jean rhys

And there was an extended fragment of autobiography called 'Smile Please' which has stayed in my mind since I read it, probably 20 years ago.

where should you start, if you haven't already?

"just like old times," says the room. "yes? no?"

It's quite evocative, as I recall.

You might want to give Jean Rhys a miss if you're not into the more depressing side of life. I'd bet that Marc Almond loves that book.

All that is left in the world is an enormous machine, made of white steel. It has innumerable flexible arms, made of steel. Long, thin arms. At the end of each arm is an eye, the eyelashes stiff with mascara. When I look more closely I see that only some of the arms have these eyes – others have lights. The arms that carry the eyes and the arms that carry the lights are all extraordinarily flexible and very beautiful. But the grey sky, which is the background, terrifies me…. And the arms wave to the accompaniment of music and of song. Like this: ‘Hotcha – hotcha – hotcha….’ And I know the music; I can sing the song.

^^^this

just finished GM,M. such exquisite abjection. such yearning abyss. astonishing, incredible novel - revolutionary cultural accusation, memoir, tragicomedy of social manner.

The intro for this gives Jim Thompson (among a couple of others) a mention as comparable in the drunk abyss stakes, which is really astute given how they write in a different manner.

There is a great chunky para right in the middle where the narrator splits herself in Notting Hill - you can feel the cut, no pity. Just how it is, there can't be any other way..

wide sargasso sea is an astonishing novel.

rhys seems more in control of her prose than almost any other writer i can think of. her restraint is almost unsettling, as if she is holding back a barely uncontainable rage. i felt this way with her other books but this one, with the motif of fire, and her choosing for her heroine antoinette cosway, who will eventually burn down thornfield, seems to throw it into relief. i kind of hated how antoinette actually became mad by the end of the book, though. i almost think it would have been better if she retained her penetrating, bitter intelligence like sasha jansen; her act of arson would then have been a more meaningful gesture of resistance. not that i would presume to criticize rhys' choices though. artistically, this book is a total success.

A Caribbean trans writer from Dominica offers various reflections.

Gonna give Good Morning, Midnight a try.