(no subject)

[tree_and_leaf]

I've just stumbled across the talboys community, and followed a link to find an article about a proposed new original Wimsey novel by, of all people, Stephen King.



http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/FREEREADRockyWood

I have to say that I am glad it wasn't written - killing Harriet off is evil (if an interesting idea) and it sounds as if he was planning to turn Peter into a self-pitying drunk, which is just wrong. He is unable to cope with visiting Miss Climpson, who seems to be dying of cancer, which I don't buy, either. Peter would go, even if he had screaming nightmares about it afterwards.

Personally, I think that in the circumstances King posits - Harriet is killed in the Blitz while Peter is on active service - he would have struggled on manfully for the sake of the children. We can see from the short stories that he has a very close relationship with the boys, and I don't think he would sink into his grief so deeply that he could forget their needs. It would leave him a shadow of himself, yes, but I think Peter would keep going.

I might be persuaded to buy 'Peter (possibly a few years on) falls ill and just drifts away because he doesn't really want to go on living', but that: no. I think I'd even believe Suicidal!Peter sooner (as tidily as possible, and with a very apologetic note which leaves no doubt about it really being suicide), though again, I think Peter would live up to his responsibilities if it killed him.

What really caught my eye, though, was the mini-biography (somewhat inaccurate, since it implies that DLS' child was public knowledge in her life, and that she was criticized for anti-semitism at the time she was writing) which states that she 'wrote... plays in an orthodox Anglican manner.'

How on earth does one write in an Anglican manner?

Oh well - back to work (lots of articles on 13th Century Dominicans...)

Comments

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I came across mention of this story some time ago (in one of those “look what Google threw up” incidents), and whilst I would very much like to read it (please, oh library, you accept the strangest things, do accept this), I’m not sure the experience would be strictly enjoyable. Why do American authors (professional and fanfic) feel so obliged to send people to tbe bottle? Mind you, much as I like bits of the Paton Walsh continuation, the fact that she felt compelled to marry Bunter off makes me believe that she so failed to understand how these people work that King would not necessarily be significantly worse.

as tidily as possible, and with a very apologetic note which leaves no doubt about it really being suicide
If anyone wants to write the AU fic in which Harriet is hanged at the end of Strong Poison and Peter commits suicide, do allow me to tempt thee…

Anglican fiction: I suppose some of it would be very acute, and the rest obtuse?

[tree_and_leaf]

If anyone wants to write the AU fic in which Harriet is hanged at the end of Strong Poison and Peter commits suicide, do allow me to tempt thee…

... yes, it was the passage in Strong Poison where he considers the ramifications of suicide "When I cut my throat - I hope I won't have to, it would upset Mother..." or words to that effect I was thinking of. Although I think having dependent children would alter the position so as to rule suicide out.

I am somewhat tempted to write the AU fic, but I'm not sure I could take OMG! teh angst, even if expressed in (hopefully) more elegant and literary terms than those.

Anglican fiction: I suppose some of it would be very acute, and the rest obtuse? Hehehe.

Actually, as a sort-of Anglican myself, I think that's a pretty good comment on the denomination as a whole.

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Anglican fiction: I suppose some of it would be very acute, and the rest obtuse?

If it Peter Wimsey written in King James English I'd definitely read it!

[harriet-wimsey.livejournal.com]

That's the passage I was just remembering. King's proposal sounds horrid. Suicide has been established as a part of the "public school" way of doing things, and he did get quite drunk at the end of Clouds of Witness, but Peter has never been able to shirk responsibility. And you're right, he had a very close relationship with his sons. If Harriet were to die he would be heartbroken, of course, but he would soldier on.

Writing in an Anglican manner is a funny way of putting it. I do very much like all her theological writings, though. Creed or Chaos is one of my favorite books.

[harriet-wimsey.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I meant to reply to your comment and hence reference the passage in Strong Poison, but that for some reason didn't work out right.

[tree_and_leaf]

Now my comments are coming out in the wrong place too - I meant to put my reply under the post where you mention Clouds

[tree_and_leaf]

Well, I don't think the drinking at the end of Clouds... indicates a tendency to alcoholism, quite the reverse. Getting roaring drunk after celebrating the happy end to a very worrying period is absolutely not the same as using alcohol as a crutch when you're down, which is much more dangerous.

As far as suicide post an AU unhappy end to Strong Poison: the more I think about it, I'm not sure he'd go through with it, though I do think he would have considered it. I think he had too much consideration for his mother.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Uncle Paul is in fact delighted to see Peter getting drunk at the end of Clouds - rather "thank God, a normal human reaction at last."

My feeling about Strong Poison, though, is that he might well have gone through with it. To paraphrase the last Dalek, "what use is your work for society if you cannot save the woman you love?2 Duty might say, but you save other people, you must carry on, but I’m not sure that the Peter of that point could. The “When I blow my brains out” passage is just so natural – one moment he’s pattering along the street, the next the casual flow of thought has brought him to when he kills himself. A later Peter, even without Harriet (and especially with the children), I can see carrying on, but SP seems still to me too close to the war, still trying to find a meaning for the whole mess of life, to be able to cope when that meaning is snatched away.

[harriet-wimsey.livejournal.com]

Yes, I only mentioned that because it's the only time we see him drunk at all.

That's an interesting point. He mentions later that comparatively she meant little to him then, but still he would have suffered immensely had she been hanged. Harriet means more later, but Peter has also grown considerably as a person, and so would be better able to handle her death. Perhaps you're right that he is still too close to the war. I'm still not quite convinced even then, though, although it could just be that I can't bear the thought of Peter dying.