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Cheerful Weather for the Wedding; and An Integrated Man
These two novels (published in 1932 and 1951) introduced a rare and unusual talent.
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding describes a country wedding in Dorset -- guests eat and drink, a rejected suitor wanders around, the bride fortifies herself with rum and everybody pays tribute to the institution of marriage. As John Russell remarks, it is pure comedy, 'dealt in a particular airy and translucent manner'; and David Garnett concludes that 'this is a very small book but a very perfect one, revealing a rich sense of humour and a very great literary and dramatic skill'.
First published as The Man on the Pier, An Integrated Man is 'an historical novel: one which brings back to life a whole complex of vanished ways, vanished attitudes, vanished amenities and, some would say, vanished scruples' (John Russell). In it Ned falls in love with Aaron's wife and finally resists the temptation to stay with her alone. He knew that 'it couldn't be done' to a friend.
Cheerful Weather for the Wedding describes a country wedding in Dorset -- guests eat and drink, a rejected suitor wanders around, the bride fortifies herself with rum and everybody pays tribute to the institution of marriage. As John Russell remarks, it is pure comedy, 'dealt in a particular airy and translucent manner'; and David Garnett concludes that 'this is a very small book but a very perfect one, revealing a rich sense of humour and a very great literary and dramatic skill'.
First published as The Man on the Pier, An Integrated Man is 'an historical novel: one which brings back to life a whole complex of vanished ways, vanished attitudes, vanished amenities and, some would say, vanished scruples' (John Russell). In it Ned falls in love with Aaron's wife and finally resists the temptation to stay with her alone. He knew that 'it couldn't be done' to a friend.
263 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1932
About the author
Julia Strachey
5 books17 followersJulia Strachey (August, 1901–1979) was an English writer, born in Allahabad, India, where her father, Oliver Strachey, the elder brother of Lytton Strachey, was a civil servant. Her mother, Ruby, was of Swiss-German origin. For most of Julia's life she lived in England, where she worked as a model at Poiret, as a photographer and as a publisher's reader, before she embarked upon a career in novel-writing. She is perhaps best remembered for her work Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, a book originally published by the Hogarth Press and recently reprinted by Persephone Books.
Published works:
- Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (1932), reprinted by Persephone Books in 2009
- 'Fragments of a Diary' (1940)
- 'Pioneer City' (1943)
- The Man on the Pier (1951), reprinted by Penguin in 1978 under the title An Integrated Man
- 'Animalia', published by the New Yorker under the title 'Can't you get me out of here?' (1959)
- 'Complements of the season', short story published in Turnstile One, edited by V. S. Pritchett. Published by Turnstile Press. (1948)
Published works:
- Cheerful Weather for the Wedding (1932), reprinted by Persephone Books in 2009
- 'Fragments of a Diary' (1940)
- 'Pioneer City' (1943)
- The Man on the Pier (1951), reprinted by Penguin in 1978 under the title An Integrated Man
- 'Animalia', published by the New Yorker under the title 'Can't you get me out of here?' (1959)
- 'Complements of the season', short story published in Turnstile One, edited by V. S. Pritchett. Published by Turnstile Press. (1948)
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 27, 2017
This review is for An Integrated Man not Cheerful Weather for the Wedding which I adored.
I liked An Integrated Man and the writing is excellent and the author has such a keen eye for detail and capturing the moment. However, I felt she dragged out the tale and I found myself wanting her "wrap it up" which explains the three star rating. Read Cheerful Weather first!
I liked An Integrated Man and the writing is excellent and the author has such a keen eye for detail and capturing the moment. However, I felt she dragged out the tale and I found myself wanting her "wrap it up" which explains the three star rating. Read Cheerful Weather first!
February 28, 2020
While I was not overly-thrilled with Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, I do believe a part of my dissatisfaction with that novella is my lack of intimate knowledge with the details and (evidently, as I am told by others...) last-minute chaos of a large wedding. I also found it frustrating that neither Dolly nor Joseph (each of whom was supposedly 'in love' with the other) had the gumption to profess their feelings. Therefore, the wedding went "off without a hitch," although the bride was plainly drunk at the time. I foresee a depressing future ahead for her. Although he (In true 'male fashion'?) is already wondering who he will take in the boat with him this next summer... Yikes! I gave this 4/5 stars.
An Integrated Man was an altogether different story. Strachey's great talent for humor and descriptions made this a very enjoyable read, IMHO. Ned is quite the 'depressive hero' of sorts. He and his best friend Aron are planning to open a private school for boys and will administer it together. In the meantime they are spending their summer holiday at a friend's estate in the country where Ned is serving as tutor to Reamur and Gwen's son Co-Co. All is going well until Aron's wife, Marina, and her daughter Violet, arrive to finish out the holiday. Ned becomes infatuated and Marina responds. Plans are made for them to be alone in London for several days...and then...Ned's conscience gets the better of him and he unexpectedly calls it off at the last minute as the visitors to Flitchcombe are heading out to their post-holiday lives. It is then that Ned realizes just how invested Marina was in their the idea of their planned 'tryst'. And although he is heartbroken himself, he realizes he could never betray his best friend in this way. Though he also cannot imagine how he and Marina will ever manage to work together at the school and act 'normal' around Aron... We are left with an open-ended ending, as it were.
