Corrigan

by Caroline Blackwood, Andrew Solomon (Afterword)

Corrigan is at once a mordant comedy of manners and a very modern morality play. Since her husband's death, the increasingly frail Mrs. Blunt has had only her trips to his grave to look forward to. Her raucous housekeeper's conversation, and cooking, are best forgotten. Nadine, her daughter, is an infrequent, uneasy visitor. Then one day a charming, wheelchair-bound Irishman shows up at Mrs. Blunt's door in search of charitable contributions. Corrigan is an arch manipulator, Mrs. Blunt is his mark, and before long we realize that they are made for each other. As the two grow ever more entrenched, Nadine fears for her mother's safety (or is it for her own inheritance?). With Corrigan Caroline Blackwood takes a long, hard look at our dearly beloved notions of saints and sinners, victims and villains, patrimony and present pleasure—and winks.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, British Literature, Literary Fiction, Literature, Novels, 20th Century

319 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

was a writer, and the eldest child of The 4th Marquess of Dufferin and Ava and the brewery heiress Maureen Guinness.

A well-known figure in the literary world through her journalism and her novels, Lady Caroline Blackwood was equally well known for her high-profile marriages, first to the artist Lucian Freud, then to the composer Israel Citkowitz and finally to the poet Robert Lowell, who described her as "a mermaid who dines upon the bones of her winded lovers". Her novels are known for their wit and intelligence, and one in particular is scathingly autobiographical in describing her unhappy childhood.

She was born into an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family from Ulster at 4 Hans Crescent in Knightsbridge, her parents' London home. She was, she admitted, "scantily educated" at, among other schools, Rockport School (County Down) and Downham (Essex). After a finishing school in Oxford she was presented as a debutante in 1949 at a ball held at Londonderry House.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. I absolutely loved this book. I swear that whoever chooses what to include in the New York Review Books Classics series handpicks them especially for me, which is nice of them (I'm thinking particularly of Cassandra at the Wedding and Wish Her Safe at Home, which I never would have discovered otherwise). All three focus on the interior monologues of characters (who happen to be slightly deranged), which is my favorite literary device.

[Troy Alexander · Rating 5 out of 5]

I tore through this book like a hot knife through butter. It is darkly comic, sinister, and extremely well-written. Loved it!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Engrossing psychological suspense that ends up exactly where you think it will, and yet not quite, thanks to Blackwood's cheeky sleight of hand. The misery and dread builds nicely - and then we're left with our assumptions shattered, and we're not sure if it's a triumph or a tragedy. The lengths the lonely will go to.

[Lobstergirl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was surprised to see this was published in 1984. It felt 20-40 years older.

Mrs. Blunt is a widow (age unspecified) living in Wiltshire, England in a large house. Her husband, a Colonel, died several years ago and she's still deeply grieving; they had been so close that their daughter, Nadine, often felt excluded. She doesn't do much of anything, except be annoyed by the largeness and loudness of her Irish housekeeper, Mrs. Murphy. One day a handsome man in a wheelchair comes to her door soliciting funds for the St. Crispins hospital/home for the disabled in London. He appears to be about 35, and is known only as Corrigan. Mrs. Blunt takes a liking to Corrigan, is sympathetic to his stories of disability and deprivation, and over the course of weeks and months becomes closer and closer to him. Corrigan asks her to become penpals with his co-resident at St. Crispins, Rupert Sinclair, and she does, revealing more about herself to someone she has never known than she ever does to those closest to her. She sends champagne back with Corrigan to St. Crispins. Mrs. Murphy takes an instant dislike to Corrigan, beyond the fact that she has to lift him into the house each time he visits. Corrigan shows up one day with bandaged hands in a different wheelchair and explains he was in an accident that destroyed his wheelchair; Mrs. Blunt contrives to anonymously donate two thousand pounds to St. Crispins for his new wheelchair and other items.

