A Matter of Time

Fülszöveg

A Matter of Time is the most powerful and
the most affecting work yet produced by its distinguished author. Miss West has deliberately chosen to let her narrator tell this story as a reflection of a sequence of events now concluded. The moment upon which the novel opens goes back only a period of months, and the revelation of what takes place during them provides a mounting tension that cannot be diverted. In her telling, however, certain associations trip memories for the narrator, and these journeys of recall, made seemingly at random, supply a selective background that at once contains internal narratives of superb quality and insight as well as a brilliant family portrait that, in appreciable measure, provides the motivations for the recent actions. In this manner the construction of the novel is "a matter of time."
The title has a far more dramatic connotation. The novel is principally concerned with two sisters, Tassie and Blix, nee Murphy. Both are married, and Tassie,... Tovább

Fülszöveg

A Matter of Time is the most powerful and
the most affecting work yet produced by its distinguished author. Miss West has deliberately chosen to let her narrator tell this story as a reflection of a sequence of events now concluded. The moment upon which the novel opens goes back only a period of months, and the revelation of what takes place during them provides a mounting tension that cannot be diverted. In her telling, however, certain associations trip memories for the narrator, and these journeys of recall, made seemingly at random, supply a selective background that at once contains internal narratives of superb quality and insight as well as a brilliant family portrait that, in appreciable measure, provides the motivations for the recent actions. In this manner the construction of the novel is "a matter of time."
The title has a far more dramatic connotation. The novel is principally concerned with two sisters, Tassie and Blix, nee Murphy. Both are married, and Tassie, the narrator, has been called in desperation by Blix, who faces a harrowing ordeal, both mental and physical. Yet there is one possible alternative—The Plan. For this Blix requires Tas-sie's help.
Here, then, are two human beings quite literally involved in a matter of life and death. Beyond their concern with The Plan, Tassie and Blix cannot help but consider the course of their lives that led to this time and place. Thus, through Tassie's mind and ultimately her pen, flow the recollections" of their early youth: Blix's wild, independent ways; Tassie's restrained, dreamy conduct; Blix's first sexual adventure and Tassie's destructive part in it; Tassie's first marriage and its ungainly breakup; the influence cast by their strong-willed mother; the roles played by their father and their brothers; happy, at times hilarious, high lights in the family saga; conflicts that sowed the seeds of alienation and distrust. Later years take their vivid place in the chambers of memory.
It is only as the narrative is drawing to its close that the remarkable fabric of this brilliantly colorful, superbly delineated tapestry is seen whole, its
(Continued on back flap) Vissza