Book: The Spy
Author: Paulo Coelho
Publisher: Knopf
208 pages
Rs299
Conveyed entirely through letters, The Spy is a short and interesting read about the legendary dancer Mata Hari who was executed in Paris in 1917 after being implicated in an espionage case.
The prologue starts with Hari's execution, as Coelho's narrative zooms in on a woman who remains serene when she is told that her plea for clemency had been denied. She starts getting ready for the firing squad — she puts on a pair of black stockings, high-heeled shoes, a floor-length fur coat, leather gloves and a hat, not flexing a muscle, Coelho writes, as she faces 12 men with rifles on their shoulders. After the bullets hit her, she collapses onto herself, her head still up and eyes still open.
This sets the tone of the book, which is based on real events in the life of the legendary dancer in Paris who kept the audience hooked with her sensual performances. Independent, beautiful and single, she had admirers among several influential people who bestowed her with gifts in exchange for favours.
The book is a series of letters, written by Hari and her lawyer Clunet. These are based on actual letters written by Hari that Coelho confesses to having edited, turned around and even significantly changed in parts. Divided in three parts, the first two comprise a lengthy letter by Hari to Clunet, in which she writes hoping he would pass it on to her daughter if she is killed. In these letters, she confesses the story of her life.
Born a Dutch, Margaretha Zella, was an ordinary girl who thought marriage to an army captain would save her from boredom and introduce her to the exotic world. Little did she know that her husband would repeatedly force her to recount and then replay her horrific rape by the headmaster of her school. Finally, she summoned the courage to leave her abusive husband and left for Paris, where she met a man who offered her an opportunity to perform on stage. She made the most of it and came up with an act performed for an elite audience in which she appeared veiled, and in the course of the dance, slowly removed each piece of clothing until she was naked.
The dance was scandalous, but aesthetically presented. Soon she became famous and a huge favourite of the rich and the famous.
Nothing lasts forever and even though Hari had plenty of admirers, the newspapers started criticising her. Also, a new crop of performers arose, who started aping her. At a crossroads, she met another man who took her to Germany, where she got involved in the ongoing war and spy games.
Coelho draws the picture of a strong woman who suffers but refuses to be a victim. "I don't know if the future will remember me, but if it does, may it never see me as a victim, but as someone who moved forward with courage, fearlessly paying the price she had to pay," Hari writes.
