There won’t be any spoilers in the body of these posts, and as many of you are still reading, let’s clearly mark any significant spoilers in the comments.
And, speaking of, who is still reading?
Who is waiting to be convinced to re-read?
Who is planning to read but doesn’t have their book in hand yet?
Regardless of where you are at in your reading, let’s chat about Harriet.
She is at the heart of A Game of Hide and Seek.
Nicola Beauman suggests, in her biography, that Elizabeth Taylor’s “best novels – At Mrs Lippincote’s and A Game of Hide and Seek – would stand out because their heroines, Julia and Harriet , are her (Madame Bovary, c’est moi).”
Whether Harriet is still a teenager (and you’re at the beginning of your reading) or whether you have followed her throughout several years to the end of the novel, how do you respond to her character?
[If you would rather simply comment, please go right ahead. If you prefer prompting, here are some more questions. And if you end up discussing something other than Harriet, that’s absolutely fine, of course!]
If you’ve read other Elizabeth Taylor novels/stories, do you sense similarities and differences between her and other heroines you’ve met in these works?
How much do you think your impressions of her impact on the degree to which you enjoyed this work?
Do the connections that Harriet forges (and strains) in the novel effect your overall response to A Game of Hide and Seek, or do you feel that you separate out your feelings about characters from the way that you respond to a work as a whole?
If you had to introduce someone to Harriet without their reading the book, which scene do you think is most revealing of her personality, her preoccupations, the essence of her character?
Any other thoughts? (There will be another ET bookchat next Monday too. The introductory post for this event is here. The link to the Elizabeth Taylor Centenary Page is here.)
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I think the husbands were satisfactory on the surface level only and that *is* the problem – both Julia and Harriet needed more from the relationship, Julia in terms of intellectual and emotional stimulation, and Harriet in terms of passion. We mustn’t forget that during the time these stories are set, women’s roles were more constricted and clearly defined. Julia’s behaviour is regarded as unconventional by her husband, and Harriet has to come up with all sorts of ruses simply to get away for an afternoon. Nowadays, married women would think nothing about meeting up with male friends but not so in ET’s books.
For those who aren’t familiar, Nicola Beauman (who also wrote the biography of Elizabeth Taylor, The Other Elizabeth Taylor) also wrote a book which is very interesting in terms of placing writers immediately pre-Elizabeth-Taylor in the context of their times, A Very Great Profession, which considers women novelists writing and publishing between the wars (primarily English), and the kind of social pressures they faced.
Heavenali – I felt as though I knew her too. Do you think that was Harriet’s dislike and irritation of Charles that you were picking up on?
Kaggsy – There were many parallels between Julia and Harriet, I thought. I wonder whether it’s not so much that the men aren’t satisfactory — on the surface they seem to be quite so — but that they aren’t engaged in the relationship, so it puts a wedge between the women and their husbands?
Sandra – The warning seemed, to me, to be more of a social cautioning, coming on the heels of Harriet having explained that she’d been named for Harriet Martineau (who held with the principles of equal rights in marriage but also triumphed the role of the domestic arts for women), but I agree that there was a callousness to Vesey in his younger years too. And, ironically, in the scene that you mentioned in the shop the women warn Harriet about Charles, believing that he will never marry Harriet. I’d forgotten that bit!
If I had to introduce Harriet to someone who had not read the book and include her personality, her preoccupations and the essence of her character I think I might choose the scene in the “staff room” of the shop where Harriet works (roughly pages 57 to 67). This would include the telephone call that comes in for Harriet and her reaction and the discussion after the call. I was tempted to choose a scene between Julia and Harriet but this would be well into the book and I am not convinced that Harriet changed so very much although she became more self-aware.
I have just finished this novel but went back to the early pages to see what clues I had been given about Harriet. In addition to meeting the various characters on pages 1 through 14 the bit on page 14 about Virginia Woolf and the end of the novel as an art form was worth a good chuckle. Vesey says “the novel is practically finished as an art form” and Harriet responds with “I suppose it was” in “a slow, considering way” and realizes that Virginia Woolf was “sending it (the novel) trundling downhill” and this was all “unbeknown to Harriet who had never even heard of her (Woolf)”. Harriet also decides that “it did not deserve that Vesy should try” to save the destruction of the novel. So Harriet was totally willing to accept Vesey’s point of view here, believing it had a greater validity than her own. So Harriet was somewhat unaware on one level, however, in a continuation of that same meeting with Vesey she tells him that she worries about the future and having heard him speak so confidently of his future thinks that “there is nothing for me to do, as there is for you.” Vesey replies that “someone will marry you” and the adverb Taylor chooses for his voice is “cruelly”. Yes, Vesy could be seen as typically adolescent male but I still wonder at Taylor’s choice of adverb. Harriet goes on to study Vesey and figure out his “attitude” towards her but her reflections were mainly submissive and nonjudgemental. She seemed not to entertain any ideas of her own value or attractiveness etc. Lilian and Caroline both “disapproved of Vesey” finding him “callous and affected. His lazy cynicism was an irritation to them. He had been badly brought up and was not to be trusted.” (page21) Of course, they are parents and have parents’ concerns but they did not see Harriet’s “crush” and thought she didn’t like Vesey. I feel that Taylor was trying to warn me with her description of Vesey as Caroline and Lilian saw him. What did others think?
I very much agree with you Ali – I loved the characters of Harriet and Vesey too and found this the best Elizabeth Taylor I’ve read so far. Interestingly, I’m now reading Mrs. Lippincote, and I seem to be picking up a pattern with ET’s husband characters – the heroine always seems to love her husband but just not relate to him – the husband is never satisfactory which is presumably why Harriet/Julia/Liz in a Wreath of Roses are discontented. I haven’t read the biography yet and may be reading (ha!) too much into this but it seems to be a recurrent theme and I wonder if it reflects ET’s life a little bit?
I have just finished my review – and am so exhausted that I can’t think any more : ) just to say quickly though – that I absoutely loved it. I do feel that Harriet was just like how I believe Elizabeth Taylor to have been – I can’t explain that really as obviously I didn’t know her – it was just a feeling of everything being right. I liked her enormously – I felt I understood her. I was reminded of the short story in The Blush – Goodbye, goodbye – not sure why although both stories are about adultery – I think that Caroline in that Story is rather ET/Harriet like. I think I do sometimes seperate my feelings for characters and the work as a whole – but I don’t think I did in this really – I liked Vesey and Harriet – although I pitied Charles I didn’t like him as much he irritated me – I think he was supposed to though. Overall I developed enough affection for all the characters to care about them – probably because of the superb writing.
*scurries off to find a copy of “Goodbye, Goodbye” before commenting further*