After my discovery of EF Benson last year with the simply gloriously wonderful Mapp and Lucia books, regular visitors here will know I am off on one of my trawls through this author's work and reading and collecting his books with little restraint at all. After the Tilling delights I read in quick succession, Mrs Ames and Paying Guests and then Michael (not to forget of course the Tom Holt Mapp and Lucia books and the wonderful Major Benjy by Guy Fraser Sampson). I have lined up and ready to go Daisy's Aunt, Juggernaut, An Autumn Sowing and The Blotting Book so plenty there to keep me going.
I have just finished reading Desirable Residences and other stories, a pristine copy of which I stumbled across in one of my regular haunts in Colchester, the Castle Book Shop (It has now moved and is nowhere near Colchester Castle but is, in fact, next door to my hairdresser but somehow the Hairdresser Bookshop lacks a little je ne sai qua one feels) where I regularly pop in and check the shelves, somtimes I come out with nothing, sometimes I strike lucky. This is the joy of second hand bookshops you never know what you are going to find, unlike the big modern emporiums which you know will have exactly the same stock as all the others.
This collection of short stories is a really mixed bag. I gather the editor, Jack Adrian, tracked them down by trawling through old fiction magazines in 'that most civilized of repositories, the Bodleian Library'. They have been grouped under the headings of The Diversions of Amy Bondham, Crank Stories, Society Stories, Cruel Stories, Odd Stories, Dodo Stories and Spook Stories and range from the amusing to peculiar to, and this has to be said, pretty poor. EF Benson seems to have been able in his writing to cover the most tremendous range and ground (Michael a superb serious book, Mapp and Lucia brilliantly cutting and amusing) and these stories reflect his diversity. The Diversions of Amy Bondham are four slight tales of a social climbing woman in London, very Lucia like (one wonders who came first and whether this was a try out), who addresses her husband as Christophero Mio and has all the ruthless characteristics of the doyenne of Tilling when the bit is between her teeth. She comes up against another formidable hostess who is determined to do her down but, as with poor Elizabeth Mapp, is doomed to failure.
I won't give you a breakdown of each story, that would be tedious and take too long, but there are recognisable characters and characteristics from the Tilling setting which are delightful to spot and pick out, but whether these stories are funny, odd or downright odd, E F Benson is merciless in his unerring spotting of the weaknesses and eccentricities of society. However, there is also a poignancy as well as even the most social climbing of women who we are first invited to slightly despise, end up engaging our sympathy as the author leads us to see how ultimately shallow their lives are and that they are doomed to permanent disappointment.
Though I enjoyed nearly all of these stories, I read a couple each night before going to sleep, one particularly captured my attention. It comes under the group heading Cruel Stories and is called The Puce Silk. Aunt Cathie comes to stay with her niece, who she brought up when her parents died and who she loves dearly. The niece has made an excellent marriage and is now a countess. She has a large party to stay and is reluctant to have her aunt there with her smart friends (the niece's name, by the way, is also Lucia) but her husband tells her that her reasons for not wanting her there are '...not quite worthy of you". Aunt Cathie comes, meets the house party, and feels she is a success and is enjoying herself thoroughly though we know that Lucia is not. She attempts to stop Aunt Cathie wearing her best puce silk dress, aware that it is vulgar and not fashionable, but her Aunt wears it anyway and is under the illusion that she is liked and that Lucia's friends are welcoming her. We, the reader, know otherwise and also know that she will be disillusioned in the love of her niece and the true feelings of the house guests. She overhears a conversation:
"Lucia is furious. She told me she had tried to be diplomatic about the puce silk and thought she had succeeded. She thought of telling the footman to spill something on it so that it could not appear again. How heavenly that people should have aunts like that" "Yes heavenly" said Henry "but it is important that other people should have them and not oneself"
More is said and Aunt Cathie leaves the room and goes to her bedroom to think. "What was to be done? One thing she knew, it was impossible, she could not meet Lucia and her guests again". She packs and leaves while everyone is out and then leaves a note for Lucia:
"My dearest Lucia
I think I made a mistake in coming to see you when you had such a big party with you. I am not accustomed to it and I feel a little strange. They thought me a little strange too and so you must forgive my rudeness because I have gone home since I do not feel I could do any better if I stopped. Dear Lucia, it was such a pleasure to see you in your beautiful home with all your guests. Pray forgive me darling and make some excuse for me, you are so clever.
Your most affectionate aunt Cathie"
This is a Cruel Story but who do you think is being cruel here? True is is that Lucia's caressing ways have been exposed as sham and Aunt Cathie has been cruelly treated, but my goodness me what a gem of a note this is. Very subtle, letting her know that she, Aunt Cathie is aware of her and her guests true feelings, and that last line 'make some excuse for me you are so clever' a real twist of the knife. This little note, on the surface very sweet and understanding, is written to quite deliberately wound and hurt. We are told that the 'note had been hard to write', hard because of wounded feelings and being upset, or hard because Aunt Cathie wanted to get her message across? 'You are so clever'. We are left to make up our own minds.
Brilliant and worth the entire book alone.
