Still Life

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-2

Chapters 3-4

Chapters 5-6

Chapters 7-8

Chapter 9

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Book Club Questions

Themes

The Coexistence of Beauty and Ugliness

Still Life emphasizes the ordinary as extraordinary. The very title of the novel refers to still life painting, which distills the minutia of everyday life into an emphasis on what’s special about the connections between the grand and the small. Thus, beauty can be found everywhere, even in small, seemingly meaningless things. The coexistence of beauty and ugliness is one of the ways this emphasis on beauty manifests in the novel. Though often perceived as juxtapositions, beauty and ugliness cannot exist in isolation. The two complement one another because one cannot understand and appreciate beauty without having experienced its opposite.

The first example of this is the presence of beauty in war-torn Italy. The beauty of the Italian countryside is paralleled with the beauty of Italy’s art pieces. The war threatens people’s lives and livelihoods, but it can’t destroy the natural beauty of Italy. Where there is violence and human destruction, there is also companionship, as is highlighted by the friendship between Darnley and Ulysses Temper and the quick connection that forms between Evelyn Skinner and Ulysses.

Another example of this coexistence is the unlikely presence of the cherry blossom tree in London. The cherry blossom is native to Japan, so its existence in England at that time is unlikely. It takes London decades to rebuild from the damage of World War II, yet somehow this tree survives. Thus, its beauty and its presence represent the possibility of survival.

The pursuit of love is an important theme in this novel and is intertwined with the theme of the coexistence of beauty and ugliness. Love can cause pain, but it also brings genuine joy into a lover’s life. This is emphasized in Romy and Alys’s relationship, which begins when they are teenagers experiencing the first inclinations of lust but can’t connect, causing humiliation and shame. This is also seen in Peggy’s relationships with men, especially in the tragic ending of her relationship with Eddie, which nonetheless results in Alys’s birth and Peggy eventually falling in love with Glen.

Another important exemplar of this theme is Chapter 7, “Mud Angels.” The 1966 flood of the Arno wreaked havoc on Florence and demoralized Florentine life and people. It led to the destruction of millions of books and priceless artworks, the death of an estimated 100 people, the destruction of storefronts, the displacement of thousands of families, the dirtying of the streets, and a lack of confidence in the Italian government to support cities in their moments of crisis. This was a truly ugly challenge in the life of Florentines, but the beauty of humanity exists in the hundreds of volunteers who came to the city to provide their aid. The flood brought people together and proved that Italians can unite in support of their people and their culture.

The Importance of Art as a Reflection of Reality

In this novel, art is an extension of the human experience and a way of deeply reflecting on life. Evelyn is the character who is most in tune with the power of art: Winman speaks through her to present the theme that art is important because it both reflects and creates reality. Art can be an object of meditation that can help the viewer sort through difficult feelings; they can see themselves reflected in art that wasn’t even necessarily created for them because the messages of art are universal.

For example, one of the pieces of artwork that is consistently alluded to in this novel is Giambologna’s sculpture The Rape of a Sabine Woman, which inspires both desire and disgust in Evelyn. Giambologna created this sculpture because he was commissioned to tell a formative story about the development of modern Rome, one layer of which involved the kidnapping and mass rape of Sabine women for the conquering soldiers following Romulus and Remo into what is now known as Rome. Despite this background story, Evelyn and Dotty discuss their own visceral reactions. Evelyn believes that Giambologna knew that his statue would inspire conflicting feelings. For artists, the interplay between disgust and desire is an important paradox that informs the human experience: It is possible to be both attracted to and repulsed by the same object or idea. Art therefore reveals the paradoxes of human life and challenges viewers to confront their feelings honestly.

The first piece of art that inspires Ulysses is the altarpiece painting The Deposition from the Cross by Pontormo. Though the painting was created circa 1528, Ulysses experiences it in 1944 for the first time. This emphasizes the importance of the individual experience of art and how art can reach people across time and space. The Deposition from the Cross presents Jesus’s body to his mother Mary, a poignant message about the love between mother and child in the context of his death. The very nature of being moved is an experience that doesn’t require words, but it is formative because Ulysses learns to understand that art can teach one about being human. While Ulysses is at war, killing others and avoiding being killed, The Deposition from the Cross takes him outside of the violence and reminds him of the emotional necessity of being human.

The Pursuit of Love

In Still Life, love comes in many forms. One important form is the pursuit of self-love, and Cress is a character whose development captures this theme. In London, Cress is well-liked but lacks love in his life; he doesn’t receive love from family or friends until he befriends Ulysses. Cress moves to Italy when Ulysses makes it clear that his life is better with Cress in it. Accepting Ulysses’s love is a big step for Cress, and it leads directly to his development of self-love. This development provides Cress with new self-confidence, allowing him to have a long, fulfilling relationship with another person. His relationship with Paola would not have been possible had Cress not developed self-love. When Paola dies, Cress grieves but he doesn’t let the loss of love take away his sense of self-love.

Peggy struggles with maternal love. When she gives birth to Alys, she doesn’t know where Eddie—Alys’s biological father—is, and she rejects Alys. Alys is the evidence of love between Peggy and Eddie, and this destroys Peggy because she pines for Eddie in an impossible way. This makes Peggy turn against herself and her daughter. Having a difficult relationship with her own mother made Peggy never want children in the first place, and she transfers this desire onto her daughter as well. Indeed, her first reaction upon learning that Alys is in love with a girl is relief that Alys will not become pregnant. Eventually, Peggy learns how to love herself and her daughter, but it takes nearly losing her life. Like Cress, Peggy starts loving herself when she moves to Italy and puts distance between herself and her tragic life in London.

The main form of romantic love on which Winman focuses is gay and lesbian love. In the early and mid-20th century, LGBTQ+ individuals had to keep their sexuality a secret for fear of social ostracization and even imprisonment. Winman revises history by allowing her gay and lesbian characters to pursue their relationships without fear. Evelyn is proud of her sexuality because the love she has with women is very fulfilling. Though she has to keep this a secret from the public eye, Evelyn never internalizes anti-gay biases. Alys becomes aware of her sexuality at an early age and is unsure how to navigate it because she lives in a time and place when there is no education or popular culture surrounding LGBTQ+ identity. Alys goes through an arduous process to love without boundaries. Massimo and Evelyn help her along the way, but Alys is largely left to sort through her sexuality on her own. Still, her relationship with Romy is more meaningful and formative than many of the heteronormative relationships in this novel, which often end in abandonment or abuse. Winman highlights the stories of LGBTQ+ characters in order to reveal that love between members of the same sex has always existed and should, therefore, be represented in this historical period and literary genre.