Албатросът

by Susan Hill, Сузан Хил, Иванка Томова (Translator)

The origin

Genres: Fiction

264 pages, Paperback

First published October 25, 1973

About the author

Susan Hill was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in 1942. Her hometown was later referred to in her novel A Change for the Better (1969) and some short stories especially "Cockles and Mussels".

She attended Scarborough Convent School, where she became interested in theatre and literature. Her family left Scarborough in 1958 and moved to Coventry where her father worked in car and aircraft factories. Hill states that she attended a girls’ grammar school, Barr's Hill. Her fellow pupils included Jennifer Page, the first Chief Executive of the Millennium Dome. At Barrs Hill she took A levels in English, French, History and Latin, proceeding to an English degree at King's College London. By this time she had already written her first novel, The Enclosure which was published by Hutchinson in her first year at university. The novel was criticised by The Daily Mail for its sexual content, with the suggestion that writing in this style was unsuitable for a "schoolgirl".

Her next novel Gentleman and Ladies was published in 1968. This was followed in quick succession by A Change for the Better, I'm the King of the Castle, The Albatross and other stories, Strange Meeting, The Bird of Night, A Bit of Singing and Dancing and In the Springtime of Year, all written and published between 1968 and 1974.

In 1975 she married Shakespeare scholar Stanley Wells and they moved to Stratford upon Avon. Their first daughter, Jessica, was born in 1977 and their second daughter, Clemency, was born in 1985. Hill has recently founded her own publishing company, Long Barn Books, which has published one work of fiction per year.

Librarian's Note: There is more than one author by this name.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
A brief novella and four short stories from Susan Hill in her pre Woman in Black days. They all have an edge to them and are quite chilling and a little Gothic. They certainly are not cheerful. They are all, in one way or another about loneliness and isolation.
Two of the stories, The Elephant Man and Friends of Miss Reece concern children, both about small boys. The Elephant Man concerns a small boy’s attempts to please his distant nanny, who was a Dublin Protestant who believed in the integrity of Unionism and the fact that all the worlds ills could be laid at the feet of men. Friends of Miss Reece concerns another small boy who often stays with his aunt who runs a nursing home. Miss Reece is a resident who the boy feels particularly attached to. He watches the ministrations of a particularly cruel nurse and observes the life and death of the residents as seen through the eyes of a child.
Cockles and Mussels is set in an English seaside town with a rather genteel north bay and a somewhat racier south bay. It is clearly Scarborough, Hill’s home town. Avis Parson, a lonely spinster, lives in a genteel and fading guest house. She dreams of a trip out to the south bay to see more life. The guest house cook, Mrs O’Rourke, meanwhile goes out on the town most nights. The moral of this tale; beware of dodgy seafood!!
Somerville concerns a man living alone in retirement in a rather splendid house in the country. He first sees the house as a small boy through its gates and decides he will one day buy it. After a successful career and planning retirement he sees the house is for sale and buys it; returning to it for the first time since childhood the day he moves in. He lives entirely alone. When a letter arrives (not a bill) he does not open it, remembering a previous letter many years ago which told him of the death of a friend. Into his life comes a young woman who is pregnant and has a grandmother who is dying in a local hospital. Somerville begins to realise how selfish and “wicked” it is to enjoy being alone as much as he does. What does he have to do to expiate for his selfishness.
The novella, The Albatross is also set in a seaside town; this time it is clearly Aldeburgh. This being the case you cannot avoid Benjamin Britten and the whole thing is clearly loosely based on Peter Grimes. Duncan is 18 and lives with his mother. He knows nothing about his past or his father because his mother refuses to tell him. Duncan has a learning disability. His mother tells him he is useless and orders him around all the time. He has clearly been bullied at school and most of his contemporaries treat him with contempt or as a bit of a joke. He has a job at the big house, working in the gardens, where his boss does treat him with some respect. As does Ted Flint, a local fisherman, who tries to persuade Duncan to go out in the boats. A stormy night, a lifeboat disaster and an act of kindness leaves Duncan feeling he can now act for himself; what does he choose to do.
Five interesting stories, a little slight, but looking at human isolation. They are very English and as you would expect form Hill, atmospheric. The novella was too formulaic for me, too predictable a rope to attach to the main character. However they read easily and it was fun spotting locations

[Ligeja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Osobiście bardzo polecam tę pozycję osobom dość wrażliwym na historie ludzi, którzy nie mogli z jakichś powodów odnaleźć się w rzeczywistości.
Książka koncentruje się na historiach osób zupełnie ze sobą niepowiązanych, a których jednak łączy jedna rzecz: nieprzystosowanie się do życia w społeczeństwie. Mowa tu o dzieciach, ludziach niepełnosprawnych intelektualnie oraz o osobach starszych.
Ujęte jest to w sposób delikatny, a dla mnie nawet w magiczny. Świetnie było móc zanurzyć się w ich umysły i zobaczyć, co oni dostrzegają w świecie prócz kariery, usilnego szukania miłości czy władzy, choć bynajmniej nie jest to opisane z psychologicznego punktu widzenia.

Książkę na spokojnie można machnąć w wieczór albo dwa, zależy jak kto się wciągnie.
Ale myślę, że warto, mimo iż nie ma w niej dynamicznej akcji.
Ja wyniosłam z niej lekcję o tym, że czasem trzeba próbować zrozumieć ludzi i co nimi kieruje, zamiast od razu skreślać ich i ignorować tylko ze względu na fakt, że w jakimś stopniu nam nie dorównują. Niekiedy próba zrozumienia takich ludzi może okazać się fascynującym doświadczeniem. (wiem, to brzmi trochę strasznie, ale inaczej nie umiem tego sformułować.)

[Lizzie Johnson · Rating 2 out of 5]

The word albatross is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse.
t is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).[1] In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship — being followed by an albatross was generally considered a sign of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, which is regarded as an act that will curse the ship

so the albatross is a metaphor for his psychological struggle caused by his unusual upbringing, but he could also be the albatross, following ships and seeking escape. which is why ted flint tries to help him and no one dares do anything even though they want to and dont like him. OR it is bad luck because anyone who kills an albatross is hated so thats why flint dies ? - sort this whole point out'


a metaphor for a burden to be carried as penance. - what is he being punished for

[VeganMedusa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories, quite creepy.

[Lucy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me. Well written, yes, and very effective, but thoroughly unpleasant. My first and last of her work.