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Dear Sarah, In The Beth Book (1897), we feel that we are reading two very different, at times irreconcilable, books: a powerful coming of age novel and a…… Read more “Hers was a nature with a wide range”
Category: Scarlet Letters
I have tried to be honest with you,
Dear Penelope, The Pumpkin Eater (1962) is a disillusioned account of a woman’s emotional collapse, told from the fog of self-delusion and depression in which her mind seems…… Read more “I have tried to be honest with you,”
Something hot flew like a dragon at an angle through his heart,
Dear Kanoko, In the collection A Riot of Goldfish, translated by J. Keith Vincent (2010. Original: 金魚撩乱, Kingyo Ryōran, 1937/ 食魔, Shokuma, 1941), both novellas deal with…… Read more “Something hot flew like a dragon at an angle through his heart,”
You cannot live in armour all your life
Dear Maria, In Belinda (first published in 1801, revised in 1810), we can almost feel the double-edged sword you are playing with: while championing the idea that…… Read more “You cannot live in armour all your life”
It takes one word,
Dear Natalia, In Family Lexicon, tr. Jenny McPhee (2017. Original: Lessico famigliare, 1963), we have the impression of having been accepted as guests at your family’s dinner table: as we…… Read more “It takes one word,”
Things that make one’s heart beat faster
Shōnagon-san, Lists, anecdotes, poetry, and small essays surrounding fleeting moments: reading The Pillow Book (枕草子 – Makura no sōshi, c.1002) is an experiment on estrangement – like…… Read more “Things that make one’s heart beat faster”
Otherwise let this mad world crush us now
Dear Elizabeth, The Morgesons (1862) is that rare thing: a 19th-century novel with a sceptical, areligious, and probably amoral heroine. It reads like a modernist fiction avant…… Read more “Otherwise let this mad world crush us now”
Sucked into the soft, light-filled sky
Tsushima-san, In Territory of Light, tr. Geraldine Harcourt (2018. Original: 光の領分, Hikari no ryōbun, 1979), you throw your protagonist in a room flooded from all corners with a harsh, shifting…… Read more “Sucked into the soft, light-filled sky”
This lonely spot was not without its pilgrims
Dear Sarah, Much like its characters, who seem to inhabit the limbo between past and present, life and death, The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896) lies…… Read more “This lonely spot was not without its pilgrims”
Take her away and I’m half of whatever we are
Dear Dorothy, Cassandra at the Wedding (1962) is a nuanced, finely observed character study and comedy of manners, full of a dark, twisted sense of humour, which can…… Read more “Take her away and I’m half of whatever we are”
Kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths
Dear Henry, The Heart of the Matter (1948) is a book about a man caught in the vortex of a moral crisis – and, ultimately, torn apart and…… Read more “Kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths”
Notes heard by no one reverberating against nothing
Dear Robert, Intimate Ties, tr. Peter Wortsman (2019. Original: Vereinigungen, 1911) comprises two novellas centred on repressed sexuality, taboo, and female desire. Both content and narrative style…… Read more “Notes heard by no one reverberating against nothing”
The smooth sea of that old life
Dear Elizabeth, North and South (1854-1855) balances itself beautifully in a space where different types of conflict intersect: the clashes between manufacturers and workers; rural and industrial…… Read more “The smooth sea of that old life”
A woman caught in a finely interwoven pattern of feelings and time
Dear Auður, In Butterflies in November, tr. Brian FitzGibbon (2013. Original: Rigning í nóvember, 2004), you play with our sense of reality, bringing into light what is fundamentally odd…… Read more “A woman caught in a finely interwoven pattern of feelings and time”
The all-seeing eye
Dear Claire, In Bitter Orange (2018), we are made accomplices of the main character’s voyeurism, caught in a claustrophobic atmosphere that grows ever more disturbing as we…… Read more “The all-seeing eye”
The view and the woods opening to a light that’s itself untrodden
Dear Ali, Winter (2017) is a novel full of the ambivalence embodied in this season: the dying of light that is also a promise of new light.…… Read more “The view and the woods opening to a light that’s itself untrodden”
Standing at this border where land and water meet
Dear Han Kang, The White Book, tr. Deborah Smith (2017. Original: 흰, 2016) is a meditation on colour. We start with a list of white things –…… Read more “Standing at this border where land and water meet”
I reach for it and reach for it, and it isn’t there
Dear Richard, The Easter Parade (1976) is inhabited by characters who are trapped in self-delusion and false appearances, constantly parading the lives they think they should be living.…… Read more “I reach for it and reach for it, and it isn’t there”
