Reading the 20th Century discussion

Not sure if this author has been picked up in RTTC or if anyone has read him ?

I read his most famous short story A Woman Seldom Found earlier this year which prompted me to order The Body , his debut novel , from the library .

If you like Patrick Hamilton I can recommend it . A dark , twisting tale of obsession and suspense set just after WW2 it inhabits a similar, if more suburban, landscape of bedsits , pubs ,car showrooms and dance clubs . The seediness and loneliness lurking underneath respectability . I gulped it down .

I think his novels have been republished by Faber and Faber but my copy was last borrowed in 1990! Apparently it was a favourite of Anthony Burgess

I haven't heard of him, Hester, but the Patrick Hamilton comparison is intriguing. I'm pretty sure we haven't read him in the group - could be a new discovery!

Sounds fab


Thanks Hester

I can see two books currently in print, one a book of stories the other Westminster at War. He looks intriguing, thanks Hester. Everything else seems to be out of print but possibly available through AbeBooks.

There’s a few titles available on eBay.

I volunteer at the Oxfam bookshop near me so will be keeping an eye out for his work.

If I can find a reasonably priced edition, then I will definitely be giving him a go.

Thanks again Hester

Oh , let me know what you find at Oxfam Nigel . There's definitely a sense of despondency in The Body, with alcohol and pub life providing temporary respite . The middle aged men are both well drawn in their insecurities and self deceptions and the central theme of pathological jealousy builds to a disturbing climax.

I’ve ordered an old Penguin edition of The Body off eBay which I now notice isn’t on GoodReads. I’ll be putting that right before much longer

It was the mention of the pub which gave me the final push

Thanks again Hester



I look forward to comparing notes about The Body with you

This is the edition I have ordered....

I’m underway with…



The Body (1949)


About 20 pages in and I’ve got a very good feeling

Thanks Hester - a top tip


Turning upon the smallest of hints, and taking the detritus of modern life - offhand diary entries, discarded cigarette ends, casual glances - as a series of clues, a London barber becomes obsessed with the idea of his wife's infidelity. In this masterfully told tale, jealousy, hatred and nostalgia stir uneasily in the quiet of London's post-war suburbia. First published in 1949, The Body is an excellent example of William Sansom's ability to suspend and play out momentary fears, building up to an altered vision where even the most familiar things are uncertain.

I’ve finished



The Body (1949)


Really liked it

Thanks Hester



Review here....

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

4/5

So ...This is the second novel that I have read by this much praised but now, as far as I can tell, completely forgotten author . Last year I read The Body , an intriguing and dark tale about obsession and jealousy and described by Anthony Burgess as

—a superb book, perhaps his best…. Sansom's ear, matching his eye, renders the idiom and rhythms of post-war lower-middle-class English with a terrible exactness….​

The Loving Eye is lighter in tone but continues to explore the life of blue collar London after WW2 with accuracy and humour . Here the setting is in the enclosed gardens and backs of two terraces facing each other somewhere in Kensington. The only prosperous person in the novel , apart from a walk on part from a doctor's wife , is the protagonist who spends most of his idle days gazing out of his back window watching the various activities of his neighbours and the wildlife . Sansom has a keen eye for both pathos and the absurd and the third person tale of this somewhat shy and anxious man, as he falls for a young girl in the window opposite , is offset by a more earthy and streetwise chapter or two told in first person by his companion/ and general Man Friday .

As well as the love interest we have a window into the shady aspects of the escort world and pub life but a glimpse of the irrepressible curiosity of youth as Spring and is fecund energies flood through the gardens .

Here's a review from 1956 ( The Times )

The two outstanding stylists among our novelists today are Mr H E Bates and Mr William Sansom. The Loving eye is certainly a virtuoso performance. The construction is extremely clever; the long set-pieces of description broken by the coarse Cockney monologues and the sudden moments of real feeling, all leading to the calm happiness of the ending.'
​
The Times

My library has a couple more novels and some travel writing but he was as well known for his short stories , which is where I first encountered him .

there is a comprehensive page on line , possibly compiled by his agent Carol Heaton at Green and Heaton

https://www.williamsansomauthor.com/t...

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Hi Nigeyb. Just finished The Loving Eye and felt compelled to make a page for him . ....Not sure if you can get hold of any others by him ...the copy I had from my library is a first edition and has a wonderful cover https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ae....

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Thanks Hester


I’ll try to get that one too

In fact I’m now after anything with his name on

I’ll post here when I make my next foray into his work