Angel (Virago Modern Classics)
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Jane Austen, Elizabeth Taylor, Barbara Pym, Elizabeth Bowen - soul-sisters all (Anne Tyler )
One of the most underrated novelists of the twentieth century (Antonia Fraser )
I envy those readers who are coming to her work for the first time. Theirs will be an unexpected pleasure (Paul Bailey )
Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning point in one's own experience (Elizabeth Bowen )
One of the most underrated novelists of the twentieth century (Antonia Fraser )
I envy those readers who are coming to her work for the first time. Theirs will be an unexpected pleasure (Paul Bailey )
Her stories remain with one, indelibly, as though they had been some turning point in one's own experience (Elizabeth Bowen )
Lesley Glaister, Guardian
'A masterpiece . . . Angel is a brilliant creation'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dark masterpiece...,
By
This review is from: Angel (Virago modern classics) (Paperback)
Elizabeth Taylor is one of English literature's best kept secrets; her shrewd, observant novels of human frailty have won her a small but devoted readership and 'Angel' is held by many as their favourite of her books.Spurred on by loneliness and desperation, the young and staunchly determined Angelica Deverell draws on her own naïve perceptions of literature to produce what she thinks are masterpieces. Refusing to believe herself to be anything less than a genius, she disregards her publisher's attempts to restrain her high-flown prose and clumsy syntax and embarks on a starry career as a romantic novelist. Her books are bestsellers - despite being rubbished by critics - and Angel's uncompromisingly high view of herself is vindicated. Her success, however, spells dissatisfaction for those who tolerate her as her behaviour grows more outrageous and inconsiderate. The novel is moving, humane and compelling. Read it.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
From time to time there was a terrible sound in her chest, as if some ancient clock were gathering itself to strike,
By
This review is from: Angel (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)
Angel grows up, a grocer's daughter, with a monstrously inflated sense of her own talents and importance. She is lucky in those who indulge her - perhaps not so lucky in love. From the beginning of this novel we are faced with a feeling of bewilderment. What exactly to make of this fantasist who muddles her own origins and takes on those of others for aggrandisement? She writes atrociously bad novels, but a certain kind of woman loves them, though towards the end of her career and on a definite downslope, we learn that, "...only the elderly or middle-aged had ever read them." Nevertheless, she earned a certain kind of notoriety for the scandals she hinted at. Imagine, perhaps Marie Corelli laced with something a little more specific, though never physically specific.
Lucky Angel, to find a woman who is willing to sacrifice her own life-chances to serve this inflated authoress, living with her and managing her household, and lucky again to find publishers who are cynical enough to publish her output and even feel a certain patriarchal pride and protectiveness towards her. But nothing can be done for her as the inevitable decline begins. A good-natured offer of money from an old friend is rejected in outrage. Tremendously engaging, truly appalling, righteously ridiculous, this is a story of the kind of person who, today, could barely exist. Trying to find a modern-day figure to compare to Angel, I could only think of someone like Jordan - sound business-woman producing tawdry rubbish for the mindless today, but one hesitates to think of what decline will do to all her accoutrements. This novel is a kind of satire, which is fitting and right with such an ugly subject. Brilliantly achieved satire with a touch of nostalgia for an age when women who wrote were lady writers.
15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Witty, Amusing, Light-Hearted Parody of the Publishing World,
By
This review is from: Angel (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)
The life and times of a famous author
This is a lovely book to read on holiday or whilst travelling. It is a light-hearted dig at authors, readers, publishers and most vitriolically, of critics. Elizabeth Taylor is a fine writer with an exquisite turn of self-deprecation and devastating humour. You have the sense Taylor is either writing about herself or is secretly enjoying a joke at another author's expense. Taylor even laughs at the pretentiousness of the art world. Be that as it may, the protagonist, Angel, is completely endearing for all her extreme self-confidence and haughty self-centredness. As an example, in one scene, Angel's fierce Staffordshire bull terrier (_) Sultan, attacks a little Yorkshire terrier (_?) and, in fact, kills it. Rather than apologising to the hapless owner, whose dog it was, Angel frostily tells the owner that she should have kept the dog under control and totters off with as much dignity and pride that she can muster (whilst taking a wrong turning). As a newly published author, Angel fantasises creating a novel preparing dreadful humiliations and a painful death for one of her critics. What writer has not had that fantasy!? In all, it is excruciatingly funny. It is set in the early part of C20 and has an air of nostalgia and ruefulness that brings to mind the style of Jane Gardam in her recent book, _Old Filth_. I would not hesitate to recommend this book. Elizabeth Taylor has an economically light way of writing that is at the same time both incisive and cruel, but yet charming - and thoroughly enjoyable!
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