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Love's Civil War: Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie
. 2009, bright clean copy, with dustjacket, no markings, Professional booksellers since 1981
1000 pages, Hardcover
First published October 21, 2008
About the author
Elizabeth Bowen
210 books583 followersElizabeth Dorothea Cole Bowen, CBE was an Anglo-Irish novelist and short story writer and short story writer notable for her books about the "big house" of Irish landed Protestants as well her fiction about life in wartime London.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 3, 2018
I suspect that the love letters of most people reading this review would be more captivating than these of Elizabeth Bowen. I’m not sure why they were ever published. It’s very clear she never expected them to be – which is to her credit as often writers can appear to be writing for posterity rather than the intended recipient. The only other letters I’ve read are those by Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, Rainer Marie Rilke and Franz Kafka. I’d classify these four as artists; Bowen, on the other hand, as a professional author. Writing was her job rather than her raison d’etre. That said I’ve got a lot of love for Bowen.
The first problem is this is a bizarre, almost adolescent relationship (Bowen is in her late forties when it begins). Bowen and Charles Ritchie appear to see each other on average about five times a year, if that. During their “affair” Ritchie marries another woman and has affairs with countless others. At times he’s four-timing Bowen. He’s a serial philanderer and his journal is characterized by a megalomania that leaves you wondering what on earth any woman could have seen in him. She, meanwhile, seems to be living in cloud cuckoo land. Her letters are always characterized by the winged emotions of the first two weeks of an affair. It’s like she writes the same letter over and over again, with different scenery. This maybe is the appeal, a relationship that never really leaves her imagination. There isn’t a note of criticism in any of the letters. They never apparently have a row. Not even really a sense that she knows him. As for the excerpts from his diaries, he rarely mentions her and when he does you feel he’s a bit star struck by her status as a best-selling author. In the meantime, her husband comes across as a complete buffoon and this perhaps is the ultimate cruelty – to ridicule for posterity the man you’ve lived with all your life.
One thing these letters did explain. In The Heat of the Day which is based on her affair with Ritchie the hero is a spy working for the Nazis. It’s always baffled people why she chose her spy to work for the Nazis rather than, as was much more likely in those days, for the Soviets. The answer is, Bowen and Ritchie were vehemently hostile to communism and there’s an unpleasant whiff they might not have been in private as unsympathetic to the Nazis as morally they should have been. Ritchie even looks a bit like a Gestapo agent. When Bowen goes to Prague shortly after the war she refers to the Czechs as uniformly ugly to look at and this kind of decadence, nothing short of vulgar especially so soon after the end of the war, is a prevailing feature of their relationship. Ritchie himself refers to Paris as a dreary city, which is doubly odd as moving there from Canada enables him to be closer to Bowen. Virginia Woolf has often been criticized as an upper-class snob but it’s worth remembering she did voluntary work educating poor women, that her husband was a committed socialist and they lived in a modest cottage on a tight budget. Bowen, on the other hand, ticks all the boxes of the allegations made against Woolf. I was disappointed to learn she was a committed Tory. Interested in little more than furthering her own social privileges – she had a very posh house in London and a country estate in Ireland. I don’t want the authors I love to have such self-interested party politics.
Another disappointing thing is how little of interest she has to say about writing or the writers she knew, especially Virginia Woolf. She only says Virginia was such a hard person to write about. Perhaps the one thing I learned from her letters is what dreadful taste she had in men. I’m afraid these letters (I gave up half way through) made me dislike her rather. Which is sad because I’ve always greatly admired her as a writer.
I didn't write a single one star review throughout 2017; my first two of 2018 have both been unmitigated hatchet jobs!
The first problem is this is a bizarre, almost adolescent relationship (Bowen is in her late forties when it begins). Bowen and Charles Ritchie appear to see each other on average about five times a year, if that. During their “affair” Ritchie marries another woman and has affairs with countless others. At times he’s four-timing Bowen. He’s a serial philanderer and his journal is characterized by a megalomania that leaves you wondering what on earth any woman could have seen in him. She, meanwhile, seems to be living in cloud cuckoo land. Her letters are always characterized by the winged emotions of the first two weeks of an affair. It’s like she writes the same letter over and over again, with different scenery. This maybe is the appeal, a relationship that never really leaves her imagination. There isn’t a note of criticism in any of the letters. They never apparently have a row. Not even really a sense that she knows him. As for the excerpts from his diaries, he rarely mentions her and when he does you feel he’s a bit star struck by her status as a best-selling author. In the meantime, her husband comes across as a complete buffoon and this perhaps is the ultimate cruelty – to ridicule for posterity the man you’ve lived with all your life.
