Ivy Compton-Burnett Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Julian Mitchell

Critical Essay by Julian Mitchell

The novels of I Compton-Burnett, as she always styled herself on the title-page, are quite unlike anyone else's, and she was proud of it—indeed, she was very scornful of critics who tried to compare her with other writers (usually Jane Austen, Euripides and Henry James). But her originality for many years repelled as many readers as it attracted. Though she was very much admired by a few, it was, to begin with, only a few. The main difficulty that readers had, and have, is that the books are written almost entirely in highly stylised dialogue. The conversations are so full of nuance and subtlety that it takes a new reader several chapters to get the hang of them, and sometimes he gives up in despair. There is no internalisation, no 'he thought' and 'she wondered', to help him understand what's going on or what the characters' motives are. Nor is...
(read more)