Category: FICTION
Guide Created By: Lorrie Gorg
Discussion Leader(s): Lorrie Gorg
Click here to visit the discussion

Guide Description

Plot Synopsis

Like Vermeer's paintings, this novel illuminates the poignantly dear moments in people's lives-- the moments when love changes, or hope is lost, or a glorious freedom takes hold. Tied together by a collective admiration, even love, for the painting, Vreeland's characters remind us how beauty transforms and why we reach for it, what lasts and what in our lives is singular, and unforgettable. ---from back cover of book

Biography of the Author

Susan Vreeland's short fiction has appeared in journals such as New England Review, The Missouri Review, Confrontation, Calyx, and Alaska Quarterly Review. Her first novel What Love Sees, was broadcast as a CBS Sunday night movie in 1996. She has taught English Literature, creative writing, and art in the San Diego Unified School District for thirty years.

Susan Vreeland Biographical Information

INTERVIEW BY LINDA CASTELLITO From Book Sense.

Collateral Materials

The author, Susan Vreeland, graciously agreed to join this group when we began this discussion. We asked everyone to read all the information on Ms. Vreeland's website to avoid repetition. Her comments are given below as they appeared in the discussion:

Susan Vreeland
Whew! I did it. I got through the unfamiliar pages and here I am. I hope I can duplicate this process. Lorrie, I like your idea of focusing on two stories per week in May. Then discussion won't be all over the board. And to you dear readers, thank you for joining us. I hope the reading experience will be enjoyable, thought provoking, and worthy of sharing with others. I think if you thoroughly explore my website, www.svreeland.com before you post, and as you read, it will mean more to you. Just click on the Girl in Hyacinth Blue cover to gain access to reviews, genesis of the book, background on Vermeer, etc. Even if you're not a teacher, you might check out the teacher's guide because it has many discussion topics that you might toss around amongst yourselves. Also, pay particular attention to the Author's Bio section. It's a long one, written in narrative style, because it was written for a library reference series called Contemporary Authors. If you do this website experience first, before you post questions, it will prevent me having to write out answers that are on the website. Thanks. I'll try to time my reading of the entries and my answers to the end of each week's discussion of two stories so that you can react and comment among yourselves before I come on the scene. All good wishes for an enjoyable experience, Susan ...............

Hello from Susan Vreeland: Thanks to all of you for entering this dialogue. I find it fascinating to see you work through the issues you've discovered. One comment I must respond to is the opinion that Hannah's family does not realize the turmoil. That's certainly not what I intended to portray. Sol, the father, was involved in the benefit art auction to raise money for Jewish refugees to The Netherlands. He was in the inner circle at the Rotterdam Café where the Dutch were inviting German Jews to their homes for seder. These things would suggest he knows what's going on. The mother, Edith, says to Grandmother Hilde (p. 48), "You think I don't worry, every single night, that she doesn't want anything enough? You think I don't know what that means now?" Her concern is that Hannah will be too passive to fight for her own life when the time comes. I think, though, that other readers participating cleared this up. Another question raised is the number of Vermeers being reported differently in different sources. That's because there are some questioned attributions, and some art historians count them and others don't. Two that I recall that are questioned are Girl in the Red Hat and Girl Playing a Flute. So, 35 or 36 is generally given as the number. At any rate, it's a precious few. Susan That's it for tonight. You're doing great.

Harriet, I'm glad you saw that what Cornelius and Hannah saw in the painting, their reasons for valuing it, were entirely different. Yes, it does lead us to question which is the more valuable form of art appreciation. On the one hand is the academic approach, and on the other is the emotional and personal approach. I don't want to say which is most valuable, though.

Hats, Erasmus was the major leader in a late Renaissance movement called Humanism which valued this life over the afterlife (an oversimplification) which was entirely different from the Middle Ages which valued the afterlife over this life. The Humanists, therefore, sought to understand this world on a scientific level and not just a theological one. Part of the Renaissance thought was to go back to the Greeks and Romans to learn what values they had. Only when Christianity was secure could there be this interest in pre-Christian times. Erasmus was a scholar in Greek and Latin, and his Adagia (Adages) were a translation so that they could be accessible in other languages. As for Vermeer, nothing remains of what he might have written so it's impossible to determine his "philosophy of life" as you put it. Certainly though, he is picturing people who are enjoying this life (playing music, drinking wine, admiring a string of pearls--look at his paintings) rather than focusing on the afterlife at the expense of the joys of this plane of existence.

I think your comments on Morningshine are, on the whole, of a deeper, more perceptive nature than some of the earlier stories. I'm so pleased when I sense that you are feeling deeply the plight of this couple, and I'm glad you didn't see Stijn as an ogre, but as a hard-working, worried man whose life up to this point had no room for things of beauty and for sacrifice for beauty. Yes, he is beginning to understand Saskia's need more. I thought the person who made the comment on their sensibilities "blossoming" was very good, especially understanding the reference to tulips as something that provided a connection between their two worlds.

A side note: Friday night was the San Diego Book Awards, sort of like our city's answer to the big literary and publishing events in NY. My more recent book, The Passion of Artemisia, took "Best Mainstream Novel," and also the grand award of all categories, "Best Book of 2002, The Theodore Geisel Award" (late author of the Dr. Seuss books, a San Diegan who was a great benefactor of the arts and libraries here). In 1999, Girl in Hyacinth Blue won both of these awards.

I'm working daily on my current book, usually putting in 12-hour days, as I'm close to a deadline. It's very difficult to wrench myself out of that world to read your posts and go back to Girl, so I'm sure you'll understand if you don't hear from me often. You're doing fine without me!

THE VINCENT VAN GOGH MUSEUM Click to see "The Potato Eaters"

Yes, I have a story in mind for The Potato Eaters painting, but it's too far off for me to reveal it. I have my head focused in the novel of Emily Carr, poor unnamed novel that it is at this point. I'm working on it very intensely. It's a longer novel than Artemisia, more than twice the length of Girl, 460 manuscript pages. You can read a paragraph description of it on the "Works in Progress" page of my website.

A Farewell Note

Oh my, you can't imagine how moving and humbling it is to me to read your thoughts about the last few stories. I so appreciate your thoughtful comments. These should not be called postings, but sharings.

Susan



All about Vermeer Paintings

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Critical Reviews

"Intelligent, searching, and unusual... . Like the painting it describes so well, [the novel] has a way of lingering in the reader's mind." ——The New York Times Book Review

"Stunning ... Haunting" ——San Francisco Chronicle

Review from New York Times

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Questions

1. What does Girl in Hyacinth Blue suggest about the value (personal and monetary) and function/purpose of art?

2. How does art serve us? Why do we need it?

3. Do you feel the author is focusing more on the role of art or the nature of life?

4. This painting seems to have a different effect on each of the owners. Why?

5. How does the painting function for each character? Who loves it the most?

6. Why would the author structure the novel in reverse chronology? What are the advantages/disadvantages of telling the story this way? Discuss the range and significance of the last line.

7. In the end, does it matter whether or not the painting is a Vermeer? To whom does it matter and to whom is it irrelevant, and what does this say about their characters?

8. What actually happened to the painting? Does it matter that the final outcome is not shown on scene?

9. What does the book have to say about the joys and difficulties of being an artist?

10. How does the character of women and girls change through the centuries?

11. In what way does the girl in the painting reflect Hannah and Magdalena's natures?

12. In what way are Hannah and Magdalena similar? In what way are Hannah and Anne Frank similar--and different?

13. Where does the novel touch on the tragic? the triumphant? Is it a novel?

Source: Susan Vreeland’s Website

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Quotes by our Participants

“I am rereading my last story. I will never forget this discussion. I will always keep this small book. It will be my reminder from Susan Vreeland that life is always beautiful, and it is beautiful in the most ordinary places and with ordinary people living their daily lives.”..............Hats

“I love the way Susan culminates her backward journey in time and goes into the head and heart of the artist and his subject.”........... Harriet M.

“It is so very interesting how we can read the same thing, and have such difference of opinions - to a degree”..................................CFH

“Susan Vreeland, thank you for introducing me to the teachings of philosophers whom I have only heard about, Erasmus and Descartes. Then, taking their words a step further and relating their ideas to art. That must be difficult. It certainly takes a person with a creative mind.” .......................................Hats

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