Thank you so much for the mention! And for this great piece - the mention of class is very interesting and something I hadn't picked up on, but of course that sense of entitlement that Titus has is not just because he's male. It's curious that Laura almost seems to shift down slightly class-wise throughout her life, although still not quite enough to put her on a level with the rest of the villagers in Great Mop.
That is a very interesting way of looking at it, Harriet- yes, as a young woman it doesn’t occur to her to question being the mistress of Lady Place, but when she loses status and power, she begins to identify with others more. And I guess moving to Great Mop gives her the opportunity to make her own friends and also be alone, when she chooses to be!
The Sabbath is quite interesting in that respect as well - you could see it as breaking down the traditional class barriers with everyone being on a level
I really loved this novel Ann! It has such an interesting shape with those two distinctive parts - the first in London and the second in Great Mop. I loved how STW's narrative pacing completely changes. The first half is told in a distant, summarising form which makes the pace quite rapid (in the sense of years drifting by) and gives the story a timbre of inevitability. A history is unfolded in which everything has sort of already happened. This makes for quite a contrast when the narrative shifts in the second half from 'summary' to 'scene.' Abruptly we move out of that dreamlike recitation of Laura's life-as-an-aunt into real-time unfolding of events - hours and days (rather than months and years). The feeling of inevitability subsides and you see that narrative shift telegraphing Laura's newfound agency - she asks for her money (an excruciating and enervating scene!), she moves, she makes friends with the lady renting the rooms, she roams outdoors etc.
I enjoyed the witchy moments and images (especially looking back at the first half and seeing them hidden in plain sight). And is STW having a joke with us naming the town Great Mop. In other drier parts of the world, I imagine witches ride brooms but perhaps in a wetter climate they ride mops haha. When, as a child, Laura is tied to a tree by her brothers, it felt like a symbolic enchainment or even a sacrifice - perhaps acknowledging ahead of time that their sister will be tied down in place by them, will be restricted and half forgotten, will sacrifice her life to serving their families. The portraits of Henry and Titus are very good. And I like Mr Wolf-Saunders who: 'recumbent on the beach was indeed much like a sandbag, and no more arresting to the eye.' Made me laugh.
Wow, I love this, Tash. Great insights as ever. You are right, the timescale is so different in the first part, and then the subsequent scenes are explored in great dream-like detail and neither we, nor Laura, have any sense of how things will unfurl. It's interesting that the huntsman/Satan/gardener could conceivably be an innocuous bystander, and one of the 'modern'/psychotherapist aspects is that his function is to be a good listener. By being given permission (or allowing herself) to speak freely & uninterruptedly, she finds out what she thinks and feels. I love the humour in it too (Henry & Caroline are captured so well) & that's a great interpretation of her being tied up & forgotten about (my brothers probably would have done the same).
Ahaaaaa. Oh, I've been wondering about the Satan/Huntsman character and that reading really makes sense to me Ann. In fact, I think she comments that her conversation with the devil was pleasant 'though she had done most of the talking.' She also says: 'Very probably he was quite stupid.' I will have to re-read the ending with all this in mind!
Of course, I was struck by this novel coming out right at the time that Woolf was writing her great novels so went digging around to see whether VW had met or written anything about STW but found only this tiny fragment from her diary dated 1 June 1925 when she says she met '...Miss Warner, the new Chatto & Windus poetess, & indeed she has some merit--enough to make me spend 2/6 on her, I think.' A footnote tells me here she is referring to STW's book of poems - The Espalier.
Speaking of the woods, I came across a wonderful new podcast yesterday regarding the National Forest hosted by Dr. Eleanor Barraclough. It’s really interesting.
I agree with you about STW's writing. It's glorious. Thank you for this lovely essay.
The words of the huntsman, "once a wood, always a wood' echo for me the idea of nature re-establishing itself in the way Pope (echoing classical sources himself) described:
What a wonderful quotation, Jeffrey. I am sure Pope's poetry was an influence - another reader has spotted a Coleridge reference so I am thrilled (and also a good reason for me to read more pre-Romantic poetry, to rectify my ignorance).
Lolly Willowes is definitely having a moment. I just checked the Oxfordshire library catalogue (trying very hard not to buy any more books!) and they have 20 copies reserved for reading group use.