One thing these letters did explain. In The Heat of the Day which is based on her affair with Ritchie the hero is a spy working for the Nazis. It’s always baffled people why she chose her spy to work for the Nazis rather than, as was much more likely in those days, for the Soviets. The answer is, Bowen and Ritchie were vehemently hostile to communism and there’s an unpleasant whiff they might not have been in private as unsympathetic to the Nazis as morally they should have been. Ritchie even looks a bit like a Gestapo agent. When Bowen goes to Prague shortly after the war she refers to the Czechs as uniformly ugly to look at and this kind of decadence, nothing short of vulgar especially so soon after the end of the war, is a prevailing feature of their relationship. Ritchie himself refers to Paris as a dreary city, which is doubly odd as moving there from Canada enables him to be closer to Bowen. Virginia Woolf has often been criticized as an upper-class snob but it’s worth remembering she did voluntary work educating poor women, that her husband was a committed socialist and they lived in a modest cottage on a tight budget. Bowen, on the other hand, ticks all the boxes of the allegations made against Woolf. I was disappointed to learn she was a committed Tory. Interested in little more than furthering her own social privileges – she had a very posh house in London and a country estate in Ireland. I don’t want the authors I love to have such self-interested party politics.
Another disappointing thing is how little of interest she has to say about writing or the writers she knew, especially Virginia Woolf. She only says Virginia was such a hard person to write about. Perhaps the one thing I learned from her letters is what dreadful taste she had in men. I’m afraid these letters (I gave up half way through) made me dislike her rather. Which is sad because I’ve always greatly admired her as a writer.
I didn't write a single one star review throughout 2017; my first two of 2018 have both been unmitigated hatchet jobs!
January 1, 2018
Elizabeth Bowen is one my favourite authors, so it was with great interest that I began this book about the great love of her life - her affair with Charles Ritchie. The was much criticism of thi book as being very upper class and irrelevant. I do understand what was meant by this criticism - looking at Charles Ritchie's diary entries and Elizabeth Bowen's letters, there is an element of self indulgence and class consciousness about them, that is much less relevant today and which is easy to criticise.
Elizabeth Bowen was a great author - and much less read now than she was, so it is hard to gauge how important and popular she was - however, she was a product of her class. She tends to make very sweeping statements, such as describing the Spanish as looking "fearfully common". It must be remembered, though, that she made these comments in private letters which, presumably, she never expected to see published. Elizabeth Bowen was Anglo-Irish, living in a 'Big House', with a home in London and domestic staff. The editor notes that some of Elizabeth's attitudes and prejudices will give offence and others are typical of her class and period, but really this is the story of a love affair and all that entails.
In some sense, the story is a sordid one - the betrayal of a wife and husband. Hints of Charles leaving one of Elizabeth's letters where his wife would see it - for what purpose? Secret meetings and desperate wishes (mostly from Elizabeth) for more contact. When Elizabeth's husband dies, her calm facade sometimes cracks and the despair and loneliness is shown bare, in a way which makes you feel both disapproving of her behaviour and also saddened for her. In a sense, the difference of class and time show that, in the end, human behaviour is more similar than different; regardless of class or nationality. Elizabeth Bowen always claimed she was a writer before she was a woman and, thankfully, it is her writing that she will be judged on. However, if you have an interest in her work, it is really illuminating to read her private words and to understand how she loved, how deeply, and how it inspired her writing.
Elizabeth Bowen was a great author - and much less read now than she was, so it is hard to gauge how important and popular she was - however, she was a product of her class. She tends to make very sweeping statements, such as describing the Spanish as looking "fearfully common". It must be remembered, though, that she made these comments in private letters which, presumably, she never expected to see published. Elizabeth Bowen was Anglo-Irish, living in a 'Big House', with a home in London and domestic staff. The editor notes that some of Elizabeth's attitudes and prejudices will give offence and others are typical of her class and period, but really this is the story of a love affair and all that entails.
In some sense, the story is a sordid one - the betrayal of a wife and husband. Hints of Charles leaving one of Elizabeth's letters where his wife would see it - for what purpose? Secret meetings and desperate wishes (mostly from Elizabeth) for more contact. When Elizabeth's husband dies, her calm facade sometimes cracks and the despair and loneliness is shown bare, in a way which makes you feel both disapproving of her behaviour and also saddened for her. In a sense, the difference of class and time show that, in the end, human behaviour is more similar than different; regardless of class or nationality. Elizabeth Bowen always claimed she was a writer before she was a woman and, thankfully, it is her writing that she will be judged on. However, if you have an interest in her work, it is really illuminating to read her private words and to understand how she loved, how deeply, and how it inspired her writing.
October 25, 2022
Elizabeth Bowen is a fine author who has fallen from favour and is now neither well known nor read. Which is a huge shame. Like many readers, l have an interest in the lives of writers, which drew me to this book - that and the fact that Victoria Glendinning is a superb biographer. Although it seems simplistic to state, many fine, even great writers, are just as flawed as the rest of us, maybe even more so. Perhaps such flaws are directly proportionate to their greatness.
