| Author | Message | ||
     Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
WONDERFUL NEWS!! I have just received, hot off the press, a hardback book entitled THE BAZAAR AND OTHER STORIES by Elizabeth Bowen (edited by Allan Hepburn - Edinburgh University Press). This contains 28 stories by Elizabeth Bowen that have never been collected before (many of them never been published at all before). I think the only one I've ever read is 'The Claimant' first published in 'The Third Ghost Book' (1955) edited byLady Cynthia Asquith, a story that was not included, for some reason, in the 1980 volume of her collected stories. This is a major event for Elizabeth Bowen fiction lovers. :-) | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.148.103.184 |
Ulf! £50! She does seem interesting, though. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.154.21 |
Is she related to Lorraine Bowen, onetime Billy Bragg backing singer and lately featured on Radio 2 as The Lorraine Bowen Experience? She's good at cooking crumble, apparently. Perhaps Elizabeth, Marjorie and Lorraine were the three mysterious women mythologised in Fritz Leiber's 'Gonna Roll the Bowens'. Or perhaps not. | ||
| Allybird (Allybird) Username: Allybird Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 79.70.23.242 |
I care Des, but at £50 my child needs new shoes before that. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.7.224 |
A writer mainly of Tolkien-ish fantasy, right? Am I mis-remembering the right author?... | ||
| Chris_morris (Chris_morris) Username: Chris_morris Registered: 04-2008 Posted From: 98.220.71.248 |
Not sure who you're thinking of, Craig, but Elizabeth Bowen wrote primarily literary stories -- famously of wartime England -- works influenced, I'd guess, to one degree or another, by Virginia Woolf and Henry James. She was also well known for her superb ghost stories. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.198.155 |
Yes, she wrote some very good stories - I especially like 'The Happy Autumn Fields' and 'Look at All Those Roses'. I hope to buy this book, but having just bought Centipede Press's mindblowingly magnificent A Lovecraft Retrospective: Artists Inspired by H.P.L., I don't know when I'll be able to afford any more! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.153.231 |
There is a PB for £17, and other older volumes a bit cheaper.. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.224.200 |
I have her Arkham House book KECKSIES, but don't remember much about its contents  | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
Hubert, KECKSIES was by Marjorie Bowen. | ||
| Hubert (Hubert) Username: Hubert Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 78.22.224.200 |
Oh, dear. Her sister? | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
No, nothing to do with each other. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
I have laboriously quoted samples over the years from every Elizabeth Bowen novel chapter and every story, starting here: http://weirdmonger.blog-city.com/a_stone_memorial_to_elizabeth_bowen.htm =================== I now need to do this with regard to the new book described above. And below is the first one from her first published work SALON DES DAMES (1923) (previously uncollected):- ================== Each of the hundred bedrooms with their shuttered windows might have held a corpse, rotting in humidity beneath the glacial swathings of the bed. In the lounge, a mist perpetually filmed the mirrors, the wicker armchairs gathering sociably around the glass-topped tables creaked at one another in the silence, so that now and then an apprehensive human head would bob up from over a writing table or the back of a settee. The rain was always audible on the glass roof of the verandah. It is terrible to be alone in the darkness of rain, swept aside by one’s world’s indifference into a corner of a house. It is still more terrible to be swept aside into a corner of a continent. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
Still worse to be swept aside into a corner of an incontinent. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
That's a shitty comment | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
Not sure if you're cracking a joke there, Des. I hope I gave no offence. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.161.241.208 |
I thought it was at least as good as your jokes, Joel. des | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.153.231 |
That paragraph was absolutely wonderful. It pokes you somewhere deep with almost every word. You read any Capote, Des? BTW today I bought an old kid's book from the seventies, edited by Barbara Ireson. In it is a tale by Ian Seraillier called The Cork Elephant. It's four pages long and in that short space of time completely floored me. Looking around at my bookshelves and the shelves of my local supermarket I realise how little great stuff there is, that there are polished professional writers who just basically write. Stuff like the Seraillier and this Bowen just have 'it'. Sigh... (Sadly research shows me that Seraillier hasn't written anything else in the supernatural/fantastical genres besides retellings of the likes of Grendel and Robin Hood). | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