That bit of “Kubla Khan” in the fantastic quote you gave us here! If the whole thing is filled with random literary quotes like that then I do indeed have to read it, dark in the second half or not. Really enjoyed this, in any event.
Oh! That's not dark at all! So much of what one reads about it suggests that it gete cruel (ie, not just witch but cruel witch) in the second half. In this case, will read, with pleasure.
I'm so glad that this book was brought to my attention just now, in my early 40s, as I feel slightly ground down administering to others' needs... Laura's rant in the final pages had me inwardly cheering. I might go and sleep in the garden one night just for fun.
Yes, that final speech hits home, doesn't it Kitty? I loved hearing it read aloud in the audiobook version, it made me want to cheer in the street! I think the Devil/gardener functions as a therapist, allowing Laura to formulate and express what she has been aware of, beneath the surface, for many years. Hope you find a nice hedgerow!
I am having a bit of an obsession with Sylvia Townsend Warner at the moment! I thoroughly enjoyed "Rural Hours" and that prompted lots of bookish rabbit holes to explore.
That's so nice to hear, Deborah! Which of her other novels would you recommend? I'd be interested to know what other writers you would compare her to (or is she a one-off?)
I loved her collection of short stories “Winter in the Air”, have been dipping into and enjoying “With the Hunted”, and have just started “The Corner that Held Them” which is extraordinary. She is certainly not just a one-off, though ”Lolly Willowes”, I suspect, will always be my favourite because it was such an unexpected delight.
Yes, she published seven novels didn't she (and many, many short stories, mainly for the New Yorker). I was wondering who else she could be compared to, really. I see some echoes in the work of Gertrude Trevelyan, whom I wrote about below. Less brilliant than STW but the 1930s background & 'forgotten women novelists' connection is interesting.
I love writers of this period and didn't know of Gertrude Trevelyan, as I missed that post, until now! Thank you for sending me the link, I shall now seek her out.
I love seeing Lolly Willowes get all of this attention - it's long been one of my favorite books. I read it first so long ago that it was before the days of the internet, and I was FLOORED when it turned out to be not just a cosy novel about an aging spinster. I was just waiting for it all to be a dream through the second part of the book...but it wasn't.
My goal this year is to finally read some of Sylvia Townsend Warner's other novels!
Exactly! My objection to covers with witch/broom/cat etc (even though I include one here) is that a lot of the novel's power comes from Laura's surprising metamorphosis. But having said that, I did enjoy it more second time around, when I really noticed how beautiful her language is. People do seem to like 'The Corner...' though it starts off a bit gruesomely which put me off a bit.
I read your essay this morning, these are lovely thoughts about Lolly. It's a glorious book, beautiful writing, graciously revolutionary. I am rereading it thanks to your previous article.
Thanks Helen, that exhibition does sound good. And so pleased you're enjoying rereading Lolly, I did like it much more the second time I read it (or rather, listened to it via audiobook, which gave the poetic language another dimension through sound.) I love your description of it being 'graciously revolutionary' – perfect.
Thank you for mentioning the Rural Hours book- must add to my list!! One aspect of the novel that I enjoyed was the incorporation of scent - it’s a sensual story throughout, but what Laura breathes in makes it all the more gorgeous to me.
Absolutely! That's a great point about the novel's sensuality, and I've just added a wonderful quote about her breathing in the smell of beech leaves. The sense of smell is so central.
Thank you so much for the mention! And for this great piece - the mention of class is very interesting and something I hadn't picked up on, but of course that sense of entitlement that Titus has is not just because he's male. It's curious that Laura almost seems to shift down slightly class-wise throughout her life, although still not quite enough to put her on a level with the rest of the villagers in Great Mop.
That is a very interesting way of looking at it, Harriet- yes, as a young woman it doesn’t occur to her to question being the mistress of Lady Place, but when she loses status and power, she begins to identify with others more. And I guess moving to Great Mop gives her the opportunity to make her own friends and also be alone, when she chooses to be!