After reading this book l have decided that l really do not care for the woman, Elizabeth Bowen or her lover, diplomat Charles Ritchie. They are unmitigated horrors. It is possible to overlook the prejudices and class snobbery of the time but, for me, the sordid, life long affair, by two people who are essentially brimming with cruelty and nastiness seemed to belong in one of Bowen’s books. There it would be a masterpiece. (Indeed, l believe that ‘The Heat of the Day’ is based on their affair).
In real life these two individuals seem dreadfully hollow and cruel. A serial philanderer, Ritchie tormented his wife by leaving his lover’s letters for her to find. Similarly sinister, Bowen regaled Ritchie by disparaging her husband as a fool: the supreme cuckold.
Unpleasant and sobering.
After reading this book l have decided that l really do not care for the woman, Elizabeth Bowen or her lover, diplomat Charles Ritchie. They are unmitigated horrors. It is possible to overlook the prejudices and class snobbery of the time but, for me, the sordid, life long affair, by two people who are essentially brimming with cruelty and nastiness seemed to belong in one of Bowen’s books. There it would be a masterpiece. (Indeed, l believe that ‘The Heat of the Day’ is based on their affair).
In real life these two individuals seem dreadfully hollow and cruel. A serial philanderer, Ritchie tormented his wife by leaving his lover’s letters for her to find. Similarly sinister, Bowen regaled Ritchie by disparaging her husband as a fool: the supreme cuckold.
Unpleasant and sobering.
June 15, 2009
I’ve always enjoyed epistolary novels and non-fiction books. There’s something about them that I find easy to read and I feel almost guilty as if I were reading someone’s secret diary and thoughts meant only for them. This is certainly true of Love’s Civil War since it is comprised of the letters Elizabeth Bowen wrote to Charles Ritchie, a Canadian diplomat, and his diary entries that encompass his life in Canada and abroad. Charles Ritchie was a well-known diarist and had several diaries published in his lifetime, but as to letters to Elizabeth, according to the dust jacket, “Charles did not keep his letters to her, which were returned to him after her death.”
The book begins with Ritchie’s diary in February 1941. He writes about his social life and about meeting Elizabeth, a married, successful author who divides her time between Bowen Court, her family’s ancestral home in Ireland, and England. From her letters and his diary entries, the reader gets the chronicle of their friendship and budding love affair. Still, (and even with my tendency to enjoy this type of book) it takes a bit of work to get pulled into the story. I think that may be because it is non-fiction and the author could only do so much with the material she had to work with. Despite that, I really enjoyed this book. I liked the atmosphere it evoked during the war and reading about the other well-known people that Elizabeth knew.
It is sad and more than a little bittersweet that their love for each other endured for 30 years it could never be made ‘official’ due to their other-halves. It begs the question that if it was possible, would they have married?
Footnotes are used extensively throughout the book. I found these cumbersome at first, but quickly got used to them as they provided a lot of information about the places, people and events that Elizabeth and Ritchie referred to. There are eight pages of photos which I liked – my only complaint is that there weren’t more.
The book begins with Ritchie’s diary in February 1941. He writes about his social life and about meeting Elizabeth, a married, successful author who divides her time between Bowen Court, her family’s ancestral home in Ireland, and England. From her letters and his diary entries, the reader gets the chronicle of their friendship and budding love affair. Still, (and even with my tendency to enjoy this type of book) it takes a bit of work to get pulled into the story. I think that may be because it is non-fiction and the author could only do so much with the material she had to work with. Despite that, I really enjoyed this book. I liked the atmosphere it evoked during the war and reading about the other well-known people that Elizabeth knew.
It is sad and more than a little bittersweet that their love for each other endured for 30 years it could never be made ‘official’ due to their other-halves. It begs the question that if it was possible, would they have married?
Footnotes are used extensively throughout the book. I found these cumbersome at first, but quickly got used to them as they provided a lot of information about the places, people and events that Elizabeth and Ritchie referred to. There are eight pages of photos which I liked – my only complaint is that there weren’t more.
July 27, 2011
Told through Elizabeth's letters to Charles and his diaries (unfortunately his letters to her and her diaries were lost) this work excellently lays out their relationship from it's beginning all the way through to her death. Glendinning adds in useful footnotes and information without dominating the text with pointless and excessive inclusions. The day-to-day lives of these two people is beautifully put together and their love for each other despite the long periods apart is heart renching in places. Even if you've never read any of her novels or his diaries this biography of their relationship is well worth reading for pure enjoyment.
January 14, 2015
Respect and admire Victoria Glendinning's work and writing. Her review sums up this book much better than I could.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009...
What mystifies me is why bright women always fall deeply in love with men who are self-absorbed, egoistic philanderers? Is it masochism?
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2009...
What mystifies me is why bright women always fall deeply in love with men who are self-absorbed, egoistic philanderers? Is it masochism?
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews