The Slippery State of Being: Unpacking Rosalind Belben’s Surrealist Masterpiece

Rosalind Belben’s 1979 novel, Is Beauty Good, has been reissued by Sheffield indie And Other Stories. This rediscovered work is a marvel of literary innovation, defying categorization as it navigates the blurred lines between dreams, sleep, and wakefulness.

Belben’s writing masterfully evokes the hypnagogic state – that liminal space where consciousness falters and reality and fantasy blur. Her protagonist careens through a surreal landscape, oscillating between moments of lucid awareness and deep-seated confusion. Memories of childhood nightmares resurface, threatening to overwhelm them.

One striking aspect of Is Beauty Good is its refusal to settle into a single narrative voice or perspective. The protagonist’s identity is constantly in flux, with age, sex, and nationality left unclear. This ambiguity is not simply a stylistic quirk but rather a deliberate attempt to capture the fluidity of human experience.

Belben’s narrator embodies the condition of modern life: dislocated, rootless, and perpetually adrift. In this sense, Is Beauty Good can be seen as a precursor to contemporary concerns about identity, belonging, and the fragmentation of self in the postmodern era. The novel also speaks to our growing awareness of the complex relationships between sleep, dreaming, and cognition.

Recent studies have highlighted the importance of the hypnagogic state for creativity, problem-solving, and even spiritual growth. Belben’s exploration of this liminal space is a key aspect of her work. Her novel has been praised for its feminist undertones, with the protagonist’s struggles against patriarchal norms serving as a powerful counter-narrative.

The reissue of Is Beauty Good is a testament to Belben’s enduring influence on literary culture. As readers engage with this enigmatic work, they will be forced to confront the slipperiness of their own perceptions and the instability of their own identities. The novel reminds us that even in isolated moments, we are part of a larger web of human experience that is both fragile and resilient.

As we immerse ourselves in Is Beauty Good’s dreamlike world, we are compelled to ask: what is the nature of beauty in this strange, liminal space? Is it a product of our waking lives or something that exists beyond reality? The novel offers no clear answers but instead invites us to surrender to its dizzying quality, where boundaries between dreams and reality blur into nothingness.