Shelved Dreams in Penelope Fitzgerald's The Bookshop - Page 3
© Pamela St. Clair
The Bookshop offers a mordant look into the petty grievances of a small obstinate community, appropriately name Hardborough. Fitzgerald (as quoted in her obituary published in the May 3rd edition of the New York Times) said of her characters: "I have remained true to my deepest convictions, I mean to the courage of those who are born to be defeated, the weaknesses of the strong, and the tragedy of misunderstandings and missed opportunities, which I have done my best to treat as comedy, for otherwise how can we manage to bear it?" Indeed, The Bookshop wryly recounts the story of Florence Green, who becomes increasingly cognizant of her shortcomings in lieu of the obstacles her community places in front of her. As her surname simultaneously implies, she's both a bit naive to the venomous undermining of her neighbors and a bit new to the world of business.
Florence, a widow (like Fitzgerald), esteems to open a bookshop in her small community, which is peopled with eccentric inhabitants, each with his or her own agenda. From the opening paragraph, Florence is predestined to fail. She is riddled with indecision as she ponders whether or not to purchase a small property, called the Old House, to turn into her bookshop. Florence recalls having "once seen a heron flying across the estuary and trying, while it was on the wing, to swallow an eel which it had caught. The eel, in turn, was struggling to escape from the gullet of the heron and appeared a quarter, a half, or occasionally three-quarters of the way out." She realizes that each creature has "taken on too much," as will she. Sometimes Florence is the heron as she tries to succeed with her shop, and other times, she's the eel being swallowed whole by her community.
The Old House has remained vacant for many years, and nobody shows much interest in it until Florence decides to purchase it. Violet Gamart, the archetypal society woman, desires to turn Old House into an arts center. The bank gives Florence a hard time. Even the spiritual world conspires against Florence. Poltergeists, or rappers as they are labeled in the novel, inhabit the place. Florence, however, remains nonplused and forges ahead. Customers only trickle in, more out of curiosity than out of any real inclination to purchase books, as they eagerly wait for Florence's failure.
However, upon the advice of Edmund Brundish, the ornery long-time denizen of the town, Florence decides to prominently display and sell the recently published and controversial novel Lolita, and business booms along with the wrath and envy of disgruntled fellow merchants. Brundish, as his thick Saxon surname intimates, is the brutish and no nonsense but esteemed pillar of the community. He scorns Violet Gamart and shuns invitations to her social gatherings. When Brundish offers a rare invitation to Florence to visit him for tea, the gossip quickly reaches Violet and solidifies her determination to undermine Florence. Later, Violet appeals to Brundish to share her interest in maintaining the previously undesirable Old House, in the name of historical interest, as a structure that could be put to better use. Brundish retorts, "Old age is not the same thing as historical interest...Otherwise we should both of us be more interesting than we are." Such caustic and humorous repartee typifies the characters' conversations and general observations. Between the deadpan humor and the unique rural characters, The Bookshop is like a weird but recognizable amalgamation of Cold Comfort Farm and Bob Newhart.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Pamela St. Clair's British Literature topic, please visit the Discussions page.