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Awfully Dark And Awfully Witty: Beryl Bainbridge - Page 2

© Pamela St. Clair

As a result of her inexperience, Stella consistently misreads people's intentions. Any kindness from Meredith Stella interprets as romantic affection. She tries to adapt her personality to meet what she perceives to be Meredith's standards. Stella is oblivous to Meredith's homosexuality, which is nothing but obvious to the reader. Hilary and Meredith share sexually ambiguous names, and Hilary, to Stella's dismay, turns out to be a male Hilary, not a female Hilary. Stella's romantic aspirations have been misdirected all along.

Stella's own name, in keeping with the novel's darkly comic vein, ironically invokes the term stellar. As an intern, Stella obviously is not the star among the cast, yet fate unwittingly sets her up to be the principal player in the drama that wreaks havoc in the end. She succeeds in losing her virginity to another actor, the famous O'Hara, for whom she feels little real affection. He's simply a Machiavellian means to an end, sexual initiation. Outside of the bedroom, Stella wants little to do with him. Ignoring the earlier sage advice of the actresses, Stella avoids O'Hara in public, and her diffidence drives him to obsession, and ultimately to ruin.

O'Hara's demise becomes oddly entwined with the resolution of a mystery that haunts the novel: where is Stella's mother, whom Stella covertly calls at various moments of crisis? The culminating dark plot twist reveals not only denial and heartbreak but also the multifaceted meanings encompassed in the title term awfully. Stella's adventure, her sexual awakening, includes her awful (reverential) attitude toward Meredith, results in awful (extreme) consequences, and does indeed lead to awfully, as in very, big revelations.

Bainbridge's writing reminds me of that of another contemporary writer, William Trevor. Although Bainbridge spices her novel with larger doses of dark comedy than Trevor mixes into his tales, the sparse length of An Awfully Big Adventure belies its abundance of what has become the hallmark of Trevor's oeuvre, penetrating and disarming psychic intensity.

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Beryl Bainbridge's most recent works are of historical fiction (not available at my library yet, harumph) and include: According to Queenie (2001), which recounts a relationship between Dr. Samuel Johnson (yes, THE Samuel Johnson) and brewer Henry Thale and his wife Hester Thale and Master Georgie (1999), which is set during the Crimean War. Three different voices detail the story of George Hardy, a surgeon, amateur photographer, alcoholic, and repressed homosexual.

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In an interview with the Paris Review, Bainbridge reveals the spark behind the idea for An Awfully Big Adventure. If you do not want to spoil the surprise ending, save this interview for reading after you finish the novel.

The copyright of the article Awfully Dark And Awfully Witty: Beryl Bainbridge - Page 2 in British Literature is owned by Pamela St. Clair. Permission to republish Awfully Dark And Awfully Witty: Beryl Bainbridge - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.