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The True Heart
'The kind of novelist who inspires an intense sense of ownership in her fans ... her sympathies tended naturally to the marginal, the vulnerable, the exploited, the obscure' Sarah Waters
Sukey Bond, a sixteen-year-old orphan, is sent to work as a servant at a farm on the remote Essex Marshes. There she falls in love with gentle, unworldly Eric, the son of the rector's wife, only for them to be separated when their relationship is discovered. But nothing will deter Sukey in her quest to be reunited with her true love, even if it means seeking the help of Queen Victoria herself.
'One of our most idiosyncratic, courageous and versatile writers' Hermione Lee
'One can't be too thankful that Miss Townsend Warner has lived to discover the alchemist's secret of transmuting the past into pure gold' Hilary Spurling
Sukey Bond, a sixteen-year-old orphan, is sent to work as a servant at a farm on the remote Essex Marshes. There she falls in love with gentle, unworldly Eric, the son of the rector's wife, only for them to be separated when their relationship is discovered. But nothing will deter Sukey in her quest to be reunited with her true love, even if it means seeking the help of Queen Victoria herself.
'One of our most idiosyncratic, courageous and versatile writers' Hermione Lee
'One can't be too thankful that Miss Townsend Warner has lived to discover the alchemist's secret of transmuting the past into pure gold' Hilary Spurling
297 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1929
13 people are currently reading
1864 people want to read
About the author
Sylvia Townsend Warner
94 books440 followersSylvia Townsend Warner was born at Harrow on the Hill, the only child of George Townsend Warner and his wife Eleanora (Nora) Hudleston. Her father was a house-master at Harrow School and was, for many years, associated with the prestigious Harrow History Prize which was renamed the Townsend Warner History Prize in his honor, after his death in 1916. As a child, Sylvia seemingly enjoyed an idyllic childhood in rural Devonshire, but was strongly affected by her father's death.
She moved to London and worked in a munitions factory at the outbreak of World War I. She was friendly with a number of the "Bright Young Things" of the 1920s. Her first major success was the novel Lolly Willowes. In 1923 Warner met T. F. Powys whose writing influenced her own and whose work she in turn encouraged. It was at T.F. Powys' house in 1930 that Warner first met Valentine Ackland, a young poet. The two women fell in love and settled at Frome Vauchurch in Dorset. Alarmed by the growing threat of fascism, they were active in the Communist Party of Great Britain, and visited Spain on behalf of the Red Cross during the Civil War. They lived together from 1930 until Ackland's death in 1969. Warner's political engagement continued for the rest of her life, even after her disillusionment with communism. She died on 1 May 1978.
She moved to London and worked in a munitions factory at the outbreak of World War I. She was friendly with a number of the "Bright Young Things" of the 1920s. Her first major success was the novel Lolly Willowes. In 1923 Warner met T. F. Powys whose writing influenced her own and whose work she in turn encouraged. It was at T.F. Powys' house in 1930 that Warner first met Valentine Ackland, a young poet. The two women fell in love and settled at Frome Vauchurch in Dorset. Alarmed by the growing threat of fascism, they were active in the Communist Party of Great Britain, and visited Spain on behalf of the Red Cross during the Civil War. They lived together from 1930 until Ackland's death in 1969. Warner's political engagement continued for the rest of her life, even after her disillusionment with communism. She died on 1 May 1978.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 65 reviews
January 1, 2017
My knowledge of old myths is pretty sketchy – I know the basic outline of some but I have never had much interest in them if I’m honest. The True Heart is apparently a (very loose) re-telling of the story of Cupid and Psyche – though don’t let that put you off. If you weren’t aware of that then it wouldn’t matter – and it wouldn’t alter the delightfulness of this imaginative love story.
The story is set in Victorian Essex, the Essex marshes, Southend and London in 1873. Sukey Bond is just sixteen when she leaves the Warburton Memorial Female Orphanage. A positon has been found for her as a farm maid in the Essex Marshes. Sukey is taken part of the way with Mrs Seaborn, the wife of the rector of Southend. Sukey – whose record of behaviour at the orphanage was so exemplary she won prizes, is immediately impressed with Mrs Seaborn.
“…raising her eyes to Mrs Seaborn’s face she knew that this lady could only take her where it would be good for her to go. Mrs Seaborn’s grey silk dress, as it swept over the lawn, seemed to sing a low tune. Her shoulders were rounded and drooping, her voice stroked the ear. She was like a dove, and the small onyx buttons on her dress were like doves’ eyes.”
New Easter is the farm where Sukey is sent, the landscape charms her, and though young, she is quite capable of the work. Prudence is the young woman who greets her, she used to have Sukey’s job but now she is about to become engaged to one of the sons. Sukey mistakenly believes there to be three sons in the family, though one, Eric is treated with derision by the other two and their father. In time, we learn that Eric is not a member of that family, he is in fact the son of Mrs Seaborn, sent to live at the farm, out of the way, as gentle, country loving Eric is deemed ‘an idiot’ and subject to seizures. Mrs Seaborn is ashamed of her son, and Sukey soon must revise her previous opinion of the woman who had so charmed her previously.
Full review https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
The story is set in Victorian Essex, the Essex marshes, Southend and London in 1873. Sukey Bond is just sixteen when she leaves the Warburton Memorial Female Orphanage. A positon has been found for her as a farm maid in the Essex Marshes. Sukey is taken part of the way with Mrs Seaborn, the wife of the rector of Southend. Sukey – whose record of behaviour at the orphanage was so exemplary she won prizes, is immediately impressed with Mrs Seaborn.
“…raising her eyes to Mrs Seaborn’s face she knew that this lady could only take her where it would be good for her to go. Mrs Seaborn’s grey silk dress, as it swept over the lawn, seemed to sing a low tune. Her shoulders were rounded and drooping, her voice stroked the ear. She was like a dove, and the small onyx buttons on her dress were like doves’ eyes.”
New Easter is the farm where Sukey is sent, the landscape charms her, and though young, she is quite capable of the work. Prudence is the young woman who greets her, she used to have Sukey’s job but now she is about to become engaged to one of the sons. Sukey mistakenly believes there to be three sons in the family, though one, Eric is treated with derision by the other two and their father. In time, we learn that Eric is not a member of that family, he is in fact the son of Mrs Seaborn, sent to live at the farm, out of the way, as gentle, country loving Eric is deemed ‘an idiot’ and subject to seizures. Mrs Seaborn is ashamed of her son, and Sukey soon must revise her previous opinion of the woman who had so charmed her previously.
Full review https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2016/...
June 18, 2022
3.5 stars
I read this in celebration of the Sylvia Townsend Warner Reading Week 2021, hosted over at A Gallimaufry (as always, many thanks for hosting, Helen!).
This is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, but apparently so loose that, according to STW's 1978 preface, "[o]nly my mother recognised the basis of the story."
Fortunately, familiarity with the myth is not necessary to enjoy the book.
In 1873, 16-year-old Sukey Bond is sent from the orphanage into service on a farm in the marshes of Essex. There, she falls in love with one of the farmhands, Eric, whom she mistakes first as one of the farmer's sons, but who is in fact the son of the Rector of Southend and considered a bit simple.
When Eric suffers an epileptic fit and is taken away, back to the Rectory, Sukey is resolved to overcome any obstacles to be reunited with her lover.
The story has a certain dreamlike quality, which is heightened by a few sudden time-lapses. It is also probably the most light-hearted and fairytale-like of all STW's novels. There is never really any doubt that Sukey will succeed in her quest. Whenever things start to look hopeless, there is always a kind stranger that will help her on her way, so that even being received by Queen Victoria, whom she intends to implore for assistance, does not seem quite such an outlandish idea.
The writing is lovely, with much attention given to the landscape and manifestations of nature.
Edit 18 June 2022: copying my text update here in case it is disappeared:
July 2, 2021 – page 49
25.0% "Perhaps it was the obligation to speak no evil which had made Zeph a man of so few words. (p. 15)"
I read this in celebration of the Sylvia Townsend Warner Reading Week 2021, hosted over at A Gallimaufry (as always, many thanks for hosting, Helen!).
This is a retelling of the myth of Cupid and Psyche, but apparently so loose that, according to STW's 1978 preface, "[o]nly my mother recognised the basis of the story."
Fortunately, familiarity with the myth is not necessary to enjoy the book.
In 1873, 16-year-old Sukey Bond is sent from the orphanage into service on a farm in the marshes of Essex. There, she falls in love with one of the farmhands, Eric, whom she mistakes first as one of the farmer's sons, but who is in fact the son of the Rector of Southend and considered a bit simple.
When Eric suffers an epileptic fit and is taken away, back to the Rectory, Sukey is resolved to overcome any obstacles to be reunited with her lover.
The story has a certain dreamlike quality, which is heightened by a few sudden time-lapses. It is also probably the most light-hearted and fairytale-like of all STW's novels. There is never really any doubt that Sukey will succeed in her quest. Whenever things start to look hopeless, there is always a kind stranger that will help her on her way, so that even being received by Queen Victoria, whom she intends to implore for assistance, does not seem quite such an outlandish idea.
The writing is lovely, with much attention given to the landscape and manifestations of nature.
Edit 18 June 2022: copying my text update here in case it is disappeared:
July 2, 2021 – page 49
25.0% "Perhaps it was the obligation to speak no evil which had made Zeph a man of so few words. (p. 15)"
February 1, 2023
Hipsters seem to love STW so I thought I'd start somewhere, but I suppose this was a poor place to start - I found it very clever and sly and charming and all but also quite insufferably whimsical.
August 8, 2015
“The True Heart” has an almost mythic quality to it at times, which makes sense given that it is based on the myth of Cupid and Psyche. It’s very loosely based, to be sure, and I’m not too surprised that (according to this edition’s introduction) nobody except Warner’s mother actually figured it out: Sukey for Psyche works and Mrs. Seaborn is a clever name for Venus, but the name Eric, though close to Eros, seems (with apologies to all you Eric’s out there, I would have said the same thing no matter what name she picked) a little too workaday for the god of love, and as Warner hardly keeps any of the original story’s plot it’s quite easy to miss it. What Warner does do very effectively, though, is preserve a sort of mythic atmosphere, despite the fact that the book is full of prosaic scenes and down-to-earth people. It helps that the book is told from Sukey’s perspective: as she is living outside of the orphanage where she grew up for the first time, everything has a larger-than-life quality to her. Further feeding the atmosphere are the myth-y plot devices that Warner preserves: in particular, the way that Sukey, like Psyche, finds someone to help her at every step of her journey, even, as upon her arrival in London, when she is at her most vulnerable and the sudden appearance of a kindly stranger is least plausible. By the same token, nobody but Mrs. Seaborn ever tries to thwart her attempt to reclaim Eric, or really to hurt her in any way. This gives the impression that the whole world is on Sukey’s side and that her success is inevitable, despite the fact that, in the late-Victorian England that Warner brilliantly evokes in numerous scenes of everyday life, a poor teenage family-less housemaid had nobody at all on her side, and her quest to marry a member of the gentry (even one not quite in his right mind) would almost certainly be fruitless. Sukey’s belief that obtaining a bible from Queen Victoria can overcome all the social barriers that stand in her way also smacks of a fairy-tale quest for an object of power, and makes for a strange contrast with her generally practical nature. In fact, the book is full of contrasts between highly realistic scenes and everyday characters on the one hand and a plot that is often far from realistic or everyday. Yet rather than make "The True Heart" seem incoherent, this combination — call it social unrealism — instead helps heighten the impression the work gives of being a legend as much as it is a novel.
Of course, it is a novel, and since a novel is not a myth, a number of changes are required to successfully transform the latter into the former. As mentioned above, Warner ditches most of the plot of the Cupid and Psyche story, even if some of the plot mechanisms are similar, but what’s just as important for the novel’s success is the way she rethinks all the characters, starting, of course, with Sukey herself. The original Psyche is a bit of a drip: very beautiful but not too bright (easily manipulated, for one thing) and always on the verge of doing away with herself in despair before some friendly animal or plant or building tells her how to get through her current difficulty. Sukey is also not too bright, though much of that is ignorance born of innocence rather than actual stupidity (and the way that Warner gets us to laugh at Sukey while simultaneously reinforcing our sympathy with her is genius), but otherwise she is Psyche’s opposite in every way, and the novel is better for it. Her lack of experience and naivete are more than counterbalanced by an impressive strength of character and determination. She recognizes the difficulties she faces, but unlike Psyche, she only comes close to despair once (from which she is, naturally, rescued by a kindly stranger). Otherwise, she simply makes a new plan and does her best to carry it out. The reader, with his or her superior knowledge, can probably tell that the plans are not always good plans, even before they fail — appealing to Mrs. Seaborn was fairly disastrous, and in the end Queen Victoria’s bible doesn’t actually help her at all — but she carries them through as best she can, undaunted by social, geographical, or any other sort of obstacles. To be sure, she gets some lucky breaks when she needs them, but if she wasn’t trying to win out single-handedly, she wouldn’t have been in position to take advantage of the help that she is offered anyway.
The other prominent characters from the myth are not so much rethought as reduced so as to add to the work’s realism quotient. Mrs. Seaborn, Mrs. Oxey (Juno), the Godmother (Demeter), and Queen Victoria (Persephone) all retain some of the mythic qualities of the goddesses they replace, but their roles are each limited to a few pages. Eric, our Cupid, is universally referred to as an idiot, though “simple” might perhaps be more accurate: he has a slightly larger role, as his and Sukey’s romance needs to be established in some way, but he is considerably less godlike than his predecessor — Sukey may love him, but she is not in the least in awe of him. The more prominent characters are not gods but rather those that Warner has invented, most of whom are associated with the farms where Sukey works: Mrs. Seaborn's husband; Mr. Noman, the good farmer who is her first employer, and his sons; Mr. Mollein, the bad farmer who is her second employer, and his wife; Prudence, the social-climbing servant girl who Sukey is replacing at the Noman’s; and assorted children and laborers. None of these people exhibit any sort of mythical quality: instead, they are quite human, in some cases all-too-much so. The Reverend Smith Seaborn is one such case, and an especially prominent one as he is the only character besides Sukey whose perspective we are given. Presumably this is to counteract the majesty and terror that Mrs. Seaborn has hitherto inspired, as her husband has neither of those qualities and is solely concerned with how the presence of Eric in his home will affect the petty small-town status squabbles that he is engaged in. (It also allows Warner to elide the process by which Sukey, who left her last job with no references and a minor scandal, manages to wangle another one: she’s a legendary heroine, of course she manages to get a job without a problem, but for Warner's purposes it's better not to show the process.) The final character, and the one that grounds the book most firmly in the real world, is the Essex landscape. To Sukey, a London girl, the sea and the marshes are a revelation, and the impression they make on her is comparable to that of any of the book’s other characters. Some of the book’s most lyrical passages are descriptions of the scenery around Mr. Noman’s farm.
The most important difference between the novel and the myth, though, comes not from the elements that Warner introduces but one that she leaves out: the iconic scene of Psyche spying on Cupid does not appear in any form in the book. Partly this is because the necessary context — the marriage to an unknown, never-seen person — would be difficult to arrange in late-Victorian England, but mainly it’s because of the kind of novel Warner wants to write. The myth is, at bottom, one of punishment: Psyche lets herself be manipulated into doing something wrong — breaking a rule that she agreed to — and pays the price. Her punishment is unjust, which is why she is eventually pardoned, but the central dynamic of the story is Psyche desperately trying to atone for her sins. Warner, by contrast, has no interest in punishment. Sukey may make mistakes, and she does break a rule about social interactions between classes (though Warner suggests it's not really important when compared to something like love), but she does nothing under duress. Once she leaves the orphanage and is out in the world, every step she takes -- leaving the Noman's, going on her quest for Queen Victoria's Bible, etc. -- is her own choice and taken in pursuit of her own goals. Sukey is, in fact, just a hero like any other, struggling to win her beloved against the forces that have unjustly separated them: the only thing that’s unusual about her is that she, unlike most of the heroes of novels where this kind of thing happens (certainly most of the heroes of such novels in the 1920s), is a woman. The only slightly jarring note comes from the fact that, in order to take Eric more or less out of the equation, as he would be if the genders were reversed, Warner has to make him retarded. (This could, of course, also be regarded as a commentary on female passivity in novels of the Victorian era in which this book is set.) With that one exception, Warner has written the best kind of feminist novel, one in which the action is driven by female characters who are pretty much ordinary people, such that if all the genders were reversed the book would work just as well.
Of course, it is a novel, and since a novel is not a myth, a number of changes are required to successfully transform the latter into the former. As mentioned above, Warner ditches most of the plot of the Cupid and Psyche story, even if some of the plot mechanisms are similar, but what’s just as important for the novel’s success is the way she rethinks all the characters, starting, of course, with Sukey herself. The original Psyche is a bit of a drip: very beautiful but not too bright (easily manipulated, for one thing) and always on the verge of doing away with herself in despair before some friendly animal or plant or building tells her how to get through her current difficulty. Sukey is also not too bright, though much of that is ignorance born of innocence rather than actual stupidity (and the way that Warner gets us to laugh at Sukey while simultaneously reinforcing our sympathy with her is genius), but otherwise she is Psyche’s opposite in every way, and the novel is better for it. Her lack of experience and naivete are more than counterbalanced by an impressive strength of character and determination. She recognizes the difficulties she faces, but unlike Psyche, she only comes close to despair once (from which she is, naturally, rescued by a kindly stranger). Otherwise, she simply makes a new plan and does her best to carry it out. The reader, with his or her superior knowledge, can probably tell that the plans are not always good plans, even before they fail — appealing to Mrs. Seaborn was fairly disastrous, and in the end Queen Victoria’s bible doesn’t actually help her at all — but she carries them through as best she can, undaunted by social, geographical, or any other sort of obstacles. To be sure, she gets some lucky breaks when she needs them, but if she wasn’t trying to win out single-handedly, she wouldn’t have been in position to take advantage of the help that she is offered anyway.
