Anita Brookner [1928-2016] Writing Competition 2017
Anita Brookner, prefect at JAGS in 1945-6.
Write 500 words Deadline: Tuesday 2 May
First prize ÂŁ25 book token Runners up: ÂŁ10 book tokens
This is the opening of Anita Brookner’s eighteenth novel, ‘Falling Slowly’:
On her way to the London Library, Mrs Eldon, who still thought of herself as Miriam Sharpe, paused as usual to examine the pictures in the windows of the Duke Street galleries. She hoped one day to find the image she unconsciously sought, without knowing why she sought it, something to lift the spirits, to transport her on an imaginary journey, to give a hint of the transcendence which was so blatantly lacking in her everyday life of words and paper. Today there was a Dutch flower piece, badly darkened by age and