About Schmidt

by Louis Begley

  Yes, thanks, that thick certified mail and my glasses.

  He read the papers for the third time. The lawyers for his stepmother, Bonnie, were notifying him that she had died suddenly, in her sleep, probably from a heart attack, and bequeathed to Schmidt her entire estate, including what was in the trust her first husband had set up for her with the assistance of Schmidt’s father. The will was enclosed, as clear as possible. Also a letter from Bonnie. Dear Schmidtie, she wrote, in the laborious handwriting that had always amused him,

  I felt bad when your Dad left everything to me, because poor Sozon had already left me more than enough. I told your Dad that was what I thought but he wanted to do it. He said I was good to him—goodness knows, I tried and he was such a sweet man, so gentle! He told me if you behaved well and I kept feeling that way I could leave you what was left over in my will. You were sweet to me during that difficult time, and you never let on that you were disappointed! So I’m doing the right thing now. I am also leaving to you everything in Sozon’s trust. Your Dad worked it out so I could give it to anybody I like, he said that was good for taxes. Sozon’s sons have too much already and they weren’t ever nice to me.

  Probably, I’ll live another fifty years, at the rate I’m going, but if I die you have fun, and get some more suits at your poor Dad’s tailor. You liked them so much! Those nice people in Boston your Dad got to look after the money have done a real good job. Believe me!

  The letter was dated Christmas Day, 1990. He had sent her a card with his wishes just before that Christmas and, as usual, she had replied. Apparently she didn’t hold it against Schmidt that he had skipped the following Christmas. He had written to her about Mary; she knew that things were not as they should be.

  Bryan, he said to his keeper, I have a feeling that when I get better I’m going to need someone to look after a large house in Florida. In West Palm Beach. It’s a big job. Practically everything will need fixing or replacing. It will take a lot of work and a very long time. Do you think you could manage that?

  A Conversation with Louis Begley

  Q. You grew up with fear, danger, and deception. Has your success in life changed your outlook on mankind? Are you fully able to enjoy your successes, or are they tinged with other emotions?

  A. I can’t give you a yes or no answer. I’m a complicated person, and my responses to things that happen to me are seldom simple. I certainly enjoy doing well and being told that I have done well, but I am always conscious of what seems the fundamental futility of work, efforts, successes, and failures.

  Q. Have you always had the desire to write? What really kept you from starting earlier? I know you have said you’ve been busy creating a life.

  A. I think it’s really quite simple. I used to write short stories when I was in high school, and in college I also wrote occasional poems. But toward the end of my junior year in college I came to the conclusion that I didn’t have anything in particular to say and that it was better that I stop writing.

  Q. In Dangling Man Saul Bellow writes about how overwhelming it is to face one’s inadequacies; to discover whether one has any talent or ability. Were you afraid to sit down and start writing?

  A. I don’t think that I was “afraid” to start writing. At the time I decided I had nothing to say I was, unlike Saul Bellow, someone without a “current milieu.” I did not think I wanted to write about a “milieu” or a history I believed I had left behind me in Poland. I realized that I knew nothing about this country. Perhaps if I had been more imaginative, I would have realized that one could write about being nowhere, and knowing nothing, and being in a state of confusion. Perhaps someone could have suggested it to me. But, as it turned out, I did not think of it myself, and no one told me that one could write about being lost in a fog.

  Q. How did you get out of that fog?

  A. The fog lifted. I began to understand this country. And, I also began to understand better the past. Perhaps in that respect, I was slow to mature. That’s very possible.

  Q. What triggered About Schmidt? Is it at all autobiographical?

  A. Of course not.

  Q. Is there any significance in your having chosen the word “about” for the title? I’ve read a reviewer mention that “re” or “about” is a legal term that “would invite us to treat Schmidt as a case for judgment or prosecution.”

  A. The title means what it says.

  Q. I also found it very interesting that you write narrative without using quotation marks. Where does that particular technique come from?

  A. It comes from my particular dislike of the way quotation marks look on a page. I think they look like little bugs.

  Q. What sort of pressure have you felt from receiving such good reviews on your first novel and your subsequent ones? Have you felt any pressure from yourself or from others expecting you to continue writing?

  A. When I wrote my first novel, I came to the conclusion immediately that I needed to write another one so that no one would be able to say that I was a one-book writer. Then I found that I liked writing.

  Q. Was it difficult for you to write about anti-Semitism?

  A. No, I found it amusing.

  Q. What’s next?

  A. I am finishing another novel.

  Reading Group Questions and Topics for Discussion

  This book is about a man whose life, as he has always known it, is about to change forever. What happens to a man who loses everything: his profession, his wife, and his daughter in a short span of time? How does he go about building a new life for himself in his sixth decade?

  How are today’s views on aging different from what they were at the turn of this century; or, perhaps, even as recently as the mid-1950s? How was a man in his sixties viewed one hundred years ago, fifty years ago? How was he “expected” to behave? How do older people today view their future, now that life expectancy has been so dramatically increased?

