A period of adjustment

by Dirk Bogarde

This is a sequel to "Jericho".

Genres: Fiction, France

288 pages, Hardcover

First published March 11, 1994

About the author

Dirk Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde was born of mixed Flemish, Dutch and Scottish ancestry, and baptised on 30 October 1921 at St. Mary's Church, Kilburn. His father, Ulric van den Bogaerde (born in Perry Barr, Birmingham; 1892–1972), was the art editor of The Times and his mother, Margaret Niven (1898–1980), was a former actress. He attended University College School, the former Allan Glen's School in Glasgow (a time he described in his autobiography as unhappy, although others have disputed his account) and later studied at the Chelsea College of Art and Design. He began his acting career on stage in 1939, shortly before the start of World War II.

Bogarde served in World War II, being commissioned into the Queen's Royal Regiment in 1943. He reached the rank of captain and served in both the European and Pacific theatres, principally as an intelligence officer. Taylor Downing's book "Spies in the Sky" tells of his work with a specialist unit interpreting aerial photo-reconnaissance information, before moving to Normandy with Canadian forces. Bogarde claimed to have been one of the first Allied officers in April 1945 to reach the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, an experience that had the most profound effect on him and about which he found it difficult to speak for many years afterward. As John Carey has summed up with regard to John Coldstream's authorised biography however, "it is virtually impossible that he (Bogarde) saw Belsen or any other camp. Things he overheard or read seem to have entered his imagination and been mistaken for lived experience." Coldstream's analysis seems to conclude that this was indeed the case. Nonetheless, the horror and revulsion at the cruelty and inhumanity that he claimed to have witnessed still left him with a deep-seated hostility towards Germany; in the late-1980s he wrote that he would disembark from a lift rather than ride with a German of his generation. Nevertheless, three of his more memorable film roles were as Germans, one of them as a former SS officer in 'The Night Porter'.


Bogarde's London West End theatre-acting debut was in 1939, with the stage name 'Derek Bogaerde', in J. B. Priestley's play Cornelius. After the war his agent renamed him 'Dirk Bogarde' and his good looks helped him begin a career as a film actor, contracted to The Rank Organisation under the wing of the prolific independent film producer Betty Box, who produced most of his early films and was instrumental in creating his matinée idol image.

During the 1950s, Bogarde came to prominence playing a hoodlum who shoots and kills a police constable in The Blue Lamp (1950) co-starring Jack Warner and Bernard Lee; a handsome artist who comes to rescue of Jean Simmons during the World's Fair in Paris in So Long at the Fair, a film noir thriller; an accidental murderer who befriends a young boy played by Jon Whiteley in Hunted (aka The Stranger in Between) (1952); in Appointment in London (1953) as a young wing commander in Bomber Command who, against orders, opts to fly his 90th mission with his men in a major air offensive against the Germans; an unjustly imprisoned man who regains hope in clearing his name when he learns his sweetheart, Mai Zetterling, is still alive in Desperate Moment (1953); Doctor in the House (1954), as a medical student, in a film that made Bogarde one of the most popular British stars of the 1950s, and co-starring Kenneth More, Donald Sinden and James Robertson Justice as their crabby mentor; The Sleeping Tiger (1954), playing a neurotic criminal with co-star Alexis Smith, and Bogarde's first film for American expatriate director Joseph Losey; Doctor at Sea (1955), co-starring Brigitte Bardot in one of her first film roles.

Bogarde continued acting until 1990. 'Daddy Nostalgie' was his final film.

Reviews

[Arnold · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the series of biographical books from the seriously underrated English actor Dirk Bogarde. He started as the "pretty boy" of a multitude of classic British comedies in the late 50's and early 60's including the "Doctor in the House" series. tried his hand at some more serious works but never received the acclaim due. there followed a disastrous period in Hollywood and later moved slowly towards his masterpiece "Death in Venice" with Visconti (see separate review). In later years he started writing and won many awards. Many of his wonderful books are on my shelves and deserve reading over and over again. Do try and read at least some of them

[Reema Lodha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Dirk Bogarde's works and this is his first fiction that I have read. Its also simply too good.

The story is the usual a divorced father come to terms with his brother's death, his being a father, his infatuation, and his love interest and that too in France.

The sons character, 9 year old boy, really stands out and one stands to live with the boy coming to terms with his parents divorce and child abuse and French.

Loved it.

[Eleanor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel about a man getting to know his young son and establishing a new life for both of them in southern France, but I prefer Dirk Bogarde's non-fiction writing.

[Debbie Robson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I do believe that our reading experience is affected by our mood. Sometimes we just don’t get along with a particular book. I’m guessing that perhaps this was the wrong book for me all along. I have had such struggles with it. Endlessly putting it down, picking it up again and then abandoning it yet again.
For a start, it is a relatively easy book to read (or should be) except for the small print. And the setting of Jericho, the house that William Caldicott inherits from his recently deceased brother is beautifully wrought, but I just had trouble getting used to William as a straight man with two children. I shouldn’t let the fact that the writer was gay affect me, but something was off and I couldn’t put my finger on it. And I will point out I have never had any trouble with Patrick Gale’s straight, male characters.
In the beginning as William begins to spend time with his son Giles as a single father, he treats him in such an offhand manner that I couldn’t keep reading. He also seemed to treat him as if he had only just discovered his existence. Gradually he does warm to the boy and his stance on an incident the boy goes through in his mother’s care is admirable but still there was a lingering uneasiness. Perhaps I was experiencing a period of adjustment reading the book and getting used to William Caldicott? I don’t know. Here is William pondering his son Giles’s sudden outburst:
“I was shattered that my (I had thought) fairly reasonable approach to a difficult problem should have provoked such a fearful outburst. Clearly all kinds of distresses had been building up behind an almost casual facade. I now understood that he had built his trust on me and that, unintentionally, I had kicked away the key brick holding up the scaffolding. I had never held anyone in such desperate distress before. I had never held my son before.”
I do love the elderly Theobalds, Dottie and Arthur who often mind Giles and are teaching him French. There is romance and a wild sex scene and a shock ending. What more can a reader ask for? But I am sort of adrift and would value other reader’s opinions. Three and a half stars because it was such a mission to read, and I finished it at 11.45 New Year’s Eve to get my numbers up for the challenge otherwise I probably would never have finished it at all.

[Kath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so enjoying my re-immersion into the world of Dirk Bogarde. This novel was a real joy, accessible characterisation and a gentle plot development. My only criticism was what I thought some heavy-handed spoilers as to what would follow.
However loved it and would happily read it again immediately, a lovely world to lose yourself in.

[Glenys · Rating 5 out of 5]

William Caldicott travels to France to track down his brother who has gone missing...locating his now deceased brother who has left him the keys to a rented home (3years rental) James makes the decision to make his home in France, his marriage has broken down and his son Giles comes to live with him. A story of transitions, love and tragedy.

[Wenda Holland · Rating 1 out of 5]

He is s good writer and was of course a wonderful actor but this book is quite old fashioned with a rather unnecessary
ending

[Denis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very observant and readable.