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Malvina of Brittany (1916)
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Malvina of Brittany
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This collection of separate stories, published under two separate names - either as THE FAWN GLOVES, or, alternately, as MALVINA OF BRITTANY - is startling indeed if one has begun reading Jerome K. Jerome with the three men duo of hilarious adventures that leave one helpless with laughter. One scarcely expects so much sensitivity, such delicacy, albeit reading this one knows the other two were in every way just as delicate, however funny they were. And here lies the greatest success of the author - his profundity and his sensitivity and his delicacy is not of the tom-tommed variety, but rather something pervading his work as naturally as a gentleman of his time and place would carry his suit, his hat and his folded umbrella, without himself being conscious or making the viewer - in this case reader - aware of it.
Generally, the common thread in this collection of stories seems to be mystery, involving in each story a mysterious woman or a woman - or a female figure - of mystery.
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Malvina of Brittany, the first in the volume that comprises of several different and separate stories, is a fairy tale from prehistoric times, written collected by the protagonist via the village legend, and it's interpretation, suitable for this time of scepticism, by a doctor and a professor who discuss it with the protagonist or author.
"It commenced, so I calculate, about the year 2000 B.C., or, to be more precise—for figures are not the strong point of the old chroniclers—when King Heremon ruled over Ireland and Harbundia was Queen of the White Ladies of Brittany, the fairy Malvina being her favourite attendant."
" ... The White Ladies of Brittany, it must be remembered, were not fairies pure and simple. Under certain conditions they were capable of becoming women, and this fact, one takes it, must have exerted a disturbing influence upon their relationships with eligible male mortals. ..."
Malvina was cast out by the Queen, for refusing to restore the Prince to his form, which malvina had changed on his wedding day.
"From that night the fairy Malvina disappears from the book of the chroniclers of the White Ladies of Brittany, from legend and from folklore whatsoever. She does not appear again in history till the year A.D. 1914."
She was found by Flight Commander Raffleton of RAF, and she flew back to England with him. He left her with his cousin Christopher, a professor at Oxford who knew about her history, and said hed come back for her.
"It was on the uplands between dawn and sunrise that Malvina made the acquaintance of the Arlington twins."
The story has to be read to fully get a glimpse of the awesomeness. One has to wonder if this is a legend thst the author collected as he writes, or did he create it, from a painting he saw thst he describes.
July 23, 2020. - July 24, 2020.
THE STREET OF THE BLANK WALL.
This one is another mystery story that begins with a man slightly lost off Edgware Road, and having taken in, a mysterious woman and a murder story involving her, along the way, ends with a double twist, one foreseen by the reader and another - or two - not at all.
July 24, 2020.
HIS EVENING OUT.
It seems to be about a gentleman meeting a young woman in a park, dining out and taking her dancing, and after getting into a brawl, giving the name of a lawyer or a QC of his instead, and then going off on his routine vacation, but taking his cook with him this time!
Here, the mystery is not just the story, but the way its written, and even a bit of a puzzle as to why - quite an exercise for brain, this one. And this one, Jerome K. Jerome turns to his forte familiar to his readers, bringing in humour, but quite differently here, like a subtle infusion that explodes faintly.
July 24, 2020.
THE LESSON.
Here the author diverges from the until now common thread in this collection, and there is no mysterious woman, or even a fairy, although he gives the impression in the beginning there is one. This one is about the author meeting a man who has dalliance with memories of past lives, and their encounters over the years. It ends abruptly, unexpectedly, but quite well.
July 24, 2020.
SYLVIA OF THE LETTERS.
Wonder if this is the original story of two people who know one another personally as opponents thst are always at loggerheads, and through correspondence via different names as inspiration, sustenance and support for spirit, until they meet and realise who they've been!
The film adaptations do not deal with the long history of acquaintance and growth from childhood, but then that wouldn't fit a film. This one isn't as easy a romance as the films, but the thrill is a long undercurrent, not a sudden shock.
July 24, 2020 - July 25, 2020.
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THE STREET OF THE BLANK WALL.
This one is another mystery story that begins with a man slightly lost off Edgware Road, and having taken in, a mysterious woman and a murder story involving her, along the way, ends with a double twist, one foreseen by the reader and another - or two - not at all.
July 24, 2020.
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HIS EVENING OUT.
It seems to be about a gentleman meeting a young woman in a park, dining out and taking her dancing, and after getting into a brawl, giving the name of a lawyer or a QC of his instead, and then going off on his routine vacation, but taking his cook with him this time!
Here, the mystery is not just the story, but the way its written, and even a bit of a puzzle as to why - quite an exercise for brain, this one. And this one, Jerome K. Jerome turns to his forte familiar to his readers, bringing in humour, but quite differently here, like a subtle infusion that explodes faintly.
July 24, 2020.
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THE LESSON.
Here the author diverges from the until now common thread in this collection, and there is no mysterious woman, or even a fairy, although he gives the impression in the beginning there is one. This one is about the author meeting a man who has dalliance with memories of past lives, and their encounters over the years. It ends abruptly, unexpectedly, but quite well.
July 24, 2020.
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SYLVIA OF THE LETTERS.
Wonder if this is the original story of two people who know one another personally as opponents thst are always at loggerheads, and through correspondence via different names as inspiration, sustenance and support for spirit, until they meet and realise who they've been!
The film adaptations do not deal with the long history of acquaintance and growth from childhood, but then that wouldn't fit a film. This one isn't as easy a romance as the films, but the thrill is a long undercurrent, not a sudden shock.
July 24, 2020 - July 25, 2020.
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THE FAWN GLOVES
The short story that gives a collection of stories the name is about the fawn gloves that the gentle and sensitive man sees every day as he goes for his regular evening walk, and he begins to see her after he has passed, never talked or looked or met her gaze - which again is more sensitive than his own, her whole demeanour giving him courage to be the man and the strong one of the two, unlike the normal women he has avoided.
This is a courtship that belongs to the era that is gone perhaps - they sit together on a public bench or chairs in a garden, speak tentatively, exchange life stories in not much detail, but don't know each other's addresses and even names, height of sensitivity on part of both. Yet they know they are connected. Ultimate closeness, he goes on a knee and kisses a glove - she is always wearing the said fawn gloves, and reminds him of a fawn herself, shy and easily startled.
The daintiness of her attire and accessories is noticed by the protagonist, indeed of immense importance to the relationship, and is mentioned and described with matching daintiness by the author. Her fawn gloves seem merely a part of the whole picture of the dainty woman that reminds the protagonist of a fawn, until suddenly it is like a veil removed and the reason for the title clear.
Neither of them is rich, and this turns the story startlingly, albeit it is not an obvious factor mentioned - sensitivity of the author - when one day the protagonist asks the beloved fawn of a young woman to remove her gloves.
In the era when one was reticent rather than brazen, names and addresses not exchanged, and people not only sensitive but able to appreciate that quality in another, a relationship that seems to begin with a spring fragrance of tulips is just as delicately rendered into a gossamer veil of a tragedy - and one wishes the man were more sensible.
But there precisely is the point the author makes with his usual delicacy - the sensitivity of the protagonist is about his own sensibilities, and selfish, not extending to the woman he fell in love with for being so fawn-like. When it comes to it he shudders and goes away leaving her alone because he cannot stand anything painful, rather than realising what and how much she needs and spreading his caring and love to soothe and heal her.
He returns because he is unable to forget her, and has cornered a doctor he happens to meet to ask about the problem and whether it is possible to correct it - but he has left it too late, and she has vanished. If then he suffers, it is merely deserved, but one is left with the figure of the fawn woman in her dainty figure and sensitive, fleeting impression just as he is, long past her having gone from his life for ever. He cannot forget her and one does not know if one will.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014.
The short story that gives a collection of stories the name is about the fawn gloves that the gentle and sensitive man sees every day as he goes for his regular evening walk, and he begins to see her after he has passed, never talked or looked or met her gaze - which again is more sensitive than his own, her whole demeanour giving him courage to be the man and the strong one of the two, unlike the normal women he has avoided.
This is a courtship that belongs to the era that is gone perhaps - they sit together on a public bench or chairs in a garden, speak tentatively, exchange life stories in not much detail, but don't know each other's addresses and even names, height of sensitivity on part of both. Yet they know they are connected. Ultimate closeness, he goes on a knee and kisses a glove - she is always wearing the said fawn gloves, and reminds him of a fawn herself, shy and easily startled.
The daintiness of her attire and accessories is noticed by the protagonist, indeed of immense importance to the relationship, and is mentioned and described with matching daintiness by the author. Her fawn gloves seem merely a part of the whole picture of the dainty woman that reminds the protagonist of a fawn, until suddenly it is like a veil removed and the reason for the title clear.
Neither of them is rich, and this turns the story startlingly, albeit it is not an obvious factor mentioned - sensitivity of the author - when one day the protagonist asks the beloved fawn of a young woman to remove her gloves.
In the era when one was reticent rather than brazen, names and addresses not exchanged, and people not only sensitive but able to appreciate that quality in another, a relationship that seems to begin with a spring fragrance of tulips is just as delicately rendered into a gossamer veil of a tragedy - and one wishes the man were more sensible.
But there precisely is the point the author makes with his usual delicacy - the sensitivity of the protagonist is about his own sensibilities, and selfish, not extending to the woman he fell in love with for being so fawn-like. When it comes to it he shudders and goes away leaving her alone because he cannot stand anything painful, rather than realising what and how much she needs and spreading his caring and love to soothe and heal her.
He returns because he is unable to forget her, and has cornered a doctor he happens to meet to ask about the problem and whether it is possible to correct it - but he has left it too late, and she has vanished. If then he suffers, it is merely deserved, but one is left with the figure of the fawn woman in her dainty figure and sensitive, fleeting impression just as he is, long past her having gone from his life for ever. He cannot forget her and one does not know if one will.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014.
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Tuesday, May 13, 2014.
July 23, 2020. - July 24, 2020.
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July 23, 2020. - July 24, 2020.
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