In the meantime, Nadine Blunt Conroy is living unhappily with her husband Justin, a journalist, and their rowdy twin boys. Justin expects Nadine to run a perfect home, meals cooked on time, dinner parties thrown, the house kept clean, the boys well-behaved, and she's getting a little tired of it. In fact, she has stopped having sex with Justin and moved out of the bedroom and thinks she might want a divorce. She has conversations about her life with her model friend Sabrina (literally, a model).

Soon Mrs. Blunt has remodeled her house with a wheelchair ramp entrance, and done over the whole first floor, installing a bathroom for Corrigan and giving over the entire parlor for his bedroom. He more or less moves in and they eat all their meals together and read poetry and sing songs. She also plants her garden with vegetables that can be donated to St. Crispins, and buys the farm next door because she has a sudden desire to raise dairy cows. She buys a big van so she can drive around to furniture auctions and buy up antiques. She begins to paint. All of this is due to Corrigan's influence.

Finally, Nadine meets Corrigan and, as can be expected, loathes him. She can see that Corrigan is a first-class manipulator and she can't stand to spend time around him.

Mrs. Blunt dies of a heart attack suddenly. Nadine tracks down the address of St. Crispins and finds not a hospital there, but a greasy, disgusting pancake restaurant frequented by surly-looking lowlifes. She sees the fancy ormolu dresser her mother bought standing against a wall. They claim there they've never heard of Corrigan, although as it turns out, the woman serving pancakes - who looks like an old prostitute - is probably Corrigan's mother (who he had said was dead).

Fortunately for Nadine's nerves, and for the reader, Mrs. Blunt has actually left Corrigan out of her will. Her estate is to be divided among Nadine and Mrs. Murphy, with Nadine getting the house and land. This gives Nadine the freedom to finally leave Justin and move to Wiltshire. We also find out that Mrs. Blunt had been more cognizant of Corrigan's lies and manipulations than we thought; she knew there was no Rupert Sinclair, probably (?) she knew there was no St. Crispins (I'm not clear on that), and she knew that Corrigan actually was not disabled because she could hear him walking around the house at night. She maintained a friendship with Corrigan because she wanted the friendship; it provided her with certain things, with companionship, with a sense of helping someone else, and it got her out of her lethargic grief. After Mrs. Blunt's funeral, we never see or hear from Corrigan again. Nadine decides to let sleeping dogs lie rather than prosecute him for fraud or theft.

Mrs. Murphy, from a moral standpoint, comes off best in the novel. Justin struck me as just as despicable a human as Corrigan, and Mrs. Blunt, Nadine, and Sabrina fell into a large middle, neither admirable nor rogues.

The novel did begin to drag at about the 80% mark. I felt like a good 20 pages could have been cut with no repercussions. There was quite a bit of repetition - conversations, especially with Nadine and Sabrina, that went over the same ground again and again. (Andrew Solomon addresses this repetition in his Afterword.)

Solomon explains that he knew Caroline Blackwood - he had "the pleasure of knowing her" and that she enjoyed duping people, so it was no surprise that she would write such a novel. When your friends dupe you, is that a pleasurable thing? Me, if I have friends who dupe me, no matter how charming they are about it, and Solomon clearly was charmed by Lady Caroline Blackwood, they are not my friends any longer. As is often the case, this is an NYRB afterword which doesn't do justice. Solomon does a relatively decent job of explaining the novel, but he's not convincing on why we ought to like or admire Caroline Blackwood, or how he knew her. How did they become friends, and why?

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Corrigan" is a book about a con, which is so obvious, you figure it out right away. Then you spend two-thirds of the book impatiently waiting for the characters to catch up with you ... only to discover that the person who's been conned is you.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ultra delish!

[Shashi Martynova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Обаятельный умный камерный роман.
Философемы его я бы сводила к четырем, при всей их очевидности необходимых к постоянному перечувствованию и осмыслению:

1. Никогда не знаешь, где найдешь, где потеряешь.
2. Есть много чего ценного на свете, чего не купишь за деньги.
3. Жизнь ловчее и умнее и людей, и литературы, которую они пишут.
4. Конец жизни и смерть могут быть обалденно важными и прекрасными событиями, главное, чтобы мозги работали и тело не грузило серьезными болевыми ощущениями.

[Justin Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

A double bind with this one: if you don't read the excellent afterword by Andrew Solomon, the book seems repetitive and poorly constructed: do we really need a scene of a woman throwing herself on a bed in tears to be followed by ten pages explaining how unhappy she is? This type of thing happens throughout the novel.
If, on the other hand, you do read the afterword, which makes a decent case for Blackwood's writing, you know the ending which makes the book unbearable. So, although I didn't enjoy it much, maybe other people will if they know that the flatness and simplicity of the characters, and the repetition and so on are there for a reason which, with a little thought, you can understand after finding out what happens at the end. Or, if you're lazy like me, by reading the Afterword. But for god's sake, don't read it, or the blurb on the back, before you read the book.
Anyway, if you like 19th century drawing room drama, or, in a completely different key, Henry James' psychologising, you'll get something out of this. And if you're interested in formal experiments which don't batter you over the head, you'll get a kick out of the Afterword.

[Rachel Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5- The first three-quarters of this novel are so ridiculous and campy, not to mention well-written. I was convinced I was hurtling towards an ending full of delicious bitchiness and comeuppances. Instead this thing fell apart and you could feel the author’s desperation at trying to wrap things up in a compelling way and failing.

[Zaylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You can tell a man's character from the books you see on his shelves."

[Max · Rating 3 out of 5]

If this book were a Jason Statham movie he would have fried Corrigan's brains on a pancake griddle in the first ten minutes.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An odd story. [Unnecessarily semi-spoiled by the NYRB back cover synopsis...] I’m grateful for the Afterword by Andrew Solomon that did a nice job of explaining Caroline Blackwood’s understated sleight of hand and the extent to which aspects of this book and its characters are reflective of her own personal tastes and experiences (Solomon knew Blackwood personally). She does indeed dupe both her characters and her readers in some interesting and unexpected ways.

[Max Nemtsov · Rating 5 out of 5]

роман хоть и английский, но вполне в духе традиционного ирландского нарратива о визитах бесов из преисподней (вспомните, например, "Шенну") и о взаимодействии с ними обычных людей. говорить о нем что-то ещё - только портить, поэтому скажу только, что неназываемые критики, считающие его "неудачным", вообще-то идиоты. как английская "комедия манер" он и впрямь не весьма искрометен, ибо написан, гм, безыскусно и очень незамысловато, но это и не "к��медия манер", а взгляд в более темные глубины хтони, произведение гораздо хитрее и сложнее плоских жанровых этикеток и ценников. ну и да, эпиграфом могло бы стать известное из солнца русской поэзии:

Но притворитесь! Этот взгляд
Все может выразить так чудно!
Ах, обмануть меня не трудно!..
Я сам обманываться рад!

в том и ужас.

[Conchita Matson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting. The author is toying with the reader. What kind of reaction is the reader going to have when presented with the truth? What really is the truth? There are many truths in situations, it’s all in how you view it - with emotion, realism or a mixture of both. Which one are you?

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pages upon pages of dialogue, and most of it just so mundane. Rather melodramatic and hardly incisive, witty, or entertaining. Grey-tinted snapshots of unsatisfying lives, not even unseemly or tragic enough to make me care. Not worth recommending, except to get a look at the NYRB cover art. Still, no extra stars for that.

[☆tijana☆ · Rating 4 out of 5]

what an ominous man.. blackwood manages to give me the heebie jeebies with simple descriptions of metal against gravel..

this was an interesting piece dwelling on morality and deception. the story took a few turns that managed to surprise me, and that's always a plus. all in all a fun and quick read, great for rainy november days.

