La vergine nel giardino

The Frederica Quartet #1

by A.S. Byatt, Anna Nadotti (Translator), Giovanna Iorio Bates (Translator)

Primo romanzo del «quartetto» che ha per protagonista Frederica Potter, La vergine nel giardino è un libro sull'adolescenza, sull'età delle sperimentazioni e delle prime scelte decisive. È anche una meditazione sul desiderio: amoroso, intellettuale e sessuale. La giovane protagonista, con la sua intraprendenza imbarazzante per l'Inghilterra degli anni Cinquanta, anticipa fin da questo libro i passi difficili della donna che sarà, e che i lettori hanno conosciuto nella Torre di Babele.

Blesford, 1953: in questa cittadina di un'Inghilterra che si sta lasciando alle spalle la tragedia del secondo conflitto mondiale e le ristrettezze dell'immediato dopoguerra, prende avvio il monumentale «quartetto» di Antonia Byatt - La vergine nel giardino, Natura morta, La torre di Babele, La donna che fischia - di cui è protagonista Frederica Potter. Protagonista tra protagonisti, poiché ogni personaggio ha per Byatt una sua misura irrinunciabile, un'equilibrata centralità. In questo primo volume, una Frederica diciassettenne, studentessa fin troppo brillante, vive disinvoltamente una sorta di doppia vita: in famiglia - e non è una famiglia qualunque, la sua, all'ombra del dispotico Bill Potter, il padre da cui ha ereditato una sfrenata passione per la letteratura - e nel teatro dai molteplici sipari dove viene allestita l'opera che dà titolo al romanzo, La vergine nel giardino.
La vergine in questione è Elisabetta I d'Inghilterra, regina dai molti amanti che a un marito preferì il potere e la libertà e seppe imporre entrambi al proprio paese.
A Elisabetta giovane, Frederica presta una magrezza sensuale e battagliera e un acume interpretativo che sedurrà l'affascinante drammaturgo Alexander Wedderburn. L'allestimento dell'opera è occasione d'incontri, repentini abbandoni, fraintendimenti e intuizioni esatte. Fuori scena, nella luce lunare del giardino, il teatro del corpo; sulla scena, un erudito rinascimento inglese che tuttavia pregusta il Marat Sade; ma intanto, nei salotti piccolo borghesi, il neonato schermo televisivo propone all'immaginario collettivo l'incoronazione di una minuscola regina in bianco e nero, parodia di passate grandezze.
Mentre Frederica calca la scena e si aggira tra le quinte, sua sorella Stephanie, altrettanto letterata e più morbidamente sensuale, si innamora e sposa il reverendo Orton, che il padre considera un diavolo in abito talare. Quanto al fratello Marcus, in una casa di umanisti intransigenti la sua passione scientifica, i suoi esperimenti paranormali, l'ancora indefinita identità sessuale ne fanno un soggetto alieno, la cui estraneità è destinata a manifestarsi in un evento tragico. I tre ragazzi Potter mettono in discussione tutto: lo spazio fisico della loro esistenza, l'università e la cultura del tempo, relazioni e amicizie e, soprattutto, il microcosmo famigliare, la cui lacerazione anticipa quella di un'intera società che di lì a poco, negli anni Sessanta, sarà attraversata in tutta Europa da trasformazioni profonde.
Prima parte di un'opera sulla nostra storia recente, La vergine nel giardino costituisce anche il primo atto di un'insolita, fluviale meditazione sul desiderio: amoroso, intellettuale, sessuale. E Frederica Potter, con la sua imbarazzante intraprendenza, i suoi distinguo verbali, il suo modo diretto e inquisitorio di guardare persone e cose, anticipa fin d'ora i passi difficili della donna che sarà.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, British Literature, Historical, Literature, 20th Century

512 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

A.S. Byatt (Antonia Susan Byatt) is internationally known for her novels and short stories. Her novels include the Booker Prize winner Possession, The Biographer’s Tale and the quartet, The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, Babel Tower and A Whistling Woman, and her highly acclaimed collections of short stories include Sugar and Other Stories, The Matisse Stories, The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye, Elementals and her most recent book Little Black Book of Stories. A distinguished critic as well as a writer of fiction, A S Byatt was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999.

BYATT, Dame Antonia (Susan), (Dame Antonia Duffy), DBE 1999 (CBE 1990); FRSL 1983; Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), 2003 , writer; born 24 Aug. 1936;

Daughter of His Honour John Frederick Drabble, QC and late Kathleen Marie Bloor

Byatt has famously been engaged in a long-running feud with her novelist sister, Margaret Drabble, over the alleged appropriation of a family tea-set in one of her novels. The pair seldom see each other and each does not read the books of the other.

Married
1st, 1959, Ian Charles Rayner Byatt (Sir I. C. R. Byatt) marriage dissolved. 1969; one daughter (one son deceased)
2nd, 1969, Peter John Duffy; two daughters.

Education
Sheffield High School; The Mount School, York; Newnham College, Cambridge (BA Hons; Hon. Fellow 1999); Bryn Mawr College, Philadelphia, USA; Somerville College, Oxford.

Academic Honours:
Hon. Fellow, London Inst., 2000; Fellow UCL, 2004
Hon. DLitt: Bradford, 1987; DUniv York, 1991; Durham, 1991; Nottingham, 1992; Liverpool, 1993; Portsmouth, 1994; London, 1995; Sheffield, 2000; Kent 2004; Hon. LittD Cambridge, 1999

Prizes
The PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Of Fiction prize, 1986 for STILL LIFE
The Booker Prize, 1990, for POSSESSION
Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize, 1990 for POSSESSION
The Eurasian section of Best Book in Commonwealth Prize, 1991 for POSSESSION
Premio Malaparte, Capri, 1995;
Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adult Literature, California, 1998 for THE DJINN IN THE NIGHTINGALE''S EYE
Shakespeare Prize, Toepfer Foundation, Hamburg, 2002;

Publications:
The Shadow of the Sun, 1964;
Degrees of Freedom, 1965 (reprinted as Degrees of Freedom: the early novels of Iris Murdoch, 1994);
The Game, 1967;
Wordsworth and Coleridge in their Time, 1970 (reprinted as Unruly Times: Wordsworth and Coleridge in their Time, 1989);
Iris Murdoch 1976
The Virgin in the Garden, 1978;
GEORGE ELIOT Selected Essays, Poems and Other Writings , 1979 (editor);
Still Life, 1985
Sugar and Other Stories, 1987;
George Eliot: selected essays, 1989 (editor)
Possession: a romance, 1990
Robert Browning''s Dramatic Monologues, 1990 (editor);
Passions of the Mind, (essays), 1991;
Angels and Insects (novellas),1992
The Matisse Stories (short stories),1993;
The Djinn in the Nightingale''s Eye: five fairy stories, 1994
Imagining Characters, 1995 (joint editor);
New Writing 4, 1995 (joint editor);
Babel Tower, 1996;
New Writing 6, 1997 (joint editor);
The Oxford Book of English Short Stories, 1998 (editor);
Elementals: Stories of fire and ice (short stories), 1998;
The Biographer''s Tale, 2000;
On Histories and Stories (essays), 2000;
Portraits in Fiction, 2001;
The Bird Hand Book, 2001 (Photographs by Victor Schrager Text By AS Byatt);
A Whistling Woman, 2002
Little

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

If the test of a great novel is that you want to read it again, or pick up the next one (this is the first of a quartet) then this is a good novel. If Still Life—the next title in the quartet—had been right here on the shelf I'd have started it right after I reread the Prologue.

