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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
Originally published on my blog here in June 1999.
Novels as a genre - the most successful genre of literature in English - very frequently deal with growing up and coming of age. This is partly a legacy from the nineteenth century novel, where the desire to begin at the beginning (as opposed to the classical drama, which is supposed to begin in media res - in the middle) meant that many novels start with the birth of their principal characters. (Dickens provides several examples of this.) But the other reason is that adolescence is an experience all adults have gone through, and involved many changes, so it can easily and effectively be used to make a reader look at their own life in a rather different way.
Death of the Heart is another novel of adolescence, detailing the experiences of the sixteen year old Portia over several months. These are told under the headings The World, The Flesh, and The Devil, each part named after one of the sources of deception that God is called upon to save us from in the prayer book. And deception is at the heart of what Bowen wants to say about society and ourselves: her message is that society functions through deceit and we grow up as we buy into that deception. We learn not to say or act as we feel, instead building up a layer of acting between us and the world, and often another concealing our true feelings even from ourselves. (This second distancing of ourselves from our immediate feelings is what prompts the title.) All of this is for self-protection.
The way that Bowen develops this theme is to place an outsider, the innocent Portia, suddenly in London; following the death of her mother, she has come to live with her conventional stepbrother and his wife. Portia soon meets some of their friends, and she keeps a diary filled with painfully honest, meticulous observation of those around her. A total innocent, she believes she has fallen in love with one of the men she meets, failing to understand that almost all he says and does is exaggerated and idealised to throw himself into relief against those around him - a deception. The book basically follows the disastrous course of their relationship, and it is through the contrast between their two natures (even though they are outwardly quite similar) that Bowen explores her ideas about deceit.
The back of this edition, part of the Penguin Twentieth Century Classics series, describes Bowen as providing a link between the Bloomsbury set and later writers such as Iris Murdoch. They share an interest in using an outwardly naturalistic setting to explore a single theme in depth; Bowen does not use symbols in quite the same way as either Woolf or Murdoch but the intention of her writing is similar.
Novels as a genre - the most successful genre of literature in English - very frequently deal with growing up and coming of age. This is partly a legacy from the nineteenth century novel, where the desire to begin at the beginning (as opposed to the classical drama, which is supposed to begin in media res - in the middle) meant that many novels start with the birth of their principal characters. (Dickens provides several examples of this.) But the other reason is that adolescence is an experience all adults have gone through, and involved many changes, so it can easily and effectively be used to make a reader look at their own life in a rather different way.
Death of the Heart is another novel of adolescence, detailing the experiences of the sixteen year old Portia over several months. These are told under the headings The World, The Flesh, and The Devil, each part named after one of the sources of deception that God is called upon to save us from in the prayer book. And deception is at the heart of what Bowen wants to say about society and ourselves: her message is that society functions through deceit and we grow up as we buy into that deception. We learn not to say or act as we feel, instead building up a layer of acting between us and the world, and often another concealing our true feelings even from ourselves. (This second distancing of ourselves from our immediate feelings is what prompts the title.) All of this is for self-protection.
The way that Bowen develops this theme is to place an outsider, the innocent Portia, suddenly in London; following the death of her mother, she has come to live with her conventional stepbrother and his wife. Portia soon meets some of their friends, and she keeps a diary filled with painfully honest, meticulous observation of those around her. A total innocent, she believes she has fallen in love with one of the men she meets, failing to understand that almost all he says and does is exaggerated and idealised to throw himself into relief against those around him - a deception. The book basically follows the disastrous course of their relationship, and it is through the contrast between their two natures (even though they are outwardly quite similar) that Bowen explores her ideas about deceit.
The back of this edition, part of the Penguin Twentieth Century Classics series, describes Bowen as providing a link between the Bloomsbury set and later writers such as Iris Murdoch. They share an interest in using an outwardly naturalistic setting to explore a single theme in depth; Bowen does not use symbols in quite the same way as either Woolf or Murdoch but the intention of her writing is similar.
I wrote about this book here: https://theblankgarden.wordpress.com/2016/04/29/their-victims-lie-strewn-all-round/
One of the things I realized about my reading habits recently is that I would much rather read a book with beautiful prose and interesting characters than a book with neither of those things but with great plot. I also love dark, moody books, books without resolution or happy endings. So: keep that in mind when I say I really enjoyed this book.
It took several pages before I was hooked on this novel. It has a slow start, with a conversation that doesn't make much sense. But once it gets going, this book delivers heart-wrenching situations and very human characters. This is not a romance, or a coming-of-age, but it has those elements. I think what kept me hooked was the beautiful passages interspersed throughout the book that talked about humanity in an honest but painful way.
I wouldn't recommend this book to many people I know, but if you enjoy a gloomy, beautiful type of novel, this is for you.
It took several pages before I was hooked on this novel. It has a slow start, with a conversation that doesn't make much sense. But once it gets going, this book delivers heart-wrenching situations and very human characters. This is not a romance, or a coming-of-age, but it has those elements. I think what kept me hooked was the beautiful passages interspersed throughout the book that talked about humanity in an honest but painful way.
I wouldn't recommend this book to many people I know, but if you enjoy a gloomy, beautiful type of novel, this is for you.
So much potential but so blandly written and bizarrely drawn characters who spent saying incredibly vague things and then suddenly get emotional for very little reason.
This book was complicated and aggravating, but I enjoyed much about the descriptions of London and the larger issues that this work brings up. I felt extremely sorry for Portia but was also able to recognize how her naiveness created situations of difficulty for her. Overall, I think that she was a relatable protagonist, but I have trouble recognizing any of the other characters as complex. (Other than Matchette.)
Beautifully written prose! Definitely worth a second read.
Oh, there are such sparkling moments of grace and insight, deftness and articulacy like you wouldn't believe, but I could never really get interested in anything but the writing.
'Anna had, at this moment before they met, the closest feeling for Portia she ever had.'
Fabulous stuff and I've only just begun. Please stay good.
23/9 what an excellent book! Fascinating characters and just marvellous writing. Loved it
Fabulous stuff and I've only just begun. Please stay good.
23/9 what an excellent book! Fascinating characters and just marvellous writing. Loved it
I picked this up off the library shelf after reading an article that praised it. I had difficulty with a few things in this book. Bowen's writing can be uneven. I often lost the thread of a scene, a conversation, or an interaction. Her dialog can sometimes be long-winded. Eddie especially goes on at length. Sometimes there's a disparity between what she says about her characters and how they actually present themselves through their words and actions. (For example, why does she keep calling Eddie innocent when he knows exactly how he's manipulating people?)
The hardest part of the book was understanding 1930's colloquial English dialog. When Portia asks Eddie why he was holding Daphne's hand, he says something like, "Well if you can't get on with people, then you must simply get off with them." What the hell does that mean? That exchange is a crucial moment in the book, and I don't know what he's saying. There are many moments like this throughout the book.
But those are all little things. When Bowen is good, she is really good. She has extraordinary insight into her characters, into human emotion, desire, and motivation, and she conveys that insight with unusual eloquence and power. The book is primarily a study in character and culture, contrasting the innocent, sincere, unmannered Portia with the false and spiritually dead society in which she lands. Bowen shows that society to be not merely smothering but malicious. Anna and Thomas are painfully out of touch with their own humanity. The final third of the book just makes you writhe with discomfort. You want to ask Thomas and Anna, "How did you get like this? Why do you stay like this?"
The hardest part of the book was understanding 1930's colloquial English dialog. When Portia asks Eddie why he was holding Daphne's hand, he says something like, "Well if you can't get on with people, then you must simply get off with them." What the hell does that mean? That exchange is a crucial moment in the book, and I don't know what he's saying. There are many moments like this throughout the book.
But those are all little things. When Bowen is good, she is really good. She has extraordinary insight into her characters, into human emotion, desire, and motivation, and she conveys that insight with unusual eloquence and power. The book is primarily a study in character and culture, contrasting the innocent, sincere, unmannered Portia with the false and spiritually dead society in which she lands. Bowen shows that society to be not merely smothering but malicious. Anna and Thomas are painfully out of touch with their own humanity. The final third of the book just makes you writhe with discomfort. You want to ask Thomas and Anna, "How did you get like this? Why do you stay like this?"
3* The Heat of the Day
3* The Last September
4* Eva Trout
3* The Demon Lover
3* The House in Paris
3.5* The Death of the Heart
TR To the North
TR A World of Love
3* The Last September
4* Eva Trout
3* The Demon Lover
3* The House in Paris
3.5* The Death of the Heart
TR To the North
TR A World of Love