Book: Collected Twilight Stories-Vol I
Basic Information:
Author: Marjorie Bowen
Edition: epub from Australian Gutenberg
Publisher: Oxford City Press
ISBN: 9781849024532 (ISBN10: 1849024537)
Start Date: November 11, 2023
Read Date: November 12, 2023
266 pages
Genre: Fiction, Short Stories, Book Group
Language Warning: None
Rated Overall: 3 out of 5
Fiction-Tells a good story: 3 out of 5
Fiction-Character development: 3 out of 5
Synopsis (Caution: Spoiler Alert-Jump to Thoughts):
A wanderer has inherited his family estate at Bothal. He comes to to Bothal to sell the property but is drawn to it. He talks with the caretaker who allude to some strange occurrences in the past. Then he wanders through a field of poppies and finds a silent man mowing poppies. After that he goes to the cemetery and finds an isolated grave where a mysterious man tells of the person’s history in the grave. Finally the wanderer goes back to the house and falls asleep.
Cast of Characters:
Maitland-Narrator and owner of Bothal
Place:
Bothal-family estate which may not have been lived in for a hundred years. This is a real place: a village in Northumberland, in England. It is situated between Morpeth and Ashington. There is a castle, a church, a vicarage opposite the church gates, some stepping stones over the River Wansbeck, and a few houses.
Recommendation: Book Group-Peter
When: July 2023
Why do I want to read this book: A short story and billed as a ghost story.
Thoughts:
Note:.My book group is reading only about the Poppy Field, not the other tales. Maybe when I have the time, I will read the other tales.
Scoured Silk (All-Story Weekly, Jun 8, 1918)
The Breakdown (No record of magazine publication found)
Remained Behind—A Romance À La Mode Gothique (Help Yourself! Annual, 1936)
The House By The Poppy Field (No record of magazine publication found)
Bowen seems like she wants to be descriptive, very descriptive. Her first sentence of this short story is: When Maitland first saw the house the poppies were in full bloom; he had never before seen so many blooming together; the field was a sheet of scarlet flecked with green, right up to the hedge of unclipped yew that divided the garden from the pasture land; also large mauve poppies with a deep stain at the base of each petal rose from the long parterres at the side of the lawn; the property was in tolerable condition but had the melancholy air of a place for long not lived in and only superficially cared for by tired indifferent hands.
The main character and the only one with any kind of a role is a person named Maitland. He has been a wanderer who did not seem to be too concerned about money or property. A distant relative left an estate, Bothal, to him and now he had arrived. Upon gazing at his place, he wondered what was he regretting, what seeking? Isn’t this what any thinking person wonders sometime in their life?
never felt so near her hidden presence as now. Who is the “her”?
People should not leave houses standing when they no longer intend living in them. Maitland seems to have some foreboding about this house. His initial thought is to sell the house. But after looking around, he is thinking this might be a good place to collect his thoughts.
The house has not been improved. No electricity or phone or bathrooms or heating. Maitland wonders if it was haunted? The caretakers reply that there were tales of the shade of a little black boy that used to haunt the long gallery. But they have not experienced anything.
Bowen continues with her rich descriptions. By the house is an expanse field of poppies, more are blooming than any season in memory.
Maitland went out to look around. He met a person who was mowing the poppy field. When spoken too-there was no answer. Maitland thought: forward to escape by death---backward to escape by dreams of a childhood that never was. Not sure what Maitland is referring to here.
In his wandering, he comes across a graveyard. There is one grave lying apart from the others. A stranger tells him who the grave belonged to. The person, who was an ancestor of Maitland, delved with the occult. The grave was not consecrated. He tried to raise the dead, an ancestor of him whom he wanted to marry. Maitland said: It is delicious to be in love with the dead—yes, of all the manner of loving open to mankind that is, perhaps, the most beautiful.” Yuck! On the night he tried, he died that night and no one has since slept in Bothal and lived.”
he felt that past and present joined, and that escape by returning to his childhood and by death were resolved into one deliverance.
Maitland felt glad he was to sleep at Bothal that night. H3 felt like he was coming home.
On the threshold of his room stood a shadowy figure with wild flowers in her hair, a poppy coronal, surely, floating among her tresses. Maitland blew out his human light, entered his room, moving delicately among the shadows, lay down on his clean bed and slept. What kind of sleep? I suspect it is like his ancestor. Or maybe he was the ancestor who had tried to raise the dead and his bride was waiting for him?
