The Other Side of a Frontier

by V.S. Pritchett

The Other Side of a Frontier is a celebration of the distinguished contribution which V.S. Pritchett has made to English letters over the past 50 years. Introduced by the author, the collection has been chosen from his short stories, literary criticism, biographies and travel writing, and includes extracts from his autobiographies. It provides a perfect introduction to a universally acknowledged master of the English language. V.S. Pritchett explores the connections between Chekhov's life and art, showing how Chekhov (1860-1904) often based his fiction on experiences of his difficult early years where he was responsible for his impoverished family, and as a young doctor, reported on the conditions of the Russian penal colony at Sakhalin. Later he continued his medical career, even when he became a well-known writer and playwright. This audiobook focuses on the short stories of Chekhov often neglected in favour of his plays and discusses why Chekhov was a success in both mediums. The author has previously written Collected Stories , a Selection of Short Stories , in addition to Nothing like Leather and Dead Man Leading . Victor Sawdon Pritchett (1900-1997) was born over a toyshop in 1900 and, much to his everlasting distaste, was named after Queen Victoria. A writer and critic, his is widely reputed to be one of the best short story writers of all time, with the rare ability to capture the extraordinary strangeness of everyday life. He died in 1997.

Genres: Essays

Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

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

[Caroline]

A nice selection of short stories, autobiography, criticism, travel and biography. The short stories were fine, especially the ones infused with post-war austerity--both material and spiritual.

An enlightening and perceptive self-analysis about growing up in a lower middle class family in which the father had dived headfirst into the Christian Science imported from the States.

Then on to a shy young man's maturation, poverty, and incipient career in Paris; I haven't read Down and Out... but I imagine this would make an interesting contrast.

The journalism and criticism are full of nicely phrased insights into classics (eg Conrad esp The Secret Agent and Under Western Eyes) and peers like Graham Greene (he's not a fan). The travel writing focuses on Spain and is full of generalizations about regional character traits that is very much of its time.

The biographical selections are from his books on Balzac and Turgenev. There is a lot of space given up to plot summaries and quotes, which reduces the amount of actual information and analysis. I don't think biography is his strongest suit.

[Pippa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this was the collection of essays I read. I liked it immensely, particularly the travel and autobiography. He seemed strangely blank on politics, but perhaps just didn't feel it was his domain (?) Another book I wanted to buy. :D