Montano's Malady 
by 

Enrique Vila-Matas, 

 

Jonathan Dunne (Goodreads Author) (Translator)

 

A Literary Mornington Crescent 

Mornington Crescent is a game which is played on the BBC radio panel show, I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue since 1978. In light of its longevity, I think it’s safe to say the game is popular in Britain. But, given its very English sense of humour, I always doubted its appeal abroad. Until, that is, I encountered Vila-Matas’s Montano’s Malady. Written in 2002, the book might well have been inspired by the game. Well perhaps not but I think there can be little doubt that they both have the same quirky target audience. Who knew that the Spanish shared a sense of humour with the English?

The game of Mornington Crescent might best be described as a parody-simulacrum, a satire for which there is no object except itself. The eponymous Mornington Crescent is a tube station on the Northern Line of the London Underground (notorious for its poor service; the station itself was closed until almost 20 years after the game was first aired). Each of the panelists in turn cites a London landmark, street, or other Underground stop, ostensibly leading to the winning declaration of ‘Mornington Crescent’ by one of the panelists.

That’s it. There are no other rules to Mornington Crescent. There is no necessary connection between any of the locations provided by the panelists. Whatever occurs to the them, for whatever reason is an acceptable next move in the game. Nevertheless, during the game there are many challenges and mutual criticisms among the participants as they debate the meaning of the rules and the acceptability of locations cited. Listening for the first time to the game being played is disconcerting. Empirically, it seems to make no sense at all. Eventually the listener either changes the programme or catches on. The point of the game is simply to allow the participants to be entertainingly witty at each other’s expense. Its object is amusement, period. In short, a game without any final outcome except the arbitrary announcement of ‘Mornington Crescent’ signaling its end. No points, no final scores, no winners or losers.

And so it is with Montano’s Malady. Books and authors replace London landmarks but the rules are identical. There are no rules except what occurs in the mind of Montano’s father, a critic and reviewer of some standing, who is desperately trying to stop playing his version of the game, a game which has dominated his entire life. He simply cannot help making random literary connections. Even as he attempts to describe in his diary what he considers an affliction turns into an extended narrative of associations, quotations, ideas, references, and comparisons. He is a compulsive aesthete who wants to escape aesthetics but fails because he employs his aesthetic sense to do so, over and over, in different forms using various literary genres and periods.

So like Mornington Crescent, Montano’s Malady is a satire of itself, a parody-simulacrum. It’s point is amusement, Vila-Matas’s self-amusement for sure, and incidentally for his readership. And why not? It’s an acceptable way for a genius to show off the foundations of his genius, namely other writers. All Vila-Matas’s writing pals are there with him too, as ‘panelists’ sharing the barbs and the inside jokes. I’m sure they enjoyed taking part. Hey, it’s entertainment. No other bottom-line. I’m calling the BBC tomorrow about a new panel game format for the World Service.