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Doublefields : memories and Stories
Doublefields: Memories and Stories is a combination of short fiction and tales from her own life experiences.
241 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1966
130 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Enright
42 books278 followersElizabeth Wright Enright Gillham was an American writer of children's books, an illustrator, writer of short stories for adults, literary critic and teacher of creative writing. Perhaps best known as the Newbery Medal-winning author of Thimble Summer (1938) and the Newbery runner-up Gone-Away Lake (1957), she also wrote the popular Melendy quartet (1941 to 1951). A Newbery Medal laureate and a multiple winner of the O. Henry Award, her short stories and articles for adults appeared in many popular magazines and have been reprinted in anthologies and textbooks.
In 2012 Gone-Away Lake was ranked number 42 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience. The first two Melendy books also made the Top 100, The Saturdays and The Four-Story Mistake.
In 2012 Gone-Away Lake was ranked number 42 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal, a monthly with primarily U.S. audience. The first two Melendy books also made the Top 100, The Saturdays and The Four-Story Mistake.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 18, 2008
Amazingly good. Okay, not so amazing if one considers how great her other books are. The first part is a roughly chronological collection of autobiographical essays. Each of them is delightful, true, gloriously written and far too short. Seventy zillion stars.
Part the second is comprised of short stories, mainly aimed at an adult audience and every bit as engaging and well-written as anything about the Melendys. I believe that I found a slightly altered Mark in the story called Rex. Five stars.
The third part is the titular novella, which is a creepy piece from the point of view of a creepy rich guy. Effective but somehow not of a piece with the rest. Three stars.
Man, I wish she'd written more autobiographical stuff. And at least one novel for grownups. What a fabulous talent she had.
Part the second is comprised of short stories, mainly aimed at an adult audience and every bit as engaging and well-written as anything about the Melendys. I believe that I found a slightly altered Mark in the story called Rex. Five stars.
The third part is the titular novella, which is a creepy piece from the point of view of a creepy rich guy. Effective but somehow not of a piece with the rest. Three stars.
Man, I wish she'd written more autobiographical stuff. And at least one novel for grownups. What a fabulous talent she had.
June 8, 2014
Writing so beautiful it enrages me. Why isn't she taught and revered alongside (or even instead of), say, Edward Albee, John Cheever, J.D. Salinger, or Philip Roth? Because she's a woman, and everyone knows women can't write, or if they do, it isn't about very much.
Enright's complex and subtle consideration of suburbia, adultery, loss, fear, aging, life as an artist, the American exodus to Europe, death, memory, childhood, repression, marriage... her writing is so rich and subtly real, the way gifted artists can pack a universe into a simple line drawing. There's no posturing to the point of caricature, no overblown proclamations of bleakness, no self-satisfied enumerations of culture. Enright doesn't swagger, she writes. Just, and exactly, that.
There's a moment when two people, part of suburban Americana of the 50's/60's realize they could fall in love, but don't ("A View By Lightning"), a look at disability that's startling, funny, and sad all at once ("Morgan's Rest"), the paucity of obsession ("Doublefields"), and... so many perfectly written short stories.
The autobiographical section is gorgeous. She is such a great writer and historian, but one of my favorite aspects is seeing, in her reminiscence, the bones of her adult and children's writing. If you don't know, by the way, Enright also produced a number of glorious children's books, and that may have been what sunk her as a writer for adults -- it offered too easy a way to dismiss her: "Oh, just some children's writer..." Enright, the daughter of two working artists, was also a gifted artist and did (beautifully) many of the illustrations for her books. She is terribly underrated.
Enright's complex and subtle consideration of suburbia, adultery, loss, fear, aging, life as an artist, the American exodus to Europe, death, memory, childhood, repression, marriage... her writing is so rich and subtly real, the way gifted artists can pack a universe into a simple line drawing. There's no posturing to the point of caricature, no overblown proclamations of bleakness, no self-satisfied enumerations of culture. Enright doesn't swagger, she writes. Just, and exactly, that.
