Pages:
326
Original
date of publication: 1931
My
edition: 2011 (Persephone)
Why
I decided to read:
How
I acquired my copy: Persephone subscription, September 2011
“But
over all lay a spirit of joyful, unrestrained freedom. There were no
servants—no masters: no clerks—no managers—just men and women whose common
profession was Holidaymaker.”
There
is a feeling, however, that this holiday will be their last as a family—the two
oldest, Dick and Mary, have left school and may easily have made plans to
vacation with friends instead; and Mrs. Stevens doesn’t particularly care for
Bognor. As such there is a feeling of nostalgia about this novel; it seems as
though the Stevenses are trying to capture the essence of a time gone by while
still grappling with the reality of their lives. The holiday takes place in
September, a slightly-off season for holidaying, so there’s a feeling of
deflation and sadness after the summer weather. The only member of the family
who seems innocent to this is the youngest member of the family, Ernie, aged
10. Meanwhile, the two eldest are struggling with becoming adults. So there’s
an undertone of depression to the book, which also captures the “normalcy” of
an annual family holiday.
Because
the trip to Bognor is an event, it’s treated as such; the Stevenses even have a
Going Away Eve, along with all the little rituals that attend to preparing for
a holiday. There is always the feeling of expectancy the day before or the day
tht you take a break from the routine of life, and this novel captured that
feeling perfectly. The author got the idea for the book while he was on
vacation in Bognor. While people-watching, Sherriff decided to take one of the
families he saw and imagine what their lives might be like. In the excerpt of
the author’s autobiography, reprinted the Persephone edition, Sherriff wrote, “I
wanted to write about simple, uncomplicated people doing normal things.” It’s
for that reason that the book is so good.
This
is Persephone no. 67.
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