Edited with an Introduction by Edward Mendelson and Robert Squillace - 'The Bennett novels stand up to anything Europe has put out'. Elizabeth Bowen Henry Earlforward, a shabby Clerkenwell bookseller, has retired from life to devote himself (and his wife Violet) to a consuming passion for money. Miserliness, long disguised as procrastination, can become a fatal illness. Bennett's bleak story is saved, however, by the Earlforward's maid Elsie: buxom, warm, ignorant and sublime in her spontaneous greed for life. "Riceyman Steps" is a modernist masterpiece; a profound psychological and symbolic exploration of the forces of love and death. This edition contains "Riceyman Steps", appearing here in Bennett's corrected version, and its sequel, "Elsie and the Child".
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Riceyman Steps
and over 1.5 million other books are available for Amazon Kindle . Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. Learn more. |
Book Description
Product details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Review
Bennett writes magnificently of the little movements of the spirit in its daily routine --Margaret Drabble
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Enoch Arnold Bennett, the son of a solicitor, was born in Hanley, Staffordshire. At twenty-one, he moved to London, initially to work as a solicitor's clerk, but he soon turned to writing popular serial fiction and editing a women's magazine. After the publication of his first novel, A Man From the North in 1898, he became a professional writer. He moved to Paris and became a man of cosmopolitan and discerning tastes. Bennett's great reputation is built upon the success of his novels and short stories set in the Potteries, an area of north Staffordshire that he recreated as the 'Five Towns'. Anna of the Five Towns and The Old Wives' Tale show the influence of Flaubert, Maupassant and Balzac as Bennett describes provincial life in great detail. Arnold Bennett is an important link between the English novel and European realism. He wrote several plays and lighter works such as The Grand Babylon Hotel and The Card.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By Shivari
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
What makes a great novel? Surely it is something about how we engage with human nature - both our own and others'. I have never read a book like Riceyman Steps - and having been an avid reader since childhood I have read *many* books. No other novel has ever made me so emotionally engaged with the characters. I found myself literally talking out loud to the characters, trying to persuade them to change their ways; in fact, at times I was actually shouting at them. As a therapist, I know that this is not because I have 'issues' around the subject matter. Rather, it is a testament to Bennett's skill that he drew me in to this world that starts off ordinary, promises happiness, but becomes increasingly dark and distressing.
Bennett at his best is a great writer. What I appreciate is that he keeps things rooted in the ordinary. His characters are just people - like you and me and the people next door. His style is simple (in the same way, I feel, as Guy de Maupassant) and I have always thought them surprisingly modern in style. Many books from this period (late 19th - early 20th century) can feel rather turgid in their style - you have to really *want* to read them. This is not the case with Bennett, perhaps because he writes from the perspective of an ordinary person rather than striving for 'literary style'.
Some people will know Bennett from the TV series 'Clayhanger' in the 1970s, since when he seems to have been forgotten. It is high time people rediscovered him.
One of the best books ever? I don't know. All I can say is that of the thousands of books I have read few have moved me like this one.
Bennett at his best is a great writer. What I appreciate is that he keeps things rooted in the ordinary. His characters are just people - like you and me and the people next door. His style is simple (in the same way, I feel, as Guy de Maupassant) and I have always thought them surprisingly modern in style. Many books from this period (late 19th - early 20th century) can feel rather turgid in their style - you have to really *want* to read them. This is not the case with Bennett, perhaps because he writes from the perspective of an ordinary person rather than striving for 'literary style'.
Some people will know Bennett from the TV series 'Clayhanger' in the 1970s, since when he seems to have been forgotten. It is high time people rediscovered him.
One of the best books ever? I don't know. All I can say is that of the thousands of books I have read few have moved me like this one.
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
By Rivercassini
Format:Paperback
Bennett is master of the study of miniscule, and this is no exception. An intense, shocking study of a year in the lives of Mr Earlsforward, a bookseller in Clerkenwell, and the women he marries in middle age, Mrs Arb, and their devoted charwoman, Elsie. Earlsforward is obsessively economical in life - with money, with words, with affection and certainly with commen sense. And his obsessions have a profound, shocking, and ultimately fatal, impact on those over whom he is master, sometimes - his wife and his "general". If you like Bennett, you'll love this. If you havn't read Bennett before, then this is the perfect introduction.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By Thomas Holt
Format:Paperback
First, a bit of a rant. Nothing to do with the book, but a moan about the declining standards of Amazon's review system. This fine novel is marked down by two reviews complaining about the poor quality of the edition. These clearly do not apply to the House of Stratus edition to which these reviews are supposed to refer. It may have some typos, I haven't really noticed any. Personally, I regard it as an excellent edition, as with the other Stratus Bennetts, of which I have several. In fact, I consider the Stratus as technically superior, for example, to the Penguin Classics editions - largely because of poor quality printing in the latter.
Now, to the book. This award-winning novel from Bennett's later output is, in common with many of his works, profoundly tragic, comic, and - above all - compassionate and understanding all at the same time. The focus of the novel is not the increasingly bizarre bookseller who opens it, nor his soon-to-be-acquired wife, nor even the highly skilfully-developed account of their peculiar marriage. No, the "hero" is Elsie - the "stupid" and "clumsy" maid - only Elsie has the sense and wit to try and avert the inevitable tragedy of the household. Those readers thinking Bennett's characters in this, and earlier tragi-comic novels, are too extreme to be real should remember that Bennett was writing before the advent of social services, the NHS, and so on. When virtually the only control on personal behaviour is peer-group pressure (and how oppressive and ignorant that can be!), it is inevitable that phobias and psychoses could develop more or less unchecked.
Throughout his prodigious output, varying in quality and intent from the sublime literature of "The Old Wives' Tale", "Clayhanger", "These Twain" and, indeed, "Riceyman Steps" to the lightweight "thrillers" like "The Grand Babylon Hotel" and "Teresa of Watling Street", the one constant, apart from the consistently high quality of the writing, is Bennett's humanity - his sheer understanding of human nature and his unerring ability to represent it - regardless of gender, age, or social circumstance.
In common with other recent editions, the Stratus "Riceyman Steps" sensibly includes "Elsie and the Child" - a short story published post-bookseller that tells us a bit more about Elsie and how her life develops. What a lovely character!
Now, to the book. This award-winning novel from Bennett's later output is, in common with many of his works, profoundly tragic, comic, and - above all - compassionate and understanding all at the same time. The focus of the novel is not the increasingly bizarre bookseller who opens it, nor his soon-to-be-acquired wife, nor even the highly skilfully-developed account of their peculiar marriage. No, the "hero" is Elsie - the "stupid" and "clumsy" maid - only Elsie has the sense and wit to try and avert the inevitable tragedy of the household. Those readers thinking Bennett's characters in this, and earlier tragi-comic novels, are too extreme to be real should remember that Bennett was writing before the advent of social services, the NHS, and so on. When virtually the only control on personal behaviour is peer-group pressure (and how oppressive and ignorant that can be!), it is inevitable that phobias and psychoses could develop more or less unchecked.
Throughout his prodigious output, varying in quality and intent from the sublime literature of "The Old Wives' Tale", "Clayhanger", "These Twain" and, indeed, "Riceyman Steps" to the lightweight "thrillers" like "The Grand Babylon Hotel" and "Teresa of Watling Street", the one constant, apart from the consistently high quality of the writing, is Bennett's humanity - his sheer understanding of human nature and his unerring ability to represent it - regardless of gender, age, or social circumstance.
In common with other recent editions, the Stratus "Riceyman Steps" sensibly includes "Elsie and the Child" - a short story published post-bookseller that tells us a bit more about Elsie and how her life develops. What a lovely character!
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
›
Go to Amazon.com to see all 7 reviews
4.1 out of 5 stars
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant read!
This wasn,t just a good book it was brilliant I couldnt put it down, Arnold Bennett wrote this with real insight to the lives of his characters, I love the sardonic humour always... Read more
Published 4 months ago by ipswich
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bennett's attempt 'to invent a form to supersede Balzac'
Utterly engrossing tale of bookseller Mr Earlforward, who becomes taken with neighbouring shopkeeper Mrs Arb when he sees how prudent she is with money (she refuses to pay the full... Read more
Published 4 months ago by sally tarbox
5.0 out of 5 stars
get into arnold bennett
not much more to add to the favourable reviews on here. except that my copy - an old PAN book has no typos and no errors of print at all. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Mr. Anthony J. Hume
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bennett's most popular novel
Joseph Conrad stayed up all night to read this novel. It grips you with the minutiae of life in 1920s Kings Cross. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Emily - London
5.0 out of 5 stars
Riceyman Steps
I'm a big Arnold Bennett fan, and this book is among his best, along with the Clayhanger series and the Old Wives Tale. Read more
Published 11 months ago by Alison Cope
1.0 out of 5 stars
Does nobody proof read anymore?
Like the previous reviewer noted, my enjoyment was ruined by numerous typographical errors. Absolutely appalling.
Published on 26 Dec 2009 by Lesley S.
1.0 out of 5 stars
careless printing
This otherwise excellent novel, reprinted by Amazon according to the back page, is riddled with typographical errors. Read more
Published on 25 Aug 2009 by Terry Cooper
5.0 out of 5 stars
An absorbing story of a bookdealer's miserliness
I think this is the finest of Bennett's books that isn't set in the Five Towns. It's set in the Clerkenwell area of London. Read more
Published on 18 Aug 2001 by H. M. Kingston
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
