∎ Descargar Gratis Manservant and Maidservant New York Review Books Classics Ivy ComptonBurnett Diane Johnson 9780940322639 Books

Manservant and Maidservant New York Review Books Classics Ivy ComptonBurnett Diane Johnson 9780940322639 Books

Download As PDF : Manservant and Maidservant New York Review Books Classics Ivy ComptonBurnett Diane Johnson 9780940322639 Books

Manservant and Maidservant New York Review Books Classics Ivy ComptonBurnett Diane Johnson 9780940322639 Books

Brilliant book, and possibly Ivy's best, though with this author the standard is generally so high it's a bit foolish to single out one as "best." But this one has so much appeal - a complex and ever-surprising plot that one never loses track of, stunningly vivid characters, a story that feels practically Shakespearean, and of course this author's trademark mix of the most cutting wit with wrenching drama. For those who think Ivy doesn't have any heart, the portrait of the children in this book, constantly under siege by a tyrannical parent, is tender to the point of pathos. I've probably read this book ten times over the years and always find it engaging and fresh. One piece of advice is to read this as if it were a play, which it sort of is, being 99% dialogue.


Tags : Manservant and Maidservant (New York Review Books Classics) [Ivy Compton-Burnett, Diane Johnson] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. At once the strangest and most marvelous of Ivy Compton-Burnett's fictions, Manservant and Maidservant</i> has for its subject the domestic life of Horace Lamb,Ivy Compton-Burnett, Diane Johnson,Manservant and Maidservant (New York Review Books Classics),NYRB Classics,0940322633,FIC004000,Classics,Domestic fiction,Domestics,Household employees,Household employees;Fiction.,Master and servant,Master and servant;Fiction.,Psychological fiction,Women domestics,Women household employees,Women household employees;Fiction.,20TH CENTURY ENGLISH NOVEL AND SHORT STORY,FICTION Classics,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION General,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction - General,GENERAL,General Adult,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),United States,20th century; literary fiction; historical fiction; literary; british literature; english literature; contemporary fiction; british fiction; marriage; family; historical; friendship; relationships; drama; 19th century; modernism; fiction; fiction books; literature; historical fiction books; historical fiction novels; england; classic; gothic; jane austen; mystery; victorian; love; art; satire; shakespeare; mitford; philosophy; feminism; modern; comedy; music; books about books; psychology; austen; women authors; love story,literary fiction;historical;family;historical fiction novels;historical fiction books;alternate history;historical fiction;fiction;novels;fiction books;historical novels;literature;books fiction;realistic fiction books;books historical fiction;england;classic;romance;english literature;gothic;love;art;mystery;marriage;relationships;feminism;drama;victorian;short stories;shakespeare;friendship;philosophy;horror;sisters;music;twins;fantasy;mitford;possession;modernism;comedy;satire;chick lit,FICTION Classics,FICTION Family Life General,FICTION General,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Literary,General,Fiction - General,20th Century English Novel And Short Story,Fiction,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945)

Manservant and Maidservant New York Review Books Classics Ivy ComptonBurnett Diane Johnson 9780940322639 Books Reviews

What is the fuss about this dreadful thing? Why is NYRB bringing another edition of it out instead of leaving it to moulder in the dark, damp corners of libraries unlucky or foolish enough to have it on their shelves?

The plot, such as it is, makes perfect sense. A horrible Victorian daddy, cheaper even than Scrooge, makes his family's life so wretched that his rag-clad, blue-cold children make no attempt to save him when they see him heading off to probable death. His wife has left him; his brother and his aunt are dependent on his charity but clearly hate him as much as his children do; when he fails to die and returns from his brush with mortality a changed man, the consensus seems to be, "too little too late, bub," and everyone goes on hating him. Even his wife, who comes back for no reason I can discern.

Okay. Miss Compton-Burnett is said to be a wonderful writer. I see no evidence of this. She provides no character development, the children's voices are indistinguishable from the adults' voices, the servants are so well-educated that they speak in the same tones and cadences as the family, and no one at all changes in any significant emotional way throughout this book. The one servant who breaks out of service to teach is simply unbelieveable as a character.