Half-Past Two (No record of magazine publication found)
Elsie's Lonely Afternoon (The Last Bouquet—Some Twilight Tales, 1933)
The Extraordinary Adventure Of Mr. John Proudie (Crimes of Old London, 1919)
Ann Mellor's Lover (Seeing Life! And Other Stories, 1923)
Evaluation:
Poppy Field is a slow moving story of a family member who has not been to the family home, ever. The family home has been vacant for a hundred years. But there is a tale of the occult which goes with the last resident. This sets up the ending to the short story.
This is a tale which does not give resolution at the end. There are hints of what the author had in mind, but nothing overt. When telling a tale like that, one wonders, does the author leave enough breadcrumbs. In this case, the breadcrumbs are well hidden and not really subject to a quick read. If you are into descriptive writing, you will enjoy the story. On the other hand, if you just want a quick, satisfying story, you may want to look elsewhere.
Notes from my book group:
Bowen wants to be descriptive, very descriptive. Do you think her descriptiveness enhances her story?
When Maitland comes to Bothal, he wonders what he was seeking? What do you think he was looking for? Is there any relevance to situations you are in?
Does it seem like Maitland wanted to die? Why do you think so? Do you think he does die? Does Bowen have a concept of what an after life would be?
Bowen says never felt so near her hidden presence as now. Who is the “her”?
What do the poppies have to do with the story?
Who are the mysterious mower and the man by the grave? Are they the same?
What does Bowen mean when she has Maitland thinking: forward to escape by death---backward to escape by dreams of a childhood that never was?
What do you make of Maitland’s statement: It is delicious to be in love with the dead—yes, of all the manner of loving open to mankind that is, perhaps, the most beautiful?
How do you want your life to change because you read this book?
Many of these questions are either from or adapted from LitLovers.
Why the title of ____?
Does this story work as a ___?
Did the ending seem fitting? Satisfying? Predictable?
Which character was the most convincing? Least?
Which character did you identify with?
Which one did you dislike?
Every story has a world view. Were you able to identify this story’s world view? What was it? How did it affect the story?
In what context was religion talked about in this book?
Was there anybody you would consider religious?
How did they show it?
Was the book overtly religious?
How did it affect the book's story?
Why do you think the author wrote this book?
What would you ask the author if you had a chance?
What “takeaways” did you have from this book?
How did this book affect your view of the world?
Of how God is viewed?
What questions did you ask yourself after reading this book?
Talk about specific passages that struck you as significant—or interesting, profound, amusing, illuminating, disturbing, sad...?
What was memorable?
Reading Groups General Fiction Guide
New Words:
- Andirons-a bracket support, normally found in pairs, on which logs are laid for burning in an open fireplace, so that air may circulate under the firewood, allowing better burning and less smoke. Also called firedogs
- Pentacle-a talisman or magical object, typically disk-shaped and inscribed with a pentagram or other figure, and used as a symbol of the element of earth.
Good Quotes:
- First Line: When Maitland first saw the house the poppies were in full bloom; he had never before seen so many blooming together; the field was a sheet of scarlet flecked with green, right up to the hedge of unclipped yew that divided the garden from the pasture land; also large mauve poppies with a deep stain at the base of each petal rose from the long parterres at the side of the lawn; the property was in tolerable condition but had the melancholy air of a place for long not lived in and only superficially cared for by tired indifferent hands.
- Last Line: Maitland blew out his human light, entered his room, moving delicately among the shadows, lay down on his clean bed and slept.
- Scoured Silk (All-Story Weekly, Jun 8, 1918)
- The Breakdown (No record of magazine publication found)
- Remained Behind—A Romance À La Mode Gothique (Help Yourself! Annual, 1936)
- The House By The Poppy Field (No record of magazine publication found)
- Half-Past Two (No record of magazine publication found)
- Elsie's Lonely Afternoon (The Last Bouquet—Some Twilight Tales, 1933)
- The Extraordinary Adventure Of Mr. John Proudie (Crimes of Old London, 1919)
- Ann Mellor's Lover (Seeing Life! And Other Stories, 1923)
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment