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Portrait in a Mirror
Charles Langbridge Morgan, was an English-born playwright and novelist of English and Welsh parentage. The main themes of his work were, as he himself put it, "Art, Love, and Death", and the relation between them. Themes of individual novels range from the paradoxes of freedom (The Voyage, The River Line), through passionate love seen from within (Portrait in a Mirror) and without (A Breeze of Morning), to the conflict of good and evil (The Judge's Story) and the enchanted boundary of death (Sparkenbroke).
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1929
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About the author
Charles Morgan
114 books23 followersCharles Langbridge Morgan was a playwright and novelist of English and Welsh parentage. The main themes of his work were, as he himself put it, "Art, Love, and Death", and the relation between them. Themes of individual novels range from the paradoxes of freedom (The Voyage, The River Line), through passionate love seen from within (Portrait in a Mirror) and without (A Breeze of Morning), to the conflict of good and evil (The Judge's Story) and the enchanted boundary of death (Sparkenbroke).
Morgan was educated at the Naval Colleges of Osborne and Dartmouth and served as a midshipman in the China Fleet until 1913. On the outbreak of war he was sent with Churchill's Naval Division to the defence of Antwerp. He was interned in Holland which provided the setting for his best-selling novel The Fountain.
He married the Welsh novelist Hilda Vaughan in 1923.
He was the drama critic of The Times from the 1920s until 1938, and contributed weekly articles on the London theatre to the New York Times. His first play, The Flashing Stream (1938), had successful runs in London and Paris but was not well received in New York. The River Line (1952) was originally written as a novel in 1949 and concerned the activities of escaped British prisoners of war in France.
He was awarded the French Legion of Honour in 1936, a promotion in 1945, and was elected a member of the Institut de France in 1949. From 1953 he was the president of International PEN.
While Morgan enjoyed an immense reputation during his lifetime and was awarded the 1940 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, he was sometimes criticised for excessive seriousness, and for some time rather neglected; he once claimed that the "sense of humour by which we are ruled avoids emotion and vision and grandeur of spirit as a weevil avoids the sun. It has banished tragedy from our theatre, eloquence from our debates, glory from our years of peace, splendour from our wars..." The character Gerard Challis in Stella Gibbons's Westwood is thought to be a caricature of him.
Morgan was educated at the Naval Colleges of Osborne and Dartmouth and served as a midshipman in the China Fleet until 1913. On the outbreak of war he was sent with Churchill's Naval Division to the defence of Antwerp. He was interned in Holland which provided the setting for his best-selling novel The Fountain.
He married the Welsh novelist Hilda Vaughan in 1923.
He was the drama critic of The Times from the 1920s until 1938, and contributed weekly articles on the London theatre to the New York Times. His first play, The Flashing Stream (1938), had successful runs in London and Paris but was not well received in New York. The River Line (1952) was originally written as a novel in 1949 and concerned the activities of escaped British prisoners of war in France.
He was awarded the French Legion of Honour in 1936, a promotion in 1945, and was elected a member of the Institut de France in 1949. From 1953 he was the president of International PEN.
While Morgan enjoyed an immense reputation during his lifetime and was awarded the 1940 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction, he was sometimes criticised for excessive seriousness, and for some time rather neglected; he once claimed that the "sense of humour by which we are ruled avoids emotion and vision and grandeur of spirit as a weevil avoids the sun. It has banished tragedy from our theatre, eloquence from our debates, glory from our years of peace, splendour from our wars..." The character Gerard Challis in Stella Gibbons's Westwood is thought to be a caricature of him.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 9, 2024
I found my copy of “Portrait in a Mirror” in a charity shop - a second reprint published within a month of the novel being first published in 1929. So it was clearly popular at the time, though I’d never heard of it, nor of Charles Morgan.
It’s the story of a precocious young painter who from his days as a child prodigy is treated as a genius with a great artistic destiny. He’s revered by the critics. And he has an adoring, rich circle of supporters who keep him in a life of luxury - all country house weekends and sophisticated salons.
These supporters include the glacial society hostess, Clare, who he obsesses about for years. He can’t decide between her or High Art. Cue lots of intellectualised agonising about the role of the artist in society.
I have to admit I wasn’t greatly taken with the novel. It’s very well written and there are lots of clever musings and interior monologue. But I found the main character just a bit too self absorbed - and Clare is pretty two-dimensional as we only seem to see her through the artist’s mirror (quite literally, in the sense of the portrait he paints of her). Perhaps that’s the very point of the novel? But I just found it all a bit too self indulgent and “arty”. And the obsessive “male gaze” that objectifies Clare throughout the novel made me feel quite uncomfortable.
I’ve since found out just how important and influential Charles Morgan was in literary circles in the 1920s and 30s. He was the drama critic for The Times for years and he was clearly viewed as a heavyweight in the publishing world. But fame and fortune during a writer’s lifetime don’t guarantee posthumous success. And there are other writers of his generation who I think I’d now rather be spending my time reading.
It’s the story of a precocious young painter who from his days as a child prodigy is treated as a genius with a great artistic destiny. He’s revered by the critics. And he has an adoring, rich circle of supporters who keep him in a life of luxury - all country house weekends and sophisticated salons.
These supporters include the glacial society hostess, Clare, who he obsesses about for years. He can’t decide between her or High Art. Cue lots of intellectualised agonising about the role of the artist in society.
I have to admit I wasn’t greatly taken with the novel. It’s very well written and there are lots of clever musings and interior monologue. But I found the main character just a bit too self absorbed - and Clare is pretty two-dimensional as we only seem to see her through the artist’s mirror (quite literally, in the sense of the portrait he paints of her). Perhaps that’s the very point of the novel? But I just found it all a bit too self indulgent and “arty”. And the obsessive “male gaze” that objectifies Clare throughout the novel made me feel quite uncomfortable.
I’ve since found out just how important and influential Charles Morgan was in literary circles in the 1920s and 30s. He was the drama critic for The Times for years and he was clearly viewed as a heavyweight in the publishing world. But fame and fortune during a writer’s lifetime don’t guarantee posthumous success. And there are other writers of his generation who I think I’d now rather be spending my time reading.
March 28, 2024
Normally you have a pretty good idea what the book you are starting to read is about. You either know the author. Or you have read reviews (e.g. here on Goodreads). Or there is the book’s blurb.
From time to time it is a pleasure to read a book with no background at all as with this book.
The edition of Portrait in a Mirror I found on my shelves was published in 1940.
The action takes place in 1875 as the narrator of the story tells us. He is a young painter who visits a country house together with his brother. There he meets and quickly falls in love with a young lady called Claire. He is supposed to paint her. But fails, maybe because he adores her so much. There is, and I think this is what the writer wants us to think is special, love but no desire on his side. This will change later on.
Claire is engaged to another man. A man she does not love. But does she love our man? Maybe. But when he suggests to elope she declines.
They meet again of course, when she is married. And this time it seems she is ready. And now our hero has nothing better to do than to escape to Paris.
Again, after a couple of years they meet, and now they both know that it is too late for them.
Thisis the story. Morgan writes beautifully. And in a different frame of mind I might have really enjoyed it. As it is I thought that the story was too thin.
5/10
From time to time it is a pleasure to read a book with no background at all as with this book.
The edition of Portrait in a Mirror I found on my shelves was published in 1940.
The action takes place in 1875 as the narrator of the story tells us. He is a young painter who visits a country house together with his brother. There he meets and quickly falls in love with a young lady called Claire. He is supposed to paint her. But fails, maybe because he adores her so much. There is, and I think this is what the writer wants us to think is special, love but no desire on his side. This will change later on.
Claire is engaged to another man. A man she does not love. But does she love our man? Maybe. But when he suggests to elope she declines.
They meet again of course, when she is married. And this time it seems she is ready. And now our hero has nothing better to do than to escape to Paris.
Again, after a couple of years they meet, and now they both know that it is too late for them.
Thisis the story. Morgan writes beautifully. And in a different frame of mind I might have really enjoyed it. As it is I thought that the story was too thin.
5/10
November 8, 2015
Youthful genius, passionate spiritual love and modern art.
September 28, 2023
From the perspective of a main character regarding his artistic influences and love for a woman with a microscopic portrayal of his thoughts.
Written in a prose which is not difficult to read considering the time that this book was written which is not at all, outdated.
There are some quality quotes which are very insightful and poetic in a simple way.
All in all, it was a good read.
Written in a prose which is not difficult to read considering the time that this book was written which is not at all, outdated.
There are some quality quotes which are very insightful and poetic in a simple way.
All in all, it was a good read.
April 8, 2016
Very poetic and well written, but a bit dated. Set in large country house. Hero attempts to paint the woman he loves.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews