First published in 1974, The Hair of Harold Roux won the National Book Award in 1975. I had never heard of Williams and feel like I’ve just made a great discovery. Williams is an amazing story teller and this novel is layered with story within story, each one as interesting and compelling as the others.
The narrator is Aaron Benson, academic and author, struggling to write a novel of his youth. He is married with two children and while he loves them and sees his need for them, he seems incapable of focusing on them and giving them the attention they need. He is struggling with his novel, working to recreate an unpleasant time in his life.
The main character in his novel is Allard Benson, at university after time spent in the military during WWII. He is clearly based on the young Aaron. Aaron does not romanticize his young self and looks at him with the same analytical knife that he uses to consider his current life. Allard meets Harold Roux, also in school after the war, who acts as Allard’s moral compass. Roux has high standards, is highly principled, and naïve. He has one weakness, his hair, which affects his entire experience at school. Both love Mary Tolliver, a beautiful, young student. Harold sees her as perfection, pure and to be protected. Allard also is drawn to her great beauty and sets out single-mindedly to win her.
Allard is basically so self-centered that while he might be drawn to friends, and tells himself he loves Mary, all his actions are directed toward the goal of getting what he wants. He wants Mary but plans to change her to be more like him. There is a lack of empathy in him; he might see that he is causing pain but that is something he observes and doesn’t really change anything for him. The final disaster of the novel within the novel is a result of his inattention to what is going on with the people around him.
Ultimately, the novel is about time, how we pass through it, carry experiences forward through it, and how eventually all our friends and family move away from us in their passage. A wonderful book.
