Cloud Atlas

29TH—VI—1931—A letter from a man named Robert Frobisher (R.F.) addresses Rufus Sixsmith and comes from “Château Zedelghem, Neerbeke, West Vlaanderen” (in Belgium). The letter is the first in a series. In the letter, Robert describes a dream about being in a china shop and smashing things to make beautiful music. He wakes in his suite at his hotel to find a debt collector pounding rudely on his door. Robert escapes the collector by climbing out his window and down a drainpipe. He laments that he is a former Caius College (at Cambridge) music student forced to the brink of bankruptcy.

Robert weighs his options. He could beg for enough money from his uncle to rent a shabby room somewhere and teach music to amateurs for a living, but he hates this idea. Alternatively, he could try to find some Caius people to live with, but he’d have to hide the fact that he’s broke. Finally, he could try to find a turf accountant (a person who takes bets), but that comes with the danger of losing. Robert knows he’s the only one responsible for his problems, but he asks Rufus to bear with him and keep reading.

Robert’s plan is to find an old and blind but esteemed British composer named Vyvyan Ayrs, who lives in seclusion in Belgium and hasn’t put out any new work in a long time. But a review of a recent performance of an old work mentions that Vyvyan Ayrs has a whole drawer of unfinished works. Robert hopes to find the famous composer and become his amanuensis (assistant who transcribes work for an artist), then his protégé, ultimately becoming famous enough to make his father put him back in his will.

Robert tells about his trip to Belgium, complaining about all the poor accommodations along the way. In Belgium, things aren’t much better, although he manages to find a police sergeant who tells him where Vyvyan Ayrs lives and allows him to borrow a bicycle from the lost-and-found. Robert rides his bike to the Château Zedelghem, where Ayrs lives.

When Robert makes it to Ayrs’s place, he finds that Ayrs looks very old and very surprised to see him. Robert explains that he was a student at Caius College and wishes to be Ayr’s amanuensis. Ayrs thinks Robert is crazy. He asks if Robert was his teacher’s favorite, and Robert replies that actually, his teacher hated him. Ayrs is intrigued. He decides to test Robert the next morning. Ayrs skips dinner that night, and Robert eats with Ayrs’s wife, Jocasta van Outryve de Crommelynck, and his daughter, 17-year-old Eva.

6TH—VII—1931—Robert scolds Rufus for sending him a telegram, since telegrams attract attention (specifically from debt collectors). He then continues his story about Ayrs, describing his audition for Ayrs as a mixed success. Robert plays several famous pieces while Ayrs heckles him. To Robert’s surprise, however, at the end of the session, Ayrs admits that Robert might have potential, but he’ll need time to think over taking him on as his amanuensis. Ayrs leaves. Robert dislikes needing Ayrs’s help so much.

While Ayrs remains distant, Robert hears from Jocasta that despite Ayrs’s cold exterior, he seems interested in Robert—it’s just that he doesn’t like handing out praise. Additionally, he hasn’t composed for many years. Then, one day at breakfast, Ayrs approaches Robert and says he’d like for him to attempt to transcribe a viola melody. Robert is delighted at first, since he expected a smaller task to start, but then instead of playing viola, Ayrs just shouts some nonsense syllables at Robert. Robert can’t follow and asks Ayrs to repeat or explain himself several times. At the end, Ayrs complains to a servant in earshot of Robert that Robert is helpless at transcription.

In the postscript to his letter, Robert asks Rufus for a loan. He says he can’t ask anyone else because otherwise news would get around.

14TH—VII—1931—Rufus sends Robert some money, which Robert thanks him for in his next letter. That day, Ayrs comes and apologizes to Robert for treating him poorly. He asks Robert to stay for a few weeks or perhaps even a few months and accept a salary. Robert enthusiastically agrees. Ayrs sends Jocasta to fetch a bottle of wine.

Robert and Ayrs develop a work routine. Although Ayrs remains difficult, Robert learns to anticipate what he wants and even gets to make a suggestion or two. They work in the morning, then Ayrs naps in the afternoon while Robert works on his own material. Later, they have supper, and afterward, they listen to the radio or a gramophone. Sometimes friends come to visit, although Ayrs has few relatives.

After a while, Robert begins to learn his way around the Château Zedelghem. At dinners, Eva complains about how long Robert is staying with them. As he looks around his room at the château, Robert finds a book that seems to be the travel journal of a man named Adam Ewing. The journal, which seems to have been published posthumously by Ewing’s son, starts on the 99th page and ends mid-sentence about 40 pages later. He asks Rufus if he can track down the rest of Adam’s journal, then he sends Sixsmith a list of the oldest books in the Zedelghem library in order to have them appraised.

