Angela Thirkell - Contented With The Time

In my most recent post I wrote about my reaction to Angela Thirkell's 29th and final Barsetshire novel - Three Score and Ten.  The goal of this post is to reflect on the full series which I have read roughly over the past 15 months or so - some for the second time.  The first thing to be acknowledged is the achievement of writing so much about one place and one (albeit large) group of characters over roughly a 30 year period.  I know that other writers have been as prolific, Trollope comes to mind, but I can't think of any novelist who wrote so much in such a focused way.  Through her creation and alter ego Laura Morland, Ms Thirkell joked that she wrote the same book over and over again, that really wasn't true, time moved on, people changed and in just the right way she added to characters along the way - Wickham the Merton's agent is a case in point.  Amazingly there were few inconsistencies in the books almost up to the very end when she did seem to lose her focus in the next to last book Love at All Ages.  But in her 28th book probably in declining health, I think we can give her a break.

More importantly, however, what was it that made these books so special? So special that there are active Angela Thirkell societies both in England and the United States some 50 years after the last book was written.  Thinking about this, at least two things come to mind.  On Christmas Day back in 2006, I had a lot of anxiety about a trip that was coming up a few days later.  For some reason I decided to start reading High Rising the first of the Barsetshire novels, I had already read two of the later ones Pomfret Towers and Before Lunch.  High Rising begins at Christmas time with Laura Morland bringing her obnoxious son Tony home from school for the Christmas holidays.  Perhaps it was the quiet Christmas in the English countryside that appealed to my jangled nerves, but all of the sudden I started to relax and calm down.

Almost all of Ms. Thirkell's seem to have that effect on me, something else that she apparently inherited from Anthony Trollope, his novels were once described a valium in book form.  I have been thinking about why Thirkell's books have that effect, part of it is probably an idealistic American view of what life is like in small English villages.  Ten years ago I spent about a week in one such village and there is something about the smallness, the quiet and people living everyday lives that is appealing.  One has to be careful about such a few, living in such a setting doesn't eliminate all of lives problems and stresses and the relatively comfortable lives of the main characters is to some extent due to others working hard for low wages.  On the latter point it should be notice in fairness to Thirkell that the laboring class is not swept under the rug, but has a real presence and identity in the novels.

I think the best way to describe this aspect of the novels can be found in the words of Charles Dickens, in his classic story - A Christmas Carol.  Writing about Scrooge's long suffering clerk Bob Cratchit and his family's Christmas celebration, Dickens notes the following:

"They were happy, grateful, pleased with one another and contented with the time."

The final sentence could be said of almost everyone of Ms. Thirkell's characters and therein I think lies the soothing effect of the novels.

This last statement would seem to support the view that the Barsetshire novels are only light social satire with little real content.  Sometimes on the surface that may seem to be true, but at a deeper level the novels explore issues of human life that are universal.  Towards the end there is understandably an ongoing discussion of end of life issues, but earlier other themes are present, often in understated, non-verbal communication.  I first noticed this in August Folly when Mr. Tebbins without directly saying so tells his son not to worry about his poor academic record at Oxford.  Richard, the son, seldom appears after that and becomes something of an unattractive character, but he does make one major contribution, saving Jessica Dean from injury so she can go on to captivate England, and all of us, on the stage.

Other examples come to mind as well, Lady Glencora Palliser in The Duke's Daughter singing "Keep the Home Fires Burning" to a large audience during World War II bringing almost everyone to tears as they remember the sacrifices of both wars.  Of course, the novels only cover World War II and the physical sacrifices are limted (although real enough) to a few characters who leave arms and feet behind them on different battlefields.  While the novels do not cover the World War I years, the deaths of heirs to the Leslie and Pomfret families and the suffering in silence of their parents goes on throughout the cycle.  The dignity and grace that the Earl of Pomfret and his sister, Lady Emily Leslie display in dealing with their loss is something that I will always remember. 

In Pomfret Towers when someone refers to the deceased heir to the Pomfret earldom as "poor Mellings," his father, who has no other children says, "Why poor, at least he served his country, more than we have ever done."

At one point during John Mortimer's "Paradise Postponed," a city-woman recently moved to the country complains to her doctor, "It's all so quiet, so green and so wet."  To which her doctor replies, "It's called England.  There's no known cure."

To which I say, THANK GOD! 

And thanks to Angela Thirkell for creating this little world with so much in it both of enjoyment and of value.

Three Score and Ten - Making a Good Ending

Reportedly when the late Edward Kennedy learned that he had an inoperable brain tumor, he said something to the effect of seeing if he could make a good ending.  By all accounts he did just that and on reading and reflection the same can be said of Three Score and Ten, the 29th and final Barsetshire novel of Angela Thirkell.  Ms. Thirkell did not live to finish this book, supposedly she wrote the first five chapters or 137 pages in the Moyer Bell edition.  If that's so, it means that C. A. Lejune wrote the last six chapters or 171 pages, a little more than half of the book, but, of course, the last half.

Like every Thirkell novel, this book includes some romances, in this case one young and one of a certain age.  The young romance concerns Ludo Foster, the young Lord Melling who will ultimately become Earl of Pomfret.  Like his father, Ludo is a shy young man, who starts to come out of his shell in What Did it Mean? courtesy of Jessica Dean and Aubrey Clover.  I mentioned earlier about Edith Graham having the longest running courtship in these novels, but Ludo is also a contender as multiple candidates have been out there through the novels.  It all ends satsifactorily in this novel linking together even more closely two of the favorite families of the series - in fact the last words of the book and the 29 novels belong to the young lovers.  The other romance deals with Sylvia Gould who appeared very early in the series and not again until the end.  There is some speculation that Thirkell intended a different ending than what Ms. Lejeune provides, but I think her's make more sense and happily ties up a loose end from two of the earliest books.

When I first realized that Ms. Thirkell hadn't lived to finish this book, I was disappointed because I wanted to know how she would ended something that had gone on so long.  While we don't know what her plans were, I do think that Ms. Lejeune did the right thing and definitely made a good ending.  The 70 years in the title refers to Laura Morland who is observing/celebrating her 70th birthday.  Supposedly modeled on Ms. Thirkell herself, Laura has been there since the very first novel and if she isn't in every book she appears with great regularity. 

The second half of the book is devoted to discussing, planning and carrying out a birthday party for Laura which she accepts, but not without some reservations.  There is a nice effect to this which I will call a form of "doubling" - Angela Thirkell died one day short of her 71st birthday putting her roughly as the same age as her alter ego within the novels.  By making the birthday party the point of emphasis in the second half of the novel, Ms. Lejeune is able to bring back in one way or another almost all of the characters who appeared in one or another in the novels.  This allows us the reader to enjoy one more contact with some of our favorite characters, but perhaps more importantly, it brings the characters back to praise and honor, not only Laura, but also their creator Angela Thirkell.  I can't think of a better way to have ended such a long literary journey. 

I was originally going to use this post to comment on both this novel and the series in general, but decided to limit this post to Three Score and Ten and then devote a second post to the whole series.  That will take a little reflection so it may have to wait until after a post on the new Joseph Pulitzer biography which I finished last night, but we will see.  In any events hats off to Ms. Lejeune to making a good ending for Bartsetshire, if it is the end. 

Love At All Ages - Angela Thirkell

This is a record for me in terms of the gap between finishing a book and writing about it - I finished the next to last of Angela Thirkell's novels about 15 minutes ago.  Love At All Ages is the last of the books that Ms. Thirkell finished - the final work Three Score and Ten was finished by C.A. Lejeune after the author's death.  Like most of these latter Barsetshire novels, there is a sense of last things in the air.  Witness the following passage:

"Time may gallop with a thief en route to the gallows, but as we get older, he gallops faster and faster with ourselves as we watch friend after friend, enemy after enemy and even bore after bore, being borne along on what is less an ever-rolling stream than an endless, passionless convectorbelt (if that is the word we mean) -- and we also are on it."

I think the word she meant was conveyor belt, but we get the meaning all the same. 

I noted in my last Thirkell related post that I had previously thought I found signs that Thikell's was losing track of her story and her characters, but was proven wrong at the beginning of this book.  Alas this is the book where she does start to lose it in some fairly obvious ways.  The most obvious is when Lady Agnes Graham describes her nephew Martin Leslie as having lost a foot in Italy during World War II.  Any Thirkelite worth his or her salt knows that it was Robin Dale who lost a foot, Martin received a leg wound that caused him to limp, but not have to go suffer with all the access issues that are described in this book.

But in spite of obvious mistakes like this, Ms. Thirkell still retains enough of her faculties to provide some memorable lines.  The best example is when the aged (and ageless) Lord Stoke is talking with Lavinia Merton and says, "Read all you can while you are young.  Doesn't matter if you understand it or not.  You'll have made friends that you can always come back to, and every time you meet them you'll like them better."
That's a good line at any time, but especially in this book which seems to be even more full of allusions to Dickens, Scott and, of course, Shakesepeare.

My comments about last things shouldn't be taken to mean this is a book about death and dying because the real focus (as in most Thirkell books) is romance, in this case, two romances, one of two people who might be considered too old and the other of a couple who are clearly too young.  The first has to do with Rev. Caleb Oriel who has appeared in these stories many times and Lady Gwendolyn Harcourt - sister of the Duke of Towers.  The Towers family only appears in these last stories,  among other things to provide a husband for Edith Graham and a wife for Rev. Oriel.

The romance of those who are clearly too young concerns Lavinia Merton who is only 16 and Ludovic Foster (known as Mellings) future heir of Pomfret.  When he first appeared in these novels, Ludo appeared to lack the strength and the personality for the responsibilities that await him at some future date.  Gradually he has grown up both physically and emotionally, but life will still clearly be a struggle for him, much like it has been for his father.  Towards the end of this book, he and Lavinia clearly care for each other, but, if nothing else, Lavinia's youth prevents any real conclusion.  Interestingly part of Ludo's side of the story is told through an encounter with his Aunt, Alice Wicklow, who was so painfully shy in Pomfret Towers as Alice Barton.  This is one of the few times we have encountered her since and she gives valuable support to her nephew. 

The book ends with the Pomfrets and the Mertons wondering about where all of this will lead and which, in turn, leads to them looking back on their own lives and love for one another.  It is nice as we move towards the end of these books to be connected with some of the more sympathetic characters.  I look forward to Three Score and Ten to see what kind of closure there is on this and other parts of this long literary journey.

Jane's Fame: How Jane Austen Conquered the World by Claire Harman

Unlike most of my previous posts, this book is one that came out relatively recently, not even a month ago in this country.  I think two things led me to it - seeing television adapations of Emma and Persuasion plus a trip to the Jane Austen exhibition "A Woman's Wit" at the Morgan Library.  I enjoyed all of these experiences and, as is frequently the case, it motivated me to learn more, leading to the purchase and reading of this book which describes how Jane Austen moved from being an obscure writer with a limited audience to being one of the most well know authors in the world.  I remember reading a similar kind of book about the Bronte sisters a number of years ago - a combination of brief biography with then a history of the author's work after his or her lifetime.

Books like this are almost always of interest because they satisfy our need for more information about authors we enjoy in one way or another.  One thing I hadn't realized about Jane Austen is something I learned both from the book and the Morgan exhibit - how little of Jane Austen's correspondance has actually survived.  Supposedly she wrote literally hundreds of letters to her family (especially her sister Casandra) and friends, but only a small fraction survive.  The largest number in one place are those held by the Morgan, a tribute to both the wealth and collector's instinct of Mr. Morgan.  As noted by Ms. Harman this puts Austen in a class with Shakespeare as the two biographical subjects for whom there is very high interest and minimal biographical materials.

After summarizing Jane Austen's life especially with regard to her writing, the book goes on to explain her rise from obscurity to world reknown.  I found this to be the only weak chapter of the book, as I understand it the argument is that it was the first biography of the author, written by her nephew that was the beginning of the vast public hunger for more information about Austen.  I say weak because this point is made very briefly with little fanfare so that I actually missed it on a first read.  It was only when I found the next chapter began with Jane's fame an accomplished fact that I realized I must have missed something and went back and read the chapter a second time.

This concern is not that significant and certainly not sufficient to recommend against reading the book.  Once Jane's status is affirmed, the book moves on with some interesting commentary about both her work and the work's popularity.  In explaining the popularity of the novels, Harman mentions a number of things including the fact that there are very few references to contemporary events in the books.  This, according to Harman, partially accounts for their long term popularity, it gives them a sort of timelissness.  Another factor is Austen's almost perfect timing in writing about romantic situations, she has a great sense of just how to build up the drama and exactly when to bring the situation to a conclusion - always a happy conclusion.

Also of interest was the popularity of Austen's work during World War I as British soldiers tried desperately to hold on to any stability in a world of lethal chaos.  I had read about the importance of books to soldiers before, but didn't realize that Austen was an important source of comfort for men, most of whom had little or any connection with the world described in her novels.  Attention is also paid to the many television and movie adaptations of Austen's work.  It may have been my reading more than a direct statement by Harman, but I saw here a real warning about being mindful of things that are added or changed in the adaptations that are not in the original work.  This can happen very easily and can lead to losing the author's original intent. 

I am very glad that I both bought and read this book, all within the same month!  In addition to getting a better understanding of Austen's life and work as well as its aftermath, I found some interesting possibilities for further reading.  Enough to make me look forward to my next visit to the Rutgers library.

The Demon in the House by Angela Thirkell

A funny thing happened to me on the way to finishing Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels - I realized that there was an early work that I had missed - The Demon in the House.  This book was actually the third to be published following High Rising and Wild Strawberries.  In some ways it is a continuation on the first book, focused on the mystery writer novelist Laura Morland and her 12 year old son, Tony - actually more on the latter.  In fact, the book is really not so much a novel as a series of short stories or episodes of Tony's misadventures during his vacations from Southbridge School. I say misadventures because Tony is a particularly difficult child (a kind way of putting it), he never stops talking, knows everything and is always doing exactly what he has been told not to do. 

Other than Tony's escapades there is not a lot of additional content to this book other than something of interest regarding Dr. Ford, the long time country doctor.  In the last part of the book, he falls in love and The Demon in the House actually ends with an announcement of his engagement.  This is of special interest because of something I had just read in Close Quarters.  In talking with Margot MacFayden, Ford mentions that he had only been in love once in his life - with Ann Todd, Laura Morland's assistant, who marries George Knox at the end of High Rising.  Here I thought that Angela Thirkell had been caught leaving a loose end - an inconsistency with the future novels.  That feeling of smug satisfaction lasted only until I began reading Love at All Ages which follows Close Quarters and wherein Ms. Thirkell mentions that engagement and its ending by mutual agreement.  So if there was a loose end, our author found it and corrected it herself very quickly. 

While I didn't think there was a lot to this book, it once again reminded me of why I read these novels.  All of the sudden at one point of following Laura Morland's trying to parent a 12 year old boy, I was reminded of another 12 year old boy and a similar experience almost 20 years ago.  There is little or nothing that is similar about the two situations - a fictional widow in the 1930's in rural England and a happily married father in suburban New Jersey in the last decade of the 20th century, but some how, in someway, Laura's experience reminded me of my own.  Perhaps that is a big part of Ms. Thirkell's gifts - we are reminded of ourselves in her stories in many different and important ways. 

The Strange Death of Liberal England by George Dangerfield

Reading this book was another part of working my way through all the books that have accumulated over the decades.  I don't remember how long I have had it, but it is a paperback version of a book published in 1935 with a cover price of all of $3.45.  I think that I got it in the 1970's when I was introduced to another of Dangerfield's books - "The Damnable Question" which is about Ireland during WW I and thereafter.  Of course, I have that book too and it is also in the unread category.

I think what attracted me to this book was something about its title.  In this case "liberal" does not mean a political philosophy, but refers to one of the major British political parties of the 19th century.  The Liberal party basically died between WWI and the 1920's and exists today only as a small minority long after today's major parties, the Conservative and Labour parties.  A little research indicates that at its peak, the Liberal party favored a minimal role for government, extending the vote and, most importantly, reform.

