A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy

Wouldn't A Girl's Guide to Modern European Philosophy be a totally offensive non-fiction title (as husband Ben thought it to be)? It's a novel, though, and it takes place at Sussex University in England during the 1970s so I guess it's about a "girl". The girl in question is Susannah, a twenty-year old involved with two men, studying philosophy and unexepectedly pregnant and contemplating abortion. The book flap makes it sound as though Susannah actively seeks guidance from the philosphers she's studying, but it's more that as she tries to decide what to do with the men and the pregnancy, she delves into her dissertation (which sounds like something a little different from what we Americans mean by that--it's basically a year-end paper, I think). she discovers that everything she reads relates back to her pregnancy dilemma. Nietzsche's human's secret destiny is like an unsuspected pregnancy, she reads; Kierkegaard goes on about Abraham's sacrifice of his child Isaac; and even her friend talks about the sadness of the orphaned baby elephants she's hoping to save during her internship in Africa. There was also something about Hegel, but I've forgotten it now.

In any case, reading A Girl's Guide made me glad that a) I didn't come of age in the 70s b) I'm not pregnant, considering abortion and c) that I didn't get a degree in Philosophy in spite of the best lobbying efforts of my extended family. I think I got a good dose of it from reading this book. It's intriguing to see how the basic contemplations of meaning of human life take on new meaning for Susannah in her own dilemma, but in general it's too much navel-gazing for me.

Susannah tries to come across as worldly and the opposite of "straight" (the vaguely amusing term she uses to discuss boring, mainstream students), but like many women in the 70s, she kind of has to work at figuring out her independence. She needs to ditch her "older man" boyfriend, and probably her younger fellow student as well. She unexpectedly decides to insist on getting called Ms when the nurse wants to call her MRS (repeatedly). She calls the doctor on his sexist comment. So we've fallen by the wayside, have we? For a moment, I was nonplussed. I stared at him. He was a florid man with a big, meaty face and fat, stubby fingers. The I said, "No, we haven't."

But Susannah really isn't a firebrand and she comes to all this self-awakening slowly, late, and calmly. She just begins to take control of her destiny, just as Kierkegaard suggests to her in a really weird dream. You can't sit out the dance, he says. So yeah, she "comes of age" in the age of the ultimate "coming of age" for women.

It's not a dreary book, by any means. Susannah's a little annoying in her meandering, wide-eyed, almost innocence, but she's funny and the author gets several things spot on. The description of choosing carefully which bar you'll wander into to find friends is really funny. You need two exits, otherwise everyone will see you come in, look around and turn to leave. With two exits, you can walk through and no one will know you weren't sitting at the bar before leaving. So true. I still feel weird in busy, unfamiliar bars.

Another funny bit is when an attractive French student sings (and plays!) a song for Susannah. He's pretty good-looking and obviously wants to sleep with her but the song is really bad. It's just that the song was so awful. There was no question of my fancying anyone who could write a song like that.

And, it being an English book, there's a bit about bad food as well (fruit cake, no less!) After about half an hour, I went to the buffet car and got a cup of tea and a piece of fruitcake. British Rail fruitcake is so horrible that, once you've eaten a piece, you didn't feel like eating anything else, however hungry you were. I was starving and I didn't have much money, so it was just what I needed.

It may seems trite, but I liked the lesson of one of Susannah's dreams. She's hiking with Kierkegaard and he's regaling her with philosophy, but points out that the path is narrow and she has to continue on alone. This of course, signifies that she has to decide for herself what to do with her life and her pregnancy, but she doesn't want this responsibility. But when the swaying bridge breaks, she realizes she has to go on. She may be trapped high on the mountain with no return, but she knows there's no turning back anyway and she'll be fine on solid ground up ahead. I didn't need to read any philosophers to figure this out, but it's a nice reminder to live life fully and to forge ahead. The alternative is to stagnate.

I guess this could count as a smart beach read. The title's a little embarrassing, I suppose, but you would feel like you're learning something (philosophy!) while you read what is essentially a "I have two boyfriends, what do I do" novel.