This is a simply wonderful tribute to Brookner. I've never had any interest in literary prizes (or the Oscars), but this account of Brookner's writing and career is truly gripping.
I liked the phrase, "Full of the English novelist’s virtues, but not quite English." It reminds me a little of something said about Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier, that it was the best French novel in the English language.
I loved reading this. It made me want to take my Brookners from the shelf again. Like you, Laura, I read them too young, and yet I took something from them, a something that was lived out in my mother's life and adapted by my older sister (whose copies the books originally were); that life can be lived on your own terms, including apparent conformity, including navigating loneliness in the midst of social busyness.
I'm so glad that you love Brookner, I do too! The one that always stays with me, is Look at Me, that heartbreaking walk all the way through London in the early hours
Thank you for this lovely article. I first read Anita Brookner at about 18 and became an instant fan. Her lonely women always seem me to inhabit an elegant world out of time, at odds with the ungracious present. I found Look at Me extremely poignant, but there was something so special about Providence that I have reread it several times. It remains one of my favourite reading memories. So much so that, mourning my lost original copy, I had to the seek the same edition, second-hand. I recall a Brookner binge one summer, when I enhanced my enjoyment by finding the haunts of her heroines in an old London A-Z map.
She wrote b/c she had no children. By that she just meant that only writing/creating novels is the only thing that comes close to creating life. Not a fashionable idea in this benighted vacuous age.
I re-read Hotel du Lac recently, and it's the most perfect book. Your article has made me want to read them all now! I wonder when Hermione Lee's biography of AB is to be published? (on a side note, my PhD was on Baudelaire's art criticism and I LOVED the fact that she wrote about 19thc French art too)
This is so good, Laura. And reminds me I really need to read the copies of Providence (I've read the ones on either side of it) and Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont I bought a few years ago.
This is so wonderful on the quiet brilliance of Anita Brookner. A German friend of mine was passionate about her work (got me reading her, in fact); and, with Brookner's approval, began translating her for the German market (wasn't available then). Sadly, it fizzled out - don't think they got her.
That's a shame - and a bit of a surprise? - about the German market. Certainly lots of love for her on Substack!!! My most read piece - I'm so pleased.
I'm kind of assuming that someone's published at least something of hers there now, but haven't checked. It was a really brilliant piece for getting to the heart of what's important about her, without unnecessary padding
Oh that is appreciated! As much as anything I wrote it for my mother who ADORES AB and then I found out how much people still admire her... it's lovely.
I have been collecting Brookner from charity shops as though to rescue them from the oblivion I fear she she is slipping towards. Thank you for giving her a hefty tug back to the present.
On the Booker - Penelope Lively, a runner-up to Hotel du Lac in 1984 with According to Mark, a somewhat acerbic novel won with the beautifully evoked memoir of an aging historian with Moon Tiger in 1987.
That 1984 year also had Julian Barnes' Flaubert's Parrot, Anita Desai and David Lodge on the shortlist.
Thank YOU - for reading and responding - I'm truly thrilled to find that she is still so much admired. Interesting about the Booker! That's a serious line-up.
Beautiful piece, which makes me want to read her books. I admit "nothing happens to woman in cardigan" is how I thought of them, but suspect I'll be in a place to get much more from them now.
Delightful piece, so very intimate in terms of the female psyche. That these truths keep repeating themselves book after book, that a writer keeps writing the same book over and over again is not surprising. Life keeps repeating itself in a predictable pattern of infinite variations.
Oh, and, Mr Bellow, a word... The world can do without Humboldt or his gift, but not without tea.
Haha. This piece was perfectly timed for me, as I had just abandoned the audiobook of Bellow's Herzog with a yawn and was very much feeling it was too long since I'd read a Brookner or an Elizabeth Taylor.
My god. I now want to read everything by Brookner.
I am always around books and I’ve aways seen her name, but I haven’t actually *read* her yet.
I am perilously near 50, currently in a hotel on my own (at the tail end of a lovely but extremely stressful trip to Portugal with my very-high-maintenance mother) and loved reading this review.
I loved Hotel du Lac when I read it around two decades ago. I agree that Brookner has something of Rhys (another brilliant writer) about her. Thank you for this fascinating tribute!
This is a simply wonderful tribute to Brookner. I've never had any interest in literary prizes (or the Oscars), but this account of Brookner's writing and career is truly gripping.
I liked the phrase, "Full of the English novelist’s virtues, but not quite English." It reminds me a little of something said about Ford Maddox Ford's The Good Soldier, that it was the best French novel in the English language.
Thank you so much - truly lovely to have this response.
I didn't know that line about The Good Soldier but I know exactly what they mean!
I loved reading this. It made me want to take my Brookners from the shelf again. Like you, Laura, I read them too young, and yet I took something from them, a something that was lived out in my mother's life and adapted by my older sister (whose copies the books originally were); that life can be lived on your own terms, including apparent conformity, including navigating loneliness in the midst of social busyness.
Lewis Percy is one of my personal favourites.
Thank you so much. Not least because I haven't read LP and that is a wonderful push.... Really glad you enjoyed and I love what you say about them.
I'm so glad that you love Brookner, I do too! The one that always stays with me, is Look at Me, that heartbreaking walk all the way through London in the early hours
Yes!!! Oh that poor woman.
As you'll infer for me it's the end of Providence. What a writer she is.
Thank you for this lovely article. I first read Anita Brookner at about 18 and became an instant fan. Her lonely women always seem me to inhabit an elegant world out of time, at odds with the ungracious present. I found Look at Me extremely poignant, but there was something so special about Providence that I have reread it several times. It remains one of my favourite reading memories. So much so that, mourning my lost original copy, I had to the seek the same edition, second-hand. I recall a Brookner binge one summer, when I enhanced my enjoyment by finding the haunts of her heroines in an old London A-Z map.
Thank YOU for this wonderful response! I love the idea of Brookner's London. Kitty Maule lived somewhere very nice indeed...
She wrote b/c she had no children. By that she just meant that only writing/creating novels is the only thing that comes close to creating life. Not a fashionable idea in this benighted vacuous age.
I re-read Hotel du Lac recently, and it's the most perfect book. Your article has made me want to read them all now! I wonder when Hermione Lee's biography of AB is to be published? (on a side note, my PhD was on Baudelaire's art criticism and I LOVED the fact that she wrote about 19thc French art too)
Yes it really is a perfect novel! I only just found out about the biog - excellent that she's in such good hands.
What a fascinating PhD...
This is so good, Laura. And reminds me I really need to read the copies of Providence (I've read the ones on either side of it) and Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont I bought a few years ago.
Oh Tom thank you so much, That is just lovely to hear. All this love for Anita is wonderful!
Those novels are SO GOOD...
I love Mrs Palfrey
This is so wonderful on the quiet brilliance of Anita Brookner. A German friend of mine was passionate about her work (got me reading her, in fact); and, with Brookner's approval, began translating her for the German market (wasn't available then). Sadly, it fizzled out - don't think they got her.
Thank you!
That's a shame - and a bit of a surprise? - about the German market. Certainly lots of love for her on Substack!!! My most read piece - I'm so pleased.
I'm kind of assuming that someone's published at least something of hers there now, but haven't checked. It was a really brilliant piece for getting to the heart of what's important about her, without unnecessary padding
Oh that is appreciated! As much as anything I wrote it for my mother who ADORES AB and then I found out how much people still admire her... it's lovely.
I have been collecting Brookner from charity shops as though to rescue them from the oblivion I fear she she is slipping towards. Thank you for giving her a hefty tug back to the present.
On the Booker - Penelope Lively, a runner-up to Hotel du Lac in 1984 with According to Mark, a somewhat acerbic novel won with the beautifully evoked memoir of an aging historian with Moon Tiger in 1987.
That 1984 year also had Julian Barnes' Flaubert's Parrot, Anita Desai and David Lodge on the shortlist.
Thank YOU - for reading and responding - I'm truly thrilled to find that she is still so much admired. Interesting about the Booker! That's a serious line-up.
In case you don't know, they are showing Hotel Du Lac on BBC4 tonight, followed by a programme of her art criticism!
Thank you!!! Serendipity.... I didn't know about the art programme, what a total treat.
I was very excited to see it in the listings this morning!
Beautiful piece, which makes me want to read her books. I admit "nothing happens to woman in cardigan" is how I thought of them, but suspect I'll be in a place to get much more from them now.
Thank you so much - incredibly kind and I really hope you enjoy them.
Delightful piece, so very intimate in terms of the female psyche. That these truths keep repeating themselves book after book, that a writer keeps writing the same book over and over again is not surprising. Life keeps repeating itself in a predictable pattern of infinite variations.
Oh, and, Mr Bellow, a word... The world can do without Humboldt or his gift, but not without tea.
Nice one! Even as a non-tea drinker, I greatly appreciate the sentiment.
And thank you Maria for your lovely words...
Haha. This piece was perfectly timed for me, as I had just abandoned the audiobook of Bellow's Herzog with a yawn and was very much feeling it was too long since I'd read a Brookner or an Elizabeth Taylor.
Serendipity, or great minds and the like! Thank you for sharing.
My god. I now want to read everything by Brookner.
I am always around books and I’ve aways seen her name, but I haven’t actually *read* her yet.
I am perilously near 50, currently in a hotel on my own (at the tail end of a lovely but extremely stressful trip to Portugal with my very-high-maintenance mother) and loved reading this review.
That sounds very elegantly Brookner... I do hope you enjoy her.
“No World War Two, no majestic clash of cultures. Instead, the story of a lonely woman’s brief sojourn, out of season, in a Swiss hotel.”
This sounds like my jam.
It's very good jam...!
This is some pretty writing tho
Thank you!
I loved Hotel du Lac when I read it around two decades ago. I agree that Brookner has something of Rhys (another brilliant writer) about her. Thank you for this fascinating tribute!
Thank you so much - hugely appreciated.