There's a moment when two people, part of suburban Americana of the 50's/60's realize they could fall in love, but don't ("A View By Lightning"), a look at disability that's startling, funny, and sad all at once ("Morgan's Rest"), the paucity of obsession ("Doublefields"), and... so many perfectly written short stories.
The autobiographical section is gorgeous. She is such a great writer and historian, but one of my favorite aspects is seeing, in her reminiscence, the bones of her adult and children's writing. If you don't know, by the way, Enright also produced a number of glorious children's books, and that may have been what sunk her as a writer for adults -- it offered too easy a way to dismiss her: "Oh, just some children's writer..." Enright, the daughter of two working artists, was also a gifted artist and did (beautifully) many of the illustrations for her books. She is terribly underrated.
July 10, 2021
My mother read me most of Elizabeth Enright's books for children, then I went ahead and re-read them and sought out what she didn't read to me from our city library.
So to say I was excited to find out she wrote a few books for adults is an understatement.
If you're a fan, you have to read this. I was lucky enough to get it through interlibrary loan within a week of requesting it. The first half of the book is beautifully written snapshots from Enright's life, and the second half is short stories. I loved every bit of it.
I find it interesting that although her adult short stories definitely had adult themes, most of them still centered around children. She was a children's author through and through, but as an adult I enjoyed getting a glimpse into some slightly darker topics not usually explored in children's books published in the 1940s and 1950s.
Note: This book is definitely for adults, has some language and sexual references, although nothing graphic.
So to say I was excited to find out she wrote a few books for adults is an understatement.
If you're a fan, you have to read this. I was lucky enough to get it through interlibrary loan within a week of requesting it. The first half of the book is beautifully written snapshots from Enright's life, and the second half is short stories. I loved every bit of it.
I find it interesting that although her adult short stories definitely had adult themes, most of them still centered around children. She was a children's author through and through, but as an adult I enjoyed getting a glimpse into some slightly darker topics not usually explored in children's books published in the 1940s and 1950s.
Note: This book is definitely for adults, has some language and sexual references, although nothing graphic.
June 28, 2022
I am a big fan of Enright's books for children, and so I enjoyed the autobiographical section of this book, especially the chapter on her son basically being Oliver in Then There Were Five. I was disappointed, though, that she didn't write about her own life with the bright zest of her fiction for kids. And Enright's short stories are not to my personal taste; most have grim adult darkness in them. So though I would recommend this to Enright fans, I don't think I'll ever want to re-read it.
February 8, 2021
Half memoir, half short-story collection. Four stars for the delightful memoir essays, a mixture of two and three stars for the short stories.
May 3, 2018
A wonderful treat for fans of Elizabeth Enright, author of some of my favorite children's books like Gone Away Lake and Return to Gone Away.
From the little one can learn of EE's life, it seems she may have been a fragile person, much less hardy that her Gone Away heroine Portia.
From the material in this book--often touching on death and the unpleasantness of old age and the loss by women of their beauty--published just two years before EE died, one wonders about the mystery surrounding her death. So sad if she took her own life.
There is an interesting feel to the writing in this book. Something like what I get when I read a book hot off the presses and start thinking--yes this is the modern conversational voice of a good writer today. Of course, EE's voice would be of a writer in 1966. Also one realizes, that that modern voice--it does not necessarily pave a new path, it can fade and feel old like the voices that have gone before, as the voice of this book feels a bit faded and old.
From the little one can learn of EE's life, it seems she may have been a fragile person, much less hardy that her Gone Away heroine Portia.
From the material in this book--often touching on death and the unpleasantness of old age and the loss by women of their beauty--published just two years before EE died, one wonders about the mystery surrounding her death. So sad if she took her own life.
There is an interesting feel to the writing in this book. Something like what I get when I read a book hot off the presses and start thinking--yes this is the modern conversational voice of a good writer today. Of course, EE's voice would be of a writer in 1966. Also one realizes, that that modern voice--it does not necessarily pave a new path, it can fade and feel old like the voices that have gone before, as the voice of this book feels a bit faded and old.
August 30, 2008
A collection of Enright's memoirs and stories for grown-ups. Not surprisingly, she writes just as well for adults, as she did for kids. And the children who pop up in some of these stories are as complex and captivating as the Melendys. Favorites were Morgan's Rest, Siesta, and Rex. So glad that I read this at this time of year, because she captures summer and the beginning of fall perfectly. Another sure sign of a good book: I almost missed my subway stop tonight, because I was so engrossed in one of the stories.
August 19, 2019
Elizabeth Enright was the author of many of my favorite children's books (the Gone-Away series and the Melendy Family series). It's nice to know that her adult books are as every bit as beautifully written. The first half of "Doublefields" is made up of memoir fragments, and second half of short stories. I liked all the pieces, but the memoirs, in particular, are wonderful. I found myself wanting more of those. She's so perceptive and good at creating a sense of time and place. A few excerpts:
"As for the apartment itself, it not only refuses to be forgotten, but also has continued all my life to impose itself, in bizarre ways, as a setting. Often I realize this when I am reading. When I read Pride and Prejudice, for example, where was it that Elizabeth Bennett joyfully caused Fitzwilliam Darcy to account for his having fallen in love with her? It was in the living room of that apartment, green English countryside beyond the windows notwithstanding.... Once I lived in what seemed a permanent place: a kingdom full of colors that was ruled by Grownups.... Grownups! Everyone remembers them. How strange and even sad it is that we never became what they were: beings noble, infallible, and free. We never became them. One of the things that we discover as we live is that we never become anything different from what we are. We are no less ourselves at forty than we were at four, and because of this we know grownups as Grownups only once in life: during our own childhood. We never meet them in our lives again, and we will miss them always."
****
"As I walked I was hardly a person at all; only an instrument for seeing, hearing, smelling."
"As for the apartment itself, it not only refuses to be forgotten, but also has continued all my life to impose itself, in bizarre ways, as a setting. Often I realize this when I am reading. When I read Pride and Prejudice, for example, where was it that Elizabeth Bennett joyfully caused Fitzwilliam Darcy to account for his having fallen in love with her? It was in the living room of that apartment, green English countryside beyond the windows notwithstanding.... Once I lived in what seemed a permanent place: a kingdom full of colors that was ruled by Grownups.... Grownups! Everyone remembers them. How strange and even sad it is that we never became what they were: beings noble, infallible, and free. We never became them. One of the things that we discover as we live is that we never become anything different from what we are. We are no less ourselves at forty than we were at four, and because of this we know grownups as Grownups only once in life: during our own childhood. We never meet them in our lives again, and we will miss them always."
****
"As I walked I was hardly a person at all; only an instrument for seeing, hearing, smelling."
September 7, 2017
Bought this because I loved the Gone Away books so much as a child, and while it's fun to see the references to places and people that hearken back to those, it's not the same feeling. Sigh.
November 18, 2024
Half true stories of her own experiences, half short stories from a talented author. My favorite was Morgan’s Rest.
May 3, 2021
Loved the autobiographical sketches. Did not like the short fiction.
January 8, 2014
I'm about halfway through this and completely agree with Melody; this is excellent! The "Caterpillar Summer" piece is very reminiscent of Oliver's fascination with caterpillars in one of the Melendy books (must be either Four-Story Mistake or Then There Were Five.)
I'm so glad I was able to get this through interlibrary loan, but I may have to track down a used copy online so I can add it to my collection.
I'm so glad I was able to get this through interlibrary loan, but I may have to track down a used copy online so I can add it to my collection.
April 6, 2010
The autobiographical bits confirmed what I had already guessed about Enright--we would have been really good friends. Though I wanted more biography, it was certainly enough for me to see some of the ways she used her own life to build her fabulous novels.
The short stories were a mixed bag. Some I liked, some I didn't. But less than fabulous Enright is still better than a lot of other stuff out there.
Thanks to Melody for loaning me her copy.
The short stories were a mixed bag. Some I liked, some I didn't. But less than fabulous Enright is still better than a lot of other stuff out there.
Thanks to Melody for loaning me her copy.
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June 5, 2014in library
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews