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The Means of Escape
'Masterpieces … polished and perfect, and with such mesmerising characters that each story is equal to any novel' Polly Samson, Independent 'Books of the Year'
A young boy in seventeenth-century England loses a precious keepsake, and a group of amateur Victorian painters take a trip to Brittany; a German maestro holes up on a tiny island, and a middle manager sits with his back to the office door, afraid of what is on the other side. In this enigmatic and funny collection from the Booker Prize-winning author of Offshore, the subject matter is wide-ranging, but the language is exacting.
These stories demonstrate Fitzgerald's unsurpassable ability to capture an entire world in only eight pages.
Includes an additional story.
'Of all the novelists in English of the last quarter-century, she has the most unarguable claim on greatness' Philip Hensher, Spectator
'Fitzgerald's coolness and dryness throw into sharp relief the physical and mental pain and passion that power her narratives. Gruesome, comprehensive, brilliant - the essence of Penelope Fitzgerald' Victoria Glendinning, Daily Telegraph
174 pages, Paperback
First published October 16, 2000
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567 people want to read
About the author
Penelope Fitzgerald
45 books788 followersPenelope Mary Fitzgerald was a Booker Prize-winning novelist, poet, essayist and biographer from Lincoln, England. In 2008 The Times listed her among "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945". The Observer in 2012 placed her final novel, The Blue Flower, among "the ten best historical novels". A.S. Byatt called her, "Jane Austen’s nearest heir for precision and invention."
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
February 14, 2022
These ten short stories serve mostly as a reminder of what an enjoyable novelist Penelope Fitzgerald is. Her characters always hold fascination. She likes to travel in both time and place. But her gifts don't quite suit the short story. Rather they seem to cage and hurry her. Mostly these stories seem like half baked or aborted ideas. The wick doesn't burn through the wax. The flame expires before illumination arrives. There was never the sense of an ending. Inspiration seemed in short supply. As if they were written to fill time.
July 18, 2019
3.5 stars
This slim collection of short stories was assembled shortly before Penelope Fitzgerald's death and I'm assuming they were written at various times ("The Axe" is from 1975), yet they all hold true to the theme indicated by the name of the title story. Only the last story struck me as having a positive ending, as escaping is sometimes thwarted or sometimes granted to the 'wrong' person in most of these. The settings range from 19th-century Tasmania, Turkey and the Breton coast to 20th-century England and the Hebrides (... no one ever refused a free trip to Scotland.).
The prose is deceptively simple as little nuances make these short stories big, including the one written as an office memo that takes an unexpected horrifying, psychological turn. If you're not a short-story fan, you might be frustrated with some of the abrupt endings, but it's my belief that what makes a short story great are the possibilities that open up beyond the page, and most of these do that quite effectively.
This slim collection of short stories was assembled shortly before Penelope Fitzgerald's death and I'm assuming they were written at various times ("The Axe" is from 1975), yet they all hold true to the theme indicated by the name of the title story. Only the last story struck me as having a positive ending, as escaping is sometimes thwarted or sometimes granted to the 'wrong' person in most of these. The settings range from 19th-century Tasmania, Turkey and the Breton coast to 20th-century England and the Hebrides (... no one ever refused a free trip to Scotland.).
The prose is deceptively simple as little nuances make these short stories big, including the one written as an office memo that takes an unexpected horrifying, psychological turn. If you're not a short-story fan, you might be frustrated with some of the abrupt endings, but it's my belief that what makes a short story great are the possibilities that open up beyond the page, and most of these do that quite effectively.
September 15, 2020
My last Penelope Fitzgerald! Unless start on her nonfiction. And there's always the Hermoine Lee biography, I guess. Just imagine if she'd begun writing at the age of 30 instead of 60. Unlike the short stories of Alice Munro, which leave you feeling as if there is nothing more to say, a whole life has been captured in a few dozen pages, these made me almost sad when I turned the page and saw that another story was drawing to a close. They seem almost like sketches written when she just returned from a holiday, or was in the mood for a holiday, though I'm certain she could have pulled quite a few of them into novels if she had wanted to. The last story especially, set in Mexico and, along with 'At Hiruharama,' one of my favorites stories in the collection. They vary greatly in setting, Greece, Mexico, New Zealand, and time period, which is exactly what I have come to expect from her. Here's to the odd magnificence that is the oeuvre of Penelope Fitzgerald.
The Means of Escape - 4
The Prescription - 3
Desideratus - 4
Beehernz - 4
The Axe - 4
The Red-Haired Girl - 3
Not Shown - 3
At Hiruharama - 5
The Likeness - 3
Our Lives Are Only Leant to Us - 5
The Means of Escape - 4
The Prescription - 3
Desideratus - 4
Beehernz - 4
The Axe - 4
The Red-Haired Girl - 3
Not Shown - 3
At Hiruharama - 5
The Likeness - 3
Our Lives Are Only Leant to Us - 5
October 25, 2019
3+ stars
An enjoyable collection of short stories by a very talented writer. As in any collection, some stories were more to my liking than others. Each story is set in a different part of the world but all involve some type of escape. My favorite were: The Means of Escape, Not Shown, and At Hiruharama. Fitzgerald's stories are not as dark as many short story collections. Many are, in fact, quite humorous.
An enjoyable collection of short stories by a very talented writer. As in any collection, some stories were more to my liking than others. Each story is set in a different part of the world but all involve some type of escape. My favorite were: The Means of Escape, Not Shown, and At Hiruharama. Fitzgerald's stories are not as dark as many short story collections. Many are, in fact, quite humorous.
October 15, 2018
Fenditure
Non amo i racconti l'ho sempre detto.*
Nonostante ciò mi è capitato di leggerne di molto belli in passato; i primi che mi vengono in mente sono i Racconti Africani di Doris Lessing, i quelli che ho amato meno, che Dio mi perdoni e mi risparmi il fulmine della Letteratura, i 49 di Ernest Hemingway**.
In mezzo un po' di tutto ma, fondamentalmente, non ho una grande passione per i racconti.
Il motivo è piuttosto semplice: quando finiscono sento sempre che mi mancano almeno un centinaio di pagine per sentirmi completamente appagata e soddisfatta, mi resta sempre quel senso di incompiuto che mi fa storcere la bocca e che mi autorizza a sentirmi privata del mio sacrosanto diritto di sapere cosa succede poi.
Detto questo a me questa raccolta di Penelope Fitzgerald è piaciuta.
Mi è piaciuta soprattutto la capacità dell'autrice di aprire squarci di mondo su storie e ambientazioni completamente diverse l'una dall'altra; la capacità, particolarissima, di trasportare in poche pagine il lettore da un capo all'altro del mondo, in epoche distanti e apparentemente così diverse tra loro.
E poi, ma non in ultimo, mi è piaciuta la scrittura raffinatatissima, accurata, capace di catturare immediatamente l'attenzione e di trasmettere con la sua originalità la personalità unica del protagonista di ogni racconto.
Sono storie riunite postume in un unico volume, ma solo una di loro è stata pubblicata dopo la morte dell'autrice, legate tra loro da quel sottilissimo filo che è il titolo, Strategie di fuga. In ognuna di esse c'è una fuga: in atto, passata, fisica, mentale, immaginata. Riuscita o fallita. Anche solo un tentativo di fuga o una speranza di fuga.
La Fitzgerald irrompe in queste storie all'improvviso, cogliendole nel loro corso, alla fine o semplicemente sfiorandole: la difficoltà, per chi legge, è quella di accontentarsi di guardare da dietro il sipario, scostato quel tanto che basti per permettere di cogliere alcuni frammenti di queste fughe, per poi vederlo riabbassare quando non vorrebbe e restare fuori da tutto il resto. Strategie d'autrice.
*Ora le cose sono cambiate, in effetti, del resto sono passati otto anni!
** E anche con Hemingway ho iniziato a fare pace.
Non amo i racconti l'ho sempre detto.*
Nonostante ciò mi è capitato di leggerne di molto belli in passato; i primi che mi vengono in mente sono i Racconti Africani di Doris Lessing, i quelli che ho amato meno, che Dio mi perdoni e mi risparmi il fulmine della Letteratura, i 49 di Ernest Hemingway**.
In mezzo un po' di tutto ma, fondamentalmente, non ho una grande passione per i racconti.
Il motivo è piuttosto semplice: quando finiscono sento sempre che mi mancano almeno un centinaio di pagine per sentirmi completamente appagata e soddisfatta, mi resta sempre quel senso di incompiuto che mi fa storcere la bocca e che mi autorizza a sentirmi privata del mio sacrosanto diritto di sapere cosa succede poi.
Detto questo a me questa raccolta di Penelope Fitzgerald è piaciuta.
Mi è piaciuta soprattutto la capacità dell'autrice di aprire squarci di mondo su storie e ambientazioni completamente diverse l'una dall'altra; la capacità, particolarissima, di trasportare in poche pagine il lettore da un capo all'altro del mondo, in epoche distanti e apparentemente così diverse tra loro.
E poi, ma non in ultimo, mi è piaciuta la scrittura raffinatatissima, accurata, capace di catturare immediatamente l'attenzione e di trasmettere con la sua originalità la personalità unica del protagonista di ogni racconto.
Sono storie riunite postume in un unico volume, ma solo una di loro è stata pubblicata dopo la morte dell'autrice, legate tra loro da quel sottilissimo filo che è il titolo, Strategie di fuga. In ognuna di esse c'è una fuga: in atto, passata, fisica, mentale, immaginata. Riuscita o fallita. Anche solo un tentativo di fuga o una speranza di fuga.
La Fitzgerald irrompe in queste storie all'improvviso, cogliendole nel loro corso, alla fine o semplicemente sfiorandole: la difficoltà, per chi legge, è quella di accontentarsi di guardare da dietro il sipario, scostato quel tanto che basti per permettere di cogliere alcuni frammenti di queste fughe, per poi vederlo riabbassare quando non vorrebbe e restare fuori da tutto il resto. Strategie d'autrice.
*Ora le cose sono cambiate, in effetti, del resto sono passati otto anni!
** E anche con Hemingway ho iniziato a fare pace.
May 2, 2016
“The Means of Escape” represents the only short story collection – and final work – by Penelope Fitzgerald.
Interesting lady.
Fitzgerald’s first book wasn’t published until she was in her 60s, but the impact proved immediate and extraordinary. Honors abounded, including the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Booker Prize, and all nine of her novels were – what’s the phrase? – “well received.”
VERY well received.
Always, Fitzgerald possessed the power to make critics grope for comparisons (some wildly inappropriate). In fact, her formally structured fiction remains firmly rooted in a classic tradition – the comedy/tragedy of manners – a tradition that encompasses authors from Jane Austen to E. M. Forster. But she wields more wit than any of them, and the underlying theme of all her work seems clear enough: the alternative to laughter … doesn’t bear contemplating.
On display here is the kind of humor more apt to provoke gasps than smiles. Her characters are vulnerable and foolish, but even at their most ridiculous she demonstrates great tenderness toward them. In tales ranging around the globe, taking place in a variety of persuasively evoked periods, she reveals a profoundly acute gift for observation, considerable moral intelligence. And tremendous kindness. Penelope Fitzgerald died at 83, shortly before this collection was released. She offered lucidity and compassion until the end.
