When I mentioned on Twitter that I was going to read my first Jane Bowles story, there was a rather strong, positive reaction to her writing. But the comments I received about Two Serious Ladies still did not prepare me for reading this story. This short novel, in fact her only one, is enigmatic, humorous, surprising, even shocking and sad all at the same time. Truman Capote’s description of the story, I think, sums it up best:
Voyaging for the first time into Two Serious Ladies, I was immediately disoriented. I did not know what to make of this object at all. There was no discernible narrative strategy. There was no way of explaining or analyzing the processes at work. Interpretation was useless. The vistas were dispiriting, the food foul, the wind always howling. Her people were mournful, impulsive, and as erratic in their peculiar journeys’ flights as bats. They were often drunk. They thought continuously, obsessively, but had no thoughts exactly, no helpful method of perceiving the world or their positions in it.
Miss Goering and Mrs. Copperfield, the two serious ladies, spend very little time together as they are casual acquaintances. Each has her own distinct story, but what fascinated me about both of them is their attempt to live on their own terms and find their own versions of happiness. I found them a bit crazy but also rather brave. Mrs. Copperfield is dragged to Central America by her adventurous husband; we get the feeling that she stays with him out of a sense of duty, even fondness or nostalgia, but she would much prefer to be off on her own. And that’s exactly what she does. In Colon she stays at a seedy hotel, makes friends with a prostitute, and drinks way more gin than she ought to. At the end of the story she tells Miss Goering, “I have gone to pieces, which is a thing I’ve wanted to do for years. I know I’m as guilty as I can be, but I have my happiness, which I guard like a wolf and I have authority now and a certain amount of daring, which, if you remember correctly, I never had before.”
Miss Goering is horrified by Mrs. Copperfield’s new outlook on life, but perhaps she is frightened by those qualities which she recognizes in herself. When the story begins she is a spinster living alone on her family’s home in upstate New York but she slowly gathers a rather strange entourage of people around her. I found Miss Goering’s narrative to be the most surprising. What oftentimes begins as a humorous description of her adventures quickly turns melancholy; twice she is invited by men back to their apartments and on both occasions nothing turns out as one would expect. She is different from Mrs. Copperfield in that she seems to be on a mission to save herself and the strange men she meets from some sort of sin. Her last words in the novel are mysterious and disconcerting: “‘Certainly I am nearer to becoming a saint,’ reflected Miss Goering, ‘but it is possible that a part of me hidden from my sight is piling sin upon sin as fast as Mrs. Copperfield?’ This latter possibility Miss Goering thought to be of considerable interest but of no great importance.”
I am very eager to read Bowles’s letters which I am impatiently awaiting to arrive in the mail. I suspect, from what little I know about her life and from reading this book, that I will find among them humor, sadness, loneliness and a lot of drinking.
thebookbindersdaughter.com 
I like the sound of this. Looking her up on Wikipedia I see that she led a rather complicated life. Sadly, her work doesn’t seem to be so well known as her husband’s.
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Yes, she really deserves to be more widely known! I hope you get a chance to read her.
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Jane Bowles’s work deserves to stand the test of time. Her husband’s work is rather pedestrian by comparison.
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I’ve never had any interest in her husband’s work. She is so deserving of a much wider audience. It seems that even with her books being reissued in the US and UK she is still not widely known.
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I have this buried somewhere in my tbr. It does sound fascinating.
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Oh, I hope you do get to it!
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Well, I own this and I’m pretty sure I read it ages ago but more than that I cannot say! But all this love for it is making me want to dig it out again!
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beautiful review Melissa, and thanks to you i have discovered a new author
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Thanks so much. I really hope you read her book!
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Nice write up. That’s a great summation by Capote – just makes you want to read it even more. His short stories are really great as well. Also, love the jacket art on your posted edition.
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I really should read some Capote! I think it’s the cover from the 1st edition.
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She’s perhaps more enigmatic than P Bowles – a shame she didn’t produce more fiction
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I remember being intrigued by this when I saw it on some kind of ‘best of’ list. Your review is a timely reminder that I did nothing about that! It would also be nice to be able to say, “I’ve read all her novels..”
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I hope you do read it, Grant! I would love to get your take on it. And one does have a certain sense of accomplishment to be able to say I’ve read all of her novels. 😁
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I tried reading the opening section of this book a couple of years ago but failed to get very far with it at the time. You make a good case for giving it another try – a degree of persistence can make all the difference with something like this.
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Yes, a book like this takes some patience to get used to the unique style. I hope you give it another try.
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