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Mary Olivier: A Life
Originally published alongside Ulysses in the pages of the legendary Little Review, Mary Olivier: A Life is an intimate, lacerating account of the ties between daughter and mother, a book of transfixing images and troubling moral intelligence that confronts the exigencies and ambiguities of freedom and responsibility with empathy and power. May Sinclair's finest novel stands comparison with the work of Willa Cather, Katherine Mansfield, and the young Virginia Woolf.
As a child, Mary Olivier's dreamy disposition and fierce intelligence set her apart from her Victorian family, especially her mother, "Little Mamma," whose dazzling looks cannot hide her meager love for her only daughter. Mary grows up in a world of her own, a solitude that leaves her free to explore her deepest passions, for literature and philosophy, for the austere beauties of England's north country, even as she continues to attend to her family. But in time the independence Mary values—at almost any cost—threatens to become a form of captivity itself.
As a child, Mary Olivier's dreamy disposition and fierce intelligence set her apart from her Victorian family, especially her mother, "Little Mamma," whose dazzling looks cannot hide her meager love for her only daughter. Mary grows up in a world of her own, a solitude that leaves her free to explore her deepest passions, for literature and philosophy, for the austere beauties of England's north country, even as she continues to attend to her family. But in time the independence Mary values—at almost any cost—threatens to become a form of captivity itself.
464 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1919
22 people are currently reading
799 people want to read
About the author
May Sinclair
227 books60 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair, a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. May Sinclair was also a significant critic, in the area of modernist poetry and prose and she is attributed with first using the term stream of consciousness) in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of Dorothy Richardson's novel sequence Pilgrimage (1915–67), in The Egoist, April 1918.
May Sinclair was the pseudonym of Mary Amelia St. Clair, a popular British writer who wrote about two dozen novels, short stories and poetry. She was an active suffragist, and member of the Woman Writers' Suffrage League. May Sinclair was also a significant critic, in the area of modernist poetry and prose and she is attributed with first using the term stream of consciousness) in a literary context, when reviewing the first volumes of Dorothy Richardson's novel sequence Pilgrimage (1915–67), in The Egoist, April 1918.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
March 3, 2024
I enjoyed the other novels I read by May Sinclair, The Three Sisters and The Life and Death of Harriett Frean, but Mary Olivier I unequivocally loved. For me, at least so far, it’s Sinclair’s masterwork, a Victorian novel whose prose is nothing like one.
It’s told from “inside” Mary, who’s been born into a family of brothers at a time when a girl would not have been treasured as the individual she is, but as a working cog in a familial wheel. Perhaps other girls could fit into this system, or at least fall into its rhythm, but Mary cannot, and it’s her adored mother’s job to make sure she conforms. Family dynamics are chillingly illustrated in a dinner scene in which Mary’s father carves the chicken as Mary’s nonconforming aunt is put in her place. With that, and the scene of Mary’s brother being kept away from a young woman at a party in a coordinated “dance,” I was reminded of Wharton’s The Age of Innocence.
Mary has the soul of a poet and, from a young age, the inarticulate way she sees the world is described in beautifully articulated prose. As Mary gets older, she yearns for another soul to commune with, and the loneliness she feels within the household of her beloved family is palpable. If only you didn’t keep on wanting somebody—somebody who wasn’t there. If, before it killed you, you could kill the desire to know another mind, a luminous, fiery crystal, to see it turn, shining and flashing. To talk to it, to listen to it, to love the human creature it belonged to.
After many disappointments and the discovery of the mate to her soul, she wonders if it’s better to preserve it in memory: His being there was one of the things that only happened once. Perhaps those were the perfect things, the things that would never pass away; they would stay for ever, beautiful as you had seen them, fixed in their moment of perfection, wearing the very air and light of it for ever. Perhaps this preservation is the task of an artist, and the source of Mary’s conflict— lover/partner versus artist/poet. But the duty of a daughter toward a difficult mother is also in play.
Whether you find the ending happy or sad might depend on your own temperament or philosophy of life. If you’re like me, you’ll likely find it both. In either case, the novel is deep, profound, and beautiful, the kind of book I treasure.
It’s told from “inside” Mary, who’s been born into a family of brothers at a time when a girl would not have been treasured as the individual she is, but as a working cog in a familial wheel. Perhaps other girls could fit into this system, or at least fall into its rhythm, but Mary cannot, and it’s her adored mother’s job to make sure she conforms. Family dynamics are chillingly illustrated in a dinner scene in which Mary’s father carves the chicken as Mary’s nonconforming aunt is put in her place. With that, and the scene of Mary’s brother being kept away from a young woman at a party in a coordinated “dance,” I was reminded of Wharton’s The Age of Innocence.
Mary has the soul of a poet and, from a young age, the inarticulate way she sees the world is described in beautifully articulated prose. As Mary gets older, she yearns for another soul to commune with, and the loneliness she feels within the household of her beloved family is palpable. If only you didn’t keep on wanting somebody—somebody who wasn’t there. If, before it killed you, you could kill the desire to know another mind, a luminous, fiery crystal, to see it turn, shining and flashing. To talk to it, to listen to it, to love the human creature it belonged to.
After many disappointments and the discovery of the mate to her soul, she wonders if it’s better to preserve it in memory: His being there was one of the things that only happened once. Perhaps those were the perfect things, the things that would never pass away; they would stay for ever, beautiful as you had seen them, fixed in their moment of perfection, wearing the very air and light of it for ever. Perhaps this preservation is the task of an artist, and the source of Mary’s conflict— lover/partner versus artist/poet. But the duty of a daughter toward a difficult mother is also in play.
Whether you find the ending happy or sad might depend on your own temperament or philosophy of life. If you’re like me, you’ll likely find it both. In either case, the novel is deep, profound, and beautiful, the kind of book I treasure.
October 20, 2022
This is the third book of May Sinclair’s oeuvre that I liked a lot, so I ordered a whole bunch of her books yesterday. They’re all out-of-print which is sad, since I think (and so do others) that she writes very well. I’ve read ‘Three Sisters’ (4.5 stars) and ‘Life and Death of Harriet Frean’ (4 stars). I liked this book quite a bit. It was a bit on the long side (380 pp) and as Jean Radford in the introduction points out, she at times can get a bit repetitious.... but still, this was a very fine Goodread. 🙂 🙃
This book appears to be semi-autobiographical. From the back cover of my edition:
• This important, too-long neglected novel is about the plight of a gifted young women growing up in a Victorian household. Born in 1865, Mary Olivier is the youngest of four children. Although her three brothers are given all the advantages of education, she must struggle to educate herself. But her even greater struggle is with her mother ... a woman who controls the family through weakness and dependence.
• This is one of the finest novels ever written depicting the mother-daughter relationship and the eternal conflict engendered by that deepest of ties. But it is a celebration, too, for although Mary Olivier sacrifices her life — and her lover — to the demands of duty, she finds in the discovery of her intellectual and feminine self a perfect inner freedom.
We follow the life of Mary Olivier in which the third- and occasionally second-person narration is used, from soon after her birth to when she is a young girl, to adolescence, to young adulthood to when she is in her mid-40s.
One of the things I liked about the book was that
Notes:
• May Sinclair was friends with such literary luminaries as H.G. Wells, John Galsworthy, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and D.H Lawrence, and wrote knowledgably on Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud (their influence is reflected in this book.
• She attended Mark Twain’s 70th birthday party and he thanked her afterward for a “remarkably interesting silence” (from review by Ursula DeYoung...see above review by her).
• Jean Radford, in the introduction to this novel, points out that Sinclair used a ‘stream of consciousness’ style in parts of the novel.
• My edition of this book was from Virago Modern Classics (1980). It was also re-issued by the New York Review of Books in 2002.
Reviews:
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
• http://agirlwalksintoabookstore.blogs...
• very interesting...a review and in addition a short biography of May Sinclair...https://ursuladeyoung.com/neglected-a...
This book appears to be semi-autobiographical. From the back cover of my edition:
• This important, too-long neglected novel is about the plight of a gifted young women growing up in a Victorian household. Born in 1865, Mary Olivier is the youngest of four children. Although her three brothers are given all the advantages of education, she must struggle to educate herself. But her even greater struggle is with her mother ... a woman who controls the family through weakness and dependence.
• This is one of the finest novels ever written depicting the mother-daughter relationship and the eternal conflict engendered by that deepest of ties. But it is a celebration, too, for although Mary Olivier sacrifices her life — and her lover — to the demands of duty, she finds in the discovery of her intellectual and feminine self a perfect inner freedom.
We follow the life of Mary Olivier in which the third- and occasionally second-person narration is used, from soon after her birth to when she is a young girl, to adolescence, to young adulthood to when she is in her mid-40s.
One of the things I liked about the book was that
Notes:
• May Sinclair was friends with such literary luminaries as H.G. Wells, John Galsworthy, Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and D.H Lawrence, and wrote knowledgably on Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud (their influence is reflected in this book.
• She attended Mark Twain’s 70th birthday party and he thanked her afterward for a “remarkably interesting silence” (from review by Ursula DeYoung...see above review by her).
• Jean Radford, in the introduction to this novel, points out that Sinclair used a ‘stream of consciousness’ style in parts of the novel.
• My edition of this book was from Virago Modern Classics (1980). It was also re-issued by the New York Review of Books in 2002.
Reviews:
• https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
• http://agirlwalksintoabookstore.blogs...
• very interesting...a review and in addition a short biography of May Sinclair...https://ursuladeyoung.com/neglected-a...
August 7, 2024
I had been saving this one for years, as I knew I would love it, and I did. Fans of Dorothy Richardson, Woolf etc should dive right in
October 30, 2014
I was sure I would hate this book with a vengeance. For the first 50 pages or so I did, but slowly, slowly, I became entranced by May Sinclair's bold, brave and modern writing. Sure, very little actually happens in this novel by way of plot or action, but the author's skilful use of language is just a joy to read. Never have I underlined so many sections in a book of quotable lines; never have I encountered so many ideas packed into such a slim storyline. I can imagine this novel isn't for everyone, at its heart it is a terribly sad story of loneliness in a godless universe; but it is at times so exhilarating in its acceptance of the beauty of living in the now and how even the most fleeting moments persist for an eternity. A complete and utter surprise, this is an absolute joy.
January 12, 2014
A lovely autobiographical novel by an apparently neglected modernist writer. I am no expert on modernism, but his reminded me in parts of Virginia Woolf, particularly in three ways: the impressionistic early scenes in which Sinclair describes memories of being very young; the swift passing of time combined with descriptions of domestic life; and the struggles of an intelligent, talented woman trapped by the conventional thinking of her family and provincial neighbors. This is described as a story of a mother-daughter relationship, and it certainly is that, but I was surprised by how much it was also about Mary’s intellectual development and her rejection of Christianity—a very bold opinion to hold in the late Victorian era. The story is tragic in its depiction of how someone can be held down by the small-mindedness of those who are afraid of independent thinking, but Mary’s eventual triumphs are not to be dismissed, even if they come late in life. Because it is rather slow-moving, I would not recommend this book to everyone, but I thought it was beautiful.
January 7, 2011
Absolutely fantastic...could not put it down
January 30, 2018
Breathtaking beauty inhabits every tiny little moment of this book, the story of a young genius learning, struggling, but building confidence and capacity layer by layer until she launches herself, confident, into her public. “There isn't any risk. This time it was clear, clear as the black pattern the sycamore makes on the sky. If it never came again I should remember.” What a fantastically inspirational text, in a way the high modernists, Woolf, and Joyce, and Pound and all the others, could never be. May Sinclair deserves to be taught in our schools in preparation to read these — or instead of!
Where the early generation of novel was always about marriage, from Clarissa and Tom Jones to Jane Austen, and the Edwardian novel is obsessed with adultery, Mary’s life story is of the spinster who comes to care for her mother, the philosopher artist and her progress of reading and consciousness, and how these two sides of her life play against each other to offer self actualization.
Romance occurs, but men are to Mary only as the tree in the grey sky, the offer and the illusion, selves of God on display in innumerable forms. Olivier’s monism is evidently informed by Spinoza and Hegel, but also Beethoven, and the deaths of her brothers, and the painful, impassable gap of understanding between the proto-modern Mary and her put-upon Catholic mother. This book sparkles with insights at the psychology of the fragmented self repaired, stitched out of queer romantic shards of nineteenth century thought, to be sure, but with a collage effect of color and sound and knowledge and feeling that honestly brings me to tears just to write of it.
This is the most moving novel I’ve read since Middlemarch, and if it cannot approach that earlier work on its range of psychological insight, it more than makes up with depth of self-absorption, and of facing the structures and systems that warp, obstruct, but ultimately also constitute, the self.
Where the early generation of novel was always about marriage, from Clarissa and Tom Jones to Jane Austen, and the Edwardian novel is obsessed with adultery, Mary’s life story is of the spinster who comes to care for her mother, the philosopher artist and her progress of reading and consciousness, and how these two sides of her life play against each other to offer self actualization.
She saw that the beauty of the tree was its real life, and that its real life was in her real self and that her real self was God. The leaves and the light had nothing to do with it; she had seen it before when the tree was a stem and bare branches on a grey sky; and that beauty too was the real life of the tree.
Romance occurs, but men are to Mary only as the tree in the grey sky, the offer and the illusion, selves of God on display in innumerable forms. Olivier’s monism is evidently informed by Spinoza and Hegel, but also Beethoven, and the deaths of her brothers, and the painful, impassable gap of understanding between the proto-modern Mary and her put-upon Catholic mother. This book sparkles with insights at the psychology of the fragmented self repaired, stitched out of queer romantic shards of nineteenth century thought, to be sure, but with a collage effect of color and sound and knowledge and feeling that honestly brings me to tears just to write of it.
This is the most moving novel I’ve read since Middlemarch, and if it cannot approach that earlier work on its range of psychological insight, it more than makes up with depth of self-absorption, and of facing the structures and systems that warp, obstruct, but ultimately also constitute, the self.
April 2, 2018
May Sinclair wrote widely, both fiction and non-fiction – though the majority of her work is out of print now. The Life and Death of Harriet Frean is possibly her best-known work, and along with this novel the easiest to find. Though I believe some print on demand versions of some of May Sinclair’s other books are also available. She was a modernist writer, who – it is said – was the first to use the term stream of consciousness in a review she wrote about Dorothy Richardson.
“If you looked back on any perfect happiness you saw that it had not come from the people or the things you thought it had come from, but from somewhere inside yourself.”
Mary Olivier: a life is a novel – though one can’t help but take the name May Sinclair and put it in the place of Mary Olivier. The novel is enormously autobiographical and tells the deeply personal story of a woman’s life from the time of infancy to middle-age.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
“If you looked back on any perfect happiness you saw that it had not come from the people or the things you thought it had come from, but from somewhere inside yourself.”
Mary Olivier: a life is a novel – though one can’t help but take the name May Sinclair and put it in the place of Mary Olivier. The novel is enormously autobiographical and tells the deeply personal story of a woman’s life from the time of infancy to middle-age.
Full review: https://heavenali.wordpress.com/2018/...
March 25, 2024
Absolutely brilliant novel from 1919. As my friend Becky would say, it does what it says on the tin - it's a life of Mary Olivier. Sinclair takes a modernist, expressionistic approach to Mary's experiences from childhood to middle age - her upbringing by a bullying father and a distant mother in a house full of older brothers. Mary's interest in philosophy and religious nonconformity is supported by precisely no one, as everyone tries to fit in her into a preconceived role. We see things entirely from Mary's point of view, so we have to fill in a lot of blanks, especially in the early sections, but such is Sinclair's confidence in both herself and in us the reader that I never felt lost. A stunning achievement.
But the reason it only gets four stars instead of five is due to the totally gratuitous inclusion of an antisemitic caricature just six pages from the end of the novel. Mary finds herself seated at dinner next to a "Jew financier," and though he only appears in two paragraphs and has zero impact on the story, he is graphically described in subhuman terms. No idea why Sinclair felt it was necessary to include this (except for the obvious reason), but it took me right out of the book and I couldn't enjoy the last 5 pages.
But the reason it only gets four stars instead of five is due to the totally gratuitous inclusion of an antisemitic caricature just six pages from the end of the novel. Mary finds herself seated at dinner next to a "Jew financier," and though he only appears in two paragraphs and has zero impact on the story, he is graphically described in subhuman terms. No idea why Sinclair felt it was necessary to include this (except for the obvious reason), but it took me right out of the book and I couldn't enjoy the last 5 pages.
December 3, 2018
This is a good book but so sad. It's all about Mary and her mother and what makes it so sad is that her mother doesn't love her. She tries, at times, but is ultimately unsuccessful. I remember the part that made me the saddest is when Mary is still pretty young and she is begging for her mother to tell her that she loves her and her mother won't say it... which is one of the saddest things I have ever read. Because of this struggle between mother and daughter, the book is very powerful and totally worth a read.
October 21, 2016
Like Mary Olivier herself, this book is caught between the worlds of Victorian Realism with its sense of duty, tradition and clearly defined gender roles, and Modernism, with its experimental prose, strong images and focus on interiority. The overall feeling is one of ambiguity. Mary Olivier is filled with ellipses, missing information, and subjectivity, all of which make it more and more intriguing.
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July 8, 2024I'm glad i took a break and came back. somehow it changed how i feel about the book and made me appreciate it more.
August 16, 2020
I loved this book for numerous of it’s facets. The beginning is so charming as it presents Victorian household life from the youngest child and only daughter’s perspective. Young Mary Olivier is particularly puzzled trying to figure out the lessons of her Anglican upbringing. This theme of the book grows into her explorations of Philosophy in her earlier teen years. She finds Pantheism brings her more happiness as an explanatory system then the holy Trinity. Other themes of interest are Mary’s growing up female in this Victorian house where her brothers can explore academic learning but it is discouraged for her. Mary has a complicated love/resentment relationship with her mother that the book portrays in-depth. The book held my interest as Mary struggles to find her identity and the freedom to express it.
March 23, 2021
‘Mary Olivier’ is a wonderful novel; Sinclair’s descriptions of her heroine’s childhood are unmatched: never have I read such authentic detail which had my mind tripping back to my earliest memories and sensations.
Moving into womanhood we meet a strong, intelligent and self-willed individual who sacrifices romantic love to carry on being a dutiful daughter to her emotionally neglectful mother. In doing so Mary discovers true beauty and freedom. Sad but uplifting – a joy to read.
Moving into womanhood we meet a strong, intelligent and self-willed individual who sacrifices romantic love to carry on being a dutiful daughter to her emotionally neglectful mother. In doing so Mary discovers true beauty and freedom. Sad but uplifting – a joy to read.
March 21, 2016
Mary Olivier is a semi-autobiographical novel of the life of author May Sinclair. Well written- in a sort of stream-of-consciousness style, we follow Mary from birth to about age 40. Things do not turn out as expected for Mary- a husband does not appear, her fortune is not made. This book bogs down in the middle- a little more about Mary than we need to know.
May 16, 2014
So compelling - so sad- lacerating. Amazing writing. I just finished it and now must sit silently with my pain for Mary.
