One of the many advantages of being very old but having started writing very young is that I can remember people I was privileged to know then and who I cannot meet now because they died long ago. Elizabeth Bowen was one such. She was enormously kind and generous to me as a young writer. She was a judge for the Booker Prize when I was shortlisted and wrote of her own volition to tell me how much she had liked the novel. With the boldness of youth I replied thanking her but saying that I hated it now and thought it was the worst I had written. ( As a matter of fact I still think so) She replied to disagree and then we met. But it wasn’t a long friendship because she already had breast cancer and died the following year. I cherish the memory but not sure if I would want to have met H James. Amanda is right though. Elizabeth was one of the very best English novelists of the 20th C. But James was a geniys
So interesting - I missed this. Not entirely sure I agree. There is a depth and moral grandeur to HJ that EV, though v v good, does not strike me as achieving.
I’m a big fan of Hadley too. Her novel Free Love was stunningly good, a 1960s reworking of Anna Karenina but powerful, challenging and erotic. I aas surprised it didn’t win a prize, perhaps due to a situpid review of ut un the S Times…
I'm currently reading "The House in Paris"! But "The Heat of the Day" will always be my favourite Bowen, and in my head it's a film starring 1990s Kristin Scott-Thomas and Ralph Fiennes.
One of the many advantages of being very old but having started writing very young is that I can remember people I was privileged to know then and who I cannot meet now because they died long ago. Elizabeth Bowen was one such. She was enormously kind and generous to me as a young writer. She was a judge for the Booker Prize when I was shortlisted and wrote of her own volition to tell me how much she had liked the novel. With the boldness of youth I replied thanking her but saying that I hated it now and thought it was the worst I had written. ( As a matter of fact I still think so) She replied to disagree and then we met. But it wasn’t a long friendship because she already had breast cancer and died the following year. I cherish the memory but not sure if I would want to have met H James. Amanda is right though. Elizabeth was one of the very best English novelists of the 20th C. But James was a geniys
Everything I have read about her suggests she was a lovely person and this is such a nice story to reinforce that impression!
I love that Rosamund Lehmann made it through to the launch of Virago Books
Bowen inspires kindness toward the novice. I hope you pay that forward.
So interesting - I missed this. Not entirely sure I agree. There is a depth and moral grandeur to HJ that EV, though v v good, does not strike me as achieving.
I’m a big fan of Hadley too. Her novel Free Love was stunningly good, a 1960s reworking of Anna Karenina but powerful, challenging and erotic. I aas surprised it didn’t win a prize, perhaps due to a situpid review of ut un the S Times…
My title is too sloppy—Hadley says “as rare” and that is probably the better way to put it? I need to read Free Love…
I need to read the original piece! Your substack is a delight btw.
Oh thank you :)
I'm currently reading "The House in Paris"! But "The Heat of the Day" will always be my favourite Bowen, and in my head it's a film starring 1990s Kristin Scott-Thomas and Ralph Fiennes.
Which Bowen and which James to start? Must avoid the bad James.
well I don’t like Portrait of a Lady so I might be the wrong person to ask!
"The Heat of the Day" is brilliant - set in London during WW2, and first published in 1948.
Start with The Europeans. It’s funny.
Oh god so dull