obvious, most essential facts of life
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Poor Things by Alasdair Gray
With the movie version of Poor Things still celebrating Oscar success, it seemed like the right time to share a little review of the novel by Alasdair Gray. I actually read this for my IRL book group - we’re meeting on Friday so you might like to keep an eye up for some follow-up thoughts.
Poor Things by Alasdair Gray is a weird book. Brilliant, yes. Hilarious, absolutely. Incredibly fun and powerfully feminist, too. But, yes, undeniably weird.
Caught between Frankenstein and Galatea, this postmodern, medical sci-fi tells the story of Bella Baxter - a beautiful woman who was drowned and resurrected using the brain of her unborn child. Her creator is a genius doctor-scientist, Godwin Bysshe Baxter. A man of ‘ogreish body’ and a voice that ‘frightened patients and offended the staff’ (a voice that is also described as so high as to burst eardrums), Baxter is also portrayed as hopeful, compassionate and lonely. To cure this latter condition, he seeks to create his perfect partner by using the peculiar science taught to him by his father. However, Bella seemingly has no romantic interest in her ‘God’-creator. Instead, she forms romantic and sexual attachments to other men and (referenced) women throughout the novel, including Dr Archie McCandless, the initial narrator, and the caddish Wedderburn.
There are deliberate references to Shelley’s Frankenstein everywhere. You don’t exactly have to squint to seem similarities in how Godwin acts like Frankenstein and Bella Baxter, with her growing self-awareness, like the creature. Or perhaps Godwin is both maker and monster, there’s that reading too. Plus some further nods - the determinedly unreliable narrator; the name Godwin Bysshe (how telling it seems that these are the names of Mary Shelley’s father and husband); the fact that Harriet Shelley drowned herself like the woman Baxter turns into Bella; the way Bella becomes Victoria; the form of the novel, a framed narrative made of notes within reports, letters within ‘historical’ documents, illustrations and corrections from the editor, the writer, the woman, the widow. Of course, it’s Gray, so it’s also subversive, satirical, giving Bella Baxter (and later Victoria) a voice that refutes the stories told of her time and again.
But you don’t need to go deep into literary analaysis for this one. Poor Things is a fun book to read without pointing out its allusions even if they add point and purpose to the satire. The child-like scansion makes so many lines read demonically fast. The narrative is vibrant and combative and comedic. The language is playful (‘weddings’ vs ‘marriage’ anyone?). The snippy, sharp little social commentaries, mostly highlighting hypocrisies and the ironies of lost causes, kept me turning the pages. There’s Bella’s tone of voice, its tendency to list and add synonyms can be as exuberant as it is poignant or scathing.
“He said god is a handy name for all and everything: your top hat and dreams Mr Asterly, sky boots Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond borsch me molten lava times ideas whooping-cough ecstasies of wedded bliss my white rabbit Flopsy AND the hutch she lives in — everything named in every dictionary and book there has ever been and ever could be adds up to god. But the wholly-est bit of god is movement, because it keeps stirring things to make new ones. Movement turns dead dogs into maggots and daisies, and flour butter sugar an egg and a tablespoon of milk into Abernathy biscuits, and spermatozoa and ovaries into fishy little plants that grow baby ward if we take no care to stop them. And movement causes pain when solid bodies knock into living ones or living ones knock each other, so to stop us getting knocked dead before life wears us out we have generated evolved acquired invented matured gained and grown eyes and brains to let us see knocks coming and dodge them. And how beautifully the whole godly clamjamfrie works!”
From Victorian(ish) vagaries about socialism and anarchists, the Scots and the Irish, through to critiques of medical, political, social and religious fields - these give the novel emotional weight as well as allegorical absurdity. It’s a fantastic read and I cannot wait to see Emma Stone’s Oscar winning performance in the film too.
The Pairing: Waterkloof ‘Circumstance’, Stellenbosch (Sauvignon Blanc)
For this pairing, I wanted something from a female winemaker to match the voice we find in Bella / Victoria. I also wanted something fun, punchy even, and honest. Waterkloof is all of these things, being described as ‘made in the Pouilly Fumé style’ by Nadia Barnard and hailing from one of Stellenbosch’s few biodynamic vineyards.
The Wine: Waterkloof is a family-run vineyard in the Schapenberg terroir of Stellenbosch. Based on the coast, the wines produced here are influenced by cool sea breezes from the Atlantic, a variety of slopes (predominantly south-facing) as well as a mix of soils with stony shale dominating on the eastern side of the farm and granite on the west. This means longer ripening periods, deeper roots, and lower yields. One of the things I loved learning about Waterkloof, was how influential the wind is on the winemaking process: “The wind, so often cited as a negative factor, can play havoc with the vines at flowering, but actually aids in concentrating flavours on Schapenberg grapes. The powerful (up to 130km/h) south-easterly wind keeps yields naturally low and it also means that pests and fungal diseases are almost unheard of. This in turn allows for the application of biodynamic farming principles.”
Tasting Notes: Lime. Minerals. Seaside salinity. Pale yellow and naturally fermented, this wine is mouthwatering and intense - some might say much like our protagonist. There’s the classic gooseberry and stone fruitiness you’d expect from a sauvignon blanc, but softened by fennel and a rockiness that I loved. Definitely the sort of wine that lovers of Sancerre or Pouilly Fumé will enjoy drinking. Goes perfectly with grilled fish or a goats cheese tart.
Where can I buy it: Another from my favourite wine bar, Unwined, you can buy it for £16.25 from their online shop or just click here. I came across it as part of their Women in Wine series and recently bought a couple of the 2022 vintage home with me after a particularly enjoyable evening in Tooting. I’ll be taking it over on Friday and highly recommend to all of you as well!
Fun facts: Today’s fun fact is regarding the novel rather than the wine. Did you know there’s a whole website dedicated to Alasdair Gray’s Poor Things? Check it out here.