I am hopeful that Ned will back off and all three of them will be able to overcome this attraction/interest in each other that exists between these two within this triad. I admit I have a problem with this concept in that I cannot imagine simply not considering any attraction beyond that of friendship at most for your best friend's partner. And as Ned has now confessed his feelings to Reamur, I rather feel the sense of doom to this relationship... I just sense that Ned is never going to overcome his obsession and will eventually give in and have an affair with Marina, to the eventual detriment of all four of them: Aron and Marina and her daughter Violet, as well as Ned. Ugh. I hope not, however. Perhaps 'cooler heads will prevail' in the end. I admit I do not comprehend the inability to realize another person is simply "off limits" and to rationalize yourself out of any sense of attraction other than friendship with another's partner. Especially when that 'another' happens to be your best friend! EGAD! This was definitely 5/5 stars for me.
Overall, these were both very well-written. I would easily read another book written by Strachey.
An Integrated Man was an altogether different story. Strachey's great talent for humor and descriptions made this a very enjoyable read, IMHO. Ned is quite the 'depressive hero' of sorts. He and his best friend Aron are planning to open a private school for boys and will administer it together. In the meantime they are spending their summer holiday at a friend's estate in the country where Ned is serving as tutor to Reamur and Gwen's son Co-Co. All is going well until Aron's wife, Marina, and her daughter Violet, arrive to finish out the holiday. Ned becomes infatuated and Marina responds. Plans are made for them to be alone in London for several days...and then...Ned's conscience gets the better of him and he unexpectedly calls it off at the last minute as the visitors to Flitchcombe are heading out to their post-holiday lives. It is then that Ned realizes just how invested Marina was in their the idea of their planned 'tryst'. And although he is heartbroken himself, he realizes he could never betray his best friend in this way. Though he also cannot imagine how he and Marina will ever manage to work together at the school and act 'normal' around Aron... We are left with an open-ended ending, as it were.
I am hopeful that Ned will back off and all three of them will be able to overcome this attraction/interest in each other that exists between these two within this triad. I admit I have a problem with this concept in that I cannot imagine simply not considering any attraction beyond that of friendship at most for your best friend's partner. And as Ned has now confessed his feelings to Reamur, I rather feel the sense of doom to this relationship... I just sense that Ned is never going to overcome his obsession and will eventually give in and have an affair with Marina, to the eventual detriment of all four of them: Aron and Marina and her daughter Violet, as well as Ned. Ugh. I hope not, however. Perhaps 'cooler heads will prevail' in the end. I admit I do not comprehend the inability to realize another person is simply "off limits" and to rationalize yourself out of any sense of attraction other than friendship with another's partner. Especially when that 'another' happens to be your best friend! EGAD! This was definitely 5/5 stars for me.
Overall, these were both very well-written. I would easily read another book written by Strachey.
May 23, 2023
When I tell you I just didn't care.... It might have been comical and funny back when it was published, but nowadays it just feels chaotic and I can't tell which parts are supposed to be awkward and out of character because it's all so removed from our current societal hierarchy.
Trigger warning: the N-word is used.
Trigger warning: the N-word is used.
July 23, 2023
Cheerful weather is a small but perfectly formed English country house story. Family and friends gather in a tight space on the morning before a wedding. It's a funny, sad, cutting sketch of a family in all its early 20th century nonsense. Think Downton Abbey without the sentimentality.
February 29, 2024
Oh how I wish Julia Strachey had more work published! What a delight. The attention to detail and the descriptions of houses, landscapes and people are wonderful in their detail and observation.
April 25, 2013
The first one, incredibly delightful. It’s a very short novel, collecting only the day Dolly gets married: How she gets ready and drinks rum alone in her room whilst the guests start arriving, her mother arranges things, and her ex-lover awaits for her. It’s beautiful and sad, very bittersweet.
I read this when I was sick, and I’m pretty sure many of the nuances of the story-telling got lost on me—I’ll read it again in the future, that’s for sure. Strachey makes a great job of being ironic and even a little bit cynical without being judgemental. She describes the scene, the characters, how they all deal with each other, and specially how Joseph and Dolly deal with their feelings, without telling you what to make of it: that’s your job. And also Joseph’s, when he explodes and delivers his short soliloquy at the end (brilliant, if you ask me—and Luke Treadaway’s delivery at the recent film adaptation is also worth watching).
The novella feels very real, not particularly tragic or happy, just like life—the lovers are not willing to give up anything for love, they are not i na fairy tale—it’s all very matter-of-factly.
The two stories had in common the analysis of the human character, its hypocrisies and clichés, prejudices and general egotism, but always from a distance.
An Integrated Man is about a middle-aged unmarried man, very happy with his life and his persona in general. He spends time with his best friend and his wife, and his business partner, and they discuss art, politics, philosophy. But it’s really amusing to see how they all, this group of intellectual and articulate people, don’t really care a lot about what they talk about: the important thing is to have an opinion and discuss it intelligently. It all changes when the new wife of his business partner—incidentally named Marina, which is a name I’m not very used to find in Literature in English—arrives. She’s younger, and prettier, and much more passionate than any of them. Also a little bit naive and silly sometimes, but the main character falls in love with her nonetheless.
The story shifts then to the sufferings and delusions of Ned, who loves (or, more specifically lusts after) his friend’s wife. Is it she, and her apparent indifference, what prevent anything from happening? What if she acted differently? Is he strong enough to think about the consequences of his acts, and act upon them?
I read this when I was sick, and I’m pretty sure many of the nuances of the story-telling got lost on me—I’ll read it again in the future, that’s for sure. Strachey makes a great job of being ironic and even a little bit cynical without being judgemental. She describes the scene, the characters, how they all deal with each other, and specially how Joseph and Dolly deal with their feelings, without telling you what to make of it: that’s your job. And also Joseph’s, when he explodes and delivers his short soliloquy at the end (brilliant, if you ask me—and Luke Treadaway’s delivery at the recent film adaptation is also worth watching).
The novella feels very real, not particularly tragic or happy, just like life—the lovers are not willing to give up anything for love, they are not i na fairy tale—it’s all very matter-of-factly.
The two stories had in common the analysis of the human character, its hypocrisies and clichés, prejudices and general egotism, but always from a distance.
An Integrated Man is about a middle-aged unmarried man, very happy with his life and his persona in general. He spends time with his best friend and his wife, and his business partner, and they discuss art, politics, philosophy. But it’s really amusing to see how they all, this group of intellectual and articulate people, don’t really care a lot about what they talk about: the important thing is to have an opinion and discuss it intelligently. It all changes when the new wife of his business partner—incidentally named Marina, which is a name I’m not very used to find in Literature in English—arrives. She’s younger, and prettier, and much more passionate than any of them. Also a little bit naive and silly sometimes, but the main character falls in love with her nonetheless.
The story shifts then to the sufferings and delusions of Ned, who loves (or, more specifically lusts after) his friend’s wife. Is it she, and her apparent indifference, what prevent anything from happening? What if she acted differently? Is he strong enough to think about the consequences of his acts, and act upon them?
May 12, 2015
These two short novels were a revelation to me, having not heard of either them or the author until I saw a trailer for the film version of Cheerful Weather for the Wedding. They both painted a delightfully charming, old-fashioned, and quintessentially English picture of days gone by. I greatly enjoyed the first one, which was an exquisitely crafted work full of understated humour. The whole short work of eight chapters takes place in the course of a few hours on the day of Dolly’s Thatcham’s wedding. A comic presence is provided by a pet tortoise, which no one seems to notice was a gift from a rejected suitor, yet gets in the way and creates tension in much the same way as said suitor does on the day of the wedding.
Although not up to the same standard, An Integrated Man proved to have moments of great beauty as well. A particularly inspiring passage occurs when Ned Moon is sitting on the cliffs above the sea, and Strachey uses the image of the light reflecting over the sea and the rising waves as a metaphor for life, worthy of Virginia Woolf at her finest. The climax and dénouement that follows is utterly devastating, and is a masterpiece of dramatic tension between all the main characters.
Although not up to the same standard, An Integrated Man proved to have moments of great beauty as well. A particularly inspiring passage occurs when Ned Moon is sitting on the cliffs above the sea, and Strachey uses the image of the light reflecting over the sea and the rising waves as a metaphor for life, worthy of Virginia Woolf at her finest. The climax and dénouement that follows is utterly devastating, and is a masterpiece of dramatic tension between all the main characters.
March 28, 2015
This book (An Integrated Man) fits neatly into the shelf which houses my favourite books. Set against a scorching English summer holiday, where daily an inevitable storm threatens, the book shares the atmosphere and tension of L.P. Hartley's The Go-Between. The country house swelters as the heat between Ned and Marina builds and the other characters, unaware, blunder on through the mundane social conventions of dinners, the regatta and a children's birthday party. The children, in both this and the companion novella Cheerful Weather for the Wedding, foreshadow Susan Hill's Hooper and Kingshaw (I'm The King of the Castle) with their apparently innocent, but, to us, embarrassing and thoughtless, interaction among themselves and with adults. Most strikingly, I cannot help but see Ishiguro's Stevens (in The Remains of the Day) as the literary descendant of Ned Moon. Both are, at the end, the man on the pier (the original title of this book) and both struggle with the repression of their passion in the name of dignity and doing the right thing.
November 2, 2016
A witty book with almost satirical sense of humor. It describes a comfortable British middle class life where trivial things matter and any inconvenience will be treated with denial. Even if one realizes its frivolity, it is difficult to get out of it once you are a part of it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews