The title of this novel refers to a situation in chess where a player is compelled to move in a way that can only make his position worse. It is indicative of the situation that its protagonist, Dr Otto Spethmann, finds himself in. Zugzwang is interesting because it was previously published in weekly instalments in The Observer. At the time, I was only mildly interested, but wondered how it would turn out. The composition of the novel was only a few weeks behind its publication, and this had obvious implications for the plotting, but also in the need to end every chapter with something that would keep the punters coming back for more. The novel has been rewritten to a certain extent, and there was therefore the opportunity to alleviate this problem, but there is still the clear feeling of a serial.
It’s the implications of this publishing scheme are interesting too. The music and movie businesses have been at the sharp end of the copyright debate, and there is only limited evidence that either of those industries have understood the changes they need to make to survive. The implications for publishers are possibly worse; once a good portable digital reader with adequate battery life becomes available, it’s going to be possible to store your entire library, even if it’s as oversized as mine is, on a device that you can take anywhere. Your entire library will be searchable. If you’re reading a technical book, it could be updated whenever you’re connected to the internet. The problem for publishers is that the format that books are stored in is so simple even a total novice could copy it – it’s just plain text, the most basic kind of data that a computer stores. Clearly, the first thought that publishers will have is that they need some kind of Digital Rights Management (DRM) just as the music and video industry did. But that won’t work with a pure text format. People will be able to copy entire libraries easily. So publishers need to understand the new world that they will be living in.
It’s vital that authors are protected from plagiarism and misuse of their work. The right of the author is paramount. Just as is now the case with music, the cost of making a novel is near zero, and there’s no need for a publisher, just as there’s no need for a music label. If the rise and rise of blogs isn’t enough to persuade publishers that this is true, then they truly are doomed. What publishers can do is to promote good writing, provide the crucial service of editing and act as a filter on what is sure to be the flood of worthless crap that will flow. The form of the novel will undoubtedly be affected by this step change, and novelists worth their salt will adapt. The reactionary ones will try to resist it rather than see it as a liberation. There will be no barrier to their vanity projects being published – novelists: publish and be damned!
Just as with the recent Radiohead album, publishers (or independent authors) will be able to provide their readers with upmarket printed editions, perhaps with additional material, early drafts, manuscript facsimiles or interviews. But they need to get started on this process to have any chance of surviving.
So, after that long digression, let’s get back to Zugzwang itself. It’s an engaging enough read that weaves together secret policemen, revolutionaries, chess, raunchy pre-revolutionary sex and psychoanalysis. Throughout the book, Spethmann plays his friend, the impossibly romantic violinist Kopelzon in a drawn-out game of chess. To help us understand the context, we are provided with diagrams of the game, some of them not accurate which is unfortunate. The plot has its improbabilities, but then I guess that’s to be expected from a thriller published in instalments. The publishers (Bloomsbury) have given us very little extra for our money, except a nicely bound volume and a voluminous acknowledgements section, which seems to grow like a cancer at the end of every recently published novel. That said, at least they have tried something new. Things are going to be new, and get newer for a while yet.
No related posts.