A Short Analysis of “Hotel des Boobs” by David Lodge

A Short Analysis of “Hotel des Boobs” by David Lodge

Intensity of experience is what we're looking for, I think. (David Lodge)

David Lodge, a contemporary British writer (born on the 28 th of January, 1935), is both a novelist and a literary critic, who was twice shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His bibliography includes numerous fiction and non-fiction books, as well as several screenplays. Interestingly, all fields of his work are highly interconnected and influenced by each other. In one of his theoretical studies, he reviews various stylistic devices, and later uses them in his literary work. It also should be mentioned that he has an intriguing sense of humor, sometimes ironic, sarcastic and farcical. He often talks about personal life of his characters in this ironic manner. All of these features are observable in his short story “Hotel des Boobs”. The story can be divided into two parts, as they have different main characters and focal points. The first one is concentrated on Harry and Brenda, a couple, who came to French Riviera during their summer holiday. The second part’s focal point is a writer, who comes to the same hotel on Riviera with his wife and writes stories about the residents of the hotel. The shift of perspectives is provided by the narrator, who indicates the majoring focal point. While reading the first part, the reader can mistakingly assume that the story’s main characters are Harry and Brenda, a married couple, who came to France for the first time in their life. Harry, the husband, spends most of his time staring at half-naked women that sunbathe around the swimming pool of the hotel. Harry creates the whole ceremony for gazing at women and follows unspoken rules of the local society. He calls the hotel “Hotel des Boobs”, “Cote des Tits” etc., indicating his main interest. He also gives names to each woman’s breasts. In his thoughts, women are always metonimically referred to by breasts, which speaks of objectification of women by Harry. His wife, Brenda, who is strangely calm about her husband’s

obsession, stands out among the female residents of the hotel as the only one, who does not follow the social conventions. Being bored of gazing at other women, Harry suggests his wife to do the same as all women at the hotel do. He wants to experience the positive feeling of posession, exaggerated by envious leers of his male neighbours. He is capable of a kind of blackmail to achieve his goal. The focal point changes suddenly at this moment, and the reader discovers that there is a writer in the same hotel, who came there with his wife and writes the story about Harry. The most obvious assumption the reader can make at this point is that the writer observes the couple and writes the story about them. In this case, the story about Harry’s life before the holiday was either created by the author or told to him by Harry himself. Eventually, it appears that Harry and the author are analogically related to each other: the author’s story – obviously – takes place in the same setting, both Harry and the author have similar relationships with their wives and attitudes to surrounding people (ironical attitude towards women at the pool and the hotel’s staff); moreover, their behaviour and sexual tendencies have much in common (they are both interested in observing naked women and they do it both at the swimming pool and from the window of the room). It may first seem that the author and Harry are similar people, who met each other at the hotel by chance. But if the reader takes a closer look, he or she will understand that this is an analogy of another sort. When the author tells his wife about the incident, when his papers were blown away by the sudden wind, he says that it will be a catastrophe, if the women he described see his writings. But he never mentions Harry and Brenda (though he must be concerd about them seing the writings), so, it appears that they are completely fictional characters, projections of the author and his wife, invented in the authors mind. They never existed in the reality of the author and his wife, being only imagined by the author. He creates Harry and Brenda to project his ideas of what his holiday should be like. Possibly, that is why the author and his wife are not

named by the narrator: they are merged with their projections to such extent that their own names are no longer important. Also, when the author’s wife asks him about the end of the story he is writing, she says “How was it going to end?” instead of “How are you going to finish it?”, because it is not completely the author’s decision, but – more possibly – the matter of the author’s future. What is also interesting is that while the author tries to construct Harry’s story, some transcendental power constructs his own: “It was like a visitation of some god or daemon,” when the author looses control over his story due to the gust of wind. So, the story contains not only analogy between the author and Harry, but simehow recursive as well. It is possible to imagine the narrator himself being involved in this recursivity. Given the arguments made earlier, it can be suggested that the story and the descriptions are, to a large extent, motivated by the author’s major interests and concerns. Harry’s wife accepts her husband’s offer, because the author wants his wife to do the same. But later the author’s fears emerge in his story, when Brenda does not come back to her room at night. The same is applicable to the author: he wants to boast about his wife and is at the same time afraid of being cheated on. “Yes, I see that. I’m not stupid, you know,” says she after the author’s explanation of Harry’s motives, but it’s obvious that it is not Harry she is thinking about. By the end of the story the author is still hesitant about his desires. Harry’s story was not finished properly, so was not his as well. Personally, I found this short story intriguing and structurally amazing. It is hardly possible to understand it fully at the first reading, and it makes the story even more attrective to the reader. It may be interpreted in different perspectives (psychoanalitic theory, feminist studies, etc.) and is highly thought-provoking.