And beyond.
Interesting lady.
Fitzgerald’s first book wasn’t published until she was in her 60s, but the impact proved immediate and extraordinary. Honors abounded, including the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Booker Prize, and all nine of her novels were – what’s the phrase? – “well received.”
VERY well received.
Always, Fitzgerald possessed the power to make critics grope for comparisons (some wildly inappropriate). In fact, her formally structured fiction remains firmly rooted in a classic tradition – the comedy/tragedy of manners – a tradition that encompasses authors from Jane Austen to E. M. Forster. But she wields more wit than any of them, and the underlying theme of all her work seems clear enough: the alternative to laughter … doesn’t bear contemplating.
On display here is the kind of humor more apt to provoke gasps than smiles. Her characters are vulnerable and foolish, but even at their most ridiculous she demonstrates great tenderness toward them. In tales ranging around the globe, taking place in a variety of persuasively evoked periods, she reveals a profoundly acute gift for observation, considerable moral intelligence. And tremendous kindness. Penelope Fitzgerald died at 83, shortly before this collection was released. She offered lucidity and compassion until the end.
And beyond.
June 15, 2021
Ten short stories with themes of escape or release - from variously dire, tedious, constrained or bleak existences. This got rave reviews but neither the characters nor the situations did much for me. The endings have slightly unexpected twists, and the better stories were poignant rather than just obscure …
At Hiruharama is a tale that is actually a backstory of a young couple, set in a remote area of New Zealand; the wife becomes pregnant and the husband has to deliver the baby before the doctor manages to get there. His only mistake was to throw out the afterbirth which was in fact the other twin, but that other twin is ultimately the family’s ticket out of the wop-wops.
In Beehernz, a music festival director decides to invite a long-retired maestro to conduct a concert. To finalize the details, he and two colleagues (Fraser and Mary) venture to the remote island in the Hebrides where Beehernz lives, only to discover he lives in a hovel utterly devoid of any comforts. Mary sings an obscure folk song while preparing lunch, but she and Fraser then have to return to the mainland because there’s simply nowhere for them to stay. The director, starting to realize the futility of the invitation, leaves the next day too, only to find that Beehernz intends to accompany him to find Mary - because it’s been so long since he heard any music.
There were others I quite liked, but Fitzgerald’s writing, despite its clarity and precision, didn’t exactly “spark joy” either, and I was quite glad to be done with it. Better than two stars, but Offshore is still far and away her best.
At Hiruharama is a tale that is actually a backstory of a young couple, set in a remote area of New Zealand; the wife becomes pregnant and the husband has to deliver the baby before the doctor manages to get there. His only mistake was to throw out the afterbirth which was in fact the other twin, but that other twin is ultimately the family’s ticket out of the wop-wops.
In Beehernz, a music festival director decides to invite a long-retired maestro to conduct a concert. To finalize the details, he and two colleagues (Fraser and Mary) venture to the remote island in the Hebrides where Beehernz lives, only to discover he lives in a hovel utterly devoid of any comforts. Mary sings an obscure folk song while preparing lunch, but she and Fraser then have to return to the mainland because there’s simply nowhere for them to stay. The director, starting to realize the futility of the invitation, leaves the next day too, only to find that Beehernz intends to accompany him to find Mary - because it’s been so long since he heard any music.
There were others I quite liked, but Fitzgerald’s writing, despite its clarity and precision, didn’t exactly “spark joy” either, and I was quite glad to be done with it. Better than two stars, but Offshore is still far and away her best.
July 9, 2017
Stunning writing, despite the stories not being anything much in terms of plot. I will definitely seek out more of her books.
November 15, 2022
Racconti originali, che non assomigliano a niente e a nessuno. Racconti raffinati, pieni di grazia e sensibilità.
Penelope Fitzgerald è stata una grande scrittrice.
Lei sì.
Penelope Fitzgerald è stata una grande scrittrice.
Lei sì.
March 24, 2020
This collection of eight short stories by Penelope Fitzgerald – one of my all-time favourite writers – was first published in 2000, the year of her death. Interestingly, the settings range from the historical (19th century Brittany and 17th century Australia) to the more contemporary (Britain in the 1950s/’60s and Scotland at the end of the 20th century). In this respect, the book could be viewed as a kind of bridge between Fitzgerald’s early novels and her later, historical works.
As with other story collections I’ve reviewed, I won’t cover all of the individual pieces; instead, my aim is to give you a flavour of the highlights and what to expect from the book as a whole.
In The Axe – one of the standout stories in this collection – a middle manager is tasked with the job of making a number of his staff redundant to reduce resources. While some employees seem happy to move on or take early retirement, others may prove more reluctant to leave, especially if they have worked for the company for several years. The manager is particularly worried about his clerical assistant, Mr Singlebury, a rather apologetic, fastidious individual who appears to have no real life outside of work.
To read the rest of my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
As with other story collections I’ve reviewed, I won’t cover all of the individual pieces; instead, my aim is to give you a flavour of the highlights and what to expect from the book as a whole.
In The Axe – one of the standout stories in this collection – a middle manager is tasked with the job of making a number of his staff redundant to reduce resources. While some employees seem happy to move on or take early retirement, others may prove more reluctant to leave, especially if they have worked for the company for several years. The manager is particularly worried about his clerical assistant, Mr Singlebury, a rather apologetic, fastidious individual who appears to have no real life outside of work.
To read the rest of my review, please click here:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2020...
July 21, 2019
I have been trying to get hold of some second-hand copies of books by Penelope Fitzgerald. They are proving difficult to find in New Zealand, so when I saw a copy of this book I snatched it up without looking too closely. What I have ended up with is an Advanced Reading Copy of the US Houghton Mifflin edition from 2000. It is a paperback ARC ahead of the hardbacked finished item and it still has one or two small errors in the text.
There are eight short stories that take us on a tiki tour of the world. We begin in Hobart Tasmania in the mid-1800s with tales of settlers and escaped convicts. For some reason after reading this story I turned to the end of the book and read the last story next. I was surprised to find that story set in New Zealand close to where I have lived. I don’t know of Fitzgerald ever came to Australia or New Zealand, but she has made some good stories using the setting. It was strange to have found a US ARC of this book in New Zealand in the first place, but to then find it contains a New Zealand story was a double surprise.
A quick look through the eight stories and you will see that we move through time and place. From contemporary England and the West Coast of Scotland, back in time to the 1950s or ‘60s and then further back to 1674, then to France in 1882, Istanbul early in the twentieth century and finally to Australia and New Zealand in the 1800s. A worldwide tour through time and place.
I think that the joy of this collection is the range of characters that we encounter. There are all sorts, from convicts in Australia to peasant girls in France, musicians in Scotland and pretentious aristocracy showing their not so stately homes to the public and exploiting those who work for them.
My favourite character has to be the clerical assistant Mr Singlebury. He has been identified as a person the company he has worked for most of his life would like to ‘let go’, hence the title of the story, ‘The Axe’. He is one of those quiet invisible workers who has an excellent attendance record. He is described thus:
“On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he wore a blue suit and a green knitted garment with a zip front. On Tuesdays and Thursdays he wore a pair of grey trousers of man-made material which he called “my flannels,” and a fawn cardigan. The cardigan was omitted in summer. He had, however, one distinguishing feature, very light blue eyes, with a defensive expression, as though apologizing for something which he felt guilty about, but could not put right.”
He is a creature of habit with an apologetic attitude, saying things like “I’m afraid it’s Tuesday.” His work was hard to define but turned out to be more than everyone realised once he had left.
He claimed to know what caused the unusual smell of damp that hung in the office all summer. He said it was the smell of disappointment, which dated from a time during the war when the offices had been used as somewhere that relatives would visit seeking news of their loved ones missing at sea.
The story is written as a letter from the manager of the company to a more senior person, such as a chairman. The manager has been given the task of telling a handful of staff that they are no longer required. Some have gone with good grace, others less so, so that it has turned into his hardest day’s work at the company. Singlebury, just before his months’ notice has ended, invites the manager to his home for dinner. They take the underground to Clapham North and then walk some distance in the rain. Singlebury has a single room above a cleaning shop, with a shared toilet on the half-landing. There was no place to cook, so he goes out to buy their supper, two steaks wrapped in silver foil. After the meal they make cocoa on the landing, a drink the manager has not tasted for thirty years. The whole story is beautifully drawn, and the character of Singlebury is a wonderfully realistic one, put upon, not valued and hardly even there at all. The whole collection of stories is full of gems like this one.
There are eight short stories that take us on a tiki tour of the world. We begin in Hobart Tasmania in the mid-1800s with tales of settlers and escaped convicts. For some reason after reading this story I turned to the end of the book and read the last story next. I was surprised to find that story set in New Zealand close to where I have lived. I don’t know of Fitzgerald ever came to Australia or New Zealand, but she has made some good stories using the setting. It was strange to have found a US ARC of this book in New Zealand in the first place, but to then find it contains a New Zealand story was a double surprise.
A quick look through the eight stories and you will see that we move through time and place. From contemporary England and the West Coast of Scotland, back in time to the 1950s or ‘60s and then further back to 1674, then to France in 1882, Istanbul early in the twentieth century and finally to Australia and New Zealand in the 1800s. A worldwide tour through time and place.
I think that the joy of this collection is the range of characters that we encounter. There are all sorts, from convicts in Australia to peasant girls in France, musicians in Scotland and pretentious aristocracy showing their not so stately homes to the public and exploiting those who work for them.
My favourite character has to be the clerical assistant Mr Singlebury. He has been identified as a person the company he has worked for most of his life would like to ‘let go’, hence the title of the story, ‘The Axe’. He is one of those quiet invisible workers who has an excellent attendance record. He is described thus:
“On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, he wore a blue suit and a green knitted garment with a zip front. On Tuesdays and Thursdays he wore a pair of grey trousers of man-made material which he called “my flannels,” and a fawn cardigan. The cardigan was omitted in summer. He had, however, one distinguishing feature, very light blue eyes, with a defensive expression, as though apologizing for something which he felt guilty about, but could not put right.”
He is a creature of habit with an apologetic attitude, saying things like “I’m afraid it’s Tuesday.” His work was hard to define but turned out to be more than everyone realised once he had left.
He claimed to know what caused the unusual smell of damp that hung in the office all summer. He said it was the smell of disappointment, which dated from a time during the war when the offices had been used as somewhere that relatives would visit seeking news of their loved ones missing at sea.
The story is written as a letter from the manager of the company to a more senior person, such as a chairman. The manager has been given the task of telling a handful of staff that they are no longer required. Some have gone with good grace, others less so, so that it has turned into his hardest day’s work at the company. Singlebury, just before his months’ notice has ended, invites the manager to his home for dinner. They take the underground to Clapham North and then walk some distance in the rain. Singlebury has a single room above a cleaning shop, with a shared toilet on the half-landing. There was no place to cook, so he goes out to buy their supper, two steaks wrapped in silver foil. After the meal they make cocoa on the landing, a drink the manager has not tasted for thirty years. The whole story is beautifully drawn, and the character of Singlebury is a wonderfully realistic one, put upon, not valued and hardly even there at all. The whole collection of stories is full of gems like this one.
March 21, 2014
I love short stories, that is not news to anyone. My obsession with the likes of Poe and Chekhov are well documented. So, it was delightful to stumble upon this collection because a friend had recommended a novel by this author and the novel was not available at the library but this collection was and so I checked it out. These are well written. I can tell that this woman was influenced by her professor, Tolkien. These are not particularly happy stories, they are in fact, quite bleak, but there is an underlying element of humor that is definitely there and gives them depth. My two favorites in the collection are "The Axe" which really had a feeling of Poe to me, creepy and yet humorous and "At Hiruharama" which is just simply delightful and the one really happy story in the bunch.
October 20, 2020
Great variety in these stories, but always the author's unmistakable voice and clear eye. Wrote a bit about my recent Fitzgerald splurge here: https://findingtimetowrite.wordpress....
July 21, 2014
This collection was a mixed bag for me. For one, the first page of the first story was so dense and seemingly irrelevant that it took me four separate tries to actually read it. A few of the short stories were quite poignant and provided that "sliver of life" micro-catharthis that only short stories can bring. Other stories were just ... there. They were the literary equivalent of the drunkard holding you by the shoulder as he tells you this "super interesting story", which is nothing more than a meandering diatribe that cuts off at a random time. I wouldn't say it was a waste of my time, especially given that the entire book is only 117 pages long, but I won't exactly be recommending this book to any of my friends.
May 8, 2017
Penelope Fitzgerald's last book was a slim collection of short stories. The first two stories - The Means of Escape and The Axe are to me the most satisfying. The former, set in Victorian Tasmania, concerns an escaped convict and the help he receives from a minister's daughter after encountering her in church one evening; the second is a very effective ghost story. Some of the other stories are simple sketches of character and place, although beautifully accomplished. The final story, Desideratus, is a rather spooky story of a lost keepsake set in seventeenth century England.
November 13, 2021
The Means of Escape (Penelope Fitzgerald) are twentieth century stories set in various locations in the Western world with working English peoples’ thoughts and cares at the forefront.
Whether for survival or self-advancement, these characters "twist and turn" themselves out of what are often their mediocre circumstances, with varying degrees of constructiveness, using their educational skills, their cunning or the outer reaches of Scotland.
Capture the life and times of an era of migration, rural life or dreary office settings along the lines of Charles Dickens and London commerce.
…………………...
1.With a humorous twist Alice Godley, the clergyman’s daughter and her servant, Mrs. Hudson both turn out to have an interest in leaving the Australian (Battery Point, Hobart, Tasmania) rectory with Savage, an escaped convict on a ship, the Constancy, back to England. (The Means of Escape)
…………………...
2.Returning from London to Phanar (Old Serail) in Turkey, a young Greek doctor, Alecco Zarifi, faces a setback when he encounters his old employer, Dr. Mehmet Bey, at a medical consultation where he is accused, ironically, of having gained “knowledge without honesty”.
“The Greek boy was standing at the bench, copying out prescriptions. He had also taken down a measuring glass, a pestle and a number of bottles and jars.” (The Prescription)
……………………..
3.Ironically, Jack Digby’s gilt metal keepsake from his godmother (Mrs. Piercy) represents Desideratus’s teachings about the importance of spirituality over worldly goods (September 12, 663) when he was very poor.
An encounter with a wealthy (Watching) neighbor and his dead son confirms the complexity of getting on in life satisfactorily. (Desideratus)
--Desideratus was a French saint, Soissons in the Christian church. He was taught to care for the poor and use his possessions to aid others. Became chancellor for King clotaire. In 549 he succeeded Arcadius as Bishop of Bourges. At the fifth Council of Orleans and second Council of Auvergne, he combated Nestorianism (mutually related but doctrinarily distinctive sets of teachings). Wikipedia.--
………………...
4.An organization (Midland Music Festival) wants to consider a conductor called Beehernz for a Mahler concert but he hasn’t performed for 40 years, since 1960, when he declined to participate in a Mahler birth celebration centenary to conduct the Eighth Symphony because it was too noisy.
At the time of the story, Beenernz lives on an island off an island called Reilig, which is off Iona, which is off Mull, which to get to via Oban (Scotland).
Hopkins, an organizer, goes to visit Beehernz with a singer, Mary Lockett and a young man, Fraser, an assistant both of whom Beehernz asks to leave shortly after arriving at him place of residence. (Beehernz)
…………………….
5. The end of the story captures the point at which the beginning starts with an unnamed manager’s report to his unnamed boss at an unnamed company about the ghostly W. S. Singlebury who lives in Clapham North, London. (The Axe)
…………….
6. A young man (Hackett) is rather dismissive of a young French woman’s feelings (Annik) when he uses her as his painting model. Hacket is staying at the Hotel du Port, Place François -René de Chateaubriand, Rue du Dol. He is on a painting expedition with his friends (Holland, Parsons, Charrington and Dubois) in France (St. Briac-sur-Mer, Palourde, St. Malo, Cancale).
Hackett realizes his mistake when his former teacher, Vincent Bonvin, is not very complimentary about his painting of her. The friends are dring Muscadet together at the hotel where Annik had been an employee.
……...
7. Not Shown
Lady P lives in an historic manor house (Tailfirst) and allows visitors to part of the property (Tailfirst Farm) which is under the management of her employer, Mr. Fotherhill.
Local villagers help him with his work, a Mrs. Shirley Twine, a former school dinner lady, and a Mrs. Feare, who worked in a pottery shop. They would both like to work in the fudge and postcard shop on the property.
A local woman (Mrs. Horrabin) decides she wants to replace Mr. Fotherhill’s two current employees and his encounter with her in an upstairs bedroom creates management difficulties for him.
Mrs. Horrabin lives on the Battisford industrial estate and has met Lady P on the local recreation committee.
Captures village life and reminds me of The Jane Austen Society (Natalie Jenner) with the intermingling of people from the different social classes organizing village affairs.
……..
8. This story has a positive tone even though the family had decided “to sell up and quit on New Zealand”.
Misled on the promised work of apprentice and governess, a couple, Tanner and Kitty. set up married life together as farmers.
They have a family of 11 children before some of the descendants decide to move on. In the meantime, a lonely neighbor waits for dinner while family affairs take their course.
Immigrant life, Tanner is an orphan from Stamford, Lincolnshire who came out to work for a wealthy family north of Auckland. Kitty was also from England and the couple furthered their plans at the local Methodist church once their employment did not pan out as planned, ending up as servants.
North of Awanui it could be difficult to make a living and isolating living a long distance from town. One of the couple's daughters became a lawyer (Washington) and was able to help the later family sell up and leave. Her birth is central theme of the story. (At Hiruharama)
Whether for survival or self-advancement, these characters "twist and turn" themselves out of what are often their mediocre circumstances, with varying degrees of constructiveness, using their educational skills, their cunning or the outer reaches of Scotland.
Capture the life and times of an era of migration, rural life or dreary office settings along the lines of Charles Dickens and London commerce.
…………………...
1.With a humorous twist Alice Godley, the clergyman’s daughter and her servant, Mrs. Hudson both turn out to have an interest in leaving the Australian (Battery Point, Hobart, Tasmania) rectory with Savage, an escaped convict on a ship, the Constancy, back to England. (The Means of Escape)
…………………...
2.Returning from London to Phanar (Old Serail) in Turkey, a young Greek doctor, Alecco Zarifi, faces a setback when he encounters his old employer, Dr. Mehmet Bey, at a medical consultation where he is accused, ironically, of having gained “knowledge without honesty”.
“The Greek boy was standing at the bench, copying out prescriptions. He had also taken down a measuring glass, a pestle and a number of bottles and jars.” (The Prescription)
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3.Ironically, Jack Digby’s gilt metal keepsake from his godmother (Mrs. Piercy) represents Desideratus’s teachings about the importance of spirituality over worldly goods (September 12, 663) when he was very poor.
An encounter with a wealthy (Watching) neighbor and his dead son confirms the complexity of getting on in life satisfactorily. (Desideratus)
--Desideratus was a French saint, Soissons in the Christian church. He was taught to care for the poor and use his possessions to aid others. Became chancellor for King clotaire. In 549 he succeeded Arcadius as Bishop of Bourges. At the fifth Council of Orleans and second Council of Auvergne, he combated Nestorianism (mutually related but doctrinarily distinctive sets of teachings). Wikipedia.--
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4.An organization (Midland Music Festival) wants to consider a conductor called Beehernz for a Mahler concert but he hasn’t performed for 40 years, since 1960, when he declined to participate in a Mahler birth celebration centenary to conduct the Eighth Symphony because it was too noisy.
At the time of the story, Beenernz lives on an island off an island called Reilig, which is off Iona, which is off Mull, which to get to via Oban (Scotland).
Hopkins, an organizer, goes to visit Beehernz with a singer, Mary Lockett and a young man, Fraser, an assistant both of whom Beehernz asks to leave shortly after arriving at him place of residence. (Beehernz)
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5. The end of the story captures the point at which the beginning starts with an unnamed manager’s report to his unnamed boss at an unnamed company about the ghostly W. S. Singlebury who lives in Clapham North, London. (The Axe)
…………….
6. A young man (Hackett) is rather dismissive of a young French woman’s feelings (Annik) when he uses her as his painting model. Hacket is staying at the Hotel du Port, Place François -René de Chateaubriand, Rue du Dol. He is on a painting expedition with his friends (Holland, Parsons, Charrington and Dubois) in France (St. Briac-sur-Mer, Palourde, St. Malo, Cancale).
Hackett realizes his mistake when his former teacher, Vincent Bonvin, is not very complimentary about his painting of her. The friends are dring Muscadet together at the hotel where Annik had been an employee.
……...
7. Not Shown
Lady P lives in an historic manor house (Tailfirst) and allows visitors to part of the property (Tailfirst Farm) which is under the management of her employer, Mr. Fotherhill.
Local villagers help him with his work, a Mrs. Shirley Twine, a former school dinner lady, and a Mrs. Feare, who worked in a pottery shop. They would both like to work in the fudge and postcard shop on the property.
A local woman (Mrs. Horrabin) decides she wants to replace Mr. Fotherhill’s two current employees and his encounter with her in an upstairs bedroom creates management difficulties for him.
Mrs. Horrabin lives on the Battisford industrial estate and has met Lady P on the local recreation committee.
Captures village life and reminds me of The Jane Austen Society (Natalie Jenner) with the intermingling of people from the different social classes organizing village affairs.
……..
8. This story has a positive tone even though the family had decided “to sell up and quit on New Zealand”.
Misled on the promised work of apprentice and governess, a couple, Tanner and Kitty. set up married life together as farmers.
They have a family of 11 children before some of the descendants decide to move on. In the meantime, a lonely neighbor waits for dinner while family affairs take their course.
Immigrant life, Tanner is an orphan from Stamford, Lincolnshire who came out to work for a wealthy family north of Auckland. Kitty was also from England and the couple furthered their plans at the local Methodist church once their employment did not pan out as planned, ending up as servants.
North of Awanui it could be difficult to make a living and isolating living a long distance from town. One of the couple's daughters became a lawyer (Washington) and was able to help the later family sell up and leave. Her birth is central theme of the story. (At Hiruharama)
May 12, 2018
[rating = C+]
A pleasant mix of shot-stories. Very abstract, some of them at least, and very simple. Though it is probably very complex, the plots seemed short and sparse. the first and last were the best, both physiologically intriguing and dynamic. Easy read, though you want the stories to open up more and not to just keep coming upon a new one before the current one got interesting.
A pleasant mix of shot-stories. Very abstract, some of them at least, and very simple. Though it is probably very complex, the plots seemed short and sparse. the first and last were the best, both physiologically intriguing and dynamic. Easy read, though you want the stories to open up more and not to just keep coming upon a new one before the current one got interesting.
January 20, 2014
A slender book that collects Fitzgerald's final work. Odd, disturbing, delicate, often enigmatic little stories--- small bits of elegant crafting that will leave you just slightly off-center. Lovely read.
Read
March 17, 2014Nice quick collection of short stories, mostly haunting. One was even about a ghost....or so it seemed.
September 29, 2016
The woman's a stone cold genius. Weird, wonderful and wacky tales set in various countries around the world and in different eras; some classic, some just very funny. The book is much too short.
January 27, 2018
IMO, this book is better if you are not ethnic. If you have melatonin, this sounds like privileged prattle.
September 27, 2021
These brilliant short stories, innovatively structured, are a reminder of what a strong contribution Fitzgerald, an often neglected British author, made to English literature.
October 22, 2017
The short story "At Hiruharama" was written by British writer Penelope Fitzgerald. Some interesting facts about her as a writer:
- she started publishing her works at the age of 60;
- she was one of the most awarded English writers.
The style of this story is rather specific: it focuses more on describing life in general rather than revealing the plot of the story. The narrator, who was the grandson of the main character and had the same name, used a pretext for describing the life of the first migrants in New Zealand from England. This is the first paragraph:
"Mr. Tanner was anxious to explain how it was that he had a lawyer in the family, so that when they all decided to sell up and quit New Zealand there had been someone they could absolutely trust with the legal business."
The plotline of the first paragraph has very little in common with the main plot line. It is quite a usual situation when somebody had suddenly seen something and it aroused the memories in somebody's mind and we could hear a vivid, detailed story about the past. The author used the short introduction "That meant that he had to say something about his grandfather" and started telling the story about the life of the new settlers in New Zealand.
This is a story about the first settlers in New Zealand from England. Mr. Tanner worked for a well-to-do family in Auckland. He met a 16-year-old girl, Kitty, who worked for another family. They married and started their life in quite a remote place, named Hiruharama which means Jerusalem.
There were no people in that place. When Kitty said that she was expecting a baby, Mr.Tanner rode to Auckland city, where he found a doctor. On his way back to Hiruharama he was given a few post pigeons which he wanted to use to call the doctor when his wife would be about to give birth. The language which the author used, drew out the vivid picture a simple life. A lack of convenience, the absence of civilization and strong character of people - it is what Penelope Fitzgerald presented to the readers.
At Hiruharama by Penelope Fitzgerald
Text:
http://www.jamesafarley.com/uploads/2...
and here “it needs to extract”: http://tubibliotecauniversal1.blogspo...
Audio
https://www.theguardian.com/books/aud...
- she started publishing her works at the age of 60;
- she was one of the most awarded English writers.
The style of this story is rather specific: it focuses more on describing life in general rather than revealing the plot of the story. The narrator, who was the grandson of the main character and had the same name, used a pretext for describing the life of the first migrants in New Zealand from England. This is the first paragraph:
"Mr. Tanner was anxious to explain how it was that he had a lawyer in the family, so that when they all decided to sell up and quit New Zealand there had been someone they could absolutely trust with the legal business."
The plotline of the first paragraph has very little in common with the main plot line. It is quite a usual situation when somebody had suddenly seen something and it aroused the memories in somebody's mind and we could hear a vivid, detailed story about the past. The author used the short introduction "That meant that he had to say something about his grandfather" and started telling the story about the life of the new settlers in New Zealand.
This is a story about the first settlers in New Zealand from England. Mr. Tanner worked for a well-to-do family in Auckland. He met a 16-year-old girl, Kitty, who worked for another family. They married and started their life in quite a remote place, named Hiruharama which means Jerusalem.
There were no people in that place. When Kitty said that she was expecting a baby, Mr.Tanner rode to Auckland city, where he found a doctor. On his way back to Hiruharama he was given a few post pigeons which he wanted to use to call the doctor when his wife would be about to give birth. The language which the author used, drew out the vivid picture a simple life. A lack of convenience, the absence of civilization and strong character of people - it is what Penelope Fitzgerald presented to the readers.
At Hiruharama by Penelope Fitzgerald
Text:
http://www.jamesafarley.com/uploads/2...
and here “it needs to extract”: http://tubibliotecauniversal1.blogspo...
Audio
https://www.theguardian.com/books/aud...
January 24, 2018
I discovered Penelope Fitzgerald last year and quickly fell in love with her sparse, perfectly shaped novels, gobbling six of them in short succession. As a result, I quickly sought out her three novels and short story collection.
I reasoned that if her novels are beautiful little creations (often with jarring, incomplete endings) then her skills must be suited to the short story. Having read the collection, I’m not sure she is.
Where the novels cram plenty of ideas, characters and sly wit, these short stories never really seem to begin properly. I find it strange that Penelope Fitzgerald needs more room - but she doesn’t get any space to play as she does in her novels. Her habit of merely stopping her novels in such a way to give whiplash has always been a habit that has confused and interested me. In a less controlled author, I’d regard it as an inability to finish but I feel Fitzgerald does it on purpose to get the reader’s minds whirring and keep the novel in the mind long after. In the short stories however, they do feel simply cut off - sometimes it feels like the stories end before they have even begun.
Some of the stories feel like the beginnings of novel - many of them feature meet-cutes or an intriguing set up to something more. They don’t particularly mean a great deal by themselves as far as I can see but I do have a habit of missing the point of short stories. So it may be my fault somewhere.
I reasoned that if her novels are beautiful little creations (often with jarring, incomplete endings) then her skills must be suited to the short story. Having read the collection, I’m not sure she is.
Where the novels cram plenty of ideas, characters and sly wit, these short stories never really seem to begin properly. I find it strange that Penelope Fitzgerald needs more room - but she doesn’t get any space to play as she does in her novels. Her habit of merely stopping her novels in such a way to give whiplash has always been a habit that has confused and interested me. In a less controlled author, I’d regard it as an inability to finish but I feel Fitzgerald does it on purpose to get the reader’s minds whirring and keep the novel in the mind long after. In the short stories however, they do feel simply cut off - sometimes it feels like the stories end before they have even begun.
Some of the stories feel like the beginnings of novel - many of them feature meet-cutes or an intriguing set up to something more. They don’t particularly mean a great deal by themselves as far as I can see but I do have a habit of missing the point of short stories. So it may be my fault somewhere.
September 11, 2023
personal notes
favourite: ‘The Axe’
quotes
from ‘Beehernz’
“‘I should like to hear that young woman sing again. She cannot have got any further than Iona.’
‘You sent her away.’
‘I have changed my mind. I should like to hear her sing again. You see, it is so long since I heard music.’”
from ‘At Hiruharama’
“Other patients had arrived and were sitting on the wooden benches on the verandah. Some had empty medicine bottles for a refill. There was a man with his right arm strapped up, several kids with their mothers, and a woman who looked well enough but seemed to be in tears for some reason or other. - Well, you see life in the townships.”
from ‘The Likeness’
“He would arrive late, but he knew that there are moments when to keep count of time is to waste it.”
from ‘Our Lives Our Only Lent To Us’
“There isn’t any skill a man can’t master, once he’s learned to discipline.”
“The two cultures are complementary, but in the way that death is to life. The two cannot exist together but just as surely they cannot exist without each other.”
“‘You mustn’t worry so much,’ said Rosario. ‘That is a fault… venimos prestados - our lives are only lent to us.’
liked Desideratus
favourite: ‘The Axe’
quotes
from ‘Beehernz’
“‘I should like to hear that young woman sing again. She cannot have got any further than Iona.’
‘You sent her away.’
‘I have changed my mind. I should like to hear her sing again. You see, it is so long since I heard music.’”
from ‘At Hiruharama’
“Other patients had arrived and were sitting on the wooden benches on the verandah. Some had empty medicine bottles for a refill. There was a man with his right arm strapped up, several kids with their mothers, and a woman who looked well enough but seemed to be in tears for some reason or other. - Well, you see life in the townships.”
from ‘The Likeness’
“He would arrive late, but he knew that there are moments when to keep count of time is to waste it.”
from ‘Our Lives Our Only Lent To Us’
“There isn’t any skill a man can’t master, once he’s learned to discipline.”
“The two cultures are complementary, but in the way that death is to life. The two cannot exist together but just as surely they cannot exist without each other.”
“‘You mustn’t worry so much,’ said Rosario. ‘That is a fault… venimos prestados - our lives are only lent to us.’
liked Desideratus
January 8, 2021
A brief collection of well written stories which, whilst not particularly to my personal tastes, were none-the-less enjoyable enough. They vary wildly in their setting, both in terms of time and place, and several of them have a vaguely supernatural quality, which is in their favour. Penelope Fitzgerald is clearly a supremely talented writer, able to clearly set a scene brimming with atmosphere in just a few pages. I enjoyed 'Offshore' immensely, and by comparison this was a little underwhelming, although not sufficiently to dissuade me from searching out her other works.
August 16, 2019
A book of brief short stories, with a few deepening in meaning towards the end. The humor is so dry it is practically parched. Quite a few stories seemed to me like the start of something much longer and more interesting. As it was I often felt dissatisfied when they simply came to a full stop. One exception--"The Axe" is an eminently satisfying tale with a gothic twist. Without this story, I probably would have given this only 2 stars.
February 3, 2020
Little vignettes which scratch that Penelope Fitzgerald itch but don't quite relieve it. Alas, I am out of her novels and must make do. I most enjoyed "The Axe," a darkly funny story about firing office drones, and "At Hirugama," a long-ways-about origin story. Each story here is a little glimpse into another strange world whose symbols we can only start to understand. If you don't like unresolved endings or irregular plotting, keep far far away. Rating: 2.5 stars
January 19, 2018
Awful, but mercifully short.
Why all the hype about Penelope Fitzgerald? of her books when they’re just not good. I hate to speak poorly of the dead, but simply cannot unearth why there are so many glowing reviews of her work.
There was a glimmer here and there of talent, but then there’d be a whomp, whomp, whomp ending.
Why all the hype about Penelope Fitzgerald? of her books when they’re just not good. I hate to speak poorly of the dead, but simply cannot unearth why there are so many glowing reviews of her work.
There was a glimmer here and there of talent, but then there’d be a whomp, whomp, whomp ending.
March 3, 2019
Quite a step up from the recently read “Blue Flower.” In fact, it did not seem as if the author was the same for both books. Very enjoyable stories; some quite interesting in that they left the endings to the reader. I was almost going to drop this writer from my list but niw I think I will proceed to her Booker winner.
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