Scan barcode
A review by brynhammond
Dusty Answer by Rosamond Lehmann
4.0
I read a Rosamond Lehmann on advice years ago, loved it as a evocation of childhood and family life I partway identified with (I *never* say that), and have since missed it rather desperately while memory blurs on its title. I'm still not sure which it was. When I found out she'd written about a bisexual woman main I located it at once.
I like her style, which is not modernist in the way of Woolf, although she was 'intimate with the Bloomsburys'--indeed I gather Lehmann fell through a crack as neither modernist nor backwards-looking toward the Victorian novel, and that this didn't help her work remain in sight.
Why hadn't I heard of this one as an LGBT classic? To be honest I never dared read The Well of Loneliness, published the year after (1928), because of its self-hatey reputation (mostly thanks to Jack Halberstam's [b:Female Masculinity|75407|Female Masculinity|J. Jack Halberstam|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388633844l/75407._SX50_.jpg|72943], I now think that rep exaggerated or misunderstood, and I'll try it). This presentation was not negative, although life as a lesbian in the society is seen to have mental health costs. It leaves somewhat to be desired, obviously, but I was happy--within my expectations of the time--with the bi/lesbian storyline. The main's relationship with a woman wasn't sidelined.
-- The het affairs? Oh, I didn't care, but the psychology of all is acute, and Lehmann is one of those writers I'll read for people-description. Also notable for landscape description, spliced closely enough with the mood of the story not to be redundant, original without being overegged. I look forward to slowly reading my way through her novels (and one day I'll happen upon the magic one I remember).
I like her style, which is not modernist in the way of Woolf, although she was 'intimate with the Bloomsburys'--indeed I gather Lehmann fell through a crack as neither modernist nor backwards-looking toward the Victorian novel, and that this didn't help her work remain in sight.
Why hadn't I heard of this one as an LGBT classic? To be honest I never dared read The Well of Loneliness, published the year after (1928), because of its self-hatey reputation (mostly thanks to Jack Halberstam's [b:Female Masculinity|75407|Female Masculinity|J. Jack Halberstam|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388633844l/75407._SX50_.jpg|72943], I now think that rep exaggerated or misunderstood, and I'll try it). This presentation was not negative, although life as a lesbian in the society is seen to have mental health costs. It leaves somewhat to be desired, obviously, but I was happy--within my expectations of the time--with the bi/lesbian storyline. The main's relationship with a woman wasn't sidelined.
-- The het affairs? Oh, I didn't care, but the psychology of all is acute, and Lehmann is one of those writers I'll read for people-description. Also notable for landscape description, spliced closely enough with the mood of the story not to be redundant, original without being overegged. I look forward to slowly reading my way through her novels (and one day I'll happen upon the magic one I remember).