Essential Stories

by V.S. Pritchett, Jeremy Treglown (Editor)

Introduction by JEREMY TREGLOWN

“In his daily walks through London,” notes Jeremy Treglown in his Introduction to this collection, “Pritchett watched and listened to people as a naturalist observes wild creatures and birds. He knew that oddity is the norm, not the exception.” This finely attuned sense, coupled with an understanding that nothing in life is mundane, is what makes these stories so immensely enjoyable. Drawing on a vast treasure chest of writings, Treglown has selected sixteen of Pritchett’s gems, including “A Serious Question,” which makes its debut in book form here. Featuring some of the best work from a long career, this new compilation of Pritchett’s brilliantly compact stories illuminates his legendary skills.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Literature, British Literature, Literary Fiction

225 pages, Paperback

First published January 4, 2005

About the author

Victor Sawdon Pritchett was the first of four children of Walter Sawdon Pritchett and Beatrice Helena (née Martin). His father, a London businessman in financial difficulties, had come to Ipswich to start a shop selling newspapers and stationery. The business was struggling and the couple were lodging over a toyshop at 41 St Nicholas Street where Pritchett was born on 16 December 1900. Beatrice had expected a girl, whom she planned to name after the Queen. Pritchett never liked his first name, which is why he always styled himself with his initials; even close friends would call him VSP.

Pritchett's father was a steady Christian Scientist and unsteady in all else. Walter and Beatrice had come to Ipswich to be near her sister who had married money and lived in Warrington Road. Within a year Walter was declared bankrupt, the family moved to Woodford, Essex, then to Derby, and he began selling women's clothing and accessories as a travelling salesman. Pritchett was soon sent with his brother Cyril to live with their paternal grandparents in Sedbergh, where the boys attended their first school. Walter's business failures, his casual attitude to credit, and his easy deceit obliged the family to move frequently. The family was reunited but life was always precarious; they tended to live in London suburbs with members of Beatrice's family. They returned to Ipswich in 1910, living for a year near Cauldwell Hall Road, trying to evade Walter's creditors. At this time Pritchett attended St. John's School. Subsequently Pritchett attended Alleyn's School, Dulwich, and Dulwich College but he stayed nowhere for very long. When his father went to fight in World War I, Pritchett left school. Later in the war Walter turned his hand to aircraft design, of which he knew nothing, and his later ventures included art needlework, property speculation, and faith healing.

Pritchett was a leather buyer from 1916 to 1920, when he moved to Paris, where he worked as a shop assistant. In 1923 he started writing for the Christian Science Monitor, which sent him to Ireland and Spain. From 1926 he wrote reviews for the paper and for the New Statesman, which later appointed him literary editor.

Pritchett's first book described his journey across Spain (Marching Spain 1928) and Clare Drummer (1929) was about his experiences in Ireland. Whilst in Ireland he met his first wife, Evelyn Vigors, but it was not to be a happy marriage.

Pritchett published five novels but he claimed not to enjoy their creation. His reputation was established by a collection of short stories (The Spanish Virgin and Other Stories (1932)).

In 1936 he divorced his first wife, and married Dorothy Rudge Roberts; they had two children. The marriage lasted until Pritchett's death, although they both had other relationships. His son is the journalist Oliver Pritchett and his grandson (son of Oliver) is the cartoonist Matt Pritchett.

During World War II Pritchett worked for the BBC and the Ministry of Information whilst continuing to submit a weekly essay to the New Statesman. After the war he wrote widely and he started taking teaching positions at universities in the United States: Princeton (1953), the University of California (1962), Columbia University and Smith College. He was fluent in German, Spanish, and French, and published successful biographies of Honoré de Balzac (1973), Ivan Turgenev (1977) and Anton Chekhov (1988), although he did not know Russian and had never visited the Soviet Union.

Pritchett was knighted in 1975 for his services to literature and became Companion of Honour in 1993. His awards include Heinemann Award (1969), PEN Award (1974), W.H. Smith Literary Award (1990), and Golden Pen Award (1993). He died of a stroke in London on 20 March 1997.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V._S._Pr...