I say most importantly because according to Dangerield, the Liberal Party died during the 1910-14 period because of its inability to handle three major issues: Ireland, the women's suffrage movement and labor unrest.  In each case the Liberal Party's efforts for reform were too little to late for movements that were no longer satisfied to be patient, were demanding action and, even more seriously, pursuing the goals too some degree with violence.  In each case the Liberal Party under its leader, Herbert Asquith (pictured above) was unable to resolve the issues to any degree that mattered. 

What might have happened had not World War I and the demands of national unity intervened is almost too scary to contemplate.  Not because of any desire to see any of the groups in question fail in achieving their rights, but because of the civil violence to where the country seemed to be heading.  This is particularly true in the case of Ireland where Dangerfield makes it clear that the opposition Conservatives actually encouraged treasonous behavior especially in the Army where many officers were unwilling to command their troops against Irish rebels.

At some level all of this seems like, and effectively is, ancient history.  But the cautionary note that comes out of it is that there are times when reform is not sufficient - radical change is the only solution.  Those who believe in reform, especially those in power, have to recognize the times when what we reformers might regard as gradual progress is no longer suffient.  Being wrong about this especially in multiple cases like what faced the Liberal Part from 1910 to 1914 could have devastating results, not just 100 years ago, but any time.

"Close Quarters" by Angela Thikell

It is probably never a good idea to allow too much time to pass between finishing reading a book and then writing about it - especially as you get older! That's, no doubt, even more true when the book is part of a long series like Angela Thirkell's Barsetshire novels because in addition to the danger of forgetting, there is the danger of getting the books mixed up. The novel in question this time is Close Quarters which is the third from the end - only Never Too Late and Three Score Ten remain. 

The focus of this novel is Margot MacFayden or as we first met her Margot Phelps the adult daughter of retired Admiral Phelps and his wife, all three of them lived in Jutland Cottage in Southbridge, the town where Southbridge school is located.  An early novel called appropriately enough, Jutland Cottage is the story of how friends of the family rescue Margot who is slowly (less slowly everyday) killing herself taking care of her aging and ailing parents.  The rescue takes the form of helping Margot to care more about her appearance and to get out more which results in her marriage to Donald MacFayden a vegetable magnate who not only loves Margot, but can provide for her financially.

At the beginning of this novel, Mr. MacFayden has died leaving Margot a relatively young widow with plenty of money, but also with two even more aged and more ailing parents.  A great deal of the book is taken up with Margot's trying to figure out how to care for her parents both emotionally and physically without moving back in with them and starting to kill herself all over.  Obviously for anyone who read the earlier book, Mr. MacFayden's death opens up the possibility of second chances for Margot's other suitors who, of course, are known to the reader, but not to her.  One of the advantages of such a long series of books is that it allows for second chances, and the result of that part of the story should be of no surprise to anyone.  Another interesting romantic angle of this story is that the longest running courtship in the series, that of Edith Graham has ended before the book even begins ending therefore off stage with her being engaged to a character who appeared only briefly at the end of the previous book. 

However, much of Close Quarters like many of these later novels is in many ways a meditation about old age and death.  In this case there is the added element of the responsibilities of the next generation to those who have little left to do but their dying.  I don't mean to suggest that this is morbid, if anything Ms. Thirkell seems to stress how much it is a natural part of life.  In an earlier book, she misquotes (intentionally I am sure) Shakespeare by changing Hamlet's "the readiness is all" to "the willingness is all" with regard to death.  Almost all of the characters who die in these books (all of whom go of natural causes at advanced age) have this willingness.  At first I didn't see the significance because willing or not it will happen to all of us.  But it made me think of a remark by Senator Edward Kennedy at the time of his diagnosis with brain cancer, something to the effect of "Let's see if I can make a good ending."  Perhaps that's what Thirkell is referring to with the stress on willingness - a commitment to making a good end which can in turn help both the dying and those who care for them do so with as much grace as possible.  If so it is an important lesson for all - another such lesson from an author who, in my opinion, is a lot more than a writer of light social satire.