The Sabbath is quite interesting in that respect as well - you could see it as breaking down the traditional class barriers with everyone being on a level
I really loved this novel Ann! It has such an interesting shape with those two distinctive parts - the first in London and the second in Great Mop. I loved how STW's narrative pacing completely changes. The first half is told in a distant, summarising form which makes the pace quite rapid (in the sense of years drifting by) and gives the story a timbre of inevitability. A history is unfolded in which everything has sort of already happened. This makes for quite a contrast when the narrative shifts in the second half from 'summary' to 'scene.' Abruptly we move out of that dreamlike recitation of Laura's life-as-an-aunt into real-time unfolding of events - hours and days (rather than months and years). The feeling of inevitability subsides and you see that narrative shift telegraphing Laura's newfound agency - she asks for her money (an excruciating and enervating scene!), she moves, she makes friends with the lady renting the rooms, she roams outdoors etc.
I enjoyed the witchy moments and images (especially looking back at the first half and seeing them hidden in plain sight). And is STW having a joke with us naming the town Great Mop. In other drier parts of the world, I imagine witches ride brooms but perhaps in a wetter climate they ride mops haha. When, as a child, Laura is tied to a tree by her brothers, it felt like a symbolic enchainment or even a sacrifice - perhaps acknowledging ahead of time that their sister will be tied down in place by them, will be restricted and half forgotten, will sacrifice her life to serving their families. The portraits of Henry and Titus are very good. And I like Mr Wolf-Saunders who: 'recumbent on the beach was indeed much like a sandbag, and no more arresting to the eye.' Made me laugh.
Wow, I love this, Tash. Great insights as ever. You are right, the timescale is so different in the first part, and then the subsequent scenes are explored in great dream-like detail and neither we, nor Laura, have any sense of how things will unfurl. It's interesting that the huntsman/Satan/gardener could conceivably be an innocuous bystander, and one of the 'modern'/psychotherapist aspects is that his function is to be a good listener. By being given permission (or allowing herself) to speak freely & uninterruptedly, she finds out what she thinks and feels. I love the humour in it too (Henry & Caroline are captured so well) & that's a great interpretation of her being tied up & forgotten about (my brothers probably would have done the same).
Ahaaaaa. Oh, I've been wondering about the Satan/Huntsman character and that reading really makes sense to me Ann. In fact, I think she comments that her conversation with the devil was pleasant 'though she had done most of the talking.' She also says: 'Very probably he was quite stupid.' I will have to re-read the ending with all this in mind!
Of course, I was struck by this novel coming out right at the time that Woolf was writing her great novels so went digging around to see whether VW had met or written anything about STW but found only this tiny fragment from her diary dated 1 June 1925 when she says she met '...Miss Warner, the new Chatto & Windus poetess, & indeed she has some merit--enough to make me spend 2/6 on her, I think.' A footnote tells me here she is referring to STW's book of poems - The Espalier.
(I was also entertained by STW's and Woolf's respective pronouncements on stupid people:
Lolly Willowes: 'Like many stupid people, they possessed acute instincts.'
To the Lighthouse: 'Like all stupid people, he had a kind of modesty too, a consideration for how you were feeling...')
Speaking of the woods, I came across a wonderful new podcast yesterday regarding the National Forest hosted by Dr. Eleanor Barraclough. It’s really interesting.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-national-forest-podcast/id1806268375?i=1000702019085
Thank you, that sounds really interesting. Something to be hopeful about.
I agree with you about STW's writing. It's glorious. Thank you for this lovely essay.
The words of the huntsman, "once a wood, always a wood' echo for me the idea of nature re-establishing itself in the way Pope (echoing classical sources himself) described:
"Another age shall see the golden ear
Embrown the slope, and nod on the parterre,
Deep harvests bury all his pride has plann'd,
And laughing Ceres reassume the land."
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44894/epistles-to-several-persons-epistle-iv
And indeed, STW's prose has an almost Pope-like flow in the first passage you quoted.
Thank you also for the kind mention!
What a wonderful quotation, Jeffrey. I am sure Pope's poetry was an influence - another reader has spotted a Coleridge reference so I am thrilled (and also a good reason for me to read more pre-Romantic poetry, to rectify my ignorance).
Lolly Willowes is definitely having a moment. I just checked the Oxfordshire library catalogue (trying very hard not to buy any more books!) and they have 20 copies reserved for reading group use.
Oh! That’s so interesting to hear, Alison. Surely the film version will be next.
That bit of “Kubla Khan” in the fantastic quote you gave us here! If the whole thing is filled with random literary quotes like that then I do indeed have to read it, dark in the second half or not. Really enjoyed this, in any event.
Thanks Maria! It’s honestly not dark at all - just subtly satirical - her imagining herself as a witch is tongue in cheek, I think
… as in, she decides to live life on her own terms! Is the Kubla Khan reference to underground rivers?
Ooh, that could be, too! I didn't even notice that one. Maybe the whole poem runs through the novel?
The bit I was thinking of was ‘The goods yard at Paddington, for instance—a savage place! as holy and enchanted as ever it had been.’
Coleridge has ”A savage place! as holy and enchanted
As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted
By woman wailing for her demon-lover!”
That’s brilliant, Maria, I hadn’t spotted that! She is so clever & well read (you, too).
Oh! That's not dark at all! So much of what one reads about it suggests that it gete cruel (ie, not just witch but cruel witch) in the second half. In this case, will read, with pleasure.
I think it's about time I read this novel...
It would make a good film I think, Laura- Olivia Colman would be excellent as older Laura!
I wonder if somebody is planning it…
I'm so glad that this book was brought to my attention just now, in my early 40s, as I feel slightly ground down administering to others' needs... Laura's rant in the final pages had me inwardly cheering. I might go and sleep in the garden one night just for fun.
Yes, that final speech hits home, doesn't it Kitty? I loved hearing it read aloud in the audiobook version, it made me want to cheer in the street! I think the Devil/gardener functions as a therapist, allowing Laura to formulate and express what she has been aware of, beneath the surface, for many years. Hope you find a nice hedgerow!
I am having a bit of an obsession with Sylvia Townsend Warner at the moment! I thoroughly enjoyed "Rural Hours" and that prompted lots of bookish rabbit holes to explore.
That's so nice to hear, Deborah! Which of her other novels would you recommend? I'd be interested to know what other writers you would compare her to (or is she a one-off?)
I loved her collection of short stories “Winter in the Air”, have been dipping into and enjoying “With the Hunted”, and have just started “The Corner that Held Them” which is extraordinary. She is certainly not just a one-off, though ”Lolly Willowes”, I suspect, will always be my favourite because it was such an unexpected delight.
Yes, she published seven novels didn't she (and many, many short stories, mainly for the New Yorker). I was wondering who else she could be compared to, really. I see some echoes in the work of Gertrude Trevelyan, whom I wrote about below. Less brilliant than STW but the 1930s background & 'forgotten women novelists' connection is interesting.
https://akennedysmith.substack.com/p/connecting-threads-2
I love writers of this period and didn't know of Gertrude Trevelyan, as I missed that post, until now! Thank you for sending me the link, I shall now seek her out.
I am adding Lolly Willowes to my list. Thanks for the recommendation.
I hope you enjoy it, Jonathan (I did hate giving plot spoilers about the ending, but difficult to avoid it!)
I love seeing Lolly Willowes get all of this attention - it's long been one of my favorite books. I read it first so long ago that it was before the days of the internet, and I was FLOORED when it turned out to be not just a cosy novel about an aging spinster. I was just waiting for it all to be a dream through the second part of the book...but it wasn't.
My goal this year is to finally read some of Sylvia Townsend Warner's other novels!
Exactly! My objection to covers with witch/broom/cat etc (even though I include one here) is that a lot of the novel's power comes from Laura's surprising metamorphosis. But having said that, I did enjoy it more second time around, when I really noticed how beautiful her language is. People do seem to like 'The Corner...' though it starts off a bit gruesomely which put me off a bit.
You mention tarot, this exhibition is on until 30th April. https://warburg.sas.ac.uk/events/tarot-origins-and-afterlives-2025.
I read your essay this morning, these are lovely thoughts about Lolly. It's a glorious book, beautiful writing, graciously revolutionary. I am rereading it thanks to your previous article.
Thanks Helen, that exhibition does sound good. And so pleased you're enjoying rereading Lolly, I did like it much more the second time I read it (or rather, listened to it via audiobook, which gave the poetic language another dimension through sound.) I love your description of it being 'graciously revolutionary' – perfect.
Thank you for mentioning the Rural Hours book- must add to my list!! One aspect of the novel that I enjoyed was the incorporation of scent - it’s a sensual story throughout, but what Laura breathes in makes it all the more gorgeous to me.
Absolutely! That's a great point about the novel's sensuality, and I've just added a wonderful quote about her breathing in the smell of beech leaves. The sense of smell is so central.