Elizabeth von Arnim and settings of novels – welcome to episode 91!
In the first half of the novel, we look at the settings of novels, and ask whether we prefer familiar or unfamiliar settings. In the second half, we compare two recently reprinted novels by Elizabeth von Arnim – Father and Expiation.
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The books and authors we mention in this episode:
O, The Brave Music by Dorothy Evelyn Smith
A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz
Emma by Jane Austen
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
Passing On by Penelope Lively
According to Mark by Penelope Lively
Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
Dorothy L Sayers
E. M. Delafield
Charles Dickens
Winifred Holtby
Vera Brittain
Illyrian Spring by Ann Bridge
Maria Edgeworth
Brensham Village by John Moore
The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
Zuleika Dobson by Max Beerbohm
Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi
Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Bowen
Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
Westwood by Stella Gibbons
The Matchmaker by Stella Gibbons
Bassett by Stella Gibbons
Here Be Dragons by Stella Gibbons
Nightingale Wood by Stella Gibbons
Barbara Pym
Alas, Poor Lady by Rachel Ferguson
Dangerous Ages by Rose Macaulay
Keeping Up Appearances by Rose Macaulay
Crewe Train by Rose Macaulay
Potterism by Rose Macaulay
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson
I will be listening with interest to this podcast as I see you will be discussing several novels by Stella Gibbons some of which I haven’t read. I have a copy of “My American” which I read first as a teenager and then again recently and still found it very enjoyable. Have you read this one?
I haven’t, but have had it for ages! I’m afraid we only talk about Gibbons briefly in the middle, but hope you enjoy nonetheless!
The author who came to mind for the first part of the podcast is Beverly Cleary. Her Ramona and Henry Huggins books are set in Portland, OR, where Cleary (and I) grew up, and I remember going on a field trip in elementary school to see Klickitat Street which was quite thrilling. I’m torn on this one because I have read so many English novels, for example, that places I’ve never been to feel familiar. I do occasionally read about places in England I’ve been to, which is tremendously exciting. I read a novel recently that mentioned Porthcurno in Cornwall, which I remember vividly because it was the bluest water I have ever seen.
I have just ordered all the Dean Street Press Stella Gibbons reprints. I’ve read Cold Comfort Farm and Nightingale Woods and enjoyed both, so I’m excited to see how these are.
Your conversation makes me glad Father is the E v A novel I do have! I’m so excited to read it now.
Oh that’s lovely! I have been to Porthcurno, I think, but I suspect it was raining… And hurrah for Father! Hope you love it.
I must confess that after Cold Comfort Farm, all the other Gibbons books I’ve tried paled into insignificance! But CCF is brilliant!
Yes, one of those occasions where the most famous book is the right one!
I really haven’t got into podcasts yet, but this may be a good place to start. Although, from that menu of books you refer to, I’ve only read about half, so I may find it adds far too many to may already tottering TBR pile!
I’m so sorry you didn’t like Expiation as much as I did! I do prefer Father but I rather liked Expiation, though I definitely was able to predict some of the plot points. Maybe it was easier for my to sympathize with Milly since I’m probably her age — though it was a bit annoying how men kept falling for her charms left and right.
And I would say I love books with both familiar and unfamiliar settings, it’s so hard to choose! I love learning about new places so unfamiliar is always fun, but I also love reading about places I’ve been — but I get really annoyed when they get it wrong! I remember reading some bestseller (John Grisham, I think) set in the town where I went to college and they got so much wrong, it was obvious that nobody bothered to fact-check. So frustrating! Of course now it would be all over social media.
I think I liked it more than Rachel did, but I just missed the humour so much. And yes, the time they put Crewkerne in Dorset I felt locals’ rage!
I enjoy all of your podcasts and this one was especially appealing to me as I have both Father and Expiation TBR and I’ll read Father soon. I’m also a huge Lively fan. There are many wonderful Australian authors and I hope you’ll try some of them, including Elizabeth Jolley, Thea Astley, Jessica Anderson, Henry Handel Richardson, Miles Franklin. I know you would love Jolley’s Miss Peabody’s Inheritance and Richardson’s The Getting of Wisdom.
Thanks Grier! I do have several Jolley novels and have read none of them…
Listened to this podcast and really enjoyed it. I spent the latter half of my childhood in Guernsey and I can never resist a Guernsey set novel although there are a couple of famous ones which are definitely not set on my island home but some fantasy bit of England set in the middle of the sea. So I am definitely drawn to familiar locations in fiction but on the other side of the coin I am currently reading my way around the world so that I get to experience different countries without actually having to go there.
With reference to Expiation I thought it was really funny. Milly kept trying to atone for her sins and not being allowed to. I laughed as much at this book as I did at Father. I felt that EvA was poking fun at the idea that Milly needed to expiate her sin because at the end she gets away with everything and is established in her Mother-in-law’s house and is obviously going to be quite comfortable. I did keep visualising Milly as like the landlady in The Ladykillers which I think helped.
Thanks Jane! Intriguing about Expiation – I couldn’t even see where the humour was meant to be, so clearly passed me by. Glad you liked it so much!