Bright Young Things discussion

I must be honest, Joyce Cary is not a favourite. I only just discovered him thanks to a post by Greg (in the Brideshead Revisited thread). What I read about him sounds very intriguing so I am starting this thread to find out more from my fellow BYTers.

This is the from the "Thirties novelist" section of his Wikipedia entry:

Thirties novelist

Cary worked hard on developing as a writer, but his brief economic success soon ended as the Post decided that his stories had become too "literary". Cary worked at various novels and a play, but nothing sold, and the family soon had to take in tenants. Their plight worsened when the Depression wiped out the investments that provided them with income and, at one point, the family rented out their house and lived with family members. Finally, in 1932, Cary managed to publish Aissa Saved, a novel that drew on his Nigerian experience. The book was not particularly successful, but sold more than Cary's next novel, An American Visitor (1933), even though that book had some critical success. The African Witch (1936) did a little better, and the Carys managed to move back into their home.

Although none of Cary's first three novels was particularly successful critically or financially, they are progressively more ambitious and complex. Indeed, The African Witch (1936) is so rich in incident, character, and thematic possibility that it over-burdens its structure. Cary understood that he needed to find new ways to make the narrative form carry his ideas. With Mister Johnson (1939), written entirely in the present tense, Cary's work becomes generally identified with literary Modernism.

George Orwell, on his return from Spain, recommended Cary to the Liberal Book Club, which requested Cary to put together a work outlining his ideas on freedom and liberty, a basic theme in all his novels. It was released as Power in Men (1939) [not Cary's title], but the publisher seriously cut the manuscript without Cary's approval and he was most unhappy with the book.
Now Cary contemplated a trilogy of novels based on his Irish background. Castle Corner (1938) did not do well and Cary abandoned the idea. One last African novel, Mister Johnson (1939), followed. Although now regarded as one of Cary's best novels, it sold poorly at the time. But Charley Is My Darling (1940), about displaced young people at the start of World War II, found a wider readership, and the memoir A House of Children (1941) won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for best novel.

Jan C wrote: "Loved the movie of The Horse's Mouth. I see that Alec Guinness wrote the screenplay. Do you know how it measures up to the book?"

This is on Wikipedia Jan:

The film featured an Academy Award-nominated screenplay by actor Alec Guinness. Guinness' screenplay generally follows the book it was based on, but Guinness focused on Jimson's character and what it means to be an artist, rather than the social and political themes the book explored. He also deviates from the book's ending, where Jimson had suffered a stroke and was no longer able to paint.

I hope that helps.

Jan C wrote: "Loved the movie of The Horse's Mouth. I see that Alec Guinness wrote the screenplay. Do you know how it measures up to the book?"

I also found this too..

The Horse's Mouth, famously filmed with Alec Guinness in the central role, is a portrait of an artistic temperament. Its principal character, Gulley Jimson, is an impoverished painter who bothers little about conventional values. His unquestioning certainty that he must live and paint according to his intuition without regard for the cost to himself or others makes him a man of great, if sometimes flawed, vision.

Book Reviews:

John Betjeman
"Mr Joyce Cary is an important and exciting writer: there’s no doubt about that.. To use Tennyson’s phrase, he is a Lord of Language…if you like rich writing full of gusto and accurate original character drawing, you will get it from The Horse's Mouth"

Pamela Hansford Johnson
"The coming to perfect ripeness of a rare and blessed talent; and I recommend it out of a profound personal appreciation and joy."

VS Pritchett
"The richest comic novel of the last ten years."

Observer
"The Horse's Mouth has the kick of ten stallions. Mr Joyce Cary writes at top pace, at the top of his voice, and the top of his form”"

Daily Telegraph
"Mr Joyce Cary is a most exciting novelist. There is a thrill in his books which comes from his own extraordinary vision of men and women, he writes so well, with such a fine understanding that at the end the reader feels there is nothing left to be said about the person, nothing left that one wants to know…the book is real and true. It flows over with life."

SOURCE: http://www.andrewlownie.co.uk/authors...

I would definitely read The Horses Mouth first, before seeing the film.
It's not necessary to read the trilogy in sequence. I read The Horses Mouth first and then started Herself Surprised but put it on hold as it seemed a little flat after T. H. M.
What can I say, The Horses Mouth is one of my all time favourite books. I wouldn't advise reading The Horses Mouth on public transport, you will draw glances, first at the random grin across your face or an explosion of laughter, and then glances at the title of the book.
The book is disgracefully overdue for a new adaptation to the screen.
(The Alec Guinness film is good but can't be compared to the book.) I can't imagine who would play Gulley in a new version. I had the thought that A.A. Gill would be an excellent choice to write to the screenplay.

The part in the book where Gulley Jimson is house-sitting and he starts to demolish part of the house so as to make more room to work on a sculpture is so absurdly hilarious.

Greg wrote: "I would definitely read The Horse's Mouth first, before seeing the film."

That's really helpful Greg.

Greg wrote: "The Horse's Mouth is one of my all time favourite books. I wouldn't advise reading The Horses Mouth on public transport, you will draw glances, first at the random grin across your face or an explosion of laughter, and then glances at the title of the book."

I love it when that happens. And hate it at the same time. So few books really make me guffaw. The most reliable writer in that regard is P.G. Wodehouse.

Greg wrote: "The part in the book where Gulley Jimson is house-sitting and he starts to demolish part of the house so as to make more room to work on a sculpture is so absurdly hilarious. "

I'm already smiling.

Perhaps you should nominate it one month for a BYT fiction read? The Horse's Mouth sounds absolutely wonderful.

This is the end of Matthew Windham's review of The Horse's Mouth....

There isn't a word out of place, the story never escapes itself, everything seems like it has to have been thought through a hundred times because it fits together like an easy jigsaw puzzle. So I ask myself over and over again when I read The Horse's Mouth how such precision can coexist with such dynamism, and all I can come up with is that Joyce Cary deserves the name of genius. If this book was a painting or a piece of music, something that more people could experience more instantaneously, I think it would be a lot better known. I consider myself extremely lucky to have found it.

Matthew Windham (a goodreads member) rated it five stars - as many others have too.

Cheers Matthew Windham. Lucky?! Blessed is the word. Genius yes. Anyone that gave The Horses Mouth less than five stars is still on the run.

Greg wrote: "Anyone that gave The Horses Mouth less than five stars is still on the run."

That generated a hearty guffaw. Thanks Greg.

And, you might be pleased to learn, I have just ordered a copy.

Nigeyb wrote: "And, you might be pleased to learn, I have just ordered a copy. "



And now it has arrived. Hurrah.

It's a very old and battered hard back with a red cover and published in 1944 - and, interestingly, "produced in complete conformity with the authorised economy standards" - clearly some kind of War time regulation.

I wonder who the originally purchaser was and what he or she made of it?