Tag Archives: Female Author

March 5, 2018 · 11:31 am

Duller than a Dull Hick: City Folk and Country Folk by Sofia Khvoshchinskaya

The stereotypes of country dwellers being crass and uncouth and city dwellers being urbane and sophisticated is one that reaches all the way back to Ancient Rome. In Carmen 22, Catullus describes his good friend Suffenus whom he admires for being venustus et dicax et urbanus (charming, well-spoken and sophisticated). The Latin word urbanus, from which the English word urban is derived, literally means a person from the city who is sophisticated. But Catullus sadly notes that Suffenus is an awful poet and when one reads his compositions he appears to be caprimulgus aut fossor (a goat herder or a ditch digger) and he is infaceto est infacetior rure (duller than a dull hick). Rus, ruris becomes in English the word rural which is associated with someone who lives in the countryside and is decidedly unsophisticated.

Sofia Khvoshchinskaya, a nineteenth century Russian author who wrote and published her works under a male pseudonym, uses the stereotype of city folk and country folk to satirize the landed gentry in the time period immediately following the emancipation of the serfs in her country. Her main character, Erast Sergeyovich Ovcharov, is an urbane and worldly man who is used to living in Moscow and traveling to the most famous cities across Europe. He is proud of his elegance and refinement and thinks that exposure to his good qualities will elevate the manners of his country neighbors.

Ovcharov’s country estate in Snetki has fallen into ruins and he has not come to any agreement with his serfs who have just been freed so he is forced to spend a summer among the country bumpkins. Ovcharov is a humorous caricature of the Russian nobility who views himself as a perfect example of charm and wit for the poor country folk who do not regularly visit the city. He is haughty, condescending and patronizing to his neighbors in the country and he writes political pamphlets that fully display his self-righteous personality. He comments about the rural gentry women he encounters:

The old rural gentry-woman type has barely changed: moral and physical clumsiness. On the other hand, the old despotism has disappeared, and the younger generation is spreading its wings. It spreads them clumsily, crudely, gracelessly, but spread them it does. It raises its own voice and acts, to some extent, according to its own will. The second-rate shrinking violet of the past, oppressed by the parental right hand, is also being transformed into a second-rate dahlia. Still it is a beautiful flower, bright and attractive in a flower bed. Yes, it’s true: the younger generation of women in the countryside and provincial towns in freer than it was twenty years ago. Now is the time to show that who deserves thanks for this freedom.

Ovcharov rents a bath house from his neighbor, Natasyha, who is a kind-hearted widow that has successfully managed her own farms and workers for many years. Natasyha’s daughter, Olenka, is smart and witty and when she rejects Ovcharov’s advances the irony of the situation is hilarious. It is Olenka, the seemingly country hick, that rejects the urbane, supposedly sophisticated, Ovcharov. Olenka is smart enough to see Ovcharov for the ridiculous man he truly is. The author’s wit is subtle yet affective in providing a glimpse into the lives of the Russian upper classes in the 19th century.

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Filed under Literary Fiction, Literature in Translation, Russian Literature

Tagged as Columbia University Press, Female Author, Russian Literature

April 22, 2016 · 2:56 pm

Review: Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey

My Review:
B Farrar The Ashby family has maintained their estate in the south of England for many generations. The current family members who inhabit the estate are best known for their stables of beautiful horses. Aunt Bee, the matriarch of the family, oversees the care of her ten-year-old nieces Jane and Ruth. Bee supervises and runs the horse estate with the help of her niece Elenor and nephew Simon who are young adults. Although to visit them for afternoon tea, one would believe that this is a happy and well-adjusted family, the Ashby’s have suffered some terrible tragedies.

The reason Aunt Bee has had to take over as parent for her three nieces and her nephew is that their parents died in a tragic airplane crash when Jane and Ruth were only a few months old. Soon after the parents’ death, Simon’s twin brother committed suicide by throwing himself off of a cliff. This second tragedy particularly surprised the family because Patrick was such a sweet and well-adjusted boy whom no one suspected was on the brink of taking his own life.

One day, a man walks into their life claiming that he is Patrick, the long-lost Ashby; he says that he didn’t commit suicide but instead ran away, assumed the name of Brat Farrar and spent the last eight years in America where he worked on horse ranches. Aunt Bee is especially eager to believe Brat’s story and the fact that he looks like an Ashby helps to convince everyone in their immediate circle that Patrick is the long-lost heir. The only one who seems skeptical about Brat’s identity is Simon. It is Simon who has the most to lose from Patrick’s reappearance since Simon will no longer be the Ashby heir; the family fortune will revert back to Patrick who is the eldest son.

What I found most unique about this story is that Brat is supposed to be the bad buy in this story, the imposter, the crook. But Brat’s story is very compelling and he is really not after the Ashby fortune. Brat grew up in an orphanage and he has never had a family of his own. When the opportunity to become part of an middle class English family presents itself, Brat’s desire for a sense of belonging and a place to call home prove to be a stronger temptation then the lure of money.

Brat is welcomed into the Ashby home and becomes a part of their everyday lives. He is an expert horse trainer and he gets along especially well with Elenor for whom he develops more than sisterly feelings.. As he spends quality time with the family, he discovers through various clues that Simon has a sinister and mean side to him. Simon’s reasons for being angry go much deeper than his disinheritance from the Ashby fortune. I don’t want to give away too much, but the mystery surrounding Patrick’s disappearance and Simon’s involvement in it were very compelling plot lines and I finished the book very quickly. I guess this would quality Tey’s book as a page turner.

Tey’s books are written in a classics and charming British style one would expect from a 20th century author. Her characters are interesting in the sense that they are likeable but can be morally flexible. Finally, the plot alone is reason enough to pick up this book.

I’ve also read Tey’s The Franchise Affair and enjoyed that book as well. Has anyone else read any of Tey’s books? I would love to hear about them.

About the Author:

Josephine Tey was a pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh. Josephine was her mother’s first name and Tey the surname of an English Grandmother. As Josephine Tey, she wrote six mystery novels including Scotland Yard’s Inspector Alan Grant.

The first of these, ‘The Man in the Queue’ (1929) was published under the pseudonym of Gordon Daviot , whose name also appears on the title page of another of her 1929 novels, ‘Kit An Unvarnished History’. She also used the Daviot by-line for a biography of the 17th century cavalry leader John Graham, which was entitled ‘Claverhouse’ (1937).

Mackintosh also wrote plays (both one act and full length), some of which were produced during her lifetime, under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot. The district of Daviot, nea Josephine Tey was a pseudonym of Elizabeth Mackintosh. Josephine was her mother’s first name and Tey the surname of an English Grandmother. As Josephine Tey, she wrote six mystery novels including Scotland Yard’s Inspector Alan Grant.

Mackintosh also wrote plays (both one act and full length), some of which were produced during her lifetime, under the pseudonym Gordon Daviot. The district of Daviot, near her home of Inverness in Scotland, was a location her family had vacationed. The name Gordon does not appear in either her family or her history.

Elizabeth Mackintosh came of age during World War I, attending Anstey Physical Training College in Birmingham, England during the years 1915-1918. Upon graduation, she became a physical training instructor for eight years. In 1926, her mother died and she returned home to Inverness to care for her invalid father. Busy with household duties, she turned to writing as a diversion, and was successful in creating a second career.

Alfred Hitchcock filmed one of her novels, ‘A Shilling for Candles’ (1936) as ‘Young and Innocent’ in 1937 and two other of her novels have been made into films, ‘The Franchise Affair’ (1948), filmed in 1950, and ‘Brat Farrar’ (1949), filmed as ‘Paranoiac’ in 1963. In addition a number of her works have been dramatised for radio.

Her novel ‘The Daughter of Time’ (1951) was voted the greatest mystery novel of all time by the Crime Writers’ Association in 1990.

Miss Mackintosh never married, and died at the age of 55, in London. A shy woman, she is reported to have been somewhat of a mystery even to her intimate friends. While her death seems to have been a surprise, there is some indication she may have known she was fatally ill for some time prior to her passing.

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Filed under British Literature, Classics, Mystery/Thriller

Tagged as 20th Century, British Literature, Classics, Female Author, Josephine Tey, Mystery

December 10, 2015 · 10:25 am

Review: Our Spoons Came from Woolworths by Barbara Comyns

My Review:
Our Spoons come from Woolworths This book is narrated by Sophia Fairclough, the main character of the book and deals with her rather difficult life during the 1930’s in London. The language is very simple and straightforward, which is so fitting for Sophia; it’s as if we are reading her diary or sitting and listening to her story over an afternoon cup of tea.

Sophia meets Charles and they instantly fall in love and decide that they want to get married. Even though they are only twenty-one years old and his family does not approve of her at all, they decide to get married. They settle on a “secret” and “private” marriage at the local church, but they tell so many people that on the day of the ceremony the church is full of friends, family and odd acquaintances.

The book starts out on a very humorous tone as Sophia is extremely naïve about marriage, sex and motherhood. Charles is an artist, a bit of a delicate genius, who can’t possibly put aside his art to get a proper job to support his wife. Sophia is the main bread winner of the family and Charles is a terrible manager of their money. Whenever they have a few extra shillings he spends it on frivolous things like painting supplies, wine and dinners. Sophia is too naïve about living life as an adult to ask that her husband go out and get a job. When she becomes pregnant and is forced to quit her job Charles is annoyed at having a baby in the house and having his only source of income cut off.

The scenes in which Sophia finds out about her pregnancy are absolutely hilarious. She is genuinely surprised that she could be having a baby at all; she thinks that if she wills herself not to be pregnant then she won’t have a baby. When she goes to the hospital to have the baby she is shocked by the poking and prodding and the indignity of the whole process, right down to the horrible hospital bed clothes that she is forced to wear.

It is obvious from the very first sentence of the book that Sophia and Charles’ marriage does not end well. As their marriage becomes increasingly difficult financially, emotionally and physically, Charles stays away from their home for longer and longer periods of time. The humor that was spread throughout the first part of the book is noticeably absent in the send half of Sophia’s tale. She suffers a great deal as her marriage disintegrates.

But in the end, Sophia learns an important lesson about resiliency and happy endings. Even though she has suffered many trials and tribulations with and because of Charles she never becomes jaded or bitter. She is guarded, yes, but never bitter.

The New York Review of Books has brought another brilliant classic to our attention. I highly recommend this book for its humor, interesting storyline, and strong female character in the form of Sophia.

About the Author:
Barbara Comyns Carr was educated mainly by governesses until she went to art schools in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. Her father was a semi-retired managing director of a Midland chemical firm. She was one of six children and they lived in a house on the banks of the Avon in Warwickshire. She started writing fiction at the age of ten and her first novel, Sisters by a River, was published in 1947. She also worked in an advertising agency, a typewriting bureau, dealt in old cars and antique furniture, bred poodles, converted and let flats, and exhibited pictures in The London Group. She was married first in 1931, to an artist, and for the second time in 1945. With her second husband she lived in Spain for eighteen years.