Things I Didn’t Know
by Robert Hughes
Published by Vintage Books
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Reviewed by Michele Davis
In this tightly written, adventurous memoir we begin with tragedy. Hughes gets into an automobile accident in his native Australia after a fishing trip and almost died. He did plead with family members, friends and his significant other to kill him while in hospital, but he made it through the horrendous surgeries and constant pain to write this wondrous memoir.
His description of the Australian legal system, the differences between the States and Australia, as well as his own life as a long-time art critic, are well rendered and his language is beautifully choreographed.
Hughes’ writing is visual and you know right away that for him life and art are inseparable in his mind. But this makes the book even more formidable. We follow Hughes through life, his affluent upraising in Sydney to the first moment when he realizes art is important–when as a student he sees a Miró–he told a professor, “That can’t be art.” His professor replied, “All right, Robert,” he replied, “if that isn’t art then why don’t you tell me what art is?” This was an epiphany for Hughes who actually started thinking about what art really was.
Overall, this is a light-hearted memoir, except when Hughes discusses his first marriage, which, while it settles him, his wife wants sexual freedom, and this left him feeling like a “cuckold, going cuckoo.” But once the divorce is finalized, his writing takes back its tinge of gold, pulling away from the gothic darkness of that experience. An absolutely fantastic read where you visit Australia, London, the States and Italy
Armchair Interviews says: A must read for anyone who loves exceptional writing.