Reading the 20th Century discussion

English writer Patrick Hamilton is a firm favourite.




Patrick Hamilton's novels

Monday Morning (1925)
Craven House (1926, revised edition 1943)
Twopence Coloured (1928)
The Midnight Bell (1929)
The Siege of Pleasure (1932)
The Plains of Cement (1934)
Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky (1935 - trilogy of The Midnight Bell, The Siege of Pleasure, and The Plains of Cement)
Impromptu In Moribundia (1939)
Hangover Square (1941)
The Slaves of Solitude (1947)
The West Pier (1952)
Mr. Stimpson And Mr.Gorse (1953)
Unknown Assailant (1955)
The Gorse Trilogy: The West Pier, Mr Stimpson And Mr Gorse, Unknown Assailant

Patrick Hamilton's plays

Rope: A Play (1929)
Gas Light (1938)
The Duke in Darkness (1943)
The Man Upstairs (1953)
Angel Street (1966)

Patrick Hamilton's radio plays

Money with Menaces (1939)
To the Public Danger (1939)

Anyone who wants to delve deeper into Patrick's life and work is advised to.....


CLICK HERE

I should mention this is another group that I run. Somewhat niche but we have a few regulars and it is now more about people with a shared sensibility as we've exhausted all of Patrick's work.

That said, feel free to revive any discussion should you want to read one of novels. I am sure others will pile in.

And, as Susan mentioned earlier, one of his key works....


Hangover Square

...is yours for 99 pence for Kindle today

#bargain

The seventy-fifth anniversary edition, with a new introduction by Anthony Quinn.

London, 1939, and in the grimy publands of Earls Court, George Harvey Bone is pursuing a helpless infatuation. Netta is cool, contemptuous and hopelessly desirable to George. George is adrift in a drunken hell, except in his 'dead' moments, when something goes click in his head and he realises, without a doubt, that he must kill her. In the darkly comic Hangover Square Patrick Hamilton brilliantly evokes a seedy, fog-bound world of saloon bars, lodging houses and boozing philosophers, immortalising the slang and conversational tone of a whole generation and capturing the premonitions of doom that pervaded London life in the months before the war.

I am so pleased that you introduced me to Hamilton's writing, Nigeyb. The Slaves of Solitude remains my favourite so far, but I really want to read all of his novels.

There is talk in the "what are you reading now" thread about this author, so I posted this. I then decided it would be more appropriate in his favorite author thread.

I know there are avid fans of Patrick Hamilton here. While I gave his Hangover Square 4 stars, I have found myself uninterested in reading more by him. Other than giving me titles that you liked, perhaps you could expand on what it is that draws you to this author. I could be convinced to give him another look, but I would have to be convinced.

Elizabeth (Alaska) wrote: "While I gave his Hangover Square 4 stars, I have found myself uninterested in reading more by him. Other than giving me titles that you liked, perhaps you could expand on what it is that draws you to this author. I could be convinced to give him another look, but I would have to be convinced."

If you were unconvinced by Hangover Square then I suspect he's just not for you Elizabeth.

He was very famous in his own time, and understandably so. Highlighting upon Hangover Square, the one book you have read, and my personal favourite...

...where the book really succeeded for me was in its evocation of London as war looms. The book was written under the shadow of the seemingly unstoppable advance of Germany and Nazism. The novel searches for a human metaphor to express the sickness that Patrick Hamilton perceived in this period. As a Marxist he identified the petty bourgeoisie from which Netta and Peter had sprung as the enemy. Peter, and the stranger who comes down to Brighton with Netta and Peter, are both fascists. The spectre of the forthcoming war, and discussions of fascism, and nods towards contemporary cinema (e.g going to the cinema to see a Tarzan film with Johnny Weismuller and Maureen O'Sullivan on the day Germany invade Poland) all added to the book's magic, the book being full of such wonderful period detail.

I really enjoy good quality London fiction and continue to mine this rich literary seam. I think Hangover Square is right up there with the best London fiction. As the back of my edition accurately states "you can almost smell the gin". By the end of the book I felt I'd been in and out of a succession of smoky, shabby Earls Court boozers with George and his unsavoury companions. Netta, the book's femme fatale, is a wonderful fictional creation - beguiling but also totally self-serving.

The perspectives from various different characters also enriched my reading experience. Even a very minor character such as the young man Bone meets towards the end gives an illuminating and detached perspective of George and his companions.

I think it's also a very moving book. The reader quickly understands that George has to forget Netta and move on. George knows it too and yet he just can't escape her. A true lost soul. I felt almost as happy as George after his successful round of golf in Brighton that gaves him a glimpse of how life could be away from Netta and her boozy coterie.

It ends in the only way it could. All said, I think it's a masterpiece - but, clearly not for everyone, as your less enthusiastic response demonstrates.

PS - his ear for dialogue is second to none. All his time in boarding houses and pubs gave him a rich seam of material and he employs it to perfection in Craven House and Slaves. All his books seem to have the ring of authenticity. Perhaps you need to be English to fully appreciate how unerring his gift was?

Obviously you got a lot more out of it than I did. I don't get novelistic metaphors. I've said elsewhere that if you want me know something (the "you" being the author), then you have to tell me. For me, Nazism and Communism are twins and neither are desirable. (Was Stalin a good alternative to Hitler?) Thank you for explaining this so that I more fully understand why he's not of further interest to me.