September 25, 2022
Really interesting ideas about heredity, both biological/genetic (the congenital heart disease that causes the deaths of Mark and Roddy and from which Mary herself suffers) and the more behavioural generational cycles that cause Dan to become an alcoholic like his father as well as Mary and Roddy who were made to feel unloved by their mother and to only ever experience conditional love, struggle to truly believe that they are worthy of love in adulthood. Mary doesn't realise that Mr Sutcliffe has been in love with her for a decade, just as Roddy doesn't believe that Mary could truly love him. Their self esteems are corroded by their mother's efforts to crush their real selves. Freud had used the term 'repetition compulsion' in 1914 and this novel certainly grapples with ancestral patterns of behaviour and escaping the 'net' of repetition. Freud's notion of the Oedipus complex, introduced in 1897, also appears to have had some bearing on the text. Mark's relationship with Caroline and their toxic co-dependency has incestuous undertones and his the jealousy between him and his father over 'Mamma' strengthens this. Mary's narration also constantly examines her own motivations both through free indirect discourse in the 3rd person and partly using elements of 2nd and 1st person perspective. She is interested in the psychology, the 'why' of the universe and of her own and others' actions. Dreams and their interpretations also pervade the text possibly due to Freud's notion that dreams could hint at subconscious desires, fears and anxieties. There is constant mention of philosophical and theological ideas and Biblical imagery pervades the text (Mary, Mark and Daniel's Biblical names, the comparison of Papa to God and Mark to Jesus, ideas of spiritual fulfilment); Mary has a childlike curiosity and hunger for knowledge which she sustains into adulthood and which frightens her mother and repulses the misogynistic Maurice Jourdain. She wants a masculine classic education. She wants to write and publish poetry more than she wants to marry Richard. She is unashamedly contrarian and subversive, refusing to be confirmed and questioning religious dogma. Her affair with Richard Nicholson is scandalous and yet she is the one who refuses to marry him and instead chooses to 'live in sin' with him in his London flat. We often see things through Mary's naïve perspective and therefore have to guess at ambiguities, such as why Jimmy was sent away to Australia or why Aunt Charlotte was shut up. Her romantic relationships through a modern lens prove disturbing - Jimmy effectively grooms her, Maurice abuses his power and experience to make her feel inadequate for her unconventional expression of femininity (symbolically she has cut her hair off in rebellion of its difficulty to manage) and intellectual ideas. Mr Sutcliffe is kind to her but married and decades older than her. Only Richard recognises the sexual double standards and that Mary will receive the brunt of society's judgement for their affair. Her mother acts somewhat as the voice of society throughout the text and despite her making Mary feel unworthy, unloved, inferior and ashamed, Mary defies her expectations to the end. Caroline's admission that she was jealous of Mary's intellect and struggled with Mary not fulfilling social expectations and Papa's feelings of guilt after Mark's departure, humanise some of the cruel characters in the text. The novel chronologically follows Mary's life, her rites of passages, moments of transformation such as witnessing Vickers and Nannie having sex and kissing Jimmy but ultimately concludes with the philosophy of living in the moment and not trusting in the past or future.
August 13, 2024
4.5/5
Rapturous sexual psychoanalytical book that was just perfectly done. I found out may sinclair lived in my hometown for several years in her youth, so the book got even more emotional for me at that point, knowing she walked the same hills as I did. The mother/daughter relationship is the most accurate and remarkable and interesting and dynamic way of writing it that I have never really read before in such a way. The way she achieves personal happiness from what is the most tragic boredom of familial duty is so affective. Loved!
Rapturous sexual psychoanalytical book that was just perfectly done. I found out may sinclair lived in my hometown for several years in her youth, so the book got even more emotional for me at that point, knowing she walked the same hills as I did. The mother/daughter relationship is the most accurate and remarkable and interesting and dynamic way of writing it that I have never really read before in such a way. The way she achieves personal happiness from what is the most tragic boredom of familial duty is so affective. Loved!
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May 12, 2023My fav part was when she wanted to find a way to tell her rigid catholic mother about the beauty of Spinoza’s god
June 7, 2022
Mary Olivier: A Life is a fascinating book. It starts slow; I'll admit that. The childhood parts of modernist books are usually the hardest to pull off. At the start of this one, the author must convey the world through the mind of a toddler--a task I don't envy in the slightest.
Semi-autobiographical novels have to be one of the, if not THE, most common type of novel ever written. Therefore, it can be hard to stand out in this field. As an early modernist, May Sinclair stands out. The novel takes place in the Victorian Era, written by a woman who lived in the era and knew it well, but it's no Victorian novel. Sinclair's writing shows what it meant to be a girl in Victorian England, through a completely different lens than we're used to.
The book focuses on Mary's intellectual development and her relationship with her family. Is not saccharine and not Christian. To the contrary, the main character declares herself a pantheist at a young age. Mary's fiercely observant mother is no saint. Her father's alcoholism is on full display. There are no exaggerated Dickensian-type characters. Yes, this is a very different Victorian era.
When Mary reaches adolescence, the novel takes off, and it is hard not to be drawn in by Sinclair's beautiful writing and the slow emergence of Mary as an intelligent young woman. Mary is entranced by the beauty of nature, and Sinclair aids her passion with ample descriptions, showing inspiration from the imagist movement. Mary may not believe in the Christian God, but to her nature is God--making it a spiritual book, in a way.
Mary educates herself by reading the classics, poetry, and philosophy. This may sound dull and old-fashioned to a 21st century reader, but Sinclair makes it clear what an opportunity it was for a girl in the Victorian Era to expand her mind this way. Today we have access to so much information, it's easy to take for granted what was then a gift. Mary is able to escape her dreary domestic life via books. The knowledge becomes part of her and shapes her self-concept and how she sees the world.
The Olivier family life is dysfunctional, but there are no true villains. Mary's father is a bully whose drunkenness makes him an uneven presence in her life; yet even he is more a pitiful figure than an evil one. Mary's relationships with her brothers ebb and flow, particularly her mother's favorite, Mark. Mark is also Mary's favorite brother, but her relationship with her mother causes contention between them. Sinclair does an excellent job developing these relationships and showing how they shape Mary's life. There are sparse gothic stylings, embodied in Mary's Aunt, a literal madwoman in the attic who believes every man she meets wants to marry her.
Mary has several suitors throughout the book, but it is never the focus. They drift in and out of her life, and often she is glad to see the backs of them. They usually do not respect Mary for who she is, finding her intelligence to be a threat, or simply seeking to use her. Sometimes Mary lacks awareness when a man is interested at all. Despite being a literal virgin, Mary fits nowhere in the virgin-whore dichotomy--she has sexual fantasies, but she chooses not to act on them. There is no tragic, unrequited love. She just has other priorities, and the right opportunity never presents itself.
As the book goes on, many tragic events occur, to the point where I started to feel it was a bit much. I read about Sinclair's life, and it turns out the reality was more tragic. I still can't help but feel some of it () could have been left out to lessen the onslaught a little. Sinclair also speeds up as the book goes along, compounding the tragic events and leaning a bit much on some listless lines saying essentially, "Years passed and nothing happened"...
In the end, Mary's relationship with her mother takes center stage. It evolves throughout the book, but is always fraught and delicate, particularly as Mary enters middle age and her mother enters senescence. At this point the relationship changes so Mary is the caretaker and her mother the child. This is not a part of life explored much in autobiographical books, and Sinclair's take is a sensitive one.
This is a remarkable book full of beautiful writing that belongs on any classics shelf along with the greats. It is imperfect but not more than many classics. I suspect that it is forgotten in part because of a lack of interest in women's stories, particularly if they do not revolve around romance. Sinclair was breaking barriers by writing a book like this in 1919, and it still challenges the average reader's conceptions about what "women's fiction" is meant to be. Kudos to May Sinclair.
Semi-autobiographical novels have to be one of the, if not THE, most common type of novel ever written. Therefore, it can be hard to stand out in this field. As an early modernist, May Sinclair stands out. The novel takes place in the Victorian Era, written by a woman who lived in the era and knew it well, but it's no Victorian novel. Sinclair's writing shows what it meant to be a girl in Victorian England, through a completely different lens than we're used to.
The book focuses on Mary's intellectual development and her relationship with her family. Is not saccharine and not Christian. To the contrary, the main character declares herself a pantheist at a young age. Mary's fiercely observant mother is no saint. Her father's alcoholism is on full display. There are no exaggerated Dickensian-type characters. Yes, this is a very different Victorian era.
When Mary reaches adolescence, the novel takes off, and it is hard not to be drawn in by Sinclair's beautiful writing and the slow emergence of Mary as an intelligent young woman. Mary is entranced by the beauty of nature, and Sinclair aids her passion with ample descriptions, showing inspiration from the imagist movement. Mary may not believe in the Christian God, but to her nature is God--making it a spiritual book, in a way.
Mary educates herself by reading the classics, poetry, and philosophy. This may sound dull and old-fashioned to a 21st century reader, but Sinclair makes it clear what an opportunity it was for a girl in the Victorian Era to expand her mind this way. Today we have access to so much information, it's easy to take for granted what was then a gift. Mary is able to escape her dreary domestic life via books. The knowledge becomes part of her and shapes her self-concept and how she sees the world.
The Olivier family life is dysfunctional, but there are no true villains. Mary's father is a bully whose drunkenness makes him an uneven presence in her life; yet even he is more a pitiful figure than an evil one. Mary's relationships with her brothers ebb and flow, particularly her mother's favorite, Mark. Mark is also Mary's favorite brother, but her relationship with her mother causes contention between them. Sinclair does an excellent job developing these relationships and showing how they shape Mary's life. There are sparse gothic stylings, embodied in Mary's Aunt, a literal madwoman in the attic who believes every man she meets wants to marry her.
Mary has several suitors throughout the book, but it is never the focus. They drift in and out of her life, and often she is glad to see the backs of them. They usually do not respect Mary for who she is, finding her intelligence to be a threat, or simply seeking to use her. Sometimes Mary lacks awareness when a man is interested at all. Despite being a literal virgin, Mary fits nowhere in the virgin-whore dichotomy--she has sexual fantasies, but she chooses not to act on them. There is no tragic, unrequited love. She just has other priorities, and the right opportunity never presents itself.
As the book goes on, many tragic events occur, to the point where I started to feel it was a bit much. I read about Sinclair's life, and it turns out the reality was more tragic. I still can't help but feel some of it () could have been left out to lessen the onslaught a little. Sinclair also speeds up as the book goes along, compounding the tragic events and leaning a bit much on some listless lines saying essentially, "Years passed and nothing happened"...
In the end, Mary's relationship with her mother takes center stage. It evolves throughout the book, but is always fraught and delicate, particularly as Mary enters middle age and her mother enters senescence. At this point the relationship changes so Mary is the caretaker and her mother the child. This is not a part of life explored much in autobiographical books, and Sinclair's take is a sensitive one.
This is a remarkable book full of beautiful writing that belongs on any classics shelf along with the greats. It is imperfect but not more than many classics. I suspect that it is forgotten in part because of a lack of interest in women's stories, particularly if they do not revolve around romance. Sinclair was breaking barriers by writing a book like this in 1919, and it still challenges the average reader's conceptions about what "women's fiction" is meant to be. Kudos to May Sinclair.
June 1, 2020
This is very dated, but it’s a good piece of classic feminist fiction. It tells the life story of a woman in Victorian England, a woman who is intelligent & independent but has very few creative or intellectual outlets. The novel begins with her in the cradle and continues through middle age.
Mary Olivier’s mother is very conventional. She’s sweet, cloying, manipulative, with a strong preference for her sons. She’s suspicious of her daughter’s love of books, and aghast at her sacrilegious approach to religion. Mary receives no education at all, but teaches herself German and Greek so that she can read the philosophers who interest her.
Much of the book is dedicated to Mary’s mental and spiritual development. There are a few romantic possibilities, but they don’t end particularly well. One man who loved Mary’s inquiring mind when she was a child isn’t so keen on a grown woman who thinks for herself. At the end, Mary meets a man who is her emotional and intellectual equal, but the relationship is blocked by her mother’s needs.
There’s some beautiful writing in this novel. Some quotes:
< Catty brought in the lamp. When she turned up the wick the rising flame carved Mamma’s face out of the dusk. Her pretty face, delicately dinted, whitened with a powdery down; stained with faint bistres of age. Her little, high-bridged nose stood up from the softness, clear and young, firm as ivory. >
< But the hill world had never the same face for five minutes. Its very form changed as the roads turned. The swing of your stride put in play a vast, mysterious scene-shifting that disturbed the sky. Moving through it you stood still in the heart of an immense being that moved. Standing still you were moved, you were drawn nearer and nearer to its enclosing heart. >
Mary Olivier’s mother is very conventional. She’s sweet, cloying, manipulative, with a strong preference for her sons. She’s suspicious of her daughter’s love of books, and aghast at her sacrilegious approach to religion. Mary receives no education at all, but teaches herself German and Greek so that she can read the philosophers who interest her.
Much of the book is dedicated to Mary’s mental and spiritual development. There are a few romantic possibilities, but they don’t end particularly well. One man who loved Mary’s inquiring mind when she was a child isn’t so keen on a grown woman who thinks for herself. At the end, Mary meets a man who is her emotional and intellectual equal, but the relationship is blocked by her mother’s needs.
There’s some beautiful writing in this novel. Some quotes:
< Catty brought in the lamp. When she turned up the wick the rising flame carved Mamma’s face out of the dusk. Her pretty face, delicately dinted, whitened with a powdery down; stained with faint bistres of age. Her little, high-bridged nose stood up from the softness, clear and young, firm as ivory. >
< But the hill world had never the same face for five minutes. Its very form changed as the roads turned. The swing of your stride put in play a vast, mysterious scene-shifting that disturbed the sky. Moving through it you stood still in the heart of an immense being that moved. Standing still you were moved, you were drawn nearer and nearer to its enclosing heart. >
May 15, 2015
This is a semi-autobiographical novel about growing up Victorian - more to the point, growing up as an intellectual GIRL in a very traditional Victorian household. I loved this more than anything I've read for a while. The book is divided into developmental sections - Infancy, Childhood, Adolescence, Maturity and Middle Age - and she beautifully changes the tone and voice of the narration to age and grow with her narrator. The Infancy section really evoked what it might have been like to be a toddler in 1866-7 for me. As she grows, she understands more about her family - all the unspoken things that they couldn't talk about (her parents' relationship with each other and with her brothers is a biggie) - and she also questions Christianity, religion and faith, and delves into philosophy and other intellectual pursuits. She teaches herself Greek from her brother's books; she learns German so she can read Kant in the original - but she has no one with whom she can talk about all these ideas. Loved it, loved it, loved it. Wow.
March 23, 2016
Even though Mary Oliver affirms that the joy of living comes from inside the self, not from human relationships or any of the externals of individual experience, I found the book terribly sad. Sinclair is a remarkable writer as she describes the Mary's changing perceptions and understanding of her family and the world around her from her early childhood until her late middle age. Sinclair captures the pain of a brilliant, intellectual, late-Victorian woman, who is caught between societal expectations and her inner drive for a life of mind and beauty. Distressing to read, but difficult to put down.
July 24, 2009
Not sure yet
August 22, 2019
Sinclair is a lost light from the Pound Era-- a finely written novel of defiance and courage.
February 18, 2020
Loved this book. It was a surprise read with complex characters and relationships.
December 22, 2023
I first picked up May Sinclair’s work after doing a bit of research into some influential, but forgotten authors. It was then that I saw May Sinclair actually coined the term ‘stream of consciousness’ and her novels were considered ‘modernist’ like Virginia Woolf’s. I’ve tried reading Virginia Woolf before and didn’t really ‘click’ with her, although I do want to give her novels another try. In any case, after reading The Life and Death of Harriet Frean, I could confidently say I liked May Sinclair more than Virginia Woolf. That book was my introduction to her writing and I haven’t read a book like that before which explored the main character’s life from her birth to her death.
Mary Olivier: A Life is in many ways similar to The Life and Death of Harriet Frean. It is longer though, while the latter is a novella. Mary Olivier also only follows the life of its main character from her birth to middle age. I’d also argue that its main character is happier and more fulfilled in life. I think that both should be read together as both are examinations of the lives of the main characters and their relations with the people important to them. When reading them together, I would recommend The Life and Death of Harriet Frean first as it is shorter and a good introduction to this style.
I highly enjoyed the writing style of Mary Olivier: A Life. It starts off simple as the author gets into the mind of an infant, the narrative voice developing as the main character grows, becoming more complex. It charts the growth of Mary from a precocious child to an independent adult. The writing itself reflects the character study of Mary and you get to see how she changes over the years.
Mary’s relationships with others is at the forefront of this novel. You see how she chafes against the society she was raised in and how she stays true to who she is. Mary is honest to a fault and sometimes uncompromising. I see her as a foil to Harriet Frean who tried to adhere to societal norms at the cost of her own happiness. With Mary, even as she is admonished that she is making her mother unhappy due to her independence, her self-will, and unbelief remained steadfast to her beliefs and stubbornly held on. Her own relationships with men were affected by this, and I’m glad that she wasn’t actually worse off for it.
Mary’s relationship with her mother in particular is important. As I was reading, I thought that this book must be what it’s like to be raised by a Victorian ‘boymom’ or a mother who actively resented her daughter and prefers her sons. In some ways, it is like that, but it’s also more complicated. I understood the era in which the novel was written and how expectations for men and women differed. The exploration of Mary and her relationship with her mother is complex, sometimes adversarial, sometimes touching. Her mother’s admission of how jealous she was of Mary is, in my opinion, an acknowledgment of this sort of relationship and that perhaps she wished she could be more like Mary.
All in all, I absolutely loved Mary Olivier: A Life. I recommend reading the Life and Death of Harriet Frean but the novels are not connected in any way, except for the style. It’s a beautiful novel that charts the growth and development of a girl to an intellectual woman, self-willed and independent. Both are in the public domain and can be found on Project Gutenberg.
Mary Olivier: A Life is in many ways similar to The Life and Death of Harriet Frean. It is longer though, while the latter is a novella. Mary Olivier also only follows the life of its main character from her birth to middle age. I’d also argue that its main character is happier and more fulfilled in life. I think that both should be read together as both are examinations of the lives of the main characters and their relations with the people important to them. When reading them together, I would recommend The Life and Death of Harriet Frean first as it is shorter and a good introduction to this style.
I highly enjoyed the writing style of Mary Olivier: A Life. It starts off simple as the author gets into the mind of an infant, the narrative voice developing as the main character grows, becoming more complex. It charts the growth of Mary from a precocious child to an independent adult. The writing itself reflects the character study of Mary and you get to see how she changes over the years.
Mary’s relationships with others is at the forefront of this novel. You see how she chafes against the society she was raised in and how she stays true to who she is. Mary is honest to a fault and sometimes uncompromising. I see her as a foil to Harriet Frean who tried to adhere to societal norms at the cost of her own happiness. With Mary, even as she is admonished that she is making her mother unhappy due to her independence, her self-will, and unbelief remained steadfast to her beliefs and stubbornly held on. Her own relationships with men were affected by this, and I’m glad that she wasn’t actually worse off for it.
Mary’s relationship with her mother in particular is important. As I was reading, I thought that this book must be what it’s like to be raised by a Victorian ‘boymom’ or a mother who actively resented her daughter and prefers her sons. In some ways, it is like that, but it’s also more complicated. I understood the era in which the novel was written and how expectations for men and women differed. The exploration of Mary and her relationship with her mother is complex, sometimes adversarial, sometimes touching. Her mother’s admission of how jealous she was of Mary is, in my opinion, an acknowledgment of this sort of relationship and that perhaps she wished she could be more like Mary.
All in all, I absolutely loved Mary Olivier: A Life. I recommend reading the Life and Death of Harriet Frean but the novels are not connected in any way, except for the style. It’s a beautiful novel that charts the growth and development of a girl to an intellectual woman, self-willed and independent. Both are in the public domain and can be found on Project Gutenberg.
January 3, 2022
Plodding.
August 12, 2022
What a wonderful book, but so sad. The way she enters and records the mind of a small child is miraculous. Poor Mary.
May 25, 2024
A challenging novel (both in its style and subject matter) but extremely profound. I will be processing it for a while yet….
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