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some forms of literature that are deader than a thousand dodos. They died after the novel Pied-Pipered away every reader's attention, greedy seducer that it is. The deadest I think is the long poem, those book-length epics by Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Wordsworth and the appropriately named Longfellow. Wow, who reads those bad boys now except with the equivalent of a gun at your head? Then there are essays, they used to be snorted up by the well-read, such stuff as "On the Pleasures of Hating" by William Hazlitt or "Secular Knowledge Not a Principal of Action" by John Henry Newman or "My Little Pony" by Dr Samuel Johnson. The third type of writing which used to be rock and roll and now is mostly a grant-aided niche is the short story. There were huge names at one time who were as famous for their short stories as for their novels, and some didn’t write any novels at all. John Cheever, O Henry, Poe, Saki, Conan Doyle, and so on. V S Pritchett was one of them. He was famous for decades. There’s an eyewatering blurb by no less an eminence than Frank Kermode:

He is by such a margin the finest English writer alive that it hardly seems worth saying so

Take that, absolutely everybody else!

But I don’t think many people read this guy any more.

I did struggle with seeing the point of some of these stories but there is one which went straight into the P Bryant Hall of Fame, it’s called “When My Girl Comes Home”. VSP certainly had a flair. (I loved his style more than his actual stories.) Here he is describing one of his characters

He was a short, talkative, heavy man of forty-five with a wet gold tooth and glossy black hair that streamlined back across his head from an arrow point, getting thin in front. His eyes were anxious, overworked and puddled, indeed if you had not known him you would have thought he had had a couple of black eyes that had never got right.

And here he is on the girl who came home (and who they all found to their horror had turned from an ordinary English girl into, well, an adventuress) :

It was disturbing, in a face so anonymous, to see the eyes move, especially since she blinked very little, and if she smiled it was less a smile than an alteration of the two lines at the corner of her lips.

And he can come out with some great one liners :

The war for him was something that spoiled fishing.

I think VSP is essential for anyone wanting a collection of curious snapshots of English life in the mid-20th century and I will certainly get round to reading more of him but, er, not for a while.

[Stef Smulders · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is a bit weird calling this collection the Essential Stories of V.S. Pritchett if you start out with two or three of the early stories that the author suppressed later on in his career. And indeed, the first few stories are not the best ones although you notice the quality of writing immediately. The stories I liked most are not the conversational ones in which a group of people are chatting about things the reader can only guess at, but the ones with one narrator, like The Fall, At the Edge of the Cliff, The Wheelbarrow. These are moving and memorable stories.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here’s why you need to read this book.

1. Although Victor Sawdon Pritchett writes about ordinary people, the results are anything but ordinary. There isn’t a story in this book that isn’t exceptional.
2. Complexity of the right kind. As it says in the introduction: “he knows that oddity is the norm, not the exception”. He presents his characters with such insight and perceptiveness it would be scary, if not for the generosity and compassion that shine through on every page.
3. Perfect pitch. Sir Victor writes as if taking dictation from the Muse herself. Pay close attention and you might learn a thing or two about writing.
4. Sixteen stories, all brilliant. My favorites were “The Evils of Spain”, “The Two Brothers”, “You Make Your Own Life”, “When My Girl Comes Home”, “The Wheelbarrow” – oh hell, I liked them all.
5. David’s special “You won’t be sorry” guarantee. Which I've instituted specifically for this book.

[Atlassix · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sadly neglected master of the short story.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great vintage looks into the past.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pure unadulterated reading pleasure. There are some short story gems in here, my favourites being, A Serious Question, The Fall, Two Brothers and A Sense of Humour, but they are all great.

Funny, moving, wise, condensed brilliance.His compassion for his characters, his eye, his descriptions, dialogue, his register, all of it, i love his turn of phrase, 'dejected buttocks' and 'hot potato voice' are just two that stuck in my mind. I can't to wait to read more.

[Baz · Rating 4 out of 5]

One thing I like about a selected volume by a writer who’s written and produced stories over decades is that they give me the kind of story collection I like best: each story is distinct, existing in its own universe.

I’m a little at odds with the contemporary understanding of what a short story collection should be, or do. People seem to want thematic links. They want the stories to talk to each other in some obvious way. To me, this is kind of an indication of a fundamental misunderstanding of the form of the short story. (This is separate from linked story collections that blur the line between collection and novel. I don’t mean those Joan Silberesque books, which I love. They’re their own thing/genre).

The range in the sixteen stories I read by Pritchett was wonderful. I feel like I read sixteen different works. I liked every story, and I loved a few: The Two Brothers, The Wheelbarrow, and When My Girl Comes Home. These were 5/5 experiences. Stories of extreme brevity that have the density of novels contain the best writing, to me, and give me the most intense pleasure.

Pritchett’s stylish voice is mostly comic, and there’s a little detachment in it, but in some stories that voice is more muted, and the undercurrent of bewilderment is at the fore. In every story the characters, often eccentric and always brilliantly realized, are the focus.

A great read.

[Xio · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this writer and I've never heard of him. Why were you all keeping him a secret from me? ; )

I actually have the Collected Stories but prefer my books here to have covers.

Savory and sweet.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a discovery. So far, flawless.BRILLIANT, subtle, nuanced and astonishingly entertaining. I think he's generally out of print but hunt down his stories. They are gems.

[Jarrell Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A master at short stories. No word is misplaced, captivating from beginning to end, authentic. The characters don't seem to be fictional.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are stories from which one can learn about life and about the craft of writing. Paul Theroux recommended this author in one of his non-fiction books, so I just took a look. V.S.Pritchett had to leave school at age 16. And his stories are extremely sophisticated and nuanced, full of insight and compassion for human beings, and the sharpest of eyes for class oppression. I highly recommend them.

[Brian Blickenstaff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this up after reading a Kevin Barry interview where Barry listed Pritchett as a major influence. I'd say p is a bit weirder than B but not as dark and a lot of p's store felt a little more stable plot-wise. super fun to read.

[Des Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is amazing stuff! An ending to conjure with! A post war dance hall that has more craziness than our recent pre-corona ones were! Pre-Twist Twists.

The detailed review of this book posted elsewhere under my name is too long to post here.
Above is one of its observations.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favorites
- The Wheelbarrow
- Sense of Humour
- The Two Brothers
- The Saint
- On The Edge of the Cliff

[junibug · Rating 4 out of 5]

read a couple stories for a class i was taking and they instantly captured me. simply lovely

[Sara M · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's magazine stories. Not necessarily bad but the typical magazine style together with the type-psychologising make the whole collection just tepid and bland.

[Jody · Rating 3 out of 5]

V. S. Pritchett earned his reputation as the greatest English short story writer. He wrote careful stories where each line blends seamlessly into the next. However, what elevates his stories from mere craft was his ability to create honest and rich characters, who do not serve a plot or serve Pritchett’s writing ability. Instead, Pritchett, in his collection, Essential Stories, introduces his readers to a myriad of characters, full of flaws and grace, living out lives both agonizingly familiar in all their wretched humanness, yet undeniably original in their construction.

In “A Serious Question,” Mr. and Mrs. Harkaway sleep in separate bedrooms. This seems common enough. However, they talk to each other through the walls of the bedroom, and we find out that even in separate rooms, in the dark, both are unable to be honest with one another. Mrs. Harkaway mentions children and their conversation grows bitter and angry. Mr. Harkaway “punches his pillow” and Mrs. Harkaway “troubles” hers. When she is woken from a dream by noises outside, the title comes into importance; she asked her husband if she shut the gate, and he insists that he did. Instead of finding men stealing their apples, the Harkaways encounter horses in their garden. Both chase them off, and in a moment of passion, Mr. Harkaway, “thought that he shone like the god upon his wife with sudden love,” picks up Mrs. Harkaway and carries her to her room. He sneezes, the spell breaks, and he retreats back to his room, divided by a wall.

Where “A Serious Question” is full of character description, “A Lion’s Den” uses mostly dialogue to reveal the characters. A concerned Teddy visits his mother and father. What ensues is a painful conversation where two parents vie for their son’s attention with passive-aggressive news of their daily lives. Pritchett surprises the reader with the realization that the father secretly hoards, and that the mother enjoys showing her son the proof, even when he begs her to stop. All three are a family with no understanding of one another. The father says, “It’s a good thing I know your mother…In forty-five years, I got to know her.” Pritchett drives the irony deeper, and leaves the reader to wonder who Daniel is and who the lions are.

Balancing between “A Serious Question” and “The Lion’s Den,” “The Wheelbarrow” mixes both dialogue and details to demonstrate two characters at a crossroads. In “The Wheelbarrow,” the protagonist is Miss Freshwater’s niece. The lack of a first name forces the reader to keep a distance while she grieves for loss and the passing of her own opportunities “What paralyzed Miss Freshwater’s niece was the emptiness of the place.” Pritchett uses Robert Evans, a Welshman, to balance out Miss Freshwater’s niece’s grief. She hires him to help her get rid of items in the house. What appears to be a budding romance turns out to be one-sided. Miss Freshwater’s niece goes to Evans’s revival tent to “show him what he missed.” However, she hears him preach, “Oh my friends, I was a slave of the strange woman the Bible tells about, the whore of Babylon, in her palace of moth and dust…and burned the adulteress in the everlasting fire, my friends-and all her property.” Again, the reader is familiar with a somewhat jilted lover, but Miss Freshwater’s niece is no weak woman. She tells Evans that he never burned her wheelbarrow, and she walks to the bus, leaving the ugly mess behind her.

Pritchett used humor to show a character’s resentment of his famous brother in “The Fall.” Charles Peacock, an accountant, is getting ready for the Annual Dinner. He pretends to be other people and uses different characters to talk to fellow colleagues. Also, he uses alcohol to assist his rehearsed conversations. The reader can gauge Peacock’s strangeness by the others around him. Some find him funny while others find him odd or tiresome. He ends up alone in a room, demonstrating to a picture of Queen Victoria how to stage fall, an action he practiced with his brother when they were younger. It is only when he goes to bow that he actually falls because “Shel had never taught him.” Pritchett wove a tight story, using the humor to illuminate the loneliness in most people.

Eudora Welty said, “We read Pritchett’s stories, comic or tragic, with an elation that stems from their intensity.” The Harkaways will live out their marriage, divided by a wall that they created. Teddy will struggle with the strangeness and embarrassment that comes when you realize how flawed your parents are. Miss Freshwater’s niece is a survivor. Charles Peacock will continue battling with his brother through his strange impersonations. Like Welty said, “Life goes on in them without flagging,” and that is Pritchett’s true gift.

[Jeff Hobbs]

Read so far:

The sack of lights --
The serious question --
*Sense of humour --
*The evils of Spain --
The two brothers --
The upright man --
You make your own life --
*The sailor --
*The lion's den --
The saint --2
The wheelbarrow --
The fall --
When my girl comes home --
Just a little more --
Our oldest friend --
*On the edge of the cliff --
***
*Main road --
Handsome is as handsome does --2
*It may never happen --
*Pocock passes --
The voice --3
*Many are disappointed --
*The ape --
*A story of Don Juan --
*The ladder --
*The satisfactory --
*The necklace --
*Blind love --
*The nest builder --
*The skeleton --
*The speech --
*The liars --
*The honeymoon --
The Camberwell beauty --2
The diver --3
*The rescue --
*The spree --
*A family man --
*The wedding --
*The accompanist --
*The fig tree --
*Things --
*Tragedy in a Greek theatre--
*The Corsican inn--
*Woolly gloves--
*Eleven o'Clock--

[Ben B · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read a comment in a book review that called Pritchett the greatest master of the short story. Well, that's overstating it a bit. But the stories were interesting and had some interesting things to say.

[Dionysius the Areopagite]

See: Fox(e)'s Book of Martyrs.