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love it.

[Maxine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Caroline Blackwood you genius.

"The author takes a slightly malign pleasure in giving us at the end not only the true plot but also the true depth of characterisation. She trumps us not only with information - who knew what - but also with her wit in abruptly turning her own flat figures into fully realised, complicated people."

[Iva · Rating 5 out of 5]

You might think of it as a sort of mystery or perhaps a comedy, but I'll just say it was a great read. Blackwood developed horrid characters--every last one of them --and then wrings everything she possibly can out of them. She knows families well and their motivations. The plot is about a con game played by a wordsmith; start this novel and expect to be totally involved. Blackwood is a gem of a writer. Andrew Solomon's afterward in the NYRB edition (definitely not an introduction)presents an excellent analysis of the novel.

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED IT. Couldn't put it down. Even better the second read.

[Pip Jennings · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very clever & intriguing book. Corrigan is a Svengali like character who meets his match in Mrs Blunt. I enjoyed it very much & the afterword by Andrew Solomon was very good.

[Maddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speechless. Review to come. I have a new favorite author after reading this and The Stepdaughter.

Thank you to NYRB for my gifted copy!

[Dermot O'Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Granny Webster is Caroline Blackwood's masterpiece; this is dull by comparison. Not that the prose is not as exuberant or witty, it's just that Corrigan is too long. The problem I think is the daughter Nadine, who lacks any spark of humanity, has no affinity with her mother, husband or even her children. Her friend Sabrina is better and I suspect a proxy for Blackwood herself. Generally, that side of the novel is much less engaging and could be cut back. On the other hand, Mrs Murphy, a far more interesting character, could be given more to do. You can certainly admire the conceit: that the aim of the book is to understate and conceal the talents of the principal characters, but that's not compensation enough. Having the full personalities revealed would make for a better book.

[Virginia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm by turns pleased and irritated by this book - my copy is a barely-readable 40-year-old paperback with toast-coloured, mushroomy pages, smelling of mold - and several of times I was tempted to give up. However the ending sort of paid off, and on the advice of another reviewer I looked up the Andrew Corrigan essay (here at https://andrewsolomon.com/articles/co...) and I'm marginally more inclined to think better of the whole thing. I'd picked this up after reading the blurb by Penelope Lively, whom I adored at one time and would have eaten a lavatory puck if she'd recommended it; plus I'd enjoyed Great Granny Webster. In the end, none of the characters was the least bit sympathetic; maybe I've had too much life experience with manipulators and poseurs to show the required patience with this one. 3 1/2 stars and a trip to the compost box.

[Natasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Separate the art from the home-wrecking Guinness heiress. A book so original it not only invents its own genre but also creates a philosophical approach to being a woman that is very different from anything else I have encountered and of course extremely fucked up. Blackly funny, totally unpretentious, and any parts that I thought were "bad writing" were revealed to be absolutely necessary by the end. Fantastic afterword in NYRB edition that includes anecdote of hubby Rob Lowell chiseling into the wall because he *hears voices* and instead of telling him to stop, Caroline picks up a chisel and joins in.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Difficult to gauge exactly how I feel about this one. The ending and its "lesson" is phenomenal and important. There is a perfect balance of satisfaction and challenge in the finale. The lead up however...is tiresomely repetitive. The first eighty pages or so are mired in tedium, but luckly (and unlike most books) each pages gets better and better after that.

[Neenie Gove · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED this book. So hard to describe why, I just liked the vague creepiness, the uncertainty as to what was really going on, the absolute uniqueness of the storyline. Really well-written, not a word out of place. Looking for more books by this author but they seem to all be out of print and the existing copies really expensive.

[Jakob Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A psychological novel of surprising depth that's also enjoyable as the prattling domestic comedy of archetypes it pretends to be for the majority of its length. I was proud of myself for discovering the plot twist before the guy in the afterword said he did :)

[Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny and some great characters

[Lolo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75