A round-up of this week's paperback releases
Universe of Stone: Chartres Cathedral and the Triumph of the Medieval Mind
Philip Ball
Vintage, £9.99
Generations of scholars have offered different interpretations of the beauty and monumentality of Gothic architecture. In this study of Chartres Cathedral, Philip Ball expresses scepticism about the possibility of ever truly understanding the style which developed in France from the late 12th century. However, he insists that the best way to appreciate the outstanding monuments of the period is by asking why and how they were built. Ball is most sympathetic to the theory that the emergence of High Gothic at Chartres is linked to the town's role as a major centre of learning. He suggests that Chartres Cathedral represents a new rational worldview, but is frank about the weaknesses of this thesis. Theoretical issues are combined throughout with an equal attention to the nuts and bolts of building a cathedral in the 12th century. Ball's analyses are complemented by illustrations and textboxes in this thoughtfully designed book. Nicholas Hamilton
A Fraction of the Whole
Steve Toltz
Penguin, £8.99
A father-and-son picaresque through small-town Australia. This Booker-nominee follows the life of Martin Dean and later of his son Jasper through the gamut of comic absurdity: comas and criminals; adventure on the high seas; more than one explosion; and a dose of nationwide celebrity. The real draw of the novel is its voice. The deadpan wit is tremendously enjoyable and gloriously intelligent. The problem with the voice, though, is that there ought to be two – but the characters of father and son are actually quite indistinguishable. At times it feels like Jasper Dean exists solely because the author ran out of canvas with Dean Snr. Rather like its protagonists, this novel has a confused sense of self. The mix of farce, satire and odd moments of poignancy doesn't always work. And also like its protagonists – intoxicating, exasperating, above all tenacious – at 700-plus pages, it just won't quit while it's ahead. Claire Anderson-Wheeler
Mad, Bad and Sad: A History of Women and the Mind Doctors from 1800 to the Present
Lisa Appignanesi
Virago, £12.99
“In every generation there are quite firm rules on how to behave when you are crazy.” Novelist Lisa Appignanesi’s latest work is a socio-historical analysis of women dubbed “mad, bad or sad”, and the ways in which medical science has sought to diagnose and treat mental illness over the centuries. From Mary Lamb, who escaped jail for murder in 1796 because of “lunacy”, to British author Fiona Shaw, who struggled with postnatal depression in the 1990s, Appignanesi uses literary and cultural examples to consider the changing – and often contradictory – approaches to female mental disorder.
Academically rigorous yet easily readable, the book is particularly strong in its analysis of the gender bias of male doctors, for whom nerves, hysteria or schizophrenia were often considered in the past to be the natural consequence of women's inherent weaknesses. Yet for all our modern advances, she concludes, the outlook remains depressing. Freya McClements
The Bloody White Baron
James Palmer
Faber, £9.99
The subhuman actions of the subject of this book subtitled The Extraordinary Story of the Russian Nobleman Who Became the Last Khan of Mongolia, defy belief. Ungern-Sternberg was an aristocrat who was, for much of his early life, an abject failure. A hopeless drunk, he was expelled from school, academy and two regiments, but the Great War was to save him. Driven by his sworn allegiance to the tsar, he had a terrifying devotion to slaughter. Warfare, he declared after he'd conquered Mongolia, should be swift, precise and brutal. He was mildly tolerant of other religions (he was a Lutheran, a mystic and ended up a fanatical Buddhist), yet he saw Jews as not merely tainted but actively evil. Nor could he stand the company of women, as celibacy was part of his ascetic lifestyle. This appalling human being ultimately got his comeuppance, though not in the way he would have wanted. Palmer never shirks from gory detail. Owen Dawson
From A to X
John Berger
Verso, £7.99
A tale of raw longing described in a series of intimate letters to the revolutionary Xavier, imprisoned by nameless forces, from his lover A'ida, apparently living under an oppressive regime. Eroticism rumbles underneath A'ida's oblique references to the separated couple's shared political passion. For her, "the day doesn't begin with your absence. It begins with the decision we took together to do what we are doing." Berger holds back on detail to a radical extent, almost never explaining their circumstances or the faceless power which has kept the lovers apart. Given the timelessness of the prose, occasional references to text messages, computers and printers in A'ida's letters are a jolt. There's particular poignancy when it emerges that, despite the robustness of A'ida's yearning, the lovers are no longer young. She continues to provide the prisoner with sensuous descriptions of everyday events, but one unsent letter reveals her resilience sliding into frustration and despair. Mary Minihan