Tony: That paragraph was absolutely wonderful. It pokes you somewhere deep with almost every word. You read any Capote, Des? That paragraph is indeed amazing. And it was from her very first published work in 1923. I read 'In Cold Blood' in the Sixties. Should I go back to him? (I like the film Breakfast at Tiffanys.) | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
I've just read one of the stories in this new book (the one that refers to Hyde Park) - entitled "JUST IMAGINE..." (first published in 'Eve' (a fashionable illustrated magazine) in 1926 and never published again till now) - and this is a truly great Horror story (in the mould of Poe?) that needs to be added to the canon of Horror greats. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.153.231 |
Des; read Other Voices, Other Rooms. Anything but the sort of straightforward ICB, to be honest, not that I'm dismising it. His stuff has that imaginative stream that runs through you and makes you cold and yet nourishes you, too. As I said about bowen; every couple of words just does things to you. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
Thanks, Tony, I will. Truman Capote here I come! | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.153.231 |
A little sample; http://www.ansoniadesign.com/capote/tree.htm | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.157.153.231 |
Lord, and this: http://www.ansoniadesign.com/capote/local.htm Does this not stoke the spirits as a hymn? This stuff makes me want to weep with joy. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
Great quotes, Tony. Thanks. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.242.126 |
Tony, I found In Cold Blood anything but straightforward - it was poetic, emotional, cold, warm, intimate, expansive... a true masterpiece. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.5.8.82 |
I stumbled across Elizabeth Bowen's "The Demon Lover" (1946) in a mainstream collection of short-stories... wow. What a writer! I must go find her out now. If one had erased her name and put underneath "Ramsey Campbell," you couldn't tell the difference - meant as mutual praise. An unsettling study in a quick sketch, of sudden and total emotional breakdown... or, perhaps not...? | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Damn. Now I want to read Bowen! I want heads popping over stuff! Now! | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.251.247 |
I found the story, Albie, in THE OXFORD BOOK OF SHORT STORIES, edited by V. S. Pritchett (1981). | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
If you havene't read much Elizabeth Bowen before (note *not* Marjorie Bowen), then I suggest the Collected Stories as first published in 1980 (readily and cheaply available). If you like them, progress, then, to the various excellent novels and 'The Bazaar & Other Stories' (2008). | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.242.211 |
What the... "The Demon Lover" was made into a TV movie (1986) starring Hugh Grant and Miranda Richardson?!? Have you seen this, Des? Worth catching? (Tangent, speaking of Ms. Richardson: did I mention I recently finally saw KANSAS CITY?... and is it possible that one director [Robert Altman] can produce so many works of genius?... a dark spiral, in which Richardson and Leigh are just superb... highly recommended....) | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
Thanks. No, not seen that film, Craig, but have heard about it. I tend to dislike any films. | ||
| Huw (Huw) Username: Huw Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 218.168.196.78 |
I've got the DVD, Craig - the series was called Shades of Darkness. It's available in the US and comprises six episodes, including adaptations of stories by May Sinclair ('The Intercessor') and Edith Wharton ('Afterward'). | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
HA! Despite your efforts to conceal Bowen from us and keep her to yourself, I have successfully managed to borrow her collected stories from the local library! How does it feel to know I've usurped your exclusivity of this woman's art!? Eh? Aren't you going to answer me? (  ) | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
I've tried to blaze out E. Bowen with the Myspace I concocted for her: http://www.myspace.com/elizabeth_bowen and my essay in 'HORROR: Another 100 Best Books' and my forthcoming article in 'Wormwood'. Congrats on getting the Collected Stories. (Following my advice above). | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Doesn't have the story PINK BISCUIT though. Damn! Will I never get to read a story about a pink biscuit? | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
PINK BISCUIT is in 'The Bazaar & Other Stories' (2008) | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
You'll rue the day you kept ME from a story about a pink biscuit! RUE, I tell you! RUE! Is it a nice pink biscuit? | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
Is Rue the Day a companion magazine to Midnight Street? | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
I once had top marks in a French exam. 'Pink Biscuit' is an absolutely brilliant story, but hardly one of EB's Horror stories. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.3.65.135 |
I once had top francs in a German exam. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
