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Foreign Country: The Life of L. P. Hartley
Drawing on exclusive access to unpublished private papers, a biography of novelist Leslie Poles Hartley, covering his life and work from his childhood at Fletton Tower, Peterborough, his relationship with his mother, his experiences in the Great War, his homes in Venice, Bath and London, and his struggle to come to terms with his homosexuality.
- GenresBiographyNonfiction
304 pages, Hardcover
First published March 20, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 26, 2016
I itched to begin reading this virtually as soon as I bought it. Hartley is one of my favourite authors.
It is well written and researched and by no stretch of the imagination can it be described as hero worship, despite the fact that Adrian Wright, like me, has admired him for years.
A suffocatingly protective upbringing probably resulted in a fear of sex as well as an inability to take decisions and a total dependence upon servants, often unsuitable, and in short supply. Neither he nor his 2 siblings (sisters) married. There is a thread of incest through a number of his novels, especially the Eustace and Hilda trilogy (Hilda =his eldest sister, Enid) and the heavily male dominated Harness Room (his father died shortly before the book was written).
Despite a lack of common sense in his day to day life he was amazingly perceptive in his writing. Hartley was influenced by Hawthorne (another of my favourite writers) as clear from his lectures on NH.
A quiet, unassuming rather obsequious socialite, Hartley's life's course included innumerable visits to and from friends, many literary. He had a very unappealing side – killing 2 swans on his stretch of the river, regarded as his “enemies” (they also interfered with his boating) also his impassioned diatribes against the working classes (he referred to them as the WC).
Such a gifted, perceptive writer and yet so feeble a man...
It is well written and researched and by no stretch of the imagination can it be described as hero worship, despite the fact that Adrian Wright, like me, has admired him for years.
A suffocatingly protective upbringing probably resulted in a fear of sex as well as an inability to take decisions and a total dependence upon servants, often unsuitable, and in short supply. Neither he nor his 2 siblings (sisters) married. There is a thread of incest through a number of his novels, especially the Eustace and Hilda trilogy (Hilda =his eldest sister, Enid) and the heavily male dominated Harness Room (his father died shortly before the book was written).
Despite a lack of common sense in his day to day life he was amazingly perceptive in his writing. Hartley was influenced by Hawthorne (another of my favourite writers) as clear from his lectures on NH.
A quiet, unassuming rather obsequious socialite, Hartley's life's course included innumerable visits to and from friends, many literary. He had a very unappealing side – killing 2 swans on his stretch of the river, regarded as his “enemies” (they also interfered with his boating) also his impassioned diatribes against the working classes (he referred to them as the WC).
Such a gifted, perceptive writer and yet so feeble a man...
February 13, 2018
Although Hartley is probably best remembered for his line 'The past is a foreign country' in The Go-Between, one gets the very strong impression from this book that he found the present a bizarre and alien place which he could not come to terms with, even before World War II but particularly during and after that. Wright suggests that the novels suggest some terrible real-life innocence-ending event but maybe the dreadful destructive things that happen symbolised something more inchoate if no less painful.
As a historian and an archivist, it was possibly the very last line of the epilogue that I found most horrifying, even if it is not an unfamiliar tale (though not usually when a biographer has already had access).
As a historian and an archivist, it was possibly the very last line of the epilogue that I found most horrifying, even if it is not an unfamiliar tale (though not usually when a biographer has already had access).
December 6, 2021
This is, as far as I can ascertain, the only biography of Leslie Poles Hartley, 1895-1972, and is considered, in my opinion, until another one is published, the top one.
According to the author, Adrian Wright, he is the only one to be given access to Hartley's private papers, many have been subsequently destroyed. Much that Hartley kept secret, his childhood life at Fletton Tower, Peterborough; his experiences in World War One; his various times in Venice, are prime examples.
In the book are also portraits of Hartley's circle, amongst whom are Cynthia Asquith, C. H. B. Kitchin, and others, it also explores his lifelong fascination with his servants.
According to the author, Adrian Wright, he is the only one to be given access to Hartley's private papers, many have been subsequently destroyed. Much that Hartley kept secret, his childhood life at Fletton Tower, Peterborough; his experiences in World War One; his various times in Venice, are prime examples.
In the book are also portraits of Hartley's circle, amongst whom are Cynthia Asquith, C. H. B. Kitchin, and others, it also explores his lifelong fascination with his servants.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews