Microcosm (VMC) by Maureen Duffy

by Maureen Duffy

At the House of Shades, Matt, a bar-room philosopher, tries to make sense of the disparate lives which cross here -- of Judy who saves herself and her finery for a Saturday night lover, of Steve the gym teacher who dreads a chance encounter with a pupil in this twilight environment, and of Matt herself, who needs these vicarious exchanges despite the security of her relationship with Rae and her sense that this lesbian sanctuary is a prison too, enforcing the guilt and estrangement of the city streets beyond. Elsewhere there are women such as Marie, trapped within an unwanted marriage and unable to admit her sexuality, and Cathy, for whom the discovery that she is not 'the only one in the world' is an affirmation of her existence. With its innovative structure and style, perfectly mirroring the voices and experiences of women forced by society to live on the margins, The Microcosm remains as powerful today as when originally published in 1966.

Genres: LGBT, Fiction, Lesbian, Queer, Novels, British Literature, London

Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

Maureen Patricia Duffy (born 21 October 1933) is a contemporary British novelist, poet, playwright, nonfiction author and activist.

Duffy's work often uses Freudian ideas and Greek mythology as frameworks.[1] Her writing is distinctive for its use of contrasting voices, or streams of consciousness, often including the perspectives of outsiders. Her novels have been linked to a European tradition of literature which explores reality through the use of language and questioning, rather than through traditional linear narrative.[2] James Joyce in particular, and Modernism in general, are significant influences on her fiction, as is Joyce Cary.[3] "Duffy has inspired many other writers and proved that the English novel need not be realistic and domestic, but can be fantastical, experimental and political."[1] Her writing in all forms is noted for her 'eye for detail and ear for language'[4] and "powerful intense imagery".[5]

Reviews

[B. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to rate. I thought it was roughly decent (~2.5) the whole way through, but then it had a really good ending (so what, 2.75-3?). So why should people read this book? Well, it is well written in a kind of Joycean vein. Add to this, however, an exemplary balancing act that gives equal importance to both message/morality AND language. Usually a writer opts for one or the other over the other, but here they exist in tandem. On top of this, it's a queer novel that draws on real gay life in 60's London. Maureen Duffy herself was the first openly gay woman in British public life. You can clearly see that while she prefers experimental fiction, she is also an activist, and so there's this mash up of aesthetic and politics that mostly works, but sometimes it's at the detriment of distancing the reader when some sections of the novel give a slight preference to the aesthetic over ontological substance.

The Microcosm is broken up into sections where each section follows a different character belonging to the same queer circle of friends who frequent a lesbian bar. Each section demonstrates its experimentation by being written in a different style or voice. And each section also strives to show a different aspect of gay experience, which significantly ends up encompassing gender. Indeed, some of the initial confusion when reading this pertains to how some of the lesbians have male names and pronouns, which only elucidates how progressive Duffy's thinking was at the time as it speaks to a trans experience in butch lesbians. There's even musings on being non-binary before it was a proper concept. Although, of course, all this was the result of Duffy's research and from interviewing other lesbians about their experience, which only lends the work a greater sense of authenticity and urgency.

The pivotal character is Matt who is an abstract thinker trying to make sense of the oppression facing the queer community. "He" is seeking answers to his suffering and trying to find a way out. This leads him to the transcendental conclusion in the book's final pages. Duffy ingeniously set up a microcosm of lesbians and homosexuals, and she then showed us individuals of this microcosm (parts to the whole), only to then advocate a view that is anti-microcosm in favour of a greater whole.

This book is unique and I'll definitely be reading more from Maureen Duffy who is often unfairly neglected amongst the British experimental pantheon of the 60's/70's, but who is important today because of her emphasis on social justice issues, which perhaps only Brigid Brophy from that era also included in her writing.

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't see this one mentioned much in the recent 'British sixties modernist novelists' revival, which is....curious.

[Candy Wood]

If I had read The Microcosm when it was first published, in 1966, I would probably have been put off by the difficulties of the narrative technique. Duffy presents the lives of many women through stream of consciousness and dialogue, shifting registers with class and time period. Even the central device of the House of Shades nightclub doesn't connect all the characters. The influence of James Joyce is most evident in the lowercase thoughts of Marie, struggling to find her own identity in a loveless marriage; the situation of Steve, Miss Stevens, respected gym teacher in a girls' school, is more straightforward but also raises questions of gender identity. In the end, Matt (the most central character, also female though identified as "he") realizes that there's no microcosm, that "we're part of society, part of the world whether we or society like it or not." Whether I would have made any sense of it then, I'm glad I've read it now.

[Mel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving up on this one for awhile. The style was just too literary. Sometimes a book has a really great style that throws you further into the world of the characters (Reynolds, Gaskell, Kerouac) and sometimes it just seems to put you at a distance from what's happening. That seemed to be the case here. I thought it sounded fascinating but I just ended up not being interested in any of the characters, except the first bartender. May try it again at some point or something else by her. But quite disappointing.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

couldnt get past the first sentence...

[sofía · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was... alright? read it for class and it was definitely not an easy read, but very interesting to know a bit about what lesbians could be going through in the 60s

[Jonathan Norton · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lives of characters around the lesbian club House Of Shades (based on the actual Gateways Club in Chelsea). In an Afterword Duffy explains it evolved from interviews she did for a possible non-fiction book, which no publisher would take at the time. That origin is reflected in the extensive stream-of-consciousness and introspection about background and social relations. There is lots of anxiety here, around class and race as well as gender, a yearning for a freer world and a sense that one is about to arise sooner or later.

[Felix · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm 19 and this is beautifully written; still just as relevant almost 60 years on from when it was first published.

[Cata Nazario · Rating 3 out of 5]

IM FREEEEE