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Kindness in a Corner
(from the publisher's website)
Kindness in a Corner was originally published in 1930; after T.F Powys’s best known creation Mr Weston’s Good Wine and just before his final masterpiece Unclay. It is the author's most benign novel, abundantly infused with light comedy and wry, mordant humour, and it contains one breath-taking chapter in particular which many critics and readers consider one of the finest and most astonishing passages in all English literature. Perhaps, rather appropriately, Powys dedicated the novel to his friend and fellow author Sylvia Townsend Warner.
'Kindness in a Corner is among the most purely enjoyable of Powys’s books and is thus a good introduction to its author’s rustic world. On the face of it a quaint and mannered piece of amiable literary whimsy full of touches of light satire, it introduces us to an absent-minded scholarly bachelor clergyman, devoted to his books, to his armchair, and to his dinner, a man who lives in a benevolent tranquility cared for by a tactful housekeeper … but for all its playfulness this is a novel that deals in the profounder human issues.’ - From the Introduction by Glen Cavaliero
‘Theodore Powys is a master of English, and for this, for the exquisite texture of expression, he should be read, if for nothing else. But the reading will disclose much else, and especially a genius so rare it seems not of this earth, a humanness of spirit not frequently to be encountered, and a wit so exotic it will seem at times little other than perverse. And Kindness in a Corner displays all the Powys characteristics in their fullness and at their best.’ – New York Times
Kindness in a Corner was originally published in 1930; after T.F Powys’s best known creation Mr Weston’s Good Wine and just before his final masterpiece Unclay. It is the author's most benign novel, abundantly infused with light comedy and wry, mordant humour, and it contains one breath-taking chapter in particular which many critics and readers consider one of the finest and most astonishing passages in all English literature. Perhaps, rather appropriately, Powys dedicated the novel to his friend and fellow author Sylvia Townsend Warner.
'Kindness in a Corner is among the most purely enjoyable of Powys’s books and is thus a good introduction to its author’s rustic world. On the face of it a quaint and mannered piece of amiable literary whimsy full of touches of light satire, it introduces us to an absent-minded scholarly bachelor clergyman, devoted to his books, to his armchair, and to his dinner, a man who lives in a benevolent tranquility cared for by a tactful housekeeper … but for all its playfulness this is a novel that deals in the profounder human issues.’ - From the Introduction by Glen Cavaliero
‘Theodore Powys is a master of English, and for this, for the exquisite texture of expression, he should be read, if for nothing else. But the reading will disclose much else, and especially a genius so rare it seems not of this earth, a humanness of spirit not frequently to be encountered, and a wit so exotic it will seem at times little other than perverse. And Kindness in a Corner displays all the Powys characteristics in their fullness and at their best.’ – New York Times
254 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1930
20 people want to read
About the author
T.F. Powys
52 books27 followersTheodore Francis Powys, published as T. F. Powys, was born in Shirley, Derbyshire, the son of the Reverend Charles Francis Powys (1843–1923), vicar of Montacute, Somerset, for 32 years, and Mary Cowper Johnson, grand-daughter of Dr John Johnson, cousin and close friend of the poet William Cowper. He was one of eleven talented siblings, including the novelist John Cowper Powys (1872–1963) and the novelist and essayist Llewelyn Powys (1884–1939).
A sensitive child, Powys was not happy in school and left when he was 15 to become an apprentice on a farm in Suffolk. Later he had his own farm in Suffolk, but he was not successful and returned to Dorset in 1901 with plans to be a writer. Then, in 1905, he married Violet Dodd. They had two sons and later adopted a daughter. From 1904 until 1940 Theodore Powys lived in East Chaldon but then moved to Mappowder because of the war.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), Powys was one of several UK writers who campaigned for aid to be sent to the Republican side.
Powys was deeply, if unconventionally, religious; the Bible was a major influence, and he had a special affinity with writers of the 17th and 18th centuries, including John Bunyan, Miguel de Cervantes, Jeremy Taylor, Jonathan Swift, and Henry Fielding. Among more recent writers, he admired Thomas Hardy, Sigmund Freud, and Friedrich Nietzsche.
He died on 27 November 1953 in Mappowder, Dorset, where he was buried. [from wikipedia, adapted]
A sensitive child, Powys was not happy in school and left when he was 15 to become an apprentice on a farm in Suffolk. Later he had his own farm in Suffolk, but he was not successful and returned to Dorset in 1901 with plans to be a writer. Then, in 1905, he married Violet Dodd. They had two sons and later adopted a daughter. From 1904 until 1940 Theodore Powys lived in East Chaldon but then moved to Mappowder because of the war.
During the Spanish Civil War (1936–39), Powys was one of several UK writers who campaigned for aid to be sent to the Republican side.
Powys was deeply, if unconventionally, religious; the Bible was a major influence, and he had a special affinity with writers of the 17th and 18th centuries, including John Bunyan, Miguel de Cervantes, Jeremy Taylor, Jonathan Swift, and Henry Fielding. Among more recent writers, he admired Thomas Hardy, Sigmund Freud, and Friedrich Nietzsche.
He died on 27 November 1953 in Mappowder, Dorset, where he was buried. [from wikipedia, adapted]
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 5, 2023
The most straightforwardly enjoyable and light of the Powys novels I have read. It is full of beautiful little passages, comic characters, and poignant moments. The Rev Dottery is a very lovable character, comparable but in some ways more complete than Luke Bird in Mr Weston, or Mr. Hayhoe in Unclay. But there is also sweet Lottie and the benevolent sexton Truggin, both joys to spend time with. The cast of characters this time round seems smaller and more manageable, and in a sense this is a plus because they are more complete characters than appear in some of Powys's other novels. The very Powysian themes of God, kindness in life's many corners, and the sweetness of the grave are all here. And the baddies get theirs, though not very harshly. Overall a very pleasant read, though I can understand why it is overshadowed by those darker and more famous novels I have already mentioned, and the delightful Fables. Still worth the read, though you will have to find it used.
Displaying 1 of 1 review