All in all, I want my money back, and I want someone to introduce a bill on the House floor asking England for reparations to be paid to all who have suffered at the hands of this awful, awful writer, Ivy Compton-Burnett.
Manservant and Maidservant is so different from anything I’ve read – classic or contemporary – that I struggled with it at first (though that may also have been due to the tiny font and yellowing paper of my ancient library copy). I’m so glad I persevered.

Although it was published in 1947, the novel is set some fifty years earlier. It tells the story of the Lamb family. Horace Lamb is a petty tyrant in his own household, though he in turn is beholden to his wife’s wealth. His dependent cousin, Mortimer, his five children and their servants are all bound by his whims. Then Horace discovers something that makes him change his ways.

The novel has on first impression the feel of a drawing-room drama. Most of the ‘scenes’ are set indoors, many of them in the Lamb house. The chapters are long, and there are no white spaces to denote change of time or place, which can bring you up short when there is a sudden shift.

It is largely written in highly stylised dialogue – beautifully constructed sentences, effortless aphorisms and words weighted with irony and ambiguity are awarded to every character, children included.

But the artifice, paradoxically, highlights the emotion of the writing. There is a subtle and fierce compassion, and an unflinching eye on the small cruelties and humiliations within the household.

There is a careful dissection of the psychology of the characters the conservatism of the senior servants, the rebellion of George, the recruit from the orphanage who refuses to be grateful for his place in the hierarchy and rages against the confinement of his life.

Mortimer could be despised for his refusal to make his own way in life, but his self-awareness and compassion to others makes him far more complicated. Miss Buchanan, the shopkeeper who is ashamed that she cannot read, isolates herself by giving barbed responses to anyone who tries to gain her trust.

Manservant and Maidservant feels oddly contemporary with its minimal exposition and distinctive voice. The combination of craft and complexity reminds me of the best TV box sets. Some criticise the novel’s ‘unrealistic’ dialogue, but I don’t suppose the people of Kentucky speak at all times with the lyrical beauty and dark philosophy of the characters in Justified.

This is a book that requires effort and attention but it is rewarded. It doesn’t distract with big plot twists or an epic sweep. It anatomises one small corner of the world, and in so doing gives you everything.
Ew! If you have a spare afternoon during a blizzard, you should take this book in your hans, rip it apart, and use it for kindling. But I am not sure that this sort of dung burns.
No one writes novels quite like Ivy Compton-Burnett they're really more like novelized plays than anything else, and as Diane Johnson notes in her extremely intelligent foreword to this edition, Compton-Burnett's antecedents are more with Oscar Wilde than anyone else, in her love of savage epigrams and wordplay. her novels are almost impossibly stylized almost all her characters speak in the same style, so small children and uneducated coooks speak with the same level of sophistication as wealthy educated homeowners. Still, for all of its artificiality, you'd be hardpressed to beat MANSERVANT AND MAIDSERVANT as a superior exercise in style. Compton-Burnett's witty and troubling vision of the effect of a wicked Victorian paterfamilias's repentance is exceptionally striking and thought-provoking, and though this novel is not quite up to the level of A HOUSE AND ITS HEAD (also recently reissued by NYRB Press in a stunning paperback edition), it is one of her best works nonetheless.
Compton-Burnett -- very good. Character introductions and transitions a bit abrupt for my taste, but she can sure spin a yarn! Recommend. W. M. Spackman calls her the greatest female English-language novelist of the 20th century. (Cf. _On the Decay of Criticism_, pp. 279ff.) I'm not qualified to respond, but she's extremely articulate.
Brilliant book, and possibly Ivy's best, though with this author the standard is generally so high it's a bit foolish to single out one as "best." But this one has so much appeal - a complex and ever-surprising plot that one never loses track of, stunningly vivid characters, a story that feels practically Shakespearean, and of course this author's trademark mix of the most cutting wit with wrenching drama. For those who think Ivy doesn't have any heart, the portrait of the children in this book, constantly under siege by a tyrannical parent, is tender to the point of pathos. I've probably read this book ten times over the years and always find it engaging and fresh. One piece of advice is to read this as if it were a play, which it sort of is, being 99% dialogue.