A Fine and Private Place | Literary Precedents

A Fine and Private Place Literary Precedents

The movement in Beagle's novel resembles that of a Shakespearian romantic comedy. There are two pairs of lovers whose actions mirror each other; each pair experiences trials and separation and each is reunited in a kind of "happily ever after" in a new world outside the cemetery. The inability of ghosts to manipulate physical objects or impact the living can also be found in Jean-Paul Sartre's short story collection, The Chips Are Down (1947). The theme of life consisting in an intense appreciation of everyday experiences is reminiscent of Thornton Wilder's Our Town (1938). The title comes from a poem by the Renaissance poet Andrew Marvell, "To His Coy Mistress, To Make Much of Time," from the lines "The grave's a fine and private place/ But none I think do there embrace."