- Hardcover: 336 pages
- Publisher: Flamingo; First edition edition (3 Nov 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007136420
- ISBN-13: 978-0007136421
- Product Dimensions: 15.3 x 4.9 x 22.8 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,287,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
A House of Air
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Review
‘This generous selection of essays, reviews, introductions and other occasional writings proves yet again that stylistically, intellectually and morally Fitzgerald couldn’t put a foot wrong if she’d tried. Hers is an impeccable and unique voice not just from another century but another world.’ Michael Dibdin, Books of the Year, Daily Telegraph
‘Remarkable. It is the range of her scholarship that impresses.’ Doris Lessing, Books of the Year, Daily Telegraph
‘Of all the novelists in English of the last quarter-century, Penelope Fitzgerald has the most unarguable claim to greatness.’ Philip Hensher, Spectator
‘An intelligent writer, superbly and unfailingly so. Wise and funny, with a dry wit allied to a great emotional sympathy.’ Sunday Times
‘Elegant, perceptive and humane.’ Joanna Trollope, Books of the Year, Observer
‘Fitzgerald, who died in 2000, was a very English novelist – quiet, restrained, precise. She admired those who eschewed "making too much of things," and her ideals were of the sort that, as she discerned, George Eliot esteemed: "work, steadiness, harmony, peace." The editors of this unusually intelligent and sensitively selected collection of her criticism have chosen mainly those pieces that explore the authors of the "books of her heart" – mostly minor, often overlooked writers who were, as she lovingly describes E. M. Delafield, "accurate, calm, and lucid," and who composed books that could be considered "somber" if they "were less witty, and less deceptively mild." Taken as a whole, Fitzgerald's pieces on Delafield, Sylvia Townsend Warner, the Punch writers, Mrs. Oliphant (who excelled at what she called the "tragi-farce," a form Fitzgerald clearly loved), J. L. Carr, and Barbara Pym define a writerly sensibility of which Fitzgerald herself was, sadly, among the last adherents. This book is worth its price just for Fitzgerald's spot-on description of Pym's mordant vision of the distance between the sexes: "If men are less than angels, Barbara Pym's men are less than men, not wanting much more than constant attention and comfort. Their theses must be typed . . . endless dinners cooked, remarks listened to . . . and the forces of nature and society combine to ensure, even in the 1980s, that they get these things. Women see through them clearly enough, but are drawn toward them by their own need and a compassion which is entirely taken for granted."’ Benjamin Schwartz, The Atlantic
Review
'This generous selection of essays, reviews, introductions and other occasional writings proves yet again that stylistically, intellectually and morally Fitzgerald couldn't put a foot wrong if she'd tried. Hers is an impeccable and unique voice not just from another century but another world.' Michael Dibdin, Books of the Year, Daily Telegraph 'Remarkable. It is the range of her scholarship that impresses.' Doris Lessing, Books of the Year, Daily Telegraph 'Of all the novelists in English of the last quarter-century, Penelope Fitzgerald has the most unarguable claim to greatness.' Philip Hensher, Spectator 'An intelligent writer, superbly and unfailingly so. Wise and funny, with a dry wit allied to a great emotional sympathy.' Sunday Times 'Elegant, perceptive and humane.' Joanna Trollope, Books of the Year, Observer 'Fitzgerald, who died in 2000, was a very English novelist -- quiet, restrained, precise. She admired those who eschewed "making too much of things," and her ideals were of the sort that, as she discerned, George Eliot esteemed: "work, steadiness, harmony, peace." The editors of this unusually intelligent and sensitively selected collection of her criticism have chosen mainly those pieces that explore the authors of the "books of her heart" -- mostly minor, often overlooked writers who were, as she lovingly describes E. M. Delafield, "accurate, calm, and lucid," and who composed books that could be considered "somber" if they "were less witty, and less deceptively mild." Taken as a whole, Fitzgerald's pieces on Delafield, Sylvia Townsend Warner, the Punch writers, Mrs. Oliphant (who excelled at what she called the "tragi-farce," a form Fitzgerald clearly loved), J. L. Carr, and Barbara Pym define a writerly sensibility of which Fitzgerald herself was, sadly, among the last adherents. This book is worth its price just for Fitzgerald's spot-on description of Pym's mordant vision of the distance between the sexes: "If men are less than angels, Barbara Pym's men are less than men, not wanting much more than constant attention and comfort. Their theses must be typed ... endless dinners cooked, remarks listened to ... and the forces of nature and society combine to ensure, even in the 1980s, that they get these things. Women see through them clearly enough, but are drawn toward them by their own need and a compassion which is entirely taken for granted."' Benjamin Schwartz, The Atlantic
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Best Collection of Essays I have Ever Read
23 May 2011
Format:Kindle Edition
This is a fantastic collection--the literary equivalent of a box of fine quality chocolates. It is a perfect book to pick up and put down; entertaining, thoughtful, full of insights on a whole range of subjects, and beautifully written. I can't recommend it highly enough.
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