A Double Life by Karolina Pavlova

 

Karolina Pavlova

Karolina Pavlova, a Russian poet, was born in 1807. She moved to Dresden in 1858, abandoning her native country "not because of tsarist oppression but because of hostile criticism of her poetry and her personal life." Her art was everything to her. A Double Life was her first and only novel; it was published in 1848 when she was at the height of her fame as a poet and translator.

At 120 pages, A Double Life is not a long novel. Each of the ten chapters follows the same pattern: the first part is written in prose, the last few pages in verse. It centers around Cecily von Lindenborn, just eighteen, and her mother who desires to see her safely married. They live in the aristocratic world of  Moscow that Pavlova describes as decorous, indolent and prescribed. 

Cecily doesn't have much personality herself. She's young and beautiful, but "she didn't know how to attain the fulfillment of her wishes ... if she had been taught to look a truth in the face, if she could have guessed what it means to love ...But how was this possible when not only feeling itself, but the very word had always been kept remote from her... Everything strove to suppress all spiritual strength in her, to kill all inner life." Only at night, in her dreams, does the poetry of her soul come out.

She has two suitors: Dmitry Ivachinsky and Prince Victor. But the mother of her best friend, Olga, wants Prince Victor for her own daughter, so she manipulates Cecily into believing herself in love with Dmitry, then schemes to get the  two of them engaged and married. Dmitry, while good looking, is not wealthy, and not entirely sincere in his proclamations of love, but then he, too, is a product of his society. The book ends with their wedding. 

A Double Life is a quiet novel of morning visits, evening gatherings, and conversations. It also shows Pavlova's disdain for the aristocratic world in which she lived and their suppression of women, especially young, marriageable ones. I thought it was an interesting read, even though it wasn't very exciting and I never felt a real connection to any of the characters. Pavlova's poetry at the end of each chapter is lyrical, though at times the use of it to show Cecily's inner feelings felt a bit contrived. I didn't dislike this one, but I can't say I liked it either. But I am glad I read it. And it counts for my Classic by a Woman Author for Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge.

Happy Reading!

Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup

 The beginning:

"Having been born a freeman, and for more than thirty years enjoyed the blessings of liberty in a free State--and having at the end of that time been kidnapped and sold into Slavery, where I remained, until happily rescued in the month of January, 1853, after a bondage of twelve years--it has been suggested that an account of my life and fortunes would not be uninteresting to the public."

 The middle:

"Oh, how heavily the weight of slavery pressed upon me then. I must toil day after day, endure abuse and taunts and scoffs, sleep on the hard ground, live on the coarsest fare, and not only this, but live the slave of a blood-seeking wretch, of whom I must stand henceforth in continued fear and dread....I sighed for liberty; but the bondsman's chain was round me, and could not be shaken off. I could only gaze wistfully towards the North, and think of the thousands of miles that stretched between me and the soil of freedom, over which a black freeman may not pass."

The end:

"I looked in the direction indicated, and as my eyes rested on his countenance, a world of images thronged my brain .... all the friends of other and happier days, appeared and disappeared .... until at last the perfect memory of the man recurred to me, and throwing up my hands toward Heaven, I exclaimed, "Henry B. Northup! Thank God--thank God!" In an instant I comprehended the nature of his business, and felt that the hour of my deliverance was at hand."

Solomon Northup's eloquent and moving narrative of his life speaks for itself. His story is powerful, haunting, and unforgettable. I've never see the movie version of his life, but I'm so glad I read this book. It counts as my Nonfiction Classic for Karen's Back to the Classics Reading Challenge.

Happy Reading!

Miss Pym Disposes by Josephine Tey

 "Miss Pym stopped breathing and stared in unbelieving fascination. No really, did any college, however physical and hearty, begin the day at half-past five! Anything was possible, of course, in a community which had use for neither bedside table nor bedside lamps, but--half-past five!"

Miss Lucy Pym, bestselling author of a book on psychology, has come to Leys Physical Training College in England to give a guest lecture. She doesn't intend to stay long, but the fresh-faced vitality and enthusiasm of the girls intrigues her. And when the seniors invite her to Sunday tea, she agrees to stay a little longer, thinking to enjoy their wholesome society.

"But I remind you that it is their last term, this. And so everything is e-norrrmously exaggerated. Everyone is just the least little bit insane. If a student is frightened by nature, then she is a thousand times more frightened this term. ... It is not a normal life they lead. You cannot expect them to be normal."

And when a terrible accident happens at the college, Miss Pym finds herself in a terrible dilemma -- does she reveal to the headmistress her suspicions that it wasn't an accident after all, or does she keep them to herself?

The mystery part of this novel only comes into play the last sixty pages. The majority of the book concerns Miss Pym's interactions with the staff and the senior girls at the college, and her observations of their fears, hopes, and jealousies. Good thing I like that private college setting! And Lucy Pym? She's delightful. There is an old-fashioned feel to this one, which makes sense since it was published in 1947, but I didn't mind that either. It's an introspective novel, with more personal interactions than any real action, but it does have a nice twist at the end. This is the first Josephine Tey book that I've read (which makes it perfect to fill my Classic by a New-To-You Author in Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge), but it won't be my last.

Happy Reading!

 

A Humorous Classic...

 

Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade by Patrick Dennis was first published in 1955. It's a young man's humorous reminiscence of a very unforgettable, often exasperating character: his Aunt Mame. (Though it's his story as well.) Each chapter reads like a short story. And some of Mame's antics are laugh-out-loud funny. Which is why I'm counting this book as my Humorous or Satirical Classic for Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge. 

Here are a few quotes that capture the character and style of this novel:

"Looking back on Auntie Mame as the razzle-dazzle butterfly she was in 1929, I can see that she must have been just as terrified at the prospect of rearing a totally strange ten-year-old boy as I was when I first stumbled large-eyed and frightened into the Oriental splendor of her Beekman Place apartment. But Auntie Mame was never one to admit defeat. There was a kind of up-and-at-'em spirit of a speak-easy Girl Scout to my aunt." 

"She never revealed her exact age and on a legal document she'd say 'over twenty-one,' which no one ever seemed inclined to question. I suspected she was between thirty-five and forty, and she seemed a lot younger." 

"Every weekend I drove off to New York with a carload of junior Fred Astaire's, who settled comfortably in the bedrooms of Auntie Mame's big house on Washington Square and practiced being suave with their hostess. Auntie Mame loved it all. She liked company, and the younger and gayer the better. ... (And) the boys loved her .... they needed Auntie Mame to supply the beds, the board, the parties, the liquor. But she needed them for something more. She needed them to assure her that she was still young, still beautiful, still desirable."

Happy Reading!

 

 

 

The Housing Lark by Sam Selvon

 

The beginning: "But is no use dreaming. Is no use lying down there on your backside and watching the wallpaper, as if you expect the wall to crack open and money come pouring out, a nice woman, a house to live in, food, cigarettes, rum. ...The irony of it was that the wallpaper really had a design with lamps on it, Aladdin lamps all over the room. ....Battersby thought maybe he wasn't rubbing the right one."

The setting: London in the 1960s. 

The players:  A group of West Indian immigrants. There's Battersby and his sister, Jean, from Trinidad, and their friends, Nobby, Alfy, Fitz, Sylvester and Gallows. And then there's Harry Banjo, a calypso singer from Jamaica and Battersby's new roommate, who is the first to suggest they pool their money together to buy their very own house.

The dream:  "Yes, yes, is time to get serious," Bat say. "Now listen. I ain't want to make no big speeches. Everybody know what hell it is to get a place to live, and the idea is to start saving up some money, and we put it together and buy a house."

The problem:  "Ain't we going to buy a house?"

                           "That is only a lark," Jean say, "you think them fellars really serious? I know Battersby, he is my own brother, and I could tell you that up to now he ain't give me a ha'penny he save up. If I was you I think twice about that scheme."

The author:  Of East Indian descent, Sam Selvon was born in Trinidad in 1923. He came to public attention during the 1950s with a number of other Caribbean writers. The Housing Lark was published in 1965.

My reaction:  I didn't know what to expect when I started reading this novel, but I ended up thoroughly enjoying it. Selvon does an excellent job of portraying life in London for these West Indian immigrants, and the unfair prejudices they face. But he also doesn't flinch from showing each character's flaws and weaknesses; and he does it all with a lyrical lilt to his prose that calls to mind the Caribbean islands. It's not a long novel, only 125 pages, and every page is a delight. Selvon is a new-to-me author, and one I would definitely read again. This book also counts as my Classic by a BIPOC author for Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge.

Happy Reading!

Shane by Jack Schaefer

 

3 Quotes from the book:

"He rode into our valley in the summer of '89. ... He was clean-shaven and his face was lean and hard and burned from high forehead to firm, tapering chin. His eyes seemed hooded in the shadow of the hat's brim. He came closer, and I could see that this was because the brows were drawn in a frown of fixed and habitual alertness. Beneath them the eyes were endlessly searching from side to side and forward, missing nothing. ... He rode easily, relaxed in the saddle...yet even in this easiness was a suggestion of tension. It was the easiness of a coiled spring, of a trap set."   

"Only he was not a farmer and never really could be. ... There were times when he would stop and look off at the mountains and then down at himself and any tool he happened to have in his hands as if in wry amusement at what he was doing. You had no impression that he thought himself too good for the work or did not like it. He was just different. He was shaped in some firm forging of past circumstances for other things."

"Those were beautiful fall days, clear and stirring, with the coolness in the air just enough to set one atingling, not yet mounting to the bitter cold that soon would come sweeping down out of the mountains. It did not seem possible that in such a harvest season, giving a lift to the spirit to match the well-being of the body, violence could flare so suddenly and swiftly."

My thoughts:  So, I have a bookish confession to make:  I knew there was a movie called Shane (even though I've never seen it), but I never knew there was a book. Not until I read Sam's review over at Book Chase two months ago. What he said about this book made me want to read it right away. And now I'm not sure I ever want to see the movie because I loved the book so much. It's a more quiet and thoughtful western than most I've read. And there's a poetic quality to Schaefer's writing that I really enjoyed. And Shane? I liked him right from the start. And the young boy who narrates the story is so great. In fact, I liked everything about this one. So, thanks, Sam, for recommending this book! It's a new favorite, and one I think I now want to own.  

Happy Reading! 

Another Classic...

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs was first serialized in 1912, "during the heyday of the pulp fiction era". It is the first book in Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series. The blurb on the back describes it as an "epic, swashbuckling Red Planet tale of derring-do and dazzling romance." I wasn't sure what to expect when I started reading it, but even though there's a lot of detailed description to go along with the action, and the prose is decidedly old-fashioned, I thought it was kind of fun. And I ended up really liking John Carter who narrates the entire tale.

"I have determined to write down the story of the interesting periods of my life and of my death. I cannot explain the phenomena; I can only set down here in the words of an ordinary soldier of fortune a chronicle of the strange events that befell me during the ten years that my dead body lay undiscovered in an Arizona cave."






What else this novel contains:

• Woola, the loyal ten-legged Martian 'hound'
• sword fights and battles to the death
• an imaginative Martian landscape
• the warrior race of tusked and multi-limbed green martians
• Dejah Thoris, the beautiful red martian princess (in need of rescuing)
• adventure and romance

I'm glad I read this one. I think I might check out the movie now to see how it compares. And who knows, I might even read the next book in this series to see what happens to John and Dejah next.  Best of all? Since A Princess of Mars is less than 250 pages, it counts as my Classic Novella for Karen's Back to the Classics reading challenge. 

Happy Reading!

A classic from my TBR shelf...

I can't remember where I first heard about Angela Thirkell, but it was on someone's blog several years ago. And not just one person's blog. For awhile, it seemed like every other blog I followed was posting a review of one of Thirkell's novels. So, when I saw a copy of Growing Up in a used bookstore, I couldn't resist; I snapped it up, brought it home, promptly put it on a shelf .... and never got around to reading it. Until now.

Title:  Growing Up
Year:  1942
Place:  Barsetshire (Anthony Trollope's fictional English county)

Plot:  Sir Harry and Lady Waring's home is being used as a convalescent hospital for soldiers while they themselves live downstairs in the servant's quarters. A young military couple, Noel and Lydia Merton, come to lodge with them for a few months as does their niece, Leslie. And soon life at the Priory gets a little more complicated...and a little more fun. With wit and humor, Thirkell captures the struggle and uncertainty of the war years and deftly mixes it with the resilience and British good cheer of her main characters. There's even a little romance thrown in for good measure.

My thoughts:  This novel started off a little slow for me, but then I relaxed into the rhythm of Thirkell's writing and really started to enjoy her characters and their day-to-day happenings at Winter Overcotes. Lydia is delightfully charming; I loved the interaction between Sir Harry and his wife; and the uncertain romance between Leslie and Colonel Winter added another layer of fun. There were a few other characters I didn't love, but they only added to the eccentricities of life in a small English town. Growing Up reminded me a lot of a Barbara Pym novel with a hint of Elizabeth Gaskell added in.

Happy Reading!

P.S.  Since it was published in 1943, Growing Up fulfills the 20th Century Classic category in Karen's Back to the Classics Challenge. And since it came from my own TBR shelf, it also counts as a read for Lark's Backlist Reader Challenge. One book; two challenges. Gotta love that!

Dance Night

Like Stella Gibbons and Barbara Pym, Dawn Powell is an author whose novels are often overlooked and underappreciated. Born in Ohio in 1895, she moved to New York City in 1918 where she lived and wrote until her death. Dance Night is her third novel; I've had a copy sitting on my shelf gathering dust for almost two years. I don't know why I let it sit so long. I love the way Powell writes! And I have to say, I spent a very happy weekend immersed in the lives of young Morry and Jen and the other characters living in Lamptown, Ohio. Here's a small taste of this American classic:

"Morry leaned far out the window and looked above and below, but there was no woman in the sky nor any sign of a miracle for blocks around. Girls from the Works in light dresses wandered, giggling, up and down the street waiting for the Casino Dance Hall above Bauer's to open, farm couples stood transfixed before Robbin's Jewelry Store window, the door of Delaney's Saloon swung open, shut, open, shut, releasing then withdrawing the laughter and the gaudy music of a pianola. Everything was as it was on any other Thursday night in Lamptown."

"Suddenly he thought he had lived over stores long enough, he wanted someplace to stretch his long limbs, someplace where he belonged...Morry felt homesick for spacious houses set in spreading lawns fringed with great calm shade trees--he was homesick for things he had never known, for families he had only read about, he missed people--old friends that had lived only in the novels he had read." 

"The Chicago train thundered by with a fleeting glimpse of white-jacketed porters and lit-up dining cars. Morry and Jen watched it hungrily, they were on that train whizzing through Lamptown on their way to someplace, someplace wonderful.... The train went ripping through further silence leaving only a humming in the air and a smoky message painted on the sky.  Morry and Jen looked quickly at each other--this was the thing that always bound them--trains hunting out unknown cities, convincing proof of adventure far off, of destiny somewhere waiting of things beyond Lamptown..."

 Happy Reading!

Backlist Reader Challenge Update:  2 books read, 8 to go.

My 5 favorite Dawn Powell novels:

     The Locusts Have No King

     Dance Night

     The Wicked Pavilion

     The Happy Island

     A Time To Be Born