The present time of the novel is 1953, the year of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II and, in the world of the novel, of a verse drama about the first Queen Elizabeth enacted on the grounds of an old and elegant estate in Yorkshire. The story is that of a Yorkshire family: father Bill Potter who’s reputed to be a magnetic teacher at Blesford Ride, a public school, but we see him primarily as a dogmatic liberal who terrorizes his family while promoting his ideas on education (he’s for it) and religion (he’s against it). Winifred, his wife, caters and defers, of necessity becoming exactly the kind of woman he deplores and whose life her daughters (Stephanie and Frederica) seek to escape. Marcus, the youngest and his mother’s favorite, is inner-directed, even spiritual, awkward with just about everyone, observant of phenomena of his world--and becomes prey for a disturbed science teacher.

The novel, which in general is slow moving and highly allusive has a surprisingly dramatic closing sequence for a writer who says she didn’t think she could tell stories. I had to laugh, though, at the very end: the scene is between Daniel, the fat, unkempt priest who marries the elder Potter daughter against the wishes of her parents, and Frederica in the small flat where the pregnant Stephanie is comforting the very disturbed Marcus.

Here's the last paragraph: "Waiting and patience, of this inactive kind, did not come easily to him. Or to Frederica, he decided, without much sympathy for her. He gave her a cup of tea and the two of them sat together in uncommunicative silence, considering the still and passive pair on the sofa. That was not the end, but since it went on for a considerable time, is as good a place to stop as any."

I loved that ending and asked myself why:

1. It caused me to consider the title of the second book in the quartet, Still Life. Stephanie and Marcus were "still" in their way but that was not true of Frederica and Daniel about whom "stillness" is almost the last word that would occur in any description of their characters.

2. It sent me immediately back to reread the prologue where I rediscovered that Daniel was one of the guests at the celebration in the Portrait Gallery in 1968---long after the New Elizabethan Age furor is over. Alexander Wedderburn, who wrote the 1953 verse play as a budding writer teaching at Blesford Ride, is also there, signaling perhaps that these two, and Frederica who invited them are of most interest in the novel.

3. The implication that there's more to the history of these characters made me want to continue immediately with the next book. And that reminds me that I absolutely loved the way Byatt handled time in the novel, the constant references to what different characters would do or think in the future, often with a date attached, usually in the 1970s. So you know the story goes on beyond the 1968 prologue. That's not an end to the story. AND that Byatt must have had the sequence fairly well planned out.

4. It reminded me that I liked the third person omniscient narrator which since Henry James has been used less frequently in serious fiction. I think Byatt uses it brilliantly and this ending paragraph is an example. SHE knows what happens to them all and will tell you if you're patient. The ostensible third person narrative showcases the author’s extraordinary insight into so many different characters. Before the novel is over, we know all the Potters well, and even have some insights into the extraordinarily bad father. And 4 or 5 additional characters as well.

There is a narrator, though, in this novel and one who gradually makes us realize that Frederica is the main character. Some readers see Frederica as the narrator, and that is possible if one assumes a Frederica observing at some point in the future and if one assumes, as I do, that Frederica is capable of considerable detachment. But I prefer to think it's Byatt's re-incarnation of the 19th century 3rd person omniscient narrator who, as the novel goes on, focuses on the awkward, studious 17-year old ready to catapult herself into "real life". In addition, it's this narrator--definitely female--who provides the considerable humor in the novel.

My argument that the narrative is essentially (if not strictly) third person centers around the intimate (and convincing) inside view of so many different characters. What makes this a strong novel it seems to me is that Frederica is NOT Byatt thinly disguised, even though the family does seem quite similar (but then it also seems similar to the Bröntes, a point of view some in the novel espouse). In the "real" family she was the eldest and she even says that killing off Stephanie (which happens in another novel) seems, in retrospect, killing off herself. But she also says that she was shy and uncommunicative as a child, with interests in science—and that Marcus is in many ways a portrait of herself.

[mark monday · Rating 4 out of 5]

What he had made was so dense: thick, like all good fifties verse drama, with witty imagery, which meant jostling suns and moons and swans and gossamer and flowers and stones, and again thick with the specificity of the visual imagination of a playwright who designed his own costumes, chestnut and twilight velvets, packed radiant pleats and gilded stitchery of which actually could only be a shadowy representation.

A good quote that sums up a good book. How about a less refined summation: the book is like a fruitcake. As thick, rich, and dense as a fruitcake, and as full of fruits and nuts.

We follow the lives of a family and assorted other cast members during a short time period. Perhaps a year? The story takes place around an even denser, chewier center: the lavish production of a play - one that is more pageant than theater - celebrating Elizabeth I. It's set in 1953, the year of Elizabeth II's coronation. The book is England, in a way. Or at least an England that was - and a very particular slice of that England. A thick slice of fruitcake, which is not to everyone's taste.

The family is a literary one, of sorts. The father is an atheist, an iconoclastic teacher, an obnoxious and tyrannical blowhard, an asshole of the old school. The mother is a shadow, barely there, but able to draw upon a hidden well of strength when necessary. The youngest, a boy, is a little madman, literally: he is mentally unwell, prone to hallucinations that distort the space around him. The older daughter is a sensible sort, bound to disappoint her father's ambitions for her. The younger daughter takes after her dad, and so is an obnoxious and understandably disliked striver who is talented in nearly every way, except socially and romantically. The book is the first in a quartet, all of which follow the younger daughter as she lives her life her way. There are other characters, a couple of which appear, narratively, to be even more important to the story than this eccentric family: my least favorite character, the author of the pageant celebrating Elizabeth I, a pallid and weak but apparently very attractive fellow; my favorite character, the older daughter's love interest, an intense and dour young curate heavy with the do-gooder impulse, and apparently quite heavy in general (much is made of his fat).

A lot of things happen in the story: a courtship and an affair and a bloody defloration and lots of lovemaking and some sexual depredation and all of the nuts & bolts of putting on a massive play and a wedding and weird transcendental experiments in nature and well-overdue trips to the madhouse for two characters. But this is an almost excruciatingly slow book. It is full of long winding sentences and the occasional burst of dialogue, elegant but long-winded prose punctuated by surprisingly earthy description; it is full of details, of lists in paragraph format, itemizations; it is full of descriptions of history and literature and of many more subjects, described in a way that assumes the reader is well-acquainted with each of these subjects. The reader is not (at least this reader wasn't). A.S. Byatt writes like an exceedingly pretentious professor who doesn't care if her students can follow along. I've enjoyed those sorts of professors, but many do not. When a person imagines what the word "literary" means, they should probably think of this book. This is a modern classic, I suppose, but it is very hard to recommend. Virgin in the Garden has been described as "completely unreadable" but I mainly loved it. The person who said that sounds like a wuss.

The characterization is deep; as thick and dense and rich as the book itself. The reader gets to fully understand each of the featured cast. Often it becomes the case where the more we get to understand the character, the more we come to dislike them. By 'we' I mean 'me' - tastes may vary. The astonishingly self-absorbed father and younger daughter were increasingly insufferable, despite their very big brains; even worse was the playwright, who slowly turns into Passivity personified. All are hard pills to swallow. Byatt certainly looks upon them with a cold eye, despite the rigorously fair and nuanced characterization. Fortunately, the older daughter and her curate become increasingly admirable, despite their mutual lack of imagination. I'm sure Byatt understood what she was doing here: creating a scathing but sometimes loving portrait of literary types who are just like her, while extolling the virtues of more commonsense types. An old game played by many literary types. Although Byatt has said that she identifies most with the insane young son, whose portions of the story seem to come from an entirely different novel; his segments are almost off-puttingly strange. Per the author: the son is "a self-portrait: somebody baffled by things being far too much and not fittable into any of the languages you were offered."

I'm sorry Byatt, but I doubt that is true. I think you are imagining things about yourself. Your book is not baffled; it understands everything about everyone on its stage, it is granular rather than sweeping, its characterization is microscopic, it makes their lives more comprehensible to the reader than to the characters themselves, nothing is left unexamined or ambiguous, everything is explored.

What, in the end, is the book's purpose? Does it have a theme it is exploring, a point that it is making? The end itself is almost insultingly abrupt, after all that came before. So no clues there. My takeaway is that Virgin in the Garden is simply about a year where everything changes for every character. It is a slice of life, but of a unique time in the lives of its cast. The next slice will taste completely different.

[Lorna · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Virgin in the Garden is the first in the first book in The Frederica Quartet by A.S. Byatt was a stunning piece of literary fiction. Taking place in 1953 and England is preparing for the coronation of Elizabeth II. Set in academia, the book revolves around a play that is to be presented about the life of the first Queen Elizabeth. This is a book rich in characters and dialogue and behind-the-scenes dramatizations of what it takes to put on such a performance.

The book tells the story of the Potter family and of the people that surround them. Bill Potter is head of the department at a private boy's school. He is domineering and temperamental, frequently exploding in rages terrifying his family. His wife Winifred attempts to smooth out the tirades that Bill Potter is prone to with her three children, but it is clear that living with such a demanding man has taken its toll. The eldest daughter Stephanie is a teacher, Frederica is in her final year of school and their brother Marcus attends his father's school. While Stephanie and Frederica share their father's literary interests, Marcus is a mathematical genius. The drama of the Potter family unfolds in the midst of this setting.

The writing throughout the book was rich with literary references and sparkling dialogue.

"So he watched from his window as she tiptoed across the moonlit lawn, head bent under her beret, looking up once at his dark bulk in his darkened window. He lifted his arm in a generous salute, a victorious general. His body was pleasantly warm. His imagination was pleasantly at ease. He did not, he hoped, underestimate the difficulties of the next advance. But he had come so far, so far, with daring and love, it was impossible to imagine he would not go further."

[Davide · Rating 5 out of 5]

Il brulicare dei significati
[dopo la seconda lettura, febbraio 2018]

Chi non apprezza particolarmente Antonia Byatt trova i suoi libri – e questo in modo particolare – prolissi o pesanti o troppo eruditi. Io invece li apprezzo molto e potrei al massimo dire che sono libri densi. Densi perché stipati, pieni di oggetti, di descrizioni, di pensieri, di personaggi, di citazioni, dichiarate o meno. E questi libri densi, solitamente, io me li godo proprio, pagina dopo pagina.
Le varie forme dell’arte, la letteratura, il teatro, le ossessioni per le spiegazioni onnicomprensive dell’universo e della società, l’incontro-scontro-incrocio tra religione e scienza (qui qualcosa rimanda anche a Angeli e insetti, oltre che ai successivi capitoli del “quartetto”); e come tutto questo si unisce ai rapporti interpersonali, alla scoperta-costruzione di sé, al sesso, alla famiglia: tutti i temi principali di Byatt mi interessano e ammiro la sua capacità di calarli in luoghi e tempi molto precisi.
E poi mi interessano tutti i suoi personaggi; mi piace la grande attenzione ai particolari, ai vestiti, ai movimenti dei corpi, alle parole, che rivelano identità sociali e psicologiche. E mi piace come questi libri densi, che stimolano il desiderio di soffermarsi sul particolare, di approfondire, di uscire dal testo per trovare altri riferimenti, immagini, vicende storiche, allo stesso tempo riescano ad essere intessuti di vicende che trascinano con forza avanti (qui l’energia di Daniel, il desiderio di scoprire la vita e di scintillare di Frederica: “Voglio, voglio, voglio…”).
È il primo momento del “quartetto di Frederica Potter”, ma in questo primo romanzo Frederica è solo uno dei personaggi principali, non annulla certo gli altri.

Per concludere, due citazioni, che nel testo sono legate a situazioni ben precise, ma che – estrapolate – possono diventare epigrafi del tutto:
«una sorta di dickensiana nostalgia per i dettagli di una vita svanita».
«Tutto brulicava di possibili significati».

[Bloodorange · Rating 5 out of 5]

This probably is the best book I will have read this year. This also is my first Byatt, and I love it.

This book is dense - so dense I picked up a few other books as I was reading it, just to convince myself I did not become a slow reader overnight. Byatt manages her subplots and first-person narratives exceedingly well; the only subplot that seems to belong elsewhere is nicely incorporated towards the end.

But the BIGGEST THING about it is how psychologically true it feels (the psycho-plot aside, I'm not qualified to assess that). In the book that is strikingly intertextual and metatextual to the point of artificiality (in the best way possible, I had many a guilty giggle on that account), Byatt places her characters in situations we ache to see changed, and then - when no violent incident occurs, no decision is taken, and what was to happen, happens - we are compelled to say this feels right and real.

On my way to locate the rest of "The Frederica Quartet".

Click here for my review of the second installment of The Frederica Quartet series - Still Life: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... and the third - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jonfaith · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this one in Chicago and was rather impressed with the juggling of perspectives and the sweeping use of the Jubilee and Elizabeth I throughout. Dovetailing erudion and emotional awkwardness made this a definite success.

[Bettie · Rating 3 out of 5]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jsfz


In 1950s Yorkshire, Frederica Potter, still living at home, senses that something exciting is beginning. Stars Hannah Watkins.

A wealthy theatre director is producing a play and Frederica Potter is desperate to secure a role.

Stephanie is increasingly worried about her brother, Marcus, and the influence a teacher is having on him.

Stephanie and Daniel declare their feelings for each other but her father reacts badly to the news.

In coronation year, Bill Potter has trouble accepting his daughter's desire to marry curate Daniel.

Stephanie and Daniel settle into married life, while sister Frederica continues with her acting.

Marcus and Simmonds' experiments begin to take on a more sinister nature.

As their experiments continue, Marcus becomes worried over the deterioration of Simmonds' state of mind.

Pompous and asphyxiating, the middle classes, and doubly so those writers who replicate so meticulously, although I did sit closer for Marcus's 'alchemy' experiments with Simmonds.

I am committed to the tetralogy via R4x, please hope that not all the Spode will be smashed against the Aga in the process, heh

4* Possession
OH The Children's Book
3* The Virgin in the Garden
CR Still Life
4* The Matisse Stories
TR Ragnarok

[Proustitute (on hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The play's the thing...

If Proust, George Eliot, and D. H. Lawrence met in a bar and struck up a conversation about art, love, nature, desire, religion, and literature, you would have something like A. S. Byatt’s work. As I said last summer in my review of The Children’s Book, I’m ashamed it’s taken me so long to get to her work after a hazy memory of a bad experience with Possession in grad school. 



And after something like a month with The Virgin in the Garden, I’m ready to commit much of my upcoming summer to the rest of Byatt’s Frederica quartet. This book was such a pleasure to get lost in: filled with references to visual art, classical mythology, the 1953 coronation of Elizabeth II, and the Golden Age of the first Elizabeth while a verse play about her reign is being staged on the heels of the accession. Astute readers may know some references, but hardly all: Byatt’s work—and I’m going off The Children’s Book here only, as it’s more freshly imprinted on my mind—will have everyone Googling at least something.

 For me, that was part of the fun of it—and also why it took so long to get through.

Which leads me to a gripe: the main criticism of this book, from what I’ve read, and perhaps of Byatt’s work in general, is that it’s too showy, it’s too snobbish, it revels too much in its own intellectual curiosities. But so what? These aren’t books aimed to be bestsellers; these are for those who read to learn, those who want to delve deeply into history, art, music, literature, and how these impact and influence our daily lives. If those don’t have any impact on or relevance to your daily life, then Byatt isn’t writing for you. It’s not her, it’s you.



I really enjoyed how all of the characters were fleshed out here, from major to minor; not only can Byatt make your head spin with her impressive knowledge, but she knows how to tell a story and she knows how to make her characters come alive, feel as real as people you know, and compel you to want more. From the playwright/teacher Alexander who stands in the midst of all of the pageantry and quite a great deal of sexual rivalry, to the sensitive, withdrawn, “visionary” Marcus, whose genius for geometry is tempered by a strange foray into metaphysical realms with a tutor who claims to have the wisdom to decipher things; from Stephanie, who rebels against her secular, tyrannical father while at Cambridge only to conform—on almost all levels—once she’s back in the fold, to Frederica, the emblem of the new age, and about whose journeys I look forward to reading in the remaining three books.