28TH—VII—1931—Robert completes his first collaboration with Ayrs. It’s a brief tone poem, but Robert considers it among his best work. He feels that he’s now the “golden boy” for the first time in a long time. Jocasta offers Robert a bigger room, to the annoyance of Eva. Robert begins to fear that Jocasta is subtly flirting with him. She gives him gifts and makes ambiguous statements about his body. One night at dinner, Ayrs pulls out a pistol and says he can still shoot even though he’s blind. Robert wonders if this is a threat.

29TH—VIII—1931—Robert references a letter from his father’s “solicitor” that Rufus sent him, saying he found it boring. He says he will leave Zedelghem to go into town and meet the solicitor to sign documents. Meanwhile, at the château, Robert has begun to feel uneasy ever since he started “servicing” Jocasta every few nights whenever Eva isn’t home. Even more than Ayrs, Robert fears the servant, Hendrick, who remains a mystery to Robert.

Robert goes into town to meet the “solicitor,” but it’s actually the bookseller that he and Rufus have been communicating with, and Robert has brought along some valuable books. After confirming there are no creditors lurking around, Robert allows the bookseller to inspect the books. After some haggling, Robert walks away with a lot of money.

Robert enjoys spending his money on various things like spats and a cigarette box, as well as some beer in a café. As he’s walking around killing time before meeting back up with Ayrs, he happens to run into Eva, who is with a man twice her age who’s wearing a wedding ring. Robert marvels at how bold they’re both being. Later, back at Zedelghem, Robert confronts Eva about what he saw. She asks if he told anyone else yet, and he says no. Eva informs him that the older man is Monsieur van de Velde, and that she stays with his family during the school week. He was with her because the school doesn’t like the girls to walk around unaccompanied. Eva asks what Robert thought van de Velde was going to do to her, and if he was jealous. Robert is shocked and stammers an apology. He’s glad Eva will be leaving soon for Switzerland.

29TH—VIII—1931—One evening, when Robert has Jocasta in his bedroom, Ayrs comes knocking and demands to be let in. Robert fears Ayrs is about to shoot him, but it turns out Ayrs is eager to record a violin melody before he loses it. Robert is so relieved that he doesn’t even mind being asked to work in the middle of the night. Hendrick is standing by to help Ayrs get around, and Robert wonders again how much Hendrick knows about him and Jocasta.

Ayrs hums his violin sonata. Robert tells him it’s strange, unlike anything that Ayrs—or anybody else, really—has done before. Ayrs says he dreamt the music came from a nightmarish café. After transcribing the melody, Robert calls Hendrick to take Ayrs back to bed. To Robert’s horror, however, after he gets back in bed with Jocasta under his sheets, the blind Ayrs stumbles into his room to see him and sits on the bed, not far from where Jocasta is under the sheets.

Ayrs says he’ll be direct: He’s heard rumors that Jocasta is unfaithful, and he wants to know if she’s made advances on Robert. Robert denies everything. Ayrs asks why a smart, rich, good-looking young man like Robert is still hanging around in Zedelghem. Robert says Ayrs is his muse, like the older poet Verlaine was to the younger poet Rimbaud. Eventually Ayrs leaves. After he’s gone, Jocasta gets angry with Robert. When he asks why, she says that Ayrs loves Robert.

Later, Robert reports that all of Zedelghem seems to be stirring, with even the plumbing making a lot of noise. He reflects on Ayrs’s desire to make immortal music and finds it vulgar and vain, likening it to ancient cave painting.

14TH—IX—1931—Sir Edward Elgar, one of the most famous English musicians other than Ayrs, stops by for a visit one day. Like Ayrs, Elgar is also old and in declining health. They talk for a while; Elgar mentions that, after a long break, he’s working on a new symphony. The two of them eventually fall asleep, and Robert listens to their snores as if he’s notating them. Three days later, Ayrs announces he wants to complete one last big symphonic work called Eternal Recurrence, based on the work of Friedrich Nietzsche. He wants to keep Robert on for another six months in exchange for a continued salary.

28TH—IX—1931—Jocasta begins to irritate Robert, asking about other women he’s been with. She’s fascinated by the birthmark on Robert, which looks like a comet. She even tells Robert she loves him. He tells her he’s never loved anyone but himself. She gets angry and leaves. Robert has agreed to Ayrs’s proposal to stay for another six months. Later that day, he transcribes a piece based on the sound of burning leaves. Robert doesn’t even remember when it became fall.