  How do you think Schmidt’s feelings about his own childhood and parents have affected his relationships with his wife and daughter?

  Schmidt says he expects all lives to end badly. How does he feel about his own life? How do you think Schmidt’s life will end?

  What problems or concerns might older people have today that they might not have had eighty, or even less than forty years ago? Where might they turn for help, solace, affection, understanding? How does aging and its accompanying problems expose one’s frailties and flaws? How does one go about examining one’s life? Is the process of self-discovery different when you’re older?

  What do you see as lost opportunities in Schmidt’s life; professionally, socially, emotionally? Do you think he regrets having retired from his firm? What do you think he misses the most? What does he have regrets about? How would you feel about stepping aside and handing over power and authority to a younger generation? How would you compensate for the losses experienced and go about rebuilding your life? How would you begin to give it meaning or importance?

  Do you think Schmidt truly loved his wife? What is the significance of his marital infidelities? How do you suppose he justified them?

  How does Schmidt cope with his alienation from Charlotte? What steps does he take or could he take to reconcile with her?

  Why do you suppose Charlotte’s character is written out of focus? Why do we only hear from her indirectly; through letters, telephone calls, and messages?

  Why are Carrie and Schmidt attracted to one another? What qualities endear her to him? What does he offer her?

  Why does Schmidt object to attending Thanksgiving dinner at the Riker home? What are some of the things he learns about them that surprise him? How was he wrong about them?

  How could Schmidt’s attraction to Renata Riker further complicate his relationship with Charlotte and Jon? Do you think Schmidt is jealous of her relationship with his daughter? Why do you think he is unable to accept Renata’s attempts to help him understand how to deal with Charlotte?

  Older people today are generally hea
lthier and more vigorous than they were in previous generations. With the additional promise of greater life expectancy, there exist the probabilities of new romances and sexual encounters. What hopes, fears, expectations, might one face in reentering this role after many decades? If you were in this situation, what might you do?

  Give some examples of Jon Riker’s behavior that infuriate Schmidt. Why does Schmidt react as strongly as he does? Do you feel his objections are justified? How would you behave in his place?

  Money seems to be a recurring theme throughout the book. Schmidt is preoccupied with working out numbers so he can maintain his style of living. How does his preoccupation with money play a role in alienating Schmidt from Charlotte? How does money help Schmidt? How does it hurt him? While Schmidt and Mary never discussed money in Charlotte’s presence, there were many veiled references to it. How do you think Charlotte was affected by her parents’ attitude toward money? Why does her attitude annoy Schmidt?

  Begley writes about a very closed, privileged society of wealthy people. How do you think the “upper” and “lower” classes view one another? What sets them apart? How might one compare clannishness and anti-Semitism? Are they in any way alike? How are they different?

  The Bridgehampton property acts to create an enormous rift between Schmidt and Charlotte. What does the house represent to each of them? Why can’t Schmidt share the house with them in harmony? Why can’t she accept his gift to her and Jon?

  Schmidt is keenly observant and highly intelligent, yet he is unable to understand the reasons for his problems with Charlotte. Why do you think Mary was always the one to take care of matters concerning Charlotte instead of encouraging Schmidt to develop a closer relationship with her?

  Anti-Semitism is often extremely subtle. How is the subject of anti-Semitism handled in this book? What do you think a bigot is? What qualities does a bigot have? Why do you think it is so difficult to write about anti-Semitism?

  How would you describe Charlotte’s feelings about her father? She accuses him of being anti-Semitic but if she believes this, why had she not objected sooner? Why now and in the manner she chooses? Why does Schmidt not consider himself to be anti-Semitic? What examples does he bring up to bolster his claim? How does his friend Gil react to Schmidt’s description of Charlotte’s fiancé?

  Why are Charlotte’s marriage to Jon Riker and her conversion to Judaism such a problem for Schmidt? Is it merely a question of religion? Why do you think Charlotte believes it is so important to convert? How does that news add further to Schmidt’s sense of isolation?

  Do you think Schmidt and Charlotte truly love each other? If so, then why can’t they understand and accept each other’s viewpoints? Is it a generational divide, a difference in values, or something else? Describe Schmidt’s reaction to her requests for the family furniture and silver? Why does he object to her work on the tobacco campaign?

  What do you think Carrie represents to Schmidt? How does he manage to develop such deep feelings for her if he is anti-Semitic? How can Charlotte accuse her father of being anti-Semitic yet object to his having “that Hispanic girl” in the house? What contradictions do you see in Charlotte?

  Mr. Wilson taunts and frightens Schmidt, but doesn’t hurt him. What is Schmidt’s reaction when he discovers he has killed him? Why was Mr. Wilson stalking him?

  How does Schmidt feel about getting older? In what way does his friend Gil mirror the changes in himself? What conflicts of values might exist between the younger and older generations? How may those generational divides contribute to the tension, anger, and frustration that fester in so many families? Are these conflicts any different from previous generations? What pressures exists today that may not have existed in earlier generations? Have you or your family had similar experiences?