In The Slaves of Solitude I Ioved the humor. Yeah you could say it is dark, but I am fine with that. I also think, as you point out Nigeyb, that the dialogues are well done. What each person says fits who they are perfectly. I have enjoyed the novel for its character portrayal, and I see it as a good description of people's behavior during war, not those in combat but all the others who are affected too.

You make Hangover Square sound enticing, Nigeyb - right up my...er...street :)

I will be reading both Hangover Square and Craven House!

I reckon you'd love it Roman Clodia


Thanks Elizabeth, I am happy to have helped you to clarify your thoughts and feelings. Thankfully we don't all share the same passions, and if we did life would be dull dull dull

Vive la difference

Chrissie wrote: "I will be reading both Hangover Square and Craven House!"

Splendid news Chrissie - I eagerly await your response.

I also thought Hangover Square sounded very enticing from the description, though it will have to wait until I have finished some other books!

I really liked Hangover Square and must read my copy of Slaves of Solitude. I'm a bit behind and out of sync? I sadly had a bereavement a few moths ago, so had a lot to deal with.

Will definitely start to read Slaves of Solitude by the end of this month.

I never heard of this author until all the recent discussion in the "What books are you reading now thread?" Since I now have found out that he wrote the plays that became the famous movies Rope and GasLight, I wonder why he is unknown to me. He certainly has a following here.
Perhaps he was popular in Britain or Europe but never found an American audience. But I would have thought the movies would have created some visibility. Are the books too British for an American audience?
I generally keep up with authors but it could be that I just missed him

He's more of a cult writer Brian - not that well known in Britain either though had a bit of a rennaissance 10 years ago

Welcome back Roisin - sorry to learn of your bereavement

I picked up Hanover Square and will read it in July.

Splendid new Chrissie - I look forward to your comments

Welcome back, Roisin, from me too, and sorry to hear of your loss.

Nigeyb wrote: "He's more of a cult writer Brian - not that well known in Britain either though had a bit of a rennaissance 10 years ago

Got it. Thanks.

His Hangover Square is on the 1001 Books list, which is why I picked it up.

A worthy inclusion

Thank you Nigeyb and Judy. Much appreciated.

A contempory reimaging of Gaslight is being broadcast on Radio 4 on Saturday (18th Feb) at 3pm. It will be available to listen to on sounds for a year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001...

Ooh, thanks Tania

Over Christmas time I bought a copy of for future reading, likely next year as I already have several trilogies on board for this year and hope to get to the Ripliad too.

I'm sure you'll love it Brian

Is this where the term ‘gaslighting’ comes from?

WndyJW wrote: "Is this where the term ‘gaslighting’ comes from?"
Yes indeed.

Just adding myself to the Hamilton fan club here. I've finished Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky and loved it. It's definitely a trilogy, I'd say, where each book adds to the one before, not just on the plot level but in terms of understanding Hamilton's vision. I love tracing the parallels between the three books and how characters switch positions in the triangle.

I'd also say that Hamilton is overlooked as both a stylist and for his politicized focus on these lives of people usually marginalized and disenfranchised by fiction (as life). His ability to switch between humour, cruelty and compassion is fantastic.

I am gratified to see that you are now on board with Patrick Hamilton - and needless to say I agree with every word you've written above

Well huge thanks to you, Nigeyb - you've been banging on about PH for so long and I'd thought he wouldn't be for me but delighted to be proved wrong. I've given the trilogy 5 stars - my first 5 of the year!

👏🏼

I had time left at the end of the month and decided to pick up March's The Siege of Pleasure last evening. While I knew the book was short, I ended up finding it hard to put down and ended up finishing it this morning.
As I knew RC had zipped through all 20 Thousand of the Streets already and would likely be talking about story #2 with Nigeyb, I went looking for the discussion thread and.......

Is it up yet and I just can't find it?? If that's the case, could one of you senior Reading the Detectives members help me out?

How remiss


I'll attend to it right now Brian

I'll also sort out the discussion for Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky #3 - The Plains of Cement.

Our The Plains of Cement discussion is not scheduled until May 2024 but I suspect some amongst us might not be able to wait that long so feel free to comment sooner if that applies to you

I did indeed zip through these books as I found them utterly engrossing - and I'm already looking forward to re-reading Cement in May as it is my favorite of the trilogy.

Some trilogies are three books thrust together but this one works organically so that each part reinforces the others - just brilliant!

Went to a viewing of the film Rope yesterday with a podcast discussion afterwards about Rope - the film, the play, etc. Very interesting, even if there was more about Hitchcock than Patrick Hamilton. The podcast was Past, Present, Future, and there are more films/podcast recordings at the delightful, Regent Street Cinema, if anyone is interested.

I noted an Audible version of some of Hamilton's plays, as I would like to hear the original. Has anyone listened to it?

Patrick Hamilton: Rope, Gaslight, Hangover Square and More: Seven BBC Radio Full-Cast Productions

Alan Rickman is in the audio version of Rope, which has to be worth a listen.

Susan, Thank you for this Intel


I have not heard the plays

I listened to the BBC full-cast Gaslight as a standalone audio from the library and thought it was excellent - I didn't know anything about it other than the blurb and thought it worked very well.

Thanks, both. I hadn't seen Rope before - it was very odd. At one moment a young man was crushing broken glass in his hand, the next moment, they were totally unhurt! Hitchcock obviously didn't do continuity...

I will give the plays a listen I think. Perhaps on a long car drive or commute.

I saw Gaslight on the stage in Brighton - and it still works brilliantly

I also saw Gaslight at the theatre recently and agree . Hamilton was so symptomatic to women .