These are all flesh-and-blood characters, and Byatt shifts from one to another in sometimes expected and sometimes prescient ways: even when the book flags a bit, it still soars. It’s a true performance, in every sense of the word.



Onward to Still Life.

[Geoff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me get this out of the way: A.S. Byatt is a great writer. Her prose sparkles with learned intelligence, and her characters are sketched so well they feel like living, breathing people. She is unafraid to mix in literary allusions or linger for extended periods of time over one subject or another. Normally, these are qualities I admire in a novelist, and in a different book (this being my first Byatt), I can easily imagine these qualities working brilliantly in her favor.

However, file this one under "not my cup of tea." The story sits there, inert, and when it does move it does so slowly. Most of her characters are thoroughly unlikeable, and, what's worst, largely uninteresting. There is a subplot involving a mad teacher and his poor student as they conduct metaphysical experiments which left me unsettled and strongly tempted to skip ahead.

The whole thing feels like walking into an amusement park that's closed for the winter. You look at the rides shuttered away and the boarded-up teacups and think, "Boy, this would be lovely. If only I could be allowed to get on." This will not be my last by Ms. Byatt, but count me disappointed for now.

[Virginia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this, some time in the mid-1990s, plowed my way through it, wishing it were Possession or Angels and Insects, which it wasn't. The remaining pages got thinner and thinner, and I grew concerned about how things would possibly resolve.

I read the final line, and threw the book across the room.

In the mid-aughts, I read this, grumbling aloud the whole way through by how familiar it all seemed, how angry it made me, thought I couldn't remember why.

I read the final line.

I threw the book across the room.

I crossed the room, picked it up, and threw it again.

I hereby promise to read other Byatt books in the future and not this one.

Recommended for killing bugs on the wall.

[Sara]

I am not rating this novel since I am abandoning it at page 64. Nothing in me could face any more of this...and, unfortunately I have the other three in this series on my shelf, so it amounts to ditching four books. Still, life is short and this could not be less engaging to me.

I LOVED Possession so much that I could not envision not liking something she had written. Sadly, this backfired on me this time.

Not putting the read dates in either, since I do not want it to count toward my yearly total.

[Raul · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting novel with multiple stories overlapping, Byatt juggles with different ideas, all while at the center is the Elizabethan play Astraea about Elizabeth I, which coincides with Elizabeth II’s ascension to the throne. Also at its center are the Potters: an archetypical British family from the period: domineering father, servile mother, smart children with their own set of issues that threaten the image of normality. Better described by this paragraph from the book:

“They lived by a myth of normality, an image of closed family safeties and certainties. But there were rips and interstices through which the cold blasts howled, had always howled and would howl. That had its exhilarating aspect. Howls, grimaces, naked unreason were not, as the Potter ethic and aesthetic said, temporary aberrations. They were the stuff of things. If you knew they were there you could act, truly.”

There are so many things that this book sets out to do, and accomplishes as well, that a review is bound to miss elements and one (one being me) feels that there are elements that they miss even while reading even which doesn’t dull the exhilarating part of reading this book. At the base of it, this is a book about knowledge: how it is acquired, how it is retained, how it is used, how it is misused, how it is lost.

“Knowledge was power, as long as one did not muck it up by confusing one piece of knowledge with another and trying to ingest it and turn it all into blood and feelings.”

This is the first Byatt book I’ve read, there’s still Possession and the rest of the books that form the series that this book opens, and I’ve been assured that Byatt gets better from here which makes me very excited as I'm certain to read more of her work after this one.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just re-read this first novel in the Frederica Potter series, and found it even deeper and more impressive than my first reading. It's hard to sum up, but essentially focuses on Frederica at 17, in 1954, the brash, book-loving daughter of a teacher-father with a domineering personality and very firm, progressive ideas. Cast as the young Elizabeth I in an epic drama staged to celebrate Elizabeth II's coronation, Frederica aims to set the world on fire and seduce the playwright, not necessarily in that order. Also followed closely are Frederica's older sister, Stephanie, a calmer, yet equally brilliant woman, who finds herself falling violently in love with Daniel Orton, a clergyman, to her father's utter chagrin. Also, their younger brother, Marcus, mathematically brilliant and socially inhibited, begins to explore the connections between his personal mind-games and "universal" religion, guided by a schoolmaster.

Byatt's work is multilayered and rich, and notable for her amazing ability to mimic poetry and prose styles as she creates books within books. This book is especially interesting to me in that it avoids stereotypes of what the 1950s were like, in choosing to examine this anti-conformist family, and people who aspire to an intellectual, sexually progressive, and artistic life.

[pierlapo quimby · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confermo il giudizio di qualche anno fa: tre stelle erano e tre stelle restano.
Antonia Byatt è brava, mica no, ha vaste e profonde conoscenze, il mondo accademico di Blesford Ride e gli echi di Cambridge, così come, più in generale, il teatro, l’arte e la poesia sembrano il pane suo, ma in questo romanzo del ’78 non mi sembra che si destreggi con la dovuta disinvoltura nella corposa materia con cui ha arricchito la narrazione.
Le parti che mi annoiarono allora mi hanno annoiato oggi, anzi alla noia originaria si è aggiunta nuova noia e quindi, a voler essere scientifici, la noia è raddoppiata.
La scrittura è molto ricca e iperdescrittiva, troppo; gli ambienti, gli arredi, gli oggetti, i quadri e le opere d'arte, le assurde visioni di Marcus, perfino le carni della macelleria (2 pagine disgustose, da leggere a stomaco vuoto o con un alka-seltzer che frizza nel bicchiere); un eccesso che appesantisce il romanzo e che fa lo stesso effetto di quando metti piede nel salotto buono di un'anziana zia, così zeppo di soprammobili, ninnoli, cornici, tende, tappeti, che all’uscita devi sbottonarti il colletto della camicia per riguadagnare un po’ d’aria. È così carico di cose che l’accumulo, anziché incuriosirmi e indurmi a cercar notizie su ciò che non sapevo, mi ha ben presto oppresso; le visioni geometriche di Marcus e le teorie di Simmonds mi hanno letteralmente annichilito. Ma che bisogno c’era di dettagliare così minuziosamente le visioni? “cavi o piani di fibre intrecciate o arabeschi di luce” per pagine e pagine? In materia preferisco di gran lunga la lezione di Lovecraft.
Manca di leggerezza, di ironia e quella che c'è sfiora la saccenteria, perché nasce dal gioco delle colte citazioni dei personaggi. Nei loro dialoghi un po' leziosi, soprattutto quelli che si scambiano i protagonisti della rappresentazione di Alexander, quasi tutti fanno sfoggio delle loro conoscenze e Frederica è maestra di quest’arte; esemplare lo scambio di battute con Daniel durante la crisi di Simmonds:
“Frederica gridò: – Aiuto! Aiuto! Lucas Simmonds delira in mezzo al Bilge Pond, nudo come un verme, e Alexander è là, e lui lo minaccia con un coltello. E quando dico nudo, intendo nudo. Correte. È tutto coperto di fiori ed erba, come re Lear o l’amante di Lady Chatterley. Fate qualcosa. Hanno sempre detto che ci sono le sanguisughe nello stagno, è spaventosamente nero. E lui ha un aspetto orribile, non fa che cantare.
– Chiama l’ambulanza, – disse Daniel a Stephanie, e a Frederica: – Smettila di urlare –.
[…]
– Non è il caso di darsi arie, – disse Daniel a Frederica, irritato.
– Non mi do arie, è il mio modo di esprimermi, e sono venuta a chiedere aiuto, è questo che conta, o no? – disse Frederica, scuotendo il capo con l’aria sdegnosa e melodrammatica di una menade.”
Già, è il suo modo di esprimersi: citare Shakespeare e Lawrence anche quando corre trafelata a chiamare aiuto per quella che potrebbe essere ricordata come la più spettacolare catastrofe mai capitata a Blesford Ride.
Che curiosa adolescente è questa Frederica; ci viene suggerita, non proprio mostrata, una certa confidenza con la sorella (riguardo la comune ammirazione per Alexander), ma nemmeno si accorge che è incinta; il fratello, poi, non ne parliamo, di lui sa meno di nulla. Litiga col padre, come tutti del resto, è insopportabile Bill. Il rapporto con la madre non pervenuto. Già coltissima, la vediamo alle prese con le sue ambizioni di attrice, in realtà appena sbocciate, la sua infatuazione verso Alexander (uno strano tira e molla intellettuale che ha poco di adolescenziale, a mio avviso) e i suoi maldestri rapporti con l’umanità maschile che popola il romanzo, in quella che sembra una poco convinta ricerca della sua liberazione dallo stato virgineo.
Per tornare all’atmosfera del romanzo, nelle pagine finali Daniel dirà di rimpiangere “le risate e il calore del loro piccolo appartamento”; risate e calore? Quella casa Byatt ce la mostra sì e no in un paio di occasioni e appare piuttosto infestata da esasperazione, rassegnazione, incomunicabilità, poi risolte da improvvisi e inesperti momenti di passione. Ha deliberatamente scelto di sottrarre un intero mondo emozionale al primo romanzo dedicato alla giovane Ms Potter e alle persone che le gravitano attorno.
Ad un certo punto ricordo che descrive la famiglia Potter come segnata da “scontrosa cupezza”; ecco, tutto il romanzo è un po' troppo pervaso da questa scontrosa cupezza, e freddezza intellettuale, forse.
È che non riesco a comprendere appieno le scelte dell’autrice, i suoi obiettivi poetici, ciò che l’ha spinta a sedersi a tavolino e scrivere queste 500 pagine: è un romanzo sull'inquieta adolescenza di Frederica, sulla sua ‘liberazione sessuale’? Certo, ma non solo; lei ha uno spazio almeno pari a quello di Stephanie, Alexander, Daniel, Marcus e Simmonds; è un romanzo sull'Inghilterra del '52-'53? Niente affatto, siamo nel North Yorkshire, un po' defilati e l'Inghilterra del dopo guerra proprio non si vede; è un romanzo sull'arte? Di arte ce n'è tanta, ma non ho letto nessuna riflessione sull'arte, quasi in ogni pagina si parla di poeti e pittori, tragedie e versi, ma per fare accademia fuori dall’aula o, come detto, per darsi delle arie.
I personaggi vengono messi a confronto con le loro esistenze (Daniel, Stephanie, Winifred e nell’epilogo, anche Bill) o si interrogano sulle pieghe che il destino riserverà loro (Frederica e Alexander); chi per una ragione, chi per un’altra, queste donne e uomini non fanno che riflettere sulle scelte da fare o su quelle già fatte; forse è proprio questo il motore del romanzo, ma se così fosse, mi chiedo, non si tratta di un nucleo oppresso da tanta inutile “scontrosa cupezza”?
Nota di costume: ma quante volte vengono citate le vesti di popeline? All'epoca dovevano essere particolarmente diffuse; in ogni caso, che diavolo sono le vesti di popeline? Ecco, mi dice tante cose Antonia Byatt, ma non mi fa venire voglia di saperne di più… comunque ora, almeno queste, vado a cercarle su google...

[Aleksandra Bekreneva · Rating 5 out of 5]

С удивлением поняла, что больше всего «Дева в саду» Байетт мне напомнила британский сериал Sex Education — беспощадная и увлекательная правда о взрослении в маленьком городке.

Учитывая, что книга была написана аж в 1978 году, хочется похлопать автору за прогрессивность и незашоренность. Это тот случай, когда к богатству полотна, психологизму персонажей, глубине характеров и знанию жизни у меня нет ни единого вопроса. Антония Сьюзен Байетт точно знает, о чём пишет и почему.

Хотя, во время чтения бродила и другая мысль: «О как, какие прогрессивные идеи и представления о жизни были в 50-х–70-х, а мы что-то особенно никуда вперёд от них не сдвинулись». В общем, у меня постоянно был когнитивный диссонанс, что я читаю книгу по большей части о 50-х, со вкраплением множества фактов о Елизаветинской эпохе, которая чуть ли не современнее всего того, что у меня прямо сейчас за окном. Я такое, как вы понимаете, сильно люблю. По этой же причине пищала от Овидия — он творил более 2 000 лет назад, а до сих пор моднее и актуальнее многих инфлюэнсеров. С Байетт ровно та же история.

В любимые авторы однозначно, и я так втянулась в эту историю, что сразу же буду читать продолжение. Расстаться с героями сил нет абсолютно никаких!

Всем, кто годами настойчиво советовал мне Байетт — огромная благодарность.

Вот знаете, тот случай, когда не плоско, не банально, а книга чуть ли не превосходит жизнь по трушности, настоящести, глубине! Очень!

Отдельно хочется сказать про эмоциональную атмосферу: она до невозможности тёплая, уютная и прекрасная, как когда идёшь по дикому летнему саду перед грозой — вдыхая ароматы и наслаждаясь всем вокруг.

[Bob · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Byatt's third of eleven novels to date, from 1978.

It takes place almost entirely in the early 50s, though with occasional jumps of a decade or two into the future to offer a smattering of the characters' future insights and to poke a hole or two in the fourth wall, referring once to when she actually wrote it, the fact that the ending is at a fairly arbitrary point and so on.

The milieu is a provincial northern town where an aspiring playwright and schoolmaster has the local cultural impresarios putting on his modern verse play about Queen Elizabeth. The central family has three children, two sisters (17 and 22) and a somewhat autistic 16-year-old brother (with the requisite savant qualities). Their father is irascible, intractable and fulminantly anti-religious. Each child essentially provides a parallel plot line: the older sister confounds her father by marrying a grumpy humorless young curate, the younger brother gets uncomfortably tangled up with a different schoolmaster, borderline insane and sexually paranoid, who sees the brother as some kind of visionary or conduit.

The star of her own life and the book is 17-year-old Frederica, who is by far the most appealing character, although as headstrong and self-involved as only a precocious teenager can be. There is a great deal of sexual tension between her and the playwright (at least a decade her senior) - this is unfolded in a way that seems like it would no longer be permissible, reflecting instead both the time it was set and the time it was written. While they don't actually sleep together and he displays all the ethical and social misgivings one might expect, no one (the characters or apparently the author - the possibility that there is an admixture of autobiography here seems quite plausible) seems to regard 17-year-olds as incapable of sexual agency or consent, and the threat of jail and life-long sex offender lists don't appear to hang over the decision-making. Frederica goes through a lot of convincingly rendered intellectual and emotional experiences in the course of the story and putting her virginity well behind her is not the only one but it ranks high.

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dear friend recommended this to me since I liked Possession, and I fell for it at first blush. The first of a quartet about, hate to be trite here, but the making of a modern Englishwoman. The way each book treats different aspects of art (theater, painting, etc.) is engaging, as is following this cast of characters through -- what, over a decade? You will know these people inside and out and find yourself loving and yelling at them.

[Ubik 2.0 · Rating 2 out of 5]

"La vergine del giardino" (1979), benchè edito in Italia solo nel 2002, è il primo libro di una quadrilogia ["Frederica", dal nome della protagonista] che comprende "Natura morta" (1985), "La torre di Babele" (1996) senza dubbio il migliore dei quattro e "Una donna che fischia" (2001).

Diciassette anni prima di "La Torre di Babele" (e dieci prima del suo capolavoro "Possession") la Byatt non sembra in questo "La vergine del giardino" avere ancora trovato un equilibrio fra la sua erudizione e passione letteraria da un lato e l'abilità narrativa che contraddistingue le sue opere più riuscite.

Alcune scene (il matrimonio di Stephanie, il finale...) sono all'altezza della fama dell'autrice ma il libro nel suo complesso appare spesso prolisso e non sempre sorretto da adeguata ispirazione: a volte gli incontri, i rapporti sessuali, i dialoghi fra i personaggi si succedono l'uno dopo l'altro quasi in maniera meccanica, artificiale proprio come in una rappresentazione teatrale e non come nella vita. Molti personaggi secondari sono appena abbozzati e il lettore rischia di confonderne i caratteri e i connotati.

Tutto questo provoca un distacco eccessivo rispetto alla materia narrativa e pressochè nessuna possibilità di immedesimarsi con qualsiasi personaggio o situazione. Ne risulta un'opera fredda, a tratti faticosa con citazioni letterarie e storiche forse apprezzabili dai conterranei dell'autrice ma prive di universalità. Soprattutto è deludente in rapporto a "La torre di Babele" che è invece un vulcano di idee, di passioni, di personaggi ambigui ma reali, intellettuali ma passionali e le cui interazioni forniscono continuo interesse in un'opera avvincente e colta allo stesso tempo.

[Courtney Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oh my gawd y'all - I just downgraded A.S. Byatt by two stars.

I'm a big Byatt fan. 'Possession' and 'The Biographer's Tale' would probably both make my Top 25 list, if I ever drew it up. But I think my love for some of her books perhaps clouded my retrospective judgement.

Today, 'The Virgin in the Garden' feels over-worked and a bit clunky (the obvious bits of authorial voice most particularly). And the plot around Marcus Potter and Lucas Simmonds just bored me this time round; the denouement is still powerful, but the endless pages about the Nousphere lost me.

Byatt does get you wound up in her characters though. I still dislike Frederica, so book-smart and so people-stupid. I still feel the dark mass of Daniel, and the helpless fastidiousness of Alexander Wedderburn (gosh, Byatt's adjectives really rub off on a girl). And I am still so angry over her treatment of Stephanie Potter, in the way that you can only be if you have a sneaking suspicion that like her, you might be letting your brain slowly degrade in a welter of daily concerns.

And so I'm moving on to 'Still Life' - just to see whether I can get the magic back.

[Rosemary Atwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I so want to give this four or even five stars for sheer magnificence and audacity, but I can’t. It’s too long, too ambitious and, too frequently, caught up in its own dependence on intellectual vigour.

The prose is breathtakingly erudite, the ideas explored are books in themselves, but what’s missing from the density are passion and an exploration of the characters beneath their preciousness. Perhaps these will be developed in the quartet’s remaining volumes.

I’m looking forward to them.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not sure what prompted me to re-read this but something did. The beauty in the novel is in the use of words and description. The characters, while not flat, have an otherworldly quality about them.

Which is pretty much how we see people in life when you think about it.

[Jana · Rating 2 out of 5]

i can't believe a. s. byatt, one of my favourite authors, had to personally break into my house and force me to finish this at gunpoint

[Matina Kyriazopoulou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ένα από τα σπουδαιότερα βιβλία που διάβασα φέτος, παράλληλα με άλλα, στις σελίδες του οποίου όμως ήθελα να επιστρέφω κάθε βράδυ είναι το "Η Παρθένος στον κήπο" το πρώτο μέρος του Κουαρτέτου της Φρεντερίκα Πότερ που κυκλοφόρησε πρόσφατα από τις Εκδόσεις Πόλις . Η Byatt αποδεικνύεται κι εδώ, στο τρίτο της μυθιστόρημα, όταν ακόμη δεν είχε γνωρίσει μεγάλη καταξίωση και ήταν περισσότερο γνωστή ως η αδερφή της συγγραφέως Margaret Drabble με την οποία είχαν μια πολύπλοκη, ανταγωνιστική σχέση, πως είναι μιας σπουδαία, ιδιαίτερα οξυδερκής απέναντι στην ανθρώπινη φύση, συγγραφέας. Παραδοσιακός ρεαλισμός και στυλιστικοί πειραματισμοί συμπλέκουν με παραγωγικό τρόπο σε μια περίεργη συμβιωτική σχέση στην πρόζα της, η οποία αστράφτει από μαθηματική σχεδόν ευφυΐα, ενώ οι χαρακτήρες της καλύπτουν ένα ευρύ φάσμα της βρετανικής ταξικής δομής και σκιαγραφούνται τόσο καλά που τους νιώθουμε σαν ανθρώπους που ζουν και αναπνέουν ανάμεσά μας. Η πένα της Byatt πλάθει χαρακτήρες που είναι «ελλαττωματικοί» και περίεργοι, εκκεντρικοί, δίχως ποτέ όμως να γίνονται γκροτέσκο. Ενδεικτικό της απήχησης του στο κοινό είναι η μια συγκλονιστική σκηνή θανάτου που περιλαμβάνεται στο βιβλίο και την οποία η συγγραφέας επινόησε το 1961 (εμπνευσμένη από την αντίστοιχη του βιβλίου "The Middle Age of Mrs Eliot" του Angus Wilson) προκάλεσε με τη ζωντάνια της τα παράπονα πολλών αναγνωστών που έστελναν θυμωμένες επιστολές στην Byatt. Αν και το ύφος της γίνεται ενίοτε αστείο, δεν είναι αυτό που θα αποκαλούσαμε ανάλαφρο, είναι καλοδουλεμένο, όμορφα διακοσμημένο και ανάγλυφο. Συνολικά, η Byatt συνθέτει ένα συναρπαστικό κείμενο με πληθώρα πληροφοριών και λεπτομερειών που αποδεικνύουν την πολυμάθειά της χωρίς όμως να γίνεται (τις περισσότερες φορές) κουραστική και δεν φοβάται να καθυστερήσει για μεγάλες χρονικές περιόδους την εξέλιξη της μιας ή της άλλης παράλληλης ιστορίας. Ευανάγνωστη, ενδιαφέρουσα υφολογικά, με μεταφορές, αφορισμούς η γραφή της Byatt είναι οξυδερκής, πυκνή, πολυεπίπεδη και βρίθει λογοτεχνικών υπαινιγμών. Στην τέρψη της ανάγνωσης συμβάλλει η εξαιρετική, ως συνήθως, καθάρια, προσεγμένη και υφολογικά πιστή στο πρωτότυπο κείμενο μετάφραση της Κατερίνας Σχινά∙ ευελπιστούμε να ολοκληρώσει σύντομα το κοπιώδες αλλά σίγουρα απολαυστικό έργο της μετάφρασης του Κουαρτέτου στα ελληνικά.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in Yorkshire in 1952, The Virgin in the Garden tells the story of the Potter family and of those who surround them. The eldest daughter, Stephanie, is a brilliant Cambridge graduate who frustrated her family’s expectations of her by coming back to her home town to teach at a grammar school. She further disappoints her intolerant father by falling in love with the local vicar, Daniel Orton.

From BBC Radio 4 Extra - The Frederica Quartet:

1/30: In 1950s Yorkshire, Frederica Potter, still living at home, senses that something exciting is beginning.

2/30: A wealthy theatre director is producing a play and Frederica Potter is desperate to secure a role.

3/30: Stephanie is increasingly worried about her brother, Marcus, and the influence a teacher is having on him.

4/30: Stephanie and Daniel declare their feelings for each other but her father reacts badly to the news.

5/30: In coronation year, Bill Potter has trouble accepting his daughter's desire to marry curate Daniel.

6/30: Stephanie and Daniel settle into married life, while sister Frederica continues with her acting.

7/30: Marcus and Simmonds' experiments begin to take on a more sinister nature.

8:30: As their experiments continue, Marcus becomes worried over the deterioration of Simmonds' state of mind.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jsfz

[Bea · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more than good, this is excellent : 5* +++

For the lovers of highly intelligent English fiction, written in a beautifull prose, with sparkling dialogues : take a seat, get yourself something nice to drink, take your time and read and enjoy this book.
This isn't a quick read, nor an easy one but it certainly is rewarding.

[Emiliano · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Me gusta ver a mucha gente reunida en un lugar para entregarse a lo que yo llamo arte, no a lo que ellos llaman vida."

El pacato y tantas veces falaz dilema entre el arte y la vida. El lenguaje y el conocimiento como medios de interpretar el mundo y poder elaborar un mapa mental, un plan de acción para el crecimiento. Los tres Potter luchando por hallar su propio camino en el año de la coronación de Isabel II, y enmarcada en la preparación y estreno de una obra en verso sobre la reina virgen escrita por un buen amigo, vertebran esta novela que es un completo goce de contratiempos vitales expresado en las más alambicadas imágenes; entre una teosofía que habría considerado delirante el mismísimo David Herbert (a quien debo releer un día de estos): esa $biosfera integrándose en el nous" es risible, pero también ardiente como un sacrificio ritual; esa reconstrucción histórica mas bullente de savia y sangre cuyos ensayos nos proporcionan las escenas más jocosas (y más emocionantes que cualquier thriller) y ese matrimonio entre el cielo y el infierno en el que nada es lo que podría, al principio y en principio, parecer.

Y más, infinidad más y mejor, con un inconmensurable hato de revelaciones y destellos; cada libro de Dama Antonia que atrapo me aferra, me sacude, me obliga a cabalgar sus páginas sin descanso, padaleando su simbolismo encarnado en esta curiosa (y apasionante) bildungsroman de la feroz Federica... y compañía; y cuenta conmigo, diosa de la Inocencia y la Justicia.

"Tomad, les dijo, tomad lo que está allí, lo que es real, arriesgaos a hacer una cosa bien."

"—No hay nada que no signifique nada. Todas las palabras se dicen por alguna razón."

"sumidos en esa luz eterna que ilumina las inmutables perspectivas infinitas que creamos, desde la tierna edad de un año, con los jardines de las afueras de la ciudad o los parques municipales en verano, con los horizontes o los paseos en que el césped se extiende hasta más allá del alcance de la vista y que siempre esperamos volver a visitar, redescubrir, habitar en la vida real, sea ésta lo que sea."

"—Si estuviéramos en una novela habrían cortado el diálogo por artificioso. Puede haber sexo, en una novela, pero no la métrica de Racine, por mucho que tal cosa te apasione. [...] Wordsworth decía que la métrica y el sexo dependen del flujo de la sangre, ya sabes, y del «gran principio elemental del placer en el que vivimos, actuamos y existimos»."

"Era un conocimiento muy útil. Eliminaba la opción excluyente que siempre había creído que tenían las mujeres. O bien el amor, la pasión, el sexo y todo el resto, o bien la vida de la mente, la ambición, la soledad y todo lo demás. Había un tercer camino: se podía estar sola y acompañada en una cama, si uno no armaba alboroto."

"De improviso la luz cambió, y Marcus se detuvo. Una parte esencial de lo que sucedió entonces fue su propia renuencia a creer que sucedía tal cosa. Cuando rememoraba este hecho, su cuerpo recordaba una tensión y una opresión terribles, causadas por dos miedos antitéticos que operaban a la vez: el miedo de sufrir un cambio radical, irremediable, y el miedo, igualmente profundo, de que todo aquello no fuera más que una fantasía irracional impuesta por su conciencia, extraviada en el mundo real. E incluso en ese momento, que tal vez cambió toda su vida, oyó una alegre voz interior que le decía que, como en el caso de los libros, las escaleras y los cuartos de baño, no era imprescindible tener que saberlo. Más tarde llegaría a la conclusión de que la voz mentía y se mostraba evasiva. Más tarde aún, la recordaría como un elemento tranquilizador, pues esa ínfima alegría falsa le garantizaba que conservaba su identidad, que seguía siendo él mismo."

"Era tan poco el terreno que ocupaba una casa… Unos pocos pasos gráciles y blancos, y uno ya la había recorrido de lado a lado. [...] Una casa no consistía más que en eso: armazones, relleno, elementos de amortiguación."

[Майя Ставитская · Rating 5 out of 5]

The tetralogy, which is considered the magnum opus of Antonia Bayette, covers a quarter-century period and was written over twenty-four years: the first two novels before the world-famous writer, who came to her with the Booker "Possess", the final ones after. In Russian, so far only the first book, which was published in the seventy-eighth, and the events described relate to the fifty-third year at all. The heroine who gave the name to the four books is seventeen, as in that year Byatt, which suggests some autobiographical features in her.

As for The Maid in the Garden, the novel could equally well be called " the book of Stephanie, Marcus, Daniel, Alexander." Of course, the bright Frederica, who will be the center of attention in the following novels, is not yet in the main position here, although in the main role. In the sense that she, a schoolgirl, literally gets a young Elizabeth I in a play where the virgin queen is the central character

Не дева и не то, чтобы в саду
"Какой Шекспир, из погребка
Домой вернувшись на рассвете,
В бреду спадая с тюфяка
В таком спасается сюжете?"
Александр Кушнер.
Об этом романе, которым "Азбука Аттикус" одарила русскоязычного читателя в конце апреля, литературные обозрения говорили как об одной из самых ожидаемых новинок книжной весны. В большинстве случаев заглавным аргументом в пользу чтения выступало то, что книга являет собой первую часть "Квартета Фредерики", не растолковывая, кто такая эта Фредерика с ее квартетом, чем бы он ни был.

Тетралогия, которую считают magnum opus Антонии Байетт, охватывает четвертьвековой промежуток и писалась на протяжении двадцати четырех лет: первые два романа до мировой известности писательницы, пришедшей к ней с букеровским "Обладать", завершающие после. На русском пока лишь первая книга, которая увидела свет в семьдесят восьмом, а описанные события относятся вовсе к пятьдесят третьему году. Героине, давшей имя четырехкнижию, семнадцать, как в тот год Байетт, что позволяет предположить в ней некоторые автобиографические черты.

Что касается "Девы в саду", с равным основанием роман можно было бы назвать "книгой Стефани, Маркуса, Дэниэла, Александра". Безусловно яркая Фредерика, которая окажется в центре внимания в следующих романах, здесь еще не на основной позиции, хотя в главной роли. В том смысле, что ей, школьнице, буквально достается молодой Елизаветы I в пьесе, где королева-девственница центральный персонаж. Теперь о книге.

В фокусе внимания семья Поттеров (ни к Гарри, ни к Беатрикс отношения не имеющая). Отец, яростный Билл, преподает в частной школе для мальчиков, не будет преувеличением сказать, что на нем там все держится и с полным основанием мог бы сказать: "Школа - это я". Редкое сочетание педагогического и организаторского талантов делает его незаменимым на работе, дома однако Билл в ипостаси "тиран и сумасброд" (ну. когда дает себе труд выступить в какой бы то ни было роли). Большей частью его вклад в семейную жизнь ограничивается безразличием.

Самоотверженная Уинифред, жена и мать троих его детей, в свою очередь та, на ком держится дом. Такое себе вполне патриархальное разделение обязанностей: работают одинаково, но слава и почет достается супругу, в то время, как жена вынужденно довольствуется ролью мышки серой белой несмелой и воспитательницы, у них дочери Стефани, Фредерика, и сын Маркус.

Спокойная доброжелательная красавица Стефани ("все хотят на мне жениться") такая английская роза, окончив колледж преподает теперь в той школе для девочек, где сама училась. Претендентов на ее руку было немало, но сама девушка не рвалась в болото семейной жизни, пока не встретила Дэниэла Ортона, приходского курата, огромного неловкого и неуклюжего толстяка, чьим девизом могло бы стать деятельное добро. Они и притянулись друг к другу в соответствии с боэцианским "подобие стремится к подобию" (ну, это кроме сексуального притяжения).

Младшая Фредерика, совершенная противоположность сестры, рыжая бестия, буря и натиск, "я что угодно могу, что угодно могу лучше всех прочих". На самом деле, лучше всего у нее получается читать книги и интерпретировать прочитанное. Она нехороша собой и почти лишена той грации, какая может служить страшненькой девочке некоторой заменой красоты. Но у Фредерики есть несокрушимое убеждение в своем превосходстве, которое вернее других аргументов убеждает окружающих, что носитель достоин лучшего, и вся она пылающий яростный огонь.

Младший в семье Маркус ("да, я знаю, так сходят с ума") красивый хрупкий мальчик одинокий астматик, чрезвычайно одаренный музыкально и математически, и с явными чертами аутичного спектра. Есть тонкокожие люди, которых острые углы этого мира ранят больнее прочих, он из таких. И он слышит музыку сфер, то умение находить решения сложных математических задач и делать мгновенные вычисления, оно и давало ощущение немыслимой гармонии, пока Билл не привел какого-то профессора чья попытка препарировать дар закончилась тем, что он покинул мальчика.

Состояние неизбывной муки прекратилось, когда он обрел друга в лице преподавателя биологии Лукаса Симмонса, одержимого эзотерическими идеями в этаком нью-эйджистском изводе: неоязычество, гипнопедия, осознанные сновидения, ритуалы расширения сознания и прочая психоделика. В Маркусе Лукас видит не то медиума, не то вовсе мессию и все их совместные эксперименты явно отдают безумием. Но попробуйте сказать одинокому подростку, у которого наконец появился друг, что это не вполне, по вашему мнению. подходящая для него компания. То-то же.

И вот это все очень конспективно об одной семье в фокусе внимания книги. Ничего еще не сказав о сюжете, в центре которого преподаватель той же школы для мальчиков Александр Уэддербери, написавший пьесу о Елизавете I, окончание работы над которой счастливо совпало с восшествием на престол ее царственной тезки, по сей день правящей Англией. Мало того, пьесой, действительно прекрасной, заинтересовался меценат Кроу, готовый способствовать реализации проекта немалой энергией, деньгами и связями - классическое "оказаться в нужное время в нужном месте".

Впрочем, последнее с равным основанием можно отнести к Фредерике, в чьем сочетании ярости с грацией коряги купно с поразительным портретным сходством, большой человек разглядит королеву-девственницу и отдаст ей главную роль в постановке. А меж тем, перипетии этого действа и сопутствующих ему влюбленностей, разочарований, интриг, расставаний - составят основу сюжета. И это я еще ничего не сказала о невероятной аллюзивности романа, в котором едва не каждый диалог апеллирует к литературе, от Шекспира до Т.С. Элиота и Эзры Паунда, хотя удельный вес отсылок к Эйвонскому Лебедю на порядок больше остальных.

Признаюсь, начинала читать, вернее слушать в оригинале, изрядно намаявшись, текст представлялся перегруженным языковыми красивостями, чрезмерно и неправомерно изузоренным. На слух сюжетная канва бралась без проблем, но языковая избыточность, богатейшая референтность романа ускользала. Это сейчас к тому, что русский вариант, над которым трудился коллектив переводчиков: Исаева, Ланчиков, Псурцев - превосходен, такая балетная взлетность, за которой не ощущается колоссального труда. И редакторская работа того человека в Азбуке, который свел три голоса воедино, выше всяких похвал. Книга великолепна, по-настоящему Большой роман.

[Tasos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δεν ήξερα τι να περιμένω από την AS Byatt μετά το τόσο μαξιμαλιστικό αριστούργημα που ήταν η Εμμονή, σίγουρα όμως ήθελα να διαβάσω κάτι ακόμα δικό της για να βιώσω εκ νέου την αναγνωστική εμπειρία ενός απροσμέτρητου λογοτεχνικού σύμπαντος που ανοιγοκλείνει, με την χαρακτηριστική αυτοπεποίθηση μιας ευφυΐας που ξέρει τις δυνατότητες της, τις πόρτες ανάμεσα στα λογοτεχνικά είδη, τις διακειμενικές αναφορές και τον πλούτο του λεξιλογίου που έχει στη φαρέτρα της.

Γραμμένο το 1978 και πρώτο μέρος μιας τετραλογίας για την αλλαγή των βρετανικών ηθών στο δεύτερο μισό του εικοστού αιώνα μέσα από τη ζωή της κεντρικής ηρωίδας, το Η Παρθένος Στον Κήπο εκτυλίσσεται στην επαρχία του Γιόρκσαϊρ το 1953, έτος στέψης της Ελισάβετ Β΄. Εντός αυτής της χρονικής και πολιτισμικής συγκυρίας, η νεαρή Φρεντερίκα Πότερ γνωρίζει έναν καθηγητή, ο οποίος συγγράφει μια αλληγορική τραγωδία προς τιμή της άλλης Ελισάβετ, της Α΄.

Πίσω από αυτή τη συνδηλωτική παρουσία των δύο αρχετυπικών βασιλισσών του βρετανικού στέμματος μια άλλη παρθένος βιώνει την αλλαγή των κοινωνικών, ταξικών και κυρίως σεξουαλικών αντιλήψεων μιας συντηρητικής χώρας που τολμά να κάνει, μαζί με την ηρωίδα, τα πρώτα δειλά και άτσαλα βήματα προς την χειραφέτηση σε έναν κήπο γεμάτο από προκλήσεις και νέα ερεθίσματα.

Και η Byatt είναι κάτι παραπάνω από πρόθυμη να τα περιγράψει ένα ένα με κάθε λεπτομέρεια, να γεμίσει τις σελίδες της με πυκνές αναφορές στον Μίλτον, στον Μπλέικ, στον Σαίξπηρ και στον Μπέικον, να επιδείξει μια εντυπωσιακή πολυμάθεια που αγγίζει τα όρια φιλολογικής όπερας και λογοτεχνικού συνεδρίου, να καταγράψει με επιστημονική ακρίβεια τις αλλαγές στη νοοτροπία μιας ομάδας ανθρώπων που βιώνουν και προσπαθούν να κατανοήσουν εμπειρικά τη ρήξη με το παρελθόν και το βάρος της παράδοσης.

Η συγγραφέας της Εμμονής βρίσκεται εδώ σε μια πιο άγουρη και αμετροεπή μορφή, ενίοτε συναρπαστική, ενίοτε υπερ-αναλυτική, πάντα όμως ολοκληρωτικά ταγμένη στην πιο περίπλοκη, την πιο εξεζητημένη και την πιο ανυποχώρητη μορφή λογοτεχνίας, τα όρια της οποίας περιδιαβαίνει με μια ακόμα αναγνωστική πρό(σ)κληση, που σίγουρα ανανεώνει το ενδιαφέρον (μου) για περισσότερα βιβλία της.

[Lyudmila Marlier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Не поставить пять нельзя, вау

Но, оставлю себе заметки, чтобы потом предупредить будущие поколения, и свой склероз через пару лет.

Богатство языка вещь нетипичная для среднего по больнице теста, поэтому первые 10% процентов было сложно продираться сквозь текст. Во-первых, абзацы глазами не глотались, во-вторых, грешу тем, что вообще не понимаю театр, и мне сразу становится скучно.

Ещё вот части про Маркуса, местами очень смешно, но, когда некий сюр длится страниц эдак 50, начинаешь терять нить происходящего.

Из ещё странного для меня оказалось, что все до одного персонажа, как будто нарисованные импрессионистом. То есть в реальной жизни я их представить не могу, только частями.

И очень много Англии, для фанатов Англии - это будет неоспоримым плюсом, но я не фанат Англии, возможно, увы

Но, несмотря на эти персональные мелочи моего восприятия, меня будто погрузили во что-то "более лучшее" в этой жизни и литературе. А к последней трети уже и от сюжета оторваться невозможно, пришлось недосыпать

[Wallis · Rating 5 out of 5]

free at last