There are too many Punny Packenhams on this forum. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
I subbed a story to midnight street nine months ago and I've not hear back except for an email about 3 months ago to say that he had received my story but hadn't read it yet. | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 82.3.65.135 |
He's been in hospital, Weber. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 91.110.161.215 |
Yes, MIDNIGHT STREET has been delayed due to Trevor Denyer's ill-health. I'm sure he'll catch up soon – it's in the nature of being a small press editor that absence from the desk leads to the accumulation of a story mountain you can't climb without ropes and grappling hooks and a Primus stove. It's an excellent magazine, and Trevor has a strong track record as an editor. I'm sure things will work out. | ||
| Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston) Username: Weber_gregston Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 83.98.9.4 |
I didn't know that. Thanx for letting me know. Let's hope he gets better soon | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
Everyone seems to be ill. They'll rue the day they became ill. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
Does Colleen rue the day she got married? | ||
| Gary Fry (Gary_fry) Username: Gary_fry Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 129.11.76.229 |
The quality of the relationship will certainly wane. | ||
| Joel (Joel) Username: Joel Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.149.134.59 |
The tabloid headline 'Roo had romps with escort' conjured up images of a tiny creature from Pooh Corner and a babysitter jumping up and down in a bouncy castle, hitting each other with pillows. Sadly there was no photo to confirm this. | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.163.170.232 |
I believe all writing to be the overflow of a delight, even though it be a delight in pain. - From 'The Lost Hope' by Elizabeth Bowen (1946) | ||
| Des (Des) Username: Des Registered: 06-2008 Posted From: 86.156.32.207 |
I’ve just read for the first time an unfinished story by Elizabeth Bowen: ‘The Man and The Boy’, just published in ‘The Bazaar and Other Stories’ (2008) by Elizabeth Bowen (Edinburgh University Press). Discovered handwritten on ten sheets of ruled paper. May date from the late 20’s? One wonders where this universe of reality was heading. The story ends: “They had the nearest window in the restaurant opened; what air there was came through and fanned Antonia’s arms. She” The following is a nice baroque passage, I feel from this story: ------------------- “This town sat on a rock rising out of one of those plains of immense France. A river doubles glinting past the foot of the rock: over the river there is a steep drop. One flank shelves, with grey jumbled roofs, yards, an embanked road for motors zigzagging down between. Down where the road flattens there is a dusty faubourg, across the river, linked to town by a bridge. A boulevard dark with trees runs round the top of the rock, broadening out at the river side into municipal gardens. A cathedral church of flamboyant gothic gives the town interest: it is without charm - that quickness and air of secret pleasure many little French towns have it quite lacks. It has a limestone greyness and with the end of summer grows sluggish and sinister: glare beats on its restless slate-grey trees; wind creeps under the heavily dropping sky; straws blow about the cafes; dust hardens one's lips. Michelin gives three gables to the hotel - so here, yesterday, Theodore, amateur of late gothic, directed Antonia's party across the plain from the more smiling, peach-coloured town of Albi. He collected, he indexed aesthetic experience, though rapture had never flowered in his precise mind. Benjie saw no reason to change his shirt: how much simpler it was to avoid his mother. He left the hotel and made for the market square, where he stared at objects aggressively. He was twelve, man enough to feel an angry vacuity: he hoped never to cross the English Channel again. Kicking an apple drearily past the stalls till it rolled under an old Renault parked by the kerb, he missed Tom's company. He sidled into a garage yard and stood silently watching two silent mechanics: here his contempt for the French lifted a little. With an obscure feeling of outrage he saw his mother, her pink nightdress slipping off her shoulder, running her hand up Tom's stiff arm, saying: "You won't." The voluptuous delicacy of women, embodied in her, antagonised him: he would rather have had a grim aunt who scrubbed his ears. Wait till I am in the army, Benjie thought. Two nuns streamed past with a sanctimonious bustle. Avoiding their stuffy skirts, Benjie walked head on into Theodore, coming from the cathedral, eupeptic, bland.” ------------- Re the word ‘eupeptic’ the editor writes: “Eupeptic: having good digestion. But I have had to guess. The handwriting being illegible, the word looks like ‘emphatic’ and might be anything at all.” Is Albi where Albie comes from? | ||
| Albie (Albie) Username: Albie Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.195.236.131 |
No. It's from albatross. Albi is said to be where the term 'elf' came from. But I'm skeptical. http://www.alarichall.org.uk/ahphdapp.pdf |