The other prominent characters from the myth are not so much rethought as reduced so as to add to the work’s realism quotient. Mrs. Seaborn, Mrs. Oxey (Juno), the Godmother (Demeter), and Queen Victoria (Persephone) all retain some of the mythic qualities of the goddesses they replace, but their roles are each limited to a few pages. Eric, our Cupid, is universally referred to as an idiot, though “simple” might perhaps be more accurate: he has a slightly larger role, as his and Sukey’s romance needs to be established in some way, but he is considerably less godlike than his predecessor — Sukey may love him, but she is not in the least in awe of him. The more prominent characters are not gods but rather those that Warner has invented, most of whom are associated with the farms where Sukey works: Mrs. Seaborn's husband; Mr. Noman, the good farmer who is her first employer, and his sons; Mr. Mollein, the bad farmer who is her second employer, and his wife; Prudence, the social-climbing servant girl who Sukey is replacing at the Noman’s; and assorted children and laborers. None of these people exhibit any sort of mythical quality: instead, they are quite human, in some cases all-too-much so. The Reverend Smith Seaborn is one such case, and an especially prominent one as he is the only character besides Sukey whose perspective we are given. Presumably this is to counteract the majesty and terror that Mrs. Seaborn has hitherto inspired, as her husband has neither of those qualities and is solely concerned with how the presence of Eric in his home will affect the petty small-town status squabbles that he is engaged in. (It also allows Warner to elide the process by which Sukey, who left her last job with no references and a minor scandal, manages to wangle another one: she’s a legendary heroine, of course she manages to get a job without a problem, but for Warner's purposes it's better not to show the process.) The final character, and the one that grounds the book most firmly in the real world, is the Essex landscape. To Sukey, a London girl, the sea and the marshes are a revelation, and the impression they make on her is comparable to that of any of the book’s other characters. Some of the book’s most lyrical passages are descriptions of the scenery around Mr. Noman’s farm.
The most important difference between the novel and the myth, though, comes not from the elements that Warner introduces but one that she leaves out: the iconic scene of Psyche spying on Cupid does not appear in any form in the book. Partly this is because the necessary context — the marriage to an unknown, never-seen person — would be difficult to arrange in late-Victorian England, but mainly it’s because of the kind of novel Warner wants to write. The myth is, at bottom, one of punishment: Psyche lets herself be manipulated into doing something wrong — breaking a rule that she agreed to — and pays the price. Her punishment is unjust, which is why she is eventually pardoned, but the central dynamic of the story is Psyche desperately trying to atone for her sins. Warner, by contrast, has no interest in punishment. Sukey may make mistakes, and she does break a rule about social interactions between classes (though Warner suggests it's not really important when compared to something like love), but she does nothing under duress. Once she leaves the orphanage and is out in the world, every step she takes -- leaving the Noman's, going on her quest for Queen Victoria's Bible, etc. -- is her own choice and taken in pursuit of her own goals. Sukey is, in fact, just a hero like any other, struggling to win her beloved against the forces that have unjustly separated them: the only thing that’s unusual about her is that she, unlike most of the heroes of novels where this kind of thing happens (certainly most of the heroes of such novels in the 1920s), is a woman. The only slightly jarring note comes from the fact that, in order to take Eric more or less out of the equation, as he would be if the genders were reversed, Warner has to make him retarded. (This could, of course, also be regarded as a commentary on female passivity in novels of the Victorian era in which this book is set.) With that one exception, Warner has written the best kind of feminist novel, one in which the action is driven by female characters who are pretty much ordinary people, such that if all the genders were reversed the book would work just as well.
March 6, 2019
Un racconto naïf che emoziona soprattutto alla fine.
September 15, 2020
Una sòla. In sintesi: quella gran culo di Cenerentola! (cit)
March 2, 2023
Honestly I’m so confused about what happened in this book…
December 24, 2024
what the fuck im so charmed! im so moved! sukey actually won me over despite myself
September 23, 2022
This is just the sweetest little story. 16-year old Sukey gets sent into service from the orphanage and falls in happy, innocent love with the slightly addled Eric, son of the local deacon. Eric is a kind of happy, holy fool, someone we might these days consider functionally learning disabled, but that's where the sheer beauty comes in: because that doesn't fucking matter at all! They're in love and that's that. The naive and sexually-befuddled Sukey fights back when Eric's mother refuses their love and potential marriage. Sukey takes her battle all the way to Queen Victoria's court. The journey there is bemusing, depressing at times, and something genuine that will make you break out into smiles as you read it. Warner is a supreme author--I maintain she never wrote a bad book--and I strongly encourage you in these dark and stupid times to go read a story of real, devoted love.
August 4, 2024
Hace cien años, entre las dos guerras mundiales, esta para mí desconocida escritora produjo una nostálgica pieza, un auténtico idilio ambientado en la época victoriana (la propia Reina aparece en una escena "de cámara"): una recreación de la hermosa historia de Psique y Eros. Este carácter de juego cultural podría restarle interés de no ser por su protagonista absoluta, la joven huérfana (¿Quién no ama las historias que comienzan con un/a adolescente abandonando un orfanato?!) Sukey Bond, ingenua y decidida que parte (a pie, en carro, en tren: símbolo de la progresión dramática... y risueña) en busca de su cautivo enamorado. El cambiante paisaje de Essex tiene un papel propio, como también los animales; nos hallamos ante, repito, una égloga, pero es el modo en que Sukey supera sus desconciertos y urde sus planes lo que eleva esta historia a un plano totalmente moderno, a un nivel de clásico menor.
La novela tiene una segunda parte quizás un tanto morosa, un adagio, pero a este le sigue un scherzo vivacísimo y una situación final que reúne, remata y supera todo lo anterior que muestra la profunda simpatía y humanidad de M. Townsend y que enmarca ese momento trascendental en una dimensión universal, atemporal. No en vano su última frase es.
¡Alegría!
"A cada paso se sentía entrar en una dimensión más amplia del tiempo, un tiempo ordenado y predispuesto en cuyo seno cabían todas las cosas, todas las criaturas, que podían crecer, manifestarse y realizarse plenamente; donde cabían incluso Eric y ella, que encontrándose de nuevo gozaban en silencio del amor, como las plantas que ahora la rodeaban, mudas bajo la cálida lluvia de primavera."
"–Es como..., es como una pluma, como cualquier pluma pequeña que el viento desliza por el suelo. La recoges, la miras con indiferencia. Y luego es como si nunca hubieras visto nada parecido, tan perfecta, tan acabada, tan resuelta a ser una pluma, tan..., tan... —agitó la mano con impaciencia—. Oh, demonios, Ruskin, lo que tú quieras"
"Pero cómo arreglárselas para reunirse con Eric era algo que superaba su imaginación. Su determinación no era más que una llama diminuta que cabe en la palma de la mano, una candela llevada a un futuro incierto y desconocido; pero en aquel futuro ella encontraría, o eso quiso creer, la estratagema, la cadena de circunstancias de las cuales la llama habría sido el detonante. Luego estallaría el fuego, puro y frenético como un arranque musical; entonces ella vería una vez más el verdadero rostro de su esperanza."
"Árboles. Criaturas misteriosas que están fuera toda la noche."
"el Amor, cuyas firmes alas estaban dispuestas a remontar cualquier astucia, cualquier sortilegio sin escrúpulos."
La novela tiene una segunda parte quizás un tanto morosa, un adagio, pero a este le sigue un scherzo vivacísimo y una situación final que reúne, remata y supera todo lo anterior que muestra la profunda simpatía y humanidad de M. Townsend y que enmarca ese momento trascendental en una dimensión universal, atemporal. No en vano su última frase es.
¡Alegría!
"A cada paso se sentía entrar en una dimensión más amplia del tiempo, un tiempo ordenado y predispuesto en cuyo seno cabían todas las cosas, todas las criaturas, que podían crecer, manifestarse y realizarse plenamente; donde cabían incluso Eric y ella, que encontrándose de nuevo gozaban en silencio del amor, como las plantas que ahora la rodeaban, mudas bajo la cálida lluvia de primavera."
"–Es como..., es como una pluma, como cualquier pluma pequeña que el viento desliza por el suelo. La recoges, la miras con indiferencia. Y luego es como si nunca hubieras visto nada parecido, tan perfecta, tan acabada, tan resuelta a ser una pluma, tan..., tan... —agitó la mano con impaciencia—. Oh, demonios, Ruskin, lo que tú quieras"
"Pero cómo arreglárselas para reunirse con Eric era algo que superaba su imaginación. Su determinación no era más que una llama diminuta que cabe en la palma de la mano, una candela llevada a un futuro incierto y desconocido; pero en aquel futuro ella encontraría, o eso quiso creer, la estratagema, la cadena de circunstancias de las cuales la llama habría sido el detonante. Luego estallaría el fuego, puro y frenético como un arranque musical; entonces ella vería una vez más el verdadero rostro de su esperanza."
"Árboles. Criaturas misteriosas que están fuera toda la noche."
"el Amor, cuyas firmes alas estaban dispuestas a remontar cualquier astucia, cualquier sortilegio sin escrúpulos."
June 14, 2025
4.5 the writing in this is PURE FUCKING GOLD
May 18, 2021
(3.5 Stars)
I must admit to being rather late to Sylvia Townsend Warner, having only woken up to the delights of Lolly Willowes back in 2018. The True Heart (1929) – this author’s third novel – shares something with that earlier book, a kind of magical quality that underpins the engaging narrative. As Townsend Warner herself explains in the preface to a later edition of the book, The True Heart is a loose retelling of Cupid and Psyche, the much-loved story from classical mythology. So loose in fact that reviewers did not pick up the true origins of the narrative at the time of its initial publication. The only person to correctly identify what the author had done in disguising her characters so effectively was Eleanor Townsend Warner, Sylvia’s mother.
The True Heart takes Victorian England as its setting – more specifically, the marshland and farming community near Southend in Essex. When Sukey Bond, a sixteen-year-old orphan, comes of age, she is sent to work as a maid at New Easter farm in Essex. Mrs Seaborn – a patroness at Warburton Orphanage, Sukey’s home since the age of nine – has found her a position with the Normans, the family that manages New Easter. At first, Sukey wishes she could stay with Mrs Seaborn at the Rectory in Southend, a place that serves as a resting point during the journey. In her innocence, Sukey looks up to Mrs Seaborn, worshipping the Rector’s wife for her apparent kindness.
Nevertheless, once Sukey settles in, life at New Easter farm proves pleasant and manageable for the most part at least. The Normans are kind to Sukey, who adapts well to the new environment, her upstanding values and work ethic serving her well in a busy role. The main fly in the ointment is Prudence – Sukey’s predecessor as maid – who now has her sights set on marrying Rueben, the eldest of the Normans’ two sons. Prudence is not terribly welcoming to Sukey on her arrival, quickly imparting all sorts of warnings and cautions about what to watch out for on the farm, most of them unnecessarily crushing. In particular, Sukey is dismayed by Prudence’s disdain for Mrs Seaborn and the latter’s tendency to send all sorts of folk to New Easter – the implication being that Mrs S considers the farm to be something of a dumping ground for charitable cases.
Also of significance here is Mrs Seaborn’s son, Eric, who has lived at the farm for several years, ever since his mother packed him off from the prying eyes of society. A mild-mannered boy at heart, Eric is looked down upon by Prudence and the men of the Norman family – a view compounded by the seizures Eric experiences, which the Normans unfairly put down as a sign of the boy’s weakness or idiocy.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021...
I must admit to being rather late to Sylvia Townsend Warner, having only woken up to the delights of Lolly Willowes back in 2018. The True Heart (1929) – this author’s third novel – shares something with that earlier book, a kind of magical quality that underpins the engaging narrative. As Townsend Warner herself explains in the preface to a later edition of the book, The True Heart is a loose retelling of Cupid and Psyche, the much-loved story from classical mythology. So loose in fact that reviewers did not pick up the true origins of the narrative at the time of its initial publication. The only person to correctly identify what the author had done in disguising her characters so effectively was Eleanor Townsend Warner, Sylvia’s mother.
The True Heart takes Victorian England as its setting – more specifically, the marshland and farming community near Southend in Essex. When Sukey Bond, a sixteen-year-old orphan, comes of age, she is sent to work as a maid at New Easter farm in Essex. Mrs Seaborn – a patroness at Warburton Orphanage, Sukey’s home since the age of nine – has found her a position with the Normans, the family that manages New Easter. At first, Sukey wishes she could stay with Mrs Seaborn at the Rectory in Southend, a place that serves as a resting point during the journey. In her innocence, Sukey looks up to Mrs Seaborn, worshipping the Rector’s wife for her apparent kindness.
Nevertheless, once Sukey settles in, life at New Easter farm proves pleasant and manageable for the most part at least. The Normans are kind to Sukey, who adapts well to the new environment, her upstanding values and work ethic serving her well in a busy role. The main fly in the ointment is Prudence – Sukey’s predecessor as maid – who now has her sights set on marrying Rueben, the eldest of the Normans’ two sons. Prudence is not terribly welcoming to Sukey on her arrival, quickly imparting all sorts of warnings and cautions about what to watch out for on the farm, most of them unnecessarily crushing. In particular, Sukey is dismayed by Prudence’s disdain for Mrs Seaborn and the latter’s tendency to send all sorts of folk to New Easter – the implication being that Mrs S considers the farm to be something of a dumping ground for charitable cases.
Also of significance here is Mrs Seaborn’s son, Eric, who has lived at the farm for several years, ever since his mother packed him off from the prying eyes of society. A mild-mannered boy at heart, Eric is looked down upon by Prudence and the men of the Norman family – a view compounded by the seizures Eric experiences, which the Normans unfairly put down as a sign of the boy’s weakness or idiocy.
To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2021...
October 5, 2019
Странная книга, очень лирическая местами, но -- чудесная.
July 22, 2024
A bit poorly paced but i think some stylistic choices went over my head- definitely ahead of its time!!
July 16, 2021
Alcune cose positive, altre negative.
Ambientazione e descrizione della natura e della campagna inglese: amate profondamente
Personaggi: nì. Sukey Bond, la protagonista, è effettivamente l’unica apprezzabile, anche grazie alla sua spassionata ingenuità.
Allegoria Amore e Psiche: mmmh non mi ha convinta
Sviluppo della trama: a volte confusionaria, a volte noiosa.
Complessivamente: bene ma non benissimo.
Ambientazione e descrizione della natura e della campagna inglese: amate profondamente
Personaggi: nì. Sukey Bond, la protagonista, è effettivamente l’unica apprezzabile, anche grazie alla sua spassionata ingenuità.
Allegoria Amore e Psiche: mmmh non mi ha convinta
Sviluppo della trama: a volte confusionaria, a volte noiosa.
Complessivamente: bene ma non benissimo.
May 16, 2023
I think this book is not quite such a loose retelling of Cupid and Psyche as reviewers seem to think.
Though it takes place in the Victorian age, Warner was able to carry over a sort of mythic, fairy tale quality, especially in the beginning when Sukey goes to New Easter.
I will however say, that Eros does not kidnap Psyche in this retelling, and somethings are not in the original order, which is fine as it still happens.
I sympathize with the removal of the abduction element, as I’ve also had to put Cupid and Psyche in the Victorian age, and it isn’t easy.
But it is my favorite myth, so that’s just me.
Sukey is Psyche.
The apple-woman/Godmother/Mrs. Disbrowe is Demeter, as pointed out by the author.
Mrs. Seaborn is Venus (which I thought a clever disguise)
Eric is ‘Eros’ hehehe.
Zeph I think, who in the myth, under the name of Zephyr transports Psyche to Eros, I think came over really well as the ferry-man, especially with the constant metaphors comparing him to a wind or fleeting thing.
I’ve given some thought to the idea, and I think Prudence may be in the spirit of an Evil (sometimes Step-) Sister.
Mrs. Oxey was rather a Juno whom the author had taken some artistic liberties with, but that’s okay.
The tramp that gives Sukey the box (labeled ‘Friendship Endears’) is definitely Pan, with the mouth pipe and the music, the itinerancy, and the saving of Psyche’s life.
I’ve seen that some people don’t think the journey to Queen Victoria a suitable one retelling of Psyche’s katabis in the original myth, but I think it was done rather well.
I’m not sure if ‘the blue dog’ belonging to Lord Constantine was supposed to be a Cerberus character, but I was on an elementary level ready to make this connection. (Maybe the tea that Lord C. gave Sukey is like the cakes that the tower gives Psyche to feed Cerberus, even if Sukey doesn’t give the tea to the dog..?)
I began to wonder towards the end if Mr. Walburton wasn’t a sort of Zeus character with the Jove/beekeeping reference and the initial blessing of the marriage, sort of stepping in to help Psyche/Sukey.
Also, maybe the surname of Noman was signifying something.
I saw someone had a vague idea that the three apples that Eric rolls to Sukey are from the myth C&P itself, but I believe that it was only lending to the mythic quality since that’s an Atalanta thing.
More on the tasks:
I figured that the water which Sukey carried to the bull, Consort, was supposed to be the water task of Psyche.
I think the plantain-picking was closer to the tidying of Demeter’s temple and to the fur-picking task.
I’m not sure about the grain-sorting, but I’m sure it was there somewhere.
The waking of Psyche/looking at the gift ending I thought was really cute at the end with the Bible, though I’m not sure that the Mrs. Seaborn thing was fully resolved.
I think that’s everything; I don’t usually write reviews in GoodReads, but I thought I would for this book to point out some things for future and past readers.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, which I could only find on Amazon, and I plan to read Eudora Welty’s retelling next.
Though it takes place in the Victorian age, Warner was able to carry over a sort of mythic, fairy tale quality, especially in the beginning when Sukey goes to New Easter.
I will however say, that Eros does not kidnap Psyche in this retelling, and somethings are not in the original order, which is fine as it still happens.
I sympathize with the removal of the abduction element, as I’ve also had to put Cupid and Psyche in the Victorian age, and it isn’t easy.
But it is my favorite myth, so that’s just me.
Sukey is Psyche.
The apple-woman/Godmother/Mrs. Disbrowe is Demeter, as pointed out by the author.
Mrs. Seaborn is Venus (which I thought a clever disguise)
Eric is ‘Eros’ hehehe.
Zeph I think, who in the myth, under the name of Zephyr transports Psyche to Eros, I think came over really well as the ferry-man, especially with the constant metaphors comparing him to a wind or fleeting thing.
I’ve given some thought to the idea, and I think Prudence may be in the spirit of an Evil (sometimes Step-) Sister.
Mrs. Oxey was rather a Juno whom the author had taken some artistic liberties with, but that’s okay.
The tramp that gives Sukey the box (labeled ‘Friendship Endears’) is definitely Pan, with the mouth pipe and the music, the itinerancy, and the saving of Psyche’s life.
I’ve seen that some people don’t think the journey to Queen Victoria a suitable one retelling of Psyche’s katabis in the original myth, but I think it was done rather well.
I’m not sure if ‘the blue dog’ belonging to Lord Constantine was supposed to be a Cerberus character, but I was on an elementary level ready to make this connection. (Maybe the tea that Lord C. gave Sukey is like the cakes that the tower gives Psyche to feed Cerberus, even if Sukey doesn’t give the tea to the dog..?)
I began to wonder towards the end if Mr. Walburton wasn’t a sort of Zeus character with the Jove/beekeeping reference and the initial blessing of the marriage, sort of stepping in to help Psyche/Sukey.
Also, maybe the surname of Noman was signifying something.
I saw someone had a vague idea that the three apples that Eric rolls to Sukey are from the myth C&P itself, but I believe that it was only lending to the mythic quality since that’s an Atalanta thing.
More on the tasks:
I figured that the water which Sukey carried to the bull, Consort, was supposed to be the water task of Psyche.
I think the plantain-picking was closer to the tidying of Demeter’s temple and to the fur-picking task.
I’m not sure about the grain-sorting, but I’m sure it was there somewhere.
The waking of Psyche/looking at the gift ending I thought was really cute at the end with the Bible, though I’m not sure that the Mrs. Seaborn thing was fully resolved.
I think that’s everything; I don’t usually write reviews in GoodReads, but I thought I would for this book to point out some things for future and past readers.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, which I could only find on Amazon, and I plan to read Eudora Welty’s retelling next.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 26, 2025
"𝓝𝓸𝓷 𝓽𝓾𝓽𝓽𝓲 𝓲 𝓵𝓾𝓹𝓲 𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓸 𝓬𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓲, 𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓻𝓮 𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓾𝓷 𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓾𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓸 è 𝓶𝓪𝓲 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓽𝓸 𝓰𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓷 𝓾𝓷 𝓵𝓾𝓹𝓸."
Sukey Bond è un'orfana di 16 anni, studentessa modello in orfanotrofio, che grazie all'eminente patronessa Bella Seaborn, moglie del parroco, viene assunta come serva nella fattoria del vedovo Mr Noman, nell'Essex. Qui Sukey deve fare i conti con Prudence Gulland, ex cameriera sgarbata ed antipatica. L'unica persona che sembra comprenderla è Eric, un ragazzo silenzioso e con dei problemi mentali, di cui si innamora, ma che viene allontanato dalla fattoria e riconsegnato alla famiglia. Sukey si licenzia e non si rassegna alla sua ricerca.
ilcuorevero è un breve romanzo scritto un centinaio di anni fa e nasce delle escursioni dell'autrice #sylviatownsendwarner nell'Essex, un terra da lei sconosciuta e fonte di curiosità ed ispirazione. L'Essex diventa quindi l'ambientazione per un suo riadattamento del mito di #amoreepsiche di Apuleio, in una versione vittoriana in cui i personaggi assumono nomi diversi. Personalmente penso che il collegamento non sia così immediato, ma sicuramente la conoscenza di questo intento mostra le analogie con la storia nota.
È un breve romanzo scritto un centinaio di anni fa e nasce delle escursioni dell'autrice Sylvia Townsend Warner nell'Essex, un terra da lei sconosciuta e fonte di curiosità ed ispirazione. L'Essex diventa quindi l'ambientazione per un suo riadattamento del mito di Amore e Psiche di Apuleio, in una versione vittoriana in cui i personaggi assumono nomi diversi. Personalmente penso che il collegamento non sia così immediato, ma sicuramente la conoscenza di questo intento mostra le analogie con la storia nota. Il libro è ambientato nel 1873 e ben inquadrato in un'epoca storica segnata da pregiudizi, aspettative, apparenza e pettegolezzi. La storia è narrata in terza persona, quasi esclusivamente dal punto di vista di Sukey, se non per un unico e breve frangente in cui il focus finisce su un personaggio maschile non così di spicco. I personaggi sono ben caratterizzati, soprattutto Sukey, nella sua estrema ingenuità ed innocenza, quella di chi non ha mai visto il mondo ed ignora addirittura come nasca un bambino o cosa sia una casa di tolleranza. Ma nonostante i suoi dubbi e le sue paure e la ricerca di consolazione nella fantasia, Sukey mostra comunque il coraggio e la forza di perseguire le proprie idee. L'autrice è molto brava nella descrizione del paesaggio, ed anche la natura diventa un elemento importante, dal momento che la sua protagonista si immedesima spesso nei suoi elementi e nelle sue creature. Marcato è poi lo scontro tra Sukey (Psiche) e la madre (Venere) dell'uomo (Amore) di cui è innamorata . Vi è un breve salto temporale nell'epilogo che risulta un po' troppo sbrigativo e non così chiaro. Nonostante sia un libro datato, la scrittura risulta piacevole.
Sukey Bond è un'orfana di 16 anni, studentessa modello in orfanotrofio, che grazie all'eminente patronessa Bella Seaborn, moglie del parroco, viene assunta come serva nella fattoria del vedovo Mr Noman, nell'Essex. Qui Sukey deve fare i conti con Prudence Gulland, ex cameriera sgarbata ed antipatica. L'unica persona che sembra comprenderla è Eric, un ragazzo silenzioso e con dei problemi mentali, di cui si innamora, ma che viene allontanato dalla fattoria e riconsegnato alla famiglia. Sukey si licenzia e non si rassegna alla sua ricerca.
ilcuorevero è un breve romanzo scritto un centinaio di anni fa e nasce delle escursioni dell'autrice #sylviatownsendwarner nell'Essex, un terra da lei sconosciuta e fonte di curiosità ed ispirazione. L'Essex diventa quindi l'ambientazione per un suo riadattamento del mito di #amoreepsiche di Apuleio, in una versione vittoriana in cui i personaggi assumono nomi diversi. Personalmente penso che il collegamento non sia così immediato, ma sicuramente la conoscenza di questo intento mostra le analogie con la storia nota.
È un breve romanzo scritto un centinaio di anni fa e nasce delle escursioni dell'autrice Sylvia Townsend Warner nell'Essex, un terra da lei sconosciuta e fonte di curiosità ed ispirazione. L'Essex diventa quindi l'ambientazione per un suo riadattamento del mito di Amore e Psiche di Apuleio, in una versione vittoriana in cui i personaggi assumono nomi diversi. Personalmente penso che il collegamento non sia così immediato, ma sicuramente la conoscenza di questo intento mostra le analogie con la storia nota. Il libro è ambientato nel 1873 e ben inquadrato in un'epoca storica segnata da pregiudizi, aspettative, apparenza e pettegolezzi. La storia è narrata in terza persona, quasi esclusivamente dal punto di vista di Sukey, se non per un unico e breve frangente in cui il focus finisce su un personaggio maschile non così di spicco. I personaggi sono ben caratterizzati, soprattutto Sukey, nella sua estrema ingenuità ed innocenza, quella di chi non ha mai visto il mondo ed ignora addirittura come nasca un bambino o cosa sia una casa di tolleranza. Ma nonostante i suoi dubbi e le sue paure e la ricerca di consolazione nella fantasia, Sukey mostra comunque il coraggio e la forza di perseguire le proprie idee. L'autrice è molto brava nella descrizione del paesaggio, ed anche la natura diventa un elemento importante, dal momento che la sua protagonista si immedesima spesso nei suoi elementi e nelle sue creature. Marcato è poi lo scontro tra Sukey (Psiche) e la madre (Venere) dell'uomo (Amore) di cui è innamorata . Vi è un breve salto temporale nell'epilogo che risulta un po' troppo sbrigativo e non così chiaro. Nonostante sia un libro datato, la scrittura risulta piacevole.
November 6, 2025
Το "The True Heart" της Sylvia Townsend Warner είναι ένα "λεπτό" και την ιδια στιγμή εξαιρετικά διεισδυτικό μυθιστόρημα που ζωντανεύει τον μύθο του Έρωτα και της Ψυχής στην αγγλική επαρχία του 19ου αιώνα. Η Warner διαθέτει την ικανότητα να ισορροπεί την τρυφερότητα με την ειρωνεία. Τη σκληρή αλήθεια με το όνειρο. Ο λόγος της είναι φωτεινός, ακριβής αλλά ταυτόχρονα ανατρεπτικός με έναν τρόπο όμως διακριτικό, ήσυχο, που ωστόσο καταφέρνει να περάσει τα μηνύματά του χωρίς να "φωνάζει" την πρόθεση της δημιουργού.
Η ακαμψία των ταξικών δομών και η ηθική υποκρισία της βικτωριανής κοινωνίας (τόσο αμετακίνητα εντέλει στοιχεία κάθε κοινωνίας) αποκαλύπτονται μέσα από την ηρωίδα της Sukey Bond, της οποίας η ακλόνητη αγάπη αμφισβητεί τις κοινωνικές συμβάσεις. Ο συναισθηματικός κόσμος της τροφοδοτεί μία μικρή επανάσταση. Η φαινομενική απλότητα του μυθιστορήματος είναι απατηλή — κάτω από την ειδυλλιακή επιφάνειά του βρίσκεται μια βαθιά εξερεύνηση της αθωότητας ως ηθικής δύναμης και κοινωνικής κριτικής.
Η ανάγνωση του "The True Heart" ήταν μια εμπειρία συνάντησης με το χαρακτηριστικό μείγμα πνεύματος, βαθιάς καλοσύνης και εκφραστικής κομψότητας της Warner. Είναι ένα έργο ταυτόχρονα διαχρονικό και διακριτικά ριζοσπαστικό, που επιβεβαιώνει την αφηγηματική σπουδαιότητα της Warner, καταξιώνοντάς την στη τεχνη του λόγου ως μία από τις πιο δημιουργικές και βαθιά ανθρώπινες φωνές της.
"The True Heart" by Sylvia Townsend Warner is a subtle yet remarkably penetrating novel that reimagines the myth of Eros and Psyche within the landscape of nineteenth-century rural England. Warner possesses a rare ability to balance tenderness with irony, truth with dream. Her prose is luminous and precise, yet quietly subversive, a voice that conveys its meanings without ever declaring its intentions too loudly.
Through the figure of Sukey Bond, whose steadfast love challenges the rigidity of class and the moral hypocrisy of Victorian society, those seemingly immutable features of any social order, Warner exposes the mechanisms of convention with both wit and compassion. Sukey’s emotional world fuels a small but potent revolution. The novel’s apparent simplicity is deceptive. Beneath its pastoral surface lies a profound meditation on innocence as a moral force and as an instrument of social critique.
Reading "The True Heart" is to encounter Warner’s characteristic blend of intelligence, deep kindness, and stylistic grace. It is a work at once timeless and quietly radical, one that reaffirms Warner’s narrative mastery and secures her place among the most inventive and profoundly humane voices in twentieth-century literature.
Η ακαμψία των ταξικών δομών και η ηθική υποκρισία της βικτωριανής κοινωνίας (τόσο αμετακίνητα εντέλει στοιχεία κάθε κοινωνίας) αποκαλύπτονται μέσα από την ηρωίδα της Sukey Bond, της οποίας η ακλόνητη αγάπη αμφισβητεί τις κοινωνικές συμβάσεις. Ο συναισθηματικός κόσμος της τροφοδοτεί μία μικρή επανάσταση. Η φαινομενική απλότητα του μυθιστορήματος είναι απατηλή — κάτω από την ειδυλλιακή επιφάνειά του βρίσκεται μια βαθιά εξερεύνηση της αθωότητας ως ηθικής δύναμης και κοινωνικής κριτικής.
Η ανάγνωση του "The True Heart" ήταν μια εμπειρία συνάντησης με το χαρακτηριστικό μείγμα πνεύματος, βαθιάς καλοσύνης και εκφραστικής κομψότητας της Warner. Είναι ένα έργο ταυτόχρονα διαχρονικό και διακριτικά ριζοσπαστικό, που επιβεβαιώνει την αφηγηματική σπουδαιότητα της Warner, καταξιώνοντάς την στη τεχνη του λόγου ως μία από τις πιο δημιουργικές και βαθιά ανθρώπινες φωνές της.
"The True Heart" by Sylvia Townsend Warner is a subtle yet remarkably penetrating novel that reimagines the myth of Eros and Psyche within the landscape of nineteenth-century rural England. Warner possesses a rare ability to balance tenderness with irony, truth with dream. Her prose is luminous and precise, yet quietly subversive, a voice that conveys its meanings without ever declaring its intentions too loudly.
Through the figure of Sukey Bond, whose steadfast love challenges the rigidity of class and the moral hypocrisy of Victorian society, those seemingly immutable features of any social order, Warner exposes the mechanisms of convention with both wit and compassion. Sukey’s emotional world fuels a small but potent revolution. The novel’s apparent simplicity is deceptive. Beneath its pastoral surface lies a profound meditation on innocence as a moral force and as an instrument of social critique.
Reading "The True Heart" is to encounter Warner’s characteristic blend of intelligence, deep kindness, and stylistic grace. It is a work at once timeless and quietly radical, one that reaffirms Warner’s narrative mastery and secures her place among the most inventive and profoundly humane voices in twentieth-century literature.
March 28, 2025
A beautifully lyrical retelling of the Cupid and Psyche myth, Sylvia Townsend Warner's A True Heart reimagines a 14th-century tale with a strikingly modern twist. The story of a 16-year-old girl falling in love with a man who has learning disabilities is ahead of its time, exploring love's complexity and depth. Warner’s prose is luminous, making this retelling both timeless and profoundly moving.
June 21, 2021
exqusitely written in parts!!
September 29, 2025
Beautiful descriptions of the Essex Saltings area in the first section of this novel, as well as a moving portrayal of two young people falling in love. I wonder if the writer was influenced by the works of Mary Webb. However, the last part of this novel didn't work so well for me - the scenes in London and Hertfordshire seemed rather rushed and less convincing. I will be interested in reading more by Sylvia Townsend Warner though.
February 13, 2020
Questo romanzo aveva tutte le carte in regola per essere una lettura molto emozionante, ma qualcosa non ha funzionato alla perfezione e il meccanismo armonioso si è inceppato più volte.
Sukey Bond è una giovanissima ragazza che, dopo aver passato anni in un orfanotrofio, viene affidata alla fattoria della famiglia dei Noman. Viene subito catapultata in quella realtà quasi cruda, circondata da una natura poco rosea e luminosa. Si tiene a debita distanza dai componenti della famiglia, tranne con Eric e gli animali. Eric è considerato uno sciocco, un buono a nulla e non fa nemmeno parte della famiglia. I due, però, sembrano capirsi a vicenda e cominciano a incontrarsi di nascosto, amoreggiando e pensando un futuro insieme.
Un giorno Sukey deve ammazzare il galletto per il pranzo di fidanzamento tra Mr Noman e Pudence e chiede aiuto a Eric, ma nel momento in cui il sangue sgorga dalla ferita afflitta, il ragazzo ha le convulsioni. Eric viene portato dalla madre, nonché Mrs Seaborn, patronessa all'orfanotrofio in cui era stata Sukey, che da questo momento fa di tutto per raggiungere il suo amato, allontanato senza nemmeno poterlo salutare da vicino. Sukey si ritrova a vagabondare da sola per raggiungere la dimora di Eric, trovando sulla strada sia difficoltà sia aiuto da parte di alcune persone.
La storia di per sè è romantica e con un occhio molto attento si percepisce l'ispirazione da Amore e Psiche. Il bellissimo messaggio di speranza e di capacità di superare ogni ostacolo nel momento in cui due persone si amano davvero è molto toccante, ma qualcosa secondo me non ha fatto filare tutto liscio.
In alcune parti la trama si perde in descrizioni e fatti che si sarebbero potuti riassumente con metà delle parole. Alcune vicissitudini ricordano sì la fiaba mitologica di Apuleio, ma anche il romanzo di Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), dove si riprende la ragazza dell'orfanotrofio e il vagabondaggio per un certo periodo in assenza di dimora fissa. Queste assomiglianze non danno alcun fastidio, se non che siano descritte con poca convinzione e il finale risulta un pò affrettato.
Come romanzo è carino da leggere, però, mi aspettavo qualcosa di più: più eventi, più determinazione da parte di entrambi i protagonisti e più convinzione nello sviluppo che si perde a volte solo in parole e pochi fatti che fanno perdere il filo del discorso. L'emotività è presente a intermittenza e anche quesrto fa storcere il naso perchè non si crea una bella armonia.
Nulla toglie che ci sono citazioni molto romantiche e profonde da tenere in considerazione, ma non mi ha convinto del tutto e nemmeno emozionato come speravo. Forse avevo aspettative troppo alte e mi hanno forviato dall'essenza semplice del romanzo.
Sukey Bond è una giovanissima ragazza che, dopo aver passato anni in un orfanotrofio, viene affidata alla fattoria della famiglia dei Noman. Viene subito catapultata in quella realtà quasi cruda, circondata da una natura poco rosea e luminosa. Si tiene a debita distanza dai componenti della famiglia, tranne con Eric e gli animali. Eric è considerato uno sciocco, un buono a nulla e non fa nemmeno parte della famiglia. I due, però, sembrano capirsi a vicenda e cominciano a incontrarsi di nascosto, amoreggiando e pensando un futuro insieme.
Un giorno Sukey deve ammazzare il galletto per il pranzo di fidanzamento tra Mr Noman e Pudence e chiede aiuto a Eric, ma nel momento in cui il sangue sgorga dalla ferita afflitta, il ragazzo ha le convulsioni. Eric viene portato dalla madre, nonché Mrs Seaborn, patronessa all'orfanotrofio in cui era stata Sukey, che da questo momento fa di tutto per raggiungere il suo amato, allontanato senza nemmeno poterlo salutare da vicino. Sukey si ritrova a vagabondare da sola per raggiungere la dimora di Eric, trovando sulla strada sia difficoltà sia aiuto da parte di alcune persone.
La storia di per sè è romantica e con un occhio molto attento si percepisce l'ispirazione da Amore e Psiche. Il bellissimo messaggio di speranza e di capacità di superare ogni ostacolo nel momento in cui due persone si amano davvero è molto toccante, ma qualcosa secondo me non ha fatto filare tutto liscio.
In alcune parti la trama si perde in descrizioni e fatti che si sarebbero potuti riassumente con metà delle parole. Alcune vicissitudini ricordano sì la fiaba mitologica di Apuleio, ma anche il romanzo di Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte), dove si riprende la ragazza dell'orfanotrofio e il vagabondaggio per un certo periodo in assenza di dimora fissa. Queste assomiglianze non danno alcun fastidio, se non che siano descritte con poca convinzione e il finale risulta un pò affrettato.
Come romanzo è carino da leggere, però, mi aspettavo qualcosa di più: più eventi, più determinazione da parte di entrambi i protagonisti e più convinzione nello sviluppo che si perde a volte solo in parole e pochi fatti che fanno perdere il filo del discorso. L'emotività è presente a intermittenza e anche quesrto fa storcere il naso perchè non si crea una bella armonia.
Nulla toglie che ci sono citazioni molto romantiche e profonde da tenere in considerazione, ma non mi ha convinto del tutto e nemmeno emozionato come speravo. Forse avevo aspettative troppo alte e mi hanno forviato dall'essenza semplice del romanzo.
December 3, 2019
Un romanzo davvero faticoso da portare a termine. Dovrebbe essere una riscrittura in chiave vittoriana del mito di amore e psiche... io invece ho trovato solo un lungo e noioso romanzo in cui tutti i personaggi mi risultano fastidiosi e la vicenda ha qualcosa di troppo irrealistico. Per me che amo i miti greci e i romanzi vittoriani questo si prospettava il romanzo perfetto ed invece è stata una delusione estrema.
July 5, 2015
Difficult to complete, a strange and unnerving retelling of a myth I'm unfamiliar with.
Warner's real strength lies in her subversive, unrelenting depictions of women as whole and challenging characters, and in the occasional asides about the plight and rights of women in her worlds.
Warner's real strength lies in her subversive, unrelenting depictions of women as whole and challenging characters, and in the occasional asides about the plight and rights of women in her worlds.
August 10, 2012
Not really up there with Summer Will Show or Lolly Willowes, perhaps
May 22, 2017
An imaginative interpretation of the story of Cupid and Psyche with characters who are mythic but also realistic enough for sympathy.
February 1, 2024
She can’t be beat
December 25, 2024
Quando è una poetessa a scrivere un romanzo, non tratta semplicemente la prosa, ma una sorta straordinaria di magia letteraria.
Questo mi era capitato di riscontrare con Josephine Johnson e il suo "Ora che è novembre" del 1934.
E ora mi imbatto in questa straordinaria scrittrice e poetessa, Sylvia Townsend Warner, con questi due piccoli capolavori, letti in pochi giorni.
Il suo secondo romanzo, vera favola mitologica di Apuleio, rivisitata in chiave vittoriana, si dispiega nelle campagne e nelle paludi dell'Essex di fine '800.
Oltre una trama fortemente romantica e avventurosa, a quella maniera inglese, anche in quest'opera non ci si può divincolare, né lo si vorrebbe, dalle maglie di parole tessute con la magia.
La bellezza è tutta qui, immagini disegnate da una lingua aulica e una speranza sottile che aleggia come nebbia fino alla fine.
”Erano alberi giovani. Come le sorelle di una favola, tra loro non c’era la maggiore o la minore; Sukey aveva pensato che dovessero avere all’incirca la sua età. Non c’era l’autunno nel loro inverno, perché le foglie che avevano perso erano sepolte sotto la neve, e questo conferiva loro un’aria di particolare innocenza. Erano troppo giovani perché qualche uccello vi avesse fatto il nido; nulla frenava le linee pure e fluenti dei rami gravati dai frutti invernali. «Metterete di nuovo le foglie» disse loro, parlando come se la primavera fosse qualcosa che le apparteneva e che poteva promettere; ma lo aveva detto per rassicurare le piante, non sé stessa, non sentendo dentro di sé alcun desiderio della primavera, augurandosi che la neve durasse per l’eternità. Sotto quel sigillo universale di candore e gelida purezza il suo amore e il suo dolore e le sue illusioni erano rimasti sepolti come le foglie delle betulle, mentre sostava là, sopra di loro, per sempre immobile, piegandosi docilmente sotto il peso di un’adorabile e sconosciuta serenità."
#letteraturainglese #sylviatownsendwarner #amoreepsiche #libribellissimi #lettureconsigliate #scrittrici #poetry #poesia #letture2024 #adelphi
Questo mi era capitato di riscontrare con Josephine Johnson e il suo "Ora che è novembre" del 1934.
E ora mi imbatto in questa straordinaria scrittrice e poetessa, Sylvia Townsend Warner, con questi due piccoli capolavori, letti in pochi giorni.
Il suo secondo romanzo, vera favola mitologica di Apuleio, rivisitata in chiave vittoriana, si dispiega nelle campagne e nelle paludi dell'Essex di fine '800.
Oltre una trama fortemente romantica e avventurosa, a quella maniera inglese, anche in quest'opera non ci si può divincolare, né lo si vorrebbe, dalle maglie di parole tessute con la magia.
La bellezza è tutta qui, immagini disegnate da una lingua aulica e una speranza sottile che aleggia come nebbia fino alla fine.
”Erano alberi giovani. Come le sorelle di una favola, tra loro non c’era la maggiore o la minore; Sukey aveva pensato che dovessero avere all’incirca la sua età. Non c’era l’autunno nel loro inverno, perché le foglie che avevano perso erano sepolte sotto la neve, e questo conferiva loro un’aria di particolare innocenza. Erano troppo giovani perché qualche uccello vi avesse fatto il nido; nulla frenava le linee pure e fluenti dei rami gravati dai frutti invernali. «Metterete di nuovo le foglie» disse loro, parlando come se la primavera fosse qualcosa che le apparteneva e che poteva promettere; ma lo aveva detto per rassicurare le piante, non sé stessa, non sentendo dentro di sé alcun desiderio della primavera, augurandosi che la neve durasse per l’eternità. Sotto quel sigillo universale di candore e gelida purezza il suo amore e il suo dolore e le sue illusioni erano rimasti sepolti come le foglie delle betulle, mentre sostava là, sopra di loro, per sempre immobile, piegandosi docilmente sotto il peso di un’adorabile e sconosciuta serenità."
#letteraturainglese #sylviatownsendwarner #amoreepsiche #libribellissimi #lettureconsigliate #scrittrici #poetry #poesia #letture2024 #adelphi
February 5, 2022
Siamo candele che non possono mai spegnersi con un soffio né estinguersi, e molti dovranno bruciare all’inferno per sempre.
Per la prima volta da quant’è che mi approccio ad un classico, mi scopro con l’anima irrimediabilmente ridotta in uno stato pietoso. Partì, nel bel mezzo dell’inverno, diretta in una località sconosciuta dell’Inghilterra, sul finire del 1800, in compagnia di una giovane donna che presto sarebbe divenuta la mia compagna, ma il cui viaggio rivelò delle tappe, delle caratteristiche il cui sapore non fu così buono come credevo. Voglio dire, fermata come in una locanda di legno solitaria e abbandonata a consumare un pasto caldo ho constatato che questo pasto fosse dal sapore così insipido, insulso, non proprio immangiabile ma quasi, che il cuore mi si riempì di uno strano senso di vuoto, sconforto mentre mi ingozzavo di qualcosa che sapevo non avrebbe cambiato sapore: lacrime di insoddisfazione, lacrime per aver creduto di leggere qualcosa che si rifà al mito di Amore e Psiche ( che devo ancora leggere ), ma che non rivela nient’altro che un certo distacco a qualcosa cui bisognerà fare i conti presto o tardi. Quasi immersa in un sonno che mi ha tenuta distante, che tuttavia ho interpretato con una concentrazione totale che per un momento ha soppiantato la malinconia, gli effetti negativi. Irrimediabilmente invischiata in una rete universale di sventure la cui anima complessa rispecchia quella dell’autrice, dalla personalità eccentrica, fuori dal comune, che proprio come Sucky ho faticato a comprendere. Forse perché proiettato in un’epoca in cui divenne sempre più esigente la necessità di scovare la libertà poiché ingabbiata e intrappolata in qualcosa di più grande di loro. Proprio come questa storia, e siccome di storie di questo tipo alla fine ti lasciano sempre addosso qualcosa che in un modo o nell’altro ti appannano l’anima, penso che l’intento dell’autrice non fu quello di raccontarci l’ennesima storia d’amore estratta da un mito quanto radicare quelle identità ricercate e quasi vane che sono a stretto contatto con la natura. Selvaggia, repentina, irruenta dal forte bisogno di sovversione.
Un luogo che sotto certi aspetti si è rivelato piacevole nonostante i paesaggi smorti, quasi secchi, in cui ci si muove con noncuranza in cui la mia anima ha potuto rannicchiarsi sul fondo di un mare oscuro calpestato da una bufera di sentimenti che tuttavia ha infuriato persino su di me. Il futuro è una guerra incerta, una regione inesplorata sulle cui gioie bisogna lavorarci raggiungendo una certa costanza senza alcun controllo. L’inquietudine si avvicenda al desiderio, al languido possesso di congiunzione alla persona amata in cui il poter riscattarsi da qualunque assalto incauto e inaspettato costringono a vagare come anime desolate senza poter condividere l’ardore che quasi invisibilmente infuriava nell’anima di Sucky.
Mentre i giorni dalla sua lettura trascorrono e mi scivolano addosso come la bellezza di un sogno, penso agli innumerevoli motivi per cui mi ci sono approcciata: mi incuriosiva il fatto che una storia dalla trama apparentemente bella non avesse suscitato nient’altro che dinieghi e perplessità. Perché all’inizio, l’esser proiettati in un orfanotrofio, dinanzi all’iniziazione di un percorso che avrei condotto insieme alla protagonista mi era parso affascinante adesso mi sembra così << adatto al contesto >>, e la protagonista che dovevo ancora conoscere e che non potevo interpretare adesso sembrava si coraggiosa, combattiva, forte ma priva di verve. Conoscerla dopo qualche pagina ha asserito come Sucky era quella piccola piuma bianca che si mosse con qualche difficoltà pur di spiccare il volo. Vibrare leggiadra, in un mondo che ti prostra in due. Quasi la stessa autrice ci confessò come dovette sentirsi quando lei era una giovane donna, nobile di nascita ma povera di valori affettivi.
