Granada Window

by Marguerite Steen

And so begins Marguerite Steen’s compelling and personal account of Spain, the country she would later adopt as her own.

Starting with an insightful examination of Spain’s greatest literary figure, Cervantes, and his enduring classic Don Quixote, Steen explores the uniqueness of Spain’s cultural heritage, from its classic literature to the historical legacy of the Moorish rule.

Grenada Window also takes us on a whirlwind tour of the Spanish region of Andalusia, painting a unique portrait of the Andalusian provinces of Granada and Seville.

Here, Steen describes, in intimate detail, her own experiences with the Andalusian peoples and reflects on the cultural differences between Britain and Spain.

From vivid scenes of bullfighting and flamenco to powerful descriptions of the Andalusian landscape, Grenada Window is a remarkable belle-lettre and historical account of one writer’s enduring love affair with Spain.

Marguerite Steen (12 May 1894 – 4 August 1975) was a British writer. Very much at home among creative people, she wrote biographies of the Terrys, of her friend Hugh Walpole, of the 18th century poet and actress (and sometime mistress to the Prince of Wales) Mary 'Perdita' Robinson, and of her own lover, the artist Sir William Nicholson. Her first major success was Matador (1934), for which she drew on her love of Spain, and of bullfighting. Also a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic was her massive saga of the slave-trade and Bristol shipping, The Sun Is My Undoing (1941). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951.

195 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 22, 2016

About the author

Daughter of Capt. George Connolly Benson and Margaret Jones, Marguerite was adopted by Joseph and Margaret Jane Steen. Educated at a private school and subsequently, with much more success, at Kendal High School, at 19 she became a teacher in a private school. After three years she abandoned that career and went to London to fulfill her ambition of working in the theatre. Failing to gain entry to the theatrical world, she accepted instead an offer to teach dance in Yorkshire schools. This earned her a comfortable living (rising to over £500 a year) which enabled her to spend long periods travelling in France and Spain—the latter becoming her adopted homeland.

In 1921, she joined the Fred Terry/Julia Neilson drama company, at £3 per week, and spent three years touring with them. She was befriended by Ellen Terry, and when she found herself unemployed in 1926, took her advice and wrote The Gilt Cage, published in 1927. She went to write 40 more books.

Her first major success was Matador (1934), for which she drew on her love of Spain, and of bullfighting. This was picked up by both the Book Society in Britain, and the Book of the Month Club in the USA. Also a best-seller on both sides of the Atlantic was her massive saga of the slave-trade and Bristol shipping, The Sun Is My Undoing (1941); this was the first part of a trilogy, but the remaining volumes were far less popular.[5] Though never quite accepted by literary critics, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1951. Her two volumes of autobiography, Looking Glass (1966) and Pier Glass (1968) offer some delightful views of the English creative set from the 1920s to the 1950s.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Steen was a well respected author in her time. She was also quite taken with Spain. She set a number of her works there and this nonfiction book of essays meant to convey and/or explain her love for the land. But much like the only fictional novel I’ve read by the author, this didn’t work for me at all. No more Steen. The book is brief enough, though reads fairly long for the page count due to the dense writing and ponderous language. Ok, some of this is on me, I didn’t realize how old this book was, I knew it was older, but didn’t realize it was from 1949. Which essentially makes it a cultural artifact, not just a chronicle of life in post WWII Granada, but also a representation of a certain attitude/mindset of the author as a woman of that era. Which is to say a thoroughly colonial imperialist uppity perspective. Which is to say throw objectivity out of the window, this is a very subjective heavily colored by preexisting attitudes and opinions of the times perspective. So essentially the locals are described almost invariably as indolent, sleepy and none too bright individuals. Men are favored heavily over women, women are apparently all too soon made ugly with age and life, but men retain their appeal. Steen did appear to learn enough language and customs to get by and some of the descriptions are pretty interesting, like the brutal matador culture. For that matter the book starts with a very competent literary essay on Don Quixote and Don Juan. But majority of the pages are dedicated to casual observations of the uncouth peasantry by the gentile sophisticated lady…or at least so it reads. The view out of this window is very much colored with its observer’s personality. Which is fine, subjectivity is a prerogative of a personal account and for all one knows of the 1949 Granada it might even be accurate, but it wasn’t that interesting or compelling to read about. Steen had a talent for words, unquestionably, and some of the writing is very nice indeed, but in general it just wasn’t worth the time. Maybe that’s why a 70 year old book only has a few reviews on GR, the times it might have worked for have long passed and were technology free and for modern day goodreads savvy reviewers this account just doesn’t hold much appeal. Lovely descriptive language alone just isn’t enough to go tilting at these windmills. The first essay, though, might be worth a read.

[Care · Rating 4 out of 5]

A memoir in the style of a collection of essays, Granada Window is very much a work of the author's time, painting a beautiful, colorful image of an Englishwoman's experience in Spain.

From the countryside to a treacherous journey through the mountains with less-than-preferable companions, from bullfighters to matrimonial spats, the book presents snippets of what it was like for Marguerite Steen to live in Granada. An attempt to uncover the secrets of the granadino personality, Steen paints her Granada in beautiful, bold strokes that draws the reader into the sluggishly warm embrace of mid-twentieth century Spain.

While beautifully written, Granada Window necessitates a certain understanding of the time period it was written in as there is a tendency to make sweeping, not necessarily flattering judgments on whole groups of people on the basis of ethnicity, location, or status. However, the world that Steen paints is beautiful and clear, vivid and gloriously in-depth.

Thanks to the publisher for a digital copy.

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author's language is of its time. Parts of it were interesting and fascinating other parts weren't. I found myself not really liking the author and wasn't convinced that some of her recollections were her own. The first and last chapters add little more than volume.