To Be a Pilgrim

The First Trilogy #2

by Joyce Cary, Brad Leithauser (Introduction)

People lie to themselves and lie to each other, and the lies they tell become their lives. Tom Wilcher, the hero of the second volume of Joyce Cary's First Trilogy, has been at various times a political activist, a closefisted lawyer, a self-sacrificing brother, and a dirty old man. But as he faces death his unfulfilled spiritual yearnings are uppermost in his mind.

Genres: Fiction, Literature, Classics, Literary Fiction, Irish Literature, 20th Century, Religion

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1942

About the author

Cary now undertook his great works examining historical and social change in England during his own lifetime. The First Trilogy (1941–44) finally provided Cary with a reasonable income, and The Horse's Mouth (1944) remains his most popular novel. Cary's pamphlet "The Case for African Freedom" (1941), published by Orwell's Searchlight Books series, had attracted some interest, and the film director Thorold Dickinson asked for Cary's help in developing a wartime movie set partly in Africa. In 1943, while writing The Horse's Mouth, Cary travelled to Africa with a film crew to work on Men of Two Worlds.

Cary travelled to India in 1946 on a second film project with Dickinson, but the struggle against the British for national independence made movie-making impossible, and the project was abandoned. The Moonlight (1946), a novel about the difficulties of women, ended a long period of intense creativity for Cary. Gertrude was suffering from cancer and his output slowed for a while.

Gertrude died as A Fearful Joy (1949) was being published. Cary was now at the height of his fame and fortune. He began preparing a series of prefatory notes for the re-publication of all his works in a standard edition published by Michael Joseph.

He visited the United States, collaborated on a stage adaptation of Mister Johnson, and was offered a CBE, which he refused. Meanwhile he continued work on the three novels that make up the Second Trilogy (1952–55). In 1952, Cary had some muscle problems which were originally diagnosed as bursitis, but as more symptoms were noted over the next two years, the diagnosis was changed to that of motor neuron disease, a wasting and gradual paralysis that was terminal.

As his physical powers failed, Cary had to have a pen tied to his hand and his arm supported by a rope in order to write. Finally, he resorted to dictation until unable to speak, and then ceased writing for the first time since 1912. His last work, The Captive and the Free (1959), first volume of a projected trilogy on religion, was unfinished at his death on March 29, 1957.

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He knows he at the end Shall life inherit. Then fancies fly away, He’ll fear not what men say, He’ll labour night and day To be a pilgrim.” John Bunyan
In more than one way Joyce Cary creates his novel To Be a Pilgrim as a bitterly sardonic antithesis of this religious hymn. And all the way through Joyce Cary remains very subtle and deep psychologically.
The narrator and protagonist, Tom Wilcher, is a religious old man living out of time so he is quite out of touch with the modern era… But even hanging by a thread he desperately clings to his own values…

And is not that the clue to my own failure in life? Possessions have been my curse. I ought to have been a wanderer, too, a free soul.

Not having a strong willpower, he always was a cat’s paw to his unscrupulous relatives and he always was used by others and the main thing for him was to keep up the pretence…

Small people never like great people. Small people are people who follow the fashion and live like frogs in a ditch, croaking at each other. When a real man comes near, they are all silent.

Tom Wilcher is a faithful and kind man and he strenuously tries to help all those he truly loves but all in vain…
To Be a Pilgrim is a profound human comedy of lost ideals, ruined expectations and deteriorated hopes…

Each became a parody of his own nature. Julie’s dignity was turned into pompous hypocrisy; Gladys’ frankness became obscene, imbecile; John’s good nature and unselfishness became sloth and boredom.

While young, we boldly walk along the straight avenue of hope but one fine day we take an unexpected turn and all our hopes dissipate like smoke.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

The rating, any status updates, and those bookshelves, indicate my feelings for this book.

[Kuszma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ez egy olyan könyv, ami felkanyarodik az M7-esre, és kettesben döcög le egész a Balatonig. Ami nem önmagában rossz, hanem a táj, illetve az utazók lelkiállapotának függvényében. A zarándok elbeszélője idős korában tér vissza (nem igazán önszántából) az udvarházba, ahol gyermekkorát töltötte, és visszaréved életpályájára. A jelenkori fejezetek és a múlt eseményeinek leírásai hol egymást váltogatják, hol egymásba fonódnak – előbbit leginkább őt felügyelő unokahúgával és unokaöccsével kialakított kapcsolata határozza meg (tehát a generációs konfliktusra épül), utóbbi pedig a szokásos családregény-sémákon túl történelmi analógiát is kínál: ahogy elbeszélőnk beleöregszik a jelenidőbe, teste és elméje pedig egyre romlik, úgy épül le körülötte lassacskán a brit világbirodalom is – hogy aztán az 1930-as évek legvégén, a háború hajnalán elbúcsúzzunk mindkettejüktől.

Fanyar, enyhén archaizáló szöveg ez, amit meghatároz egy mélységes szkepszis a válozásokkal szemben*, valamit a szereplők hithez való viszonya**. Érződik rajta, hogy sokat akar nyújtani az olvasónak: egyfajta szintézist az elmúló idő és az elmúló ember kapcsolatáról. Cary mesterien teremt meg bizonyos figurákat és távolságtartó, mégis élő képet rajzol az angol vidékről – ugyanakkor a könyv gerincét az elbeszélő belső monológjai alkotják. És hát (valljuk meg) ez a szereplő túl sokat moralizál. Ezzel pedig elsősorban az a baj, hogy amíg ezek az eszmefuttatások a maguk idejében talán pontosan megragadták a korszak bizonyos problémáit, most túlsúlyuk miatt valahogy légüres térbe kerül a regény. Másfelől a posztmodern írói trükkök finom alkalmazása (például az idősíkok egybefonása) az epikus elbeszélői technikával vegyítve egykor bizonyára figyelemreméltó aktus volt, most viszont már nem sok újat nyújt az olvasónak. Ettől függetlenül állítom, hogy Cary nagy tehetségű és fontos író. Kicsit talán berozsdásodtak az izületei.

* Ugyanakkor ezt a szkepszist mértékkel szabad az írói véleménnyel azonosítani, annál is inkább, mert A zarándok egy trilógia második része, amiben minden egyes rész más és más aspektusból vizsgálja az öregedés és a világtól való elbúcsúzás folyamatát. Magam az első részt (Magam se hittem) valamikor az őskorban olvastam, ott egy idős, naiv, egykor könnyűvérű hölgyet beszéltetett Cary, így értelemszerűen a végkicsengés is más volt. Mondjuk arra a kötetre már csak (nagyon) nagy vonalakban emlékszem, úgyhogy feledhetetlen könyv… az speciel nem lehetett.
** Nem véletlenül használom a „hit” fogalmat. Nagyon sokáig nem értettem, hogy mi az az enyhén nyugtalanító érzés, ami elfog, ahányszor a szereplők szóba hozzák a vallást e könyv lapjain – aztán rájöttem: talán még sosem hallottam ennyit beszélni irodalmi figurákat a hitről úgy, hogy ilyen kevésszer beszéltek volna közben Istenről. Nem tudom, ennek az okai az anglikán egyház sajátosságára vezethetőek-e vissza, mindenesetre azt hiszem, sokat elmond a szereplők gondolkodásmódjáról.

[Greg]

Discontinued reading at chapter 12, page 31. Surprisingly disappointed in this, To Be a Pilgrim, the second of the trilogy. I read The Horse's Mouth first, a long while ago, a great book, and a favourite. Next I read Herself Surprised, also excellent. To Be a Pilgrim is told in the first person of Tom Wilcher, and Sara Monday/Jimson is barely mentioned and I couldn't find Gulley Jimson mentioned anywhere from searching through the novel.
To Be a Pilgrim got off to a long slow start in Tom recalling his privileged childhood endlessly fighting with his sister Lucy.
Boring.

[Darren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Old man looks back over his life - nothing remotely unusual happens - I usually either DNF or skim-read-2-star such, but this is so unfeasibly well-written/executed that it is a 6-Star example of its type - just so realistic/involving/moving/meaningful. I still can't get past my personal "block" to get excited enough to award 5 stars though ;o)

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Joyce Cary's stuffy old tradition-bound bachelor Tom Wilcher paints some of the richest fullest portraits of family ever produced in literature. Gorgeous prose.

[David]

It’s hard to like Tom Wilcher as much as one likes Sara Monday and Gulley Jimson. They are all unreliable narrators with more than a few sins on their consciences, but one gets the feeling that Monday and Jimson make the world feel better, while Wilcher just turns up the guilt!

[Freder · Rating 5 out of 5]

The work of an extraordinary writer capable of slipping well into his characters' hearts and writing from the inside out. A marvelous book, alternately funny, wise, depressing and uplifting.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was reluctantly sucked into this morbid and disturbed portrayal of a bewildered and ungenerous old man wondering why and how he had lived his life. The very British protagonist is a very disturbed senile old man, sometimes lost in visions of his past, other times paranoid, other times assessing the remaining members of his family from a jaded, jealous, and only occasionally fond point of view. Although age and health contribute to his erratic behavior and general bewilderment, he seems to tell us that he lived his entire life almost the same way: out of control and with very little understanding of himself or those closest to him.
I can only hope the author is not sharing his perspective his own life ... that would be most sad.

[Carolyn Drake · Rating 2 out of 5]

Struggled with the second in this series. After the first book (Herself, Surprised) written from the viewpoint of the force of nature that is Sara Monday, this is more difficult to like. We see the story through the eyes of Tom Wilcher, the stuffy, confused, old man (with a few disturbingly lecherous habits and a hypocritical moralistic standpoint). There is some admirable writing in here, but I found it a bit of a chore - looking forward to reading the final book of the trilogy seen from the viewpoint of the more colourful artist Gulley Jimson.

[Brock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars because of the writing and the sentences that sing and dance in the reader's imagination. A good story, too. And the reflections on being old are shocks of recognition, both for myself and remembering my parents.

[Zac Hale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some deep and pithy insights into human nature, but left a strange taste in my mouth

[Asa Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully beautiful book, its characters painting the picture well, was funny, depressing, uplifting, and curious. Would recommend

[Joe Tarzi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It really drags in the middle. I think this book could have benefited from being a hundred pages shorter. The ideas and the character study are fascinating but it's so obtuse.

[Kerfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the first book of this trilogy last year, and put off the second, parly because I was not fond of Tom Wilcher as seen through Sara's eyes. Even Brad Leithauser, in his introduction to this volume, warns against the possibility of liking Tom. Yet Tom's story drew me in, and I grew not only to like him, but to identify with his warring interior contradictions, his fierce love of and loyalty to his family, house and land, and his inablility to age quietly and gracefully.

In the chaotic years just before England is drawn into war with Nazi Germany, his tradition, his generation, his emotional attachments and guides are dying or gone. He adapts in some ways, but never fits comfortably into the changes in behavior and expectations of his nieces and nephews and the world they are making for themselves. What they see and think and do seems alien to him; he looks to them to be a crazy old man. Each generation attempts to manipulate and outfox the other.

The book proceeds at a leisurely pace that I both appreciated and enjoyed. The present and past intermingle and echo each other, as Tom reconstucts the life he has lived and continues to ponder arguments and problems he has never resolved.

He sees his faults, but he cannot let go of them. He sees death "rise into the sky, more illuminating than the brightest sun, colder than the arctic moon; and all the landscape is suddenly altered." And he is strangely more ready for death than the living seem to be for life.

[Clint Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This place is so doused in memory that only to breathe makes me dream like an opium eater. Like one who has taken a narcotic, I have lived among fantastic loves and purposes."

Tom Wilcher lives in three worlds: his past, his present, and in an unattainable ideal. He lives a life of high-minded grievances and irrational compromise. He’s guarded and manipulative, but also easily overruled. Although he aspires ‘to be a pilgrim’ of the world, his world is centered on the family, their property and their legacy.

As Tom wanders through narrow corridors of his decaying family home, reflecting on their stories, aspirations and failures, he tries to bring his niece, Ann, into their bygone traditions, while shrugging off the destruction his nephew, John, wreaks to the property in John’s effort to pursue farming. This symbolic progress is technologically regressive, which fits Tom’s world view well enough that he stoically allows it. It comically shows the danger of conservative nostalgia, destructively reducing progress to a more primitive time.

As the years wear on we discover Tom’s gradual mental instability. On the increasingly rare occasion he leaves his country home, his thrill-seeking becomes more disturbing.

[Bert Emke · Rating 4 out of 5]

2nd novel in Joyce Cary's trilogy that begins with "Herself Surprised" and ends with "The Horse's Mouth." All three are first-rate, but "To Be a Pilgrim" is my favorite. It's also the only story I've ever read in which the protagonist is a dirty old may who can't help exposing himself, a nasty habit and frowned upon in polite society.

[Geo Forman · Rating 3 out of 5]

the saga continues using a different character as the protagonist for a different point of view and to fill in some of the blanks left by the first book. I like the way the author moves from the current to the past. on to book #3

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Second book in Cary's First Trilogy and my least favorite. I just found the central character an insufferable prig, though I admired Cary's portrayal of him.

[Rupert Rawnsley · Rating 2 out of 5]

For me this is the weakest of the trilogy, but mostly because the main character is so hard to like. It does still have moments of literary genius though and some parts are very touching.

[Chrissie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read this but I ought to reread it since ALL that I remember is I liked it a lot. Why I do not remember.

[Diana Eberhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating book, telling the story of a character from Herself Surprised.

[R.K. Cowles · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 stars

[Banbury · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though the narrator, Tom Wilcher, seems to have control over his own story, it gets away from him, and despite his efforts to show himself as an upright English gentleman, we see him as a devil figure, bringing evil wherever he goes. His evil is not deliberate, but arises out of weakness, and he fails (refuses?) to see his character as it really is. The description of his walk in a thunderstorm could be a description of Hell:

The sulphur-colored clouds that I had seen from the window rushing eastward...through huge rollers of dust and smoke...I was surrounded by an immediate silence so deep that the falling drops sounded as loud and startling as bullets, and their drops fell from no visible cloud; out of the blue sky. But when I looked closely at this sky, it seemed unnaturally dark and thick, the blue of wood smoke.

In case there are not enough hints about Tom's true character, the crass Gladys explicitly calls him "Uncle Lucifer."