E così andò che la sua lettura, così opaca e silenziosa, non ha luminato i corridoi bui della mia anima, ma sussurrata nel tempo davanti agli occhi del mondo, rispecchia l’idea dell’autrice dell’amore o del desiderio di un mondo in cui l’uomo è impossibilitato a vivere. Questa è una delle tante massime che compongono la produzione letteraria di un’autrice come la Warner, di cui al momento non credo leggerò altro, che osservando l’inutilità di un mondo fatto di cose grandi e piccoli di ricchi signori acutamente consapevoli del loro status sociale, fu protagonista di un destino incerto che la indusse a scoprire la natura delle sue opinioni e azioni in contrasto alle massime impartite, conferendo un ritratto carente della vita che respira in queste pagine. La vita vissuta con troppa calma, con molti aspetti pieni di banalità, arroganza e artificialità. E, a dargli coraggio sul campo di battaglia, a regalargli intelligenza o coscienziosità, a sospingerla verso un lento processo di scoperta verso se stessa e il mondo circostante fu un gentiluomo che da molti considerato stolto.
Chiaro tentativo di difendere il senno e il ritegno per se stessa, rappresentandola in una sottilissima vena ironica, incarnata nella giovane Sucky, per nulla dissimile a quelle ombre che la circondavano, alla luce tremula di una candela, appollaiata sulle sue spalle - fiaccata dalle disuguaglianze sociali e da alcuni dogmi dettati dal cristianesimo, lucido ma piatto, convenzionale e ingenuo. Non quel poema amoroso, armonioso, sentimentale o seducente, piuttosto un moto lento e poco rassicurante dell’anima, involontario e silenzioso, che avrebbe potuto rendermi prigioniera delle stesse << colpe >> della povera Sucky. Zeppo di descrizioni e scevro di dialoghi, nonostante gli sforzi dell’autrice, l’intimità condivisa con il lettore è poverissima: c’è sentimentalismo, ma non sorretto da uno stile lirico e romantico. Tuttavia opera a cui ho riservato un certo fascino in cui ho trovato nozioni e concetti concerni al secolo, scevro di passione, sentimenti di autoaffermazione dell’anima, rabbia o follia, sciatto, impreciso, imperfetto destinato a divenire massima di vita, istinto e carne. Conseguenza dello spirito di consumarsi come una candela. Così triste e amaro, di cui la stessa autrice si fa alata e inavvicinabile. Raccontate non in prima persona ma costruita con eventi che le scombussoleranno la vita con prepotenza e impetuosità.
La compassione è estesa fino a comprendere l’intero campo di battaglia e abbraccia ogni cosa con un altera eccitazione.
Per la prima volta da quant’è che mi approccio ad un classico, mi scopro con l’anima irrimediabilmente ridotta in uno stato pietoso. Partì, nel bel mezzo dell’inverno, diretta in una località sconosciuta dell’Inghilterra, sul finire del 1800, in compagnia di una giovane donna che presto sarebbe divenuta la mia compagna, ma il cui viaggio rivelò delle tappe, delle caratteristiche il cui sapore non fu così buono come credevo. Voglio dire, fermata come in una locanda di legno solitaria e abbandonata a consumare un pasto caldo ho constatato che questo pasto fosse dal sapore così insipido, insulso, non proprio immangiabile ma quasi, che il cuore mi si riempì di uno strano senso di vuoto, sconforto mentre mi ingozzavo di qualcosa che sapevo non avrebbe cambiato sapore: lacrime di insoddisfazione, lacrime per aver creduto di leggere qualcosa che si rifà al mito di Amore e Psiche ( che devo ancora leggere ), ma che non rivela nient’altro che un certo distacco a qualcosa cui bisognerà fare i conti presto o tardi. Quasi immersa in un sonno che mi ha tenuta distante, che tuttavia ho interpretato con una concentrazione totale che per un momento ha soppiantato la malinconia, gli effetti negativi. Irrimediabilmente invischiata in una rete universale di sventure la cui anima complessa rispecchia quella dell’autrice, dalla personalità eccentrica, fuori dal comune, che proprio come Sucky ho faticato a comprendere. Forse perché proiettato in un’epoca in cui divenne sempre più esigente la necessità di scovare la libertà poiché ingabbiata e intrappolata in qualcosa di più grande di loro. Proprio come questa storia, e siccome di storie di questo tipo alla fine ti lasciano sempre addosso qualcosa che in un modo o nell’altro ti appannano l’anima, penso che l’intento dell’autrice non fu quello di raccontarci l’ennesima storia d’amore estratta da un mito quanto radicare quelle identità ricercate e quasi vane che sono a stretto contatto con la natura. Selvaggia, repentina, irruenta dal forte bisogno di sovversione.
Un luogo che sotto certi aspetti si è rivelato piacevole nonostante i paesaggi smorti, quasi secchi, in cui ci si muove con noncuranza in cui la mia anima ha potuto rannicchiarsi sul fondo di un mare oscuro calpestato da una bufera di sentimenti che tuttavia ha infuriato persino su di me. Il futuro è una guerra incerta, una regione inesplorata sulle cui gioie bisogna lavorarci raggiungendo una certa costanza senza alcun controllo. L’inquietudine si avvicenda al desiderio, al languido possesso di congiunzione alla persona amata in cui il poter riscattarsi da qualunque assalto incauto e inaspettato costringono a vagare come anime desolate senza poter condividere l’ardore che quasi invisibilmente infuriava nell’anima di Sucky.
Mentre i giorni dalla sua lettura trascorrono e mi scivolano addosso come la bellezza di un sogno, penso agli innumerevoli motivi per cui mi ci sono approcciata: mi incuriosiva il fatto che una storia dalla trama apparentemente bella non avesse suscitato nient’altro che dinieghi e perplessità. Perché all’inizio, l’esser proiettati in un orfanotrofio, dinanzi all’iniziazione di un percorso che avrei condotto insieme alla protagonista mi era parso affascinante adesso mi sembra così << adatto al contesto >>, e la protagonista che dovevo ancora conoscere e che non potevo interpretare adesso sembrava si coraggiosa, combattiva, forte ma priva di verve. Conoscerla dopo qualche pagina ha asserito come Sucky era quella piccola piuma bianca che si mosse con qualche difficoltà pur di spiccare il volo. Vibrare leggiadra, in un mondo che ti prostra in due. Quasi la stessa autrice ci confessò come dovette sentirsi quando lei era una giovane donna, nobile di nascita ma povera di valori affettivi.
E così andò che la sua lettura, così opaca e silenziosa, non ha luminato i corridoi bui della mia anima, ma sussurrata nel tempo davanti agli occhi del mondo, rispecchia l’idea dell’autrice dell’amore o del desiderio di un mondo in cui l’uomo è impossibilitato a vivere. Questa è una delle tante massime che compongono la produzione letteraria di un’autrice come la Warner, di cui al momento non credo leggerò altro, che osservando l’inutilità di un mondo fatto di cose grandi e piccoli di ricchi signori acutamente consapevoli del loro status sociale, fu protagonista di un destino incerto che la indusse a scoprire la natura delle sue opinioni e azioni in contrasto alle massime impartite, conferendo un ritratto carente della vita che respira in queste pagine. La vita vissuta con troppa calma, con molti aspetti pieni di banalità, arroganza e artificialità. E, a dargli coraggio sul campo di battaglia, a regalargli intelligenza o coscienziosità, a sospingerla verso un lento processo di scoperta verso se stessa e il mondo circostante fu un gentiluomo che da molti considerato stolto.
Chiaro tentativo di difendere il senno e il ritegno per se stessa, rappresentandola in una sottilissima vena ironica, incarnata nella giovane Sucky, per nulla dissimile a quelle ombre che la circondavano, alla luce tremula di una candela, appollaiata sulle sue spalle - fiaccata dalle disuguaglianze sociali e da alcuni dogmi dettati dal cristianesimo, lucido ma piatto, convenzionale e ingenuo. Non quel poema amoroso, armonioso, sentimentale o seducente, piuttosto un moto lento e poco rassicurante dell’anima, involontario e silenzioso, che avrebbe potuto rendermi prigioniera delle stesse << colpe >> della povera Sucky. Zeppo di descrizioni e scevro di dialoghi, nonostante gli sforzi dell’autrice, l’intimità condivisa con il lettore è poverissima: c’è sentimentalismo, ma non sorretto da uno stile lirico e romantico. Tuttavia opera a cui ho riservato un certo fascino in cui ho trovato nozioni e concetti concerni al secolo, scevro di passione, sentimenti di autoaffermazione dell’anima, rabbia o follia, sciatto, impreciso, imperfetto destinato a divenire massima di vita, istinto e carne. Conseguenza dello spirito di consumarsi come una candela. Così triste e amaro, di cui la stessa autrice si fa alata e inavvicinabile. Raccontate non in prima persona ma costruita con eventi che le scombussoleranno la vita con prepotenza e impetuosità.
La compassione è estesa fino a comprendere l’intero campo di battaglia e abbraccia ogni cosa con un altera eccitazione.
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