The Fountain of St. James Court or,
Portrait of the Artist as an Old Woman
Sena Jeter Naslund, (HarperCollins Publishers:
William Morrow, 2013), 447 pp., 
Writing two
novels in one, Naslund juxtaposes chapters set up as “Fountain” or “Portrait”
to chronicle two artistic women—Kathryn Callahan, a 69-year-old successful
novelist living in present-day Louisville, Kentucky, and Elizabeth LeBrun, a
late 18th century artist about whom Kathryn has just finished
writing a novel, with the “Portrait” title. Homage to Virginia Woolf aside, the
narrative self-consciously presents us with a modern Mrs. Dalloway as we follow
Kathryn from midnight to midnight of one single day. By contrast, the chapters
presenting LeBrun span her entire life, opening when she is seventy, walking in
the woods in France, and looking back on her life, particularly during the
French Revolution. Both women muse on the meaning of various things—love,
husbands, children, nature, inspiration, the creative process—but LeBrun’s
sections are far and away more interesting and more thoughtful than Kathryn’s.
The openly stated comparison to Mrs. Dalloway invites disappointment—Kathryn
lacks Clarissa’s simple dignity and concentrated sense of the just and the
true. The similarities between the two are thin, consisting more in Kathryn’s
endless enthusing over autumn leaves or watching light play on the fountain
rather than any inherently intelligent observations on life and purpose. She
lacks the deep human relation to people and life that shines so clearly in Mrs.
Dalloway’s character. Though meant, I believe, to be a sympathetic character,
especially to women of a certain age (of which I am one), Kathryn as a person
is shallow, needy and self-centered, and the “courage” she musters at the end
of the story to face a particular fear seems contrived and empty. LeBrun, as a
portrait artist of the French aristocracy, lives through uniquely dangerous
times and personal tragedies that inform her character and understanding with
honor, love and a brave optimism. As much as I have loved Naslund’s previous
books (especially Ahab's Wife, which was spectacular), this one falls short, or at least, half of it does.
This review first appeared in the Historical Novel Society's "Review" journal of February, 2013.
