Foster’s piece, titled “Not Window, Not Wall,” appears in the December 1, 2022 London Review of Books. In it, Foster says, “The book’s primary emphasis is on perception – Cézanne’s, Clark’s and our own – and its distinct translations into paint and prose….” Yes, I think that’s one element for sure. Another is Clark’s “resistance to resolution.” Foster writes,
Resistance to resolution is what he values most in Cézanne, and in this respect his prose is true to the painting, even mimetic of it. As Cézanne confronts his motif again and again, so Clark confronts Cézanne.
Foster gets at a third ingredient of Clark’s style when he says that Clark’s attention becomes “almost obsessive.” I think Foster’s most apt description of Clark’s form – the one that speaks to me – is “diaristic.” He says If These Apples Should Fall “returns to The Sight of Death in style, since the new book is also sometimes diaristic….” Right there, I think, Foster nails it. Reading Clark is like reading a great diary, in which we’re privy to the writer's thought processes as they evolve. As Foster says, “Clark invites us in on his reflexive meditations.”
My favourite passage in Foster’s piece is this one:
Like a passionate friend tugging at one’s sleeve in a museum, he constantly enjoins us to see, to compare, to reconsider, and the intensity of this viewing-and-reviewing can be a bit wearing.
All true, except the last part – I’ve never found Clark to be wearing. For me, it’s quite the opposite; I find his writing exhilarating.
Postscript: One of these days, I'll post my review of Clark's If These Apples Should Fall. It's one of the best books I've ever read.
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