  Schmidt understands Carrie, who is younger than his own daughter, far better than he understands Charlotte. How are the two women different from each other?

  In spite of Schmidt’s many infidelities, including an affair with Charlotte’s nanny, he still considers himself to have been a good husband and father. How does he explain this to himself? Do you agree with Schmidt?

  Why do you think Schmidt decides to hire Bryan to take care of his inherited house in Palm Beach? What would it mean to have Bryan live with him and Carrie? Does Schmidt want that to happen? How has Schmidt’s view of people changed after he meets Carrie and Bryan? What do these changes signify? How does Schmidt change?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  LOUIS BEGLEY is the author of four novels. Wartime Lies, which was written when he was in his mid-fifties, was followed by The Man Who Was Late, As Max Saw It, and About Schmidt. He is currently finishing a fifth novel.

  Begley has another life, that of a lawyer. He is a senior partner at Debevoise & Plimpton, one of America’s most prestigious firms, and is the head of its international practice.

  Wartime Lies was the winner of the PEN Hemingway Award, The Irish Times-Aer Lingus International Prize, and the Prix Medicis Etranger, France’s most coveted prize for fiction in translation. It was a National Book Award, Los Angeles Times Book Award, and National Book Critics’ Circle Award finalist. About Schmidt was likewise a National Book Critics’ Circle Award and Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist. Begley has received the American Academy of Letters prize for literature and numerous other awards.

  Begley was born in Stryj, a town that was Polish and is now part of Ukraine, in 1933. Being Jewish, he survived the German occupation by pretending, with the help of false identification papers, to be a Catholic Pole.

  Begley and his parents left Poland in 1946 and settled in New York in 1947. Begley graduated from Harvard College in 1954, and after having served in the U.S. army, from Harvard Law School in 1959.

  Since 1974, Begley has been married to Anka Muhlstein, a prize-winning French author of biographies and other historical works. The combined family includes five grown children. His are a painter and sculptor, a book critic, and an art historian. Hers are a foreign relations specialist and a television journalist.

  Excerpts of reviews of Louis Begley’s About Schmidt

  “Novels are supposed to tell something about the real world, but in most novels about the upper classes money figures only in the decor, the things that money can buy. Begley’s books have the great virtue of knowing about money itself, how it’s acquired and kept…. Begley’s previous books gravitated rather anxiously toward Europe, which was seen as the source both of any satisfactory culture and of appalling historical and personal tragedy. About Schmidt turns toward America and the present, exchanging an interest in suffering and failure, with its dangerous possibilities of self-magnification, for comic romance, with its emphasis not on finality but on life going on anyway.”

  —The New York Review of Books

  “Albert Schmidt is another of Begley’s brilliant impostors, though this time an impostor unaware of his charade. He is the cultivated man—out of Harvard, no less—unable to acknowledge his subtle strain of Jew-hating…. About Schmidt amounts to an intriguing about-face for Begley…. By blinding his flawed hero, Begley has painted an indelible portrait of a man with a hole where his soul should be.”

  —Newsday

  “What emerges … is a poignant study of aging centered on a man whose flaws become both sinister and sympathetic. In an era of encroaching coarseness, where civility dissolves … Schmidt summons in us remembrance of elegance past…. Is he a cultured patrician, a supercilious snob or both? Whichever he is, Begley succeeds wonderfully in making us care.”

  —San Francisco Chronicle

  “Consistently subtle and intelligent, this novel ends by getting under your skin despite the unlikability of its protagonist. You are left with the feeling of having found out the complex truth behind the impeccable facade of someone you might never notice if you met him at a party.”

  —The New York Times Book Review

  “If the sorrows of old ‘Schmidtie’ strike us as somewhat short o
f fully tragic, less than deeply moving, it’s clearly intentional; Begley means for us to keep our distance—to withhold our sympathies—from his smug, officious hero…. It’s this that makes Begley’s novel most interesting and nervy.”

  —Washington Post/Book World

  “In the end, Begley has created a terribly funny, touching, infuriating and complex character in Schmidt, whose self-deceptions and imprisonment by his own world-view stand not only as a devastating portrait of a disappearing world but also sound a strangely evocative cautionary tale.”

  —Los Angeles Times Book Review

  “In what could be called a novel of bad manners, Begley again demonstrates that he can reveal the complexities of society and personality with a clear eye and graceful style. Schmidt may not live up to today’s strict standards of political correctness, but he more than meets the requirements of convincing fiction.”

  —Time

  Look for this wonderful novel by Louis Begley:

  WARTIME LIES

  “Masterly … [A] great achievement.”

  —The New York Times Book Review

  A Ballantine Book

  Published by The Ballantine Publishing Group

  Copyright © 1996 by Louis Begley

  Reader’s Guide copyright © 1997 by The Ballantine Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.