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The Fountain Overflows
Nov 2020- The Fountain Overflows
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Nov. 2020 Fountain Overflows (Chap 1-9)
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Charlene
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Oct 31, 2020 11:39AM
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I own a copy of this book but Im very far behind in my reading, so I will be late starting.
I'm hoping to start it this weekend or next week.I'd never heard of Rebecca West until I came across The Return of the Soldier as a group read, and was very pleasantly surprised by how beautiful her writing is. I'm looking forward to this one as well.
I hope to start later this week.
Ditto to what Cam said, except I never heard of The Return of the Soldier. I started Fountain today, and it is so nice to find words used as West does.
I have a couple of questions/comments about Rose, the narrator of the story.How old was Rose? I thought she said she was eleven, but now I can't find it so I'm not sure.
At the beginning Rose told us that "all this happened more than fifty years ago." I took that to mean that the story was being told as the recollections of an adult Rose. I have wondered how time and life experience influenced Rose's telling of the story.
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How old was Rose? I thought she said she was eleven, but now I can't find it so I'm not sure.
At the beginning Rose to..."
I am a little confused also. I thought it was after World War 1 but the style of dress described seems more of before the war. Lack of cars is also making me think it is more before the war.
Charlene: Which war?I've only read Chapter 1, and the first couple of sentences of Chapter 2, but fixing the chronological time, for some reason, doesn't bother me at all. Whether the narrative voice is that of Rose the child or Rose,the mature woman , it's Rose's story. And after this introductory chapter, I feel as though I know Clare (the mother) and the twins Mary and Rose (particularly) rather well, and feel that West deliberately introduced a bit of mystery about the father. I found myself wondering if it was a delusion on his part that he had a talent for writing? Is Cordelia"s opinion of herself like her father's self appraisal?
I am on page 61, just after the start of chapter 3. Both of these parents are getting on my last nerve, but if I must pick between them, I’d prefer to deal with Mamma’s inability to ask a question and use of hope as a life strategy. Rose and Mary are delightful, but I do sometimes feel for Cordelia’s exclusion from the coolkids’’ club.
At the end of chapter 2, (view spoiler)
This reminds me in some ways of Greengage Sunmer, but it’s far more wordy. I’m surprised by how disparate West’s writing style is between this book and The Return of the Soldier, of which I am a fan.
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I've only read Chapter 1, and the first couple of sentences of Chapter 2, but fixing the chronological time, for some reason, doesn't bother me at all. Whether the narrative vo..."
World War 1.
Charlene wrote: "I am a little confused also. I thought it was after World War 1 but the style of dress described seems more of before the war. Lack of cars is also making me think it is more before the war..."I found "the Edwardian period" and "the first decade of the 20th century" in some online reviews.
Carol wrote: "I am on page 61, just after the start of chapter 3. Both of these parents are getting on my last nerve, but if I must pick between them, I’d prefer to deal with Mamma’s inability to ask a question ..."The father is profoundly unlikeable.
Cordelia's (view spoiler)
Me, too, Carol.This discussion question from the NYRB Reading Group guide is interesting.
The Fountain Overflows is a semi-autobiographical novel that echoes many of the events and individuals of Rebecca West’s childhood. In particular, the character of Cordelia is based on West’s older sister, Letitia Fairfield, who hated the novel and her depiction in it. Yet West had dedicated the book to her. Is Cordelia as despicable as Rose thinks she is? Is Cordelia treated fairly by her sisters and her mother?
i'm certain that if I were Letitia, dedicating the book to me wouldn't make up for the cruelty of the portrayal. Maybe it's my impression that the author pretty much always did what she wanted in life and expected everyone to simply roll with it. I'm a fan of her writing, but wouldn't want to be a sister or neighbor of hers. :)
This biography is a good one, as a starting point; however, it does seem to be scrubbed squeaky clean of widely known information. It doesn't mention her father leaving her mother in 1901, although it mentions his 1907 death. I haven't checked, but wasn't HG Wells married at the time of their affair?
http://www.theheroinecollective.com/r...
This is delightful but you need ten minutes to read it. it's an 1982 interview published in the NYTimes Magazine. I loved this excerpt, among others: "Her writing is characterized by a lofty moral tone and an almost episcopal belief in her own judgments. When she was 19, she lambasted capitalists and patriarchs; in the 1940's, she attacked traitors; in the 1950's, Communists and other heretics. She perceives man's nature as divided between a lust for death and suffering, on the one hand, and a redeeming, life-sustaining faith in justice and art on the other."
https://www.nytimes.com/1982/04/04/ma...
This was written by Anthony West about his relationship with his mother:https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1984...
Marilyn wrote: "This was written by Anthony West about his relationship with his mother:https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1984..."
The venom and sadness are almost uncomfortable to read.
I will read all the links after I finish this book. I do want to know the back story.Just finished Chapter 5 and this is where (view spoiler)
I'm now part way through Chapter 8.As far as readability goes, West has a smooth, flowing style, but for me the content...
My opinion of the father (view spoiler)
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As far as readability goes, West has a smooth, flowing style, but for me the content...
My opinion of the father certainly hasn't improved. I feel only pity f..."
The children are more fond of their mother than their father. It is more of a reverence for him than love.
Finished chapter 8 - & we are back in (view spoiler)Very comical description about what riding in an early automobile was like!
Charlene wrote: "Carol She's So Novel꧁꧂ wrote: "I'm now part way through Chapter 8.As far as readability goes, West has a smooth, flowing style, but for me the content...
My opinion of the father certainly hasn'..."
he's barely around. he doesn't know his kids on an individual level. who hates orange juice. who loves caterpillars. the kids are not in the habit of including him in their thoughts or activities because they aren't in the habit of him being fully present. i'm not suggesting this was unusual for the time, but it does seem a step further removed from the concept of a father who has to travel for work and must be away from the family. He chooses to stay isolated.
On page 62: He was interested in nothing about us except our looks and our capacity to absorb ideas .... The trouble was that to all intents and purposes there was no man in the house.. Ouch.
Finally starting this! As Carol She's So Novel said, I'll read all the links once I'm a bit further in.So far a very different writing style from The return of the soldier (obviously, as it's first person POV by a child), but in both novels her narrative is very introspective. Easy to read so far although the family already sounds completely dysfunctional, and I'm only in chapter 1 haha. But I guess all families are dysfunctional in some way once you start writing everything down, especially in the early 20th century...
Timing wise, she drops a one line reference to wars in South Africa, so I'm assuming the Second Boer War (the one known for the use of concentration camps...).
Carol wrote: "the whole [spoilers removed]"This is my first West, but the change in (view spoiler)
I have finished Chapter 9 & am now getting a better opinion of the father.
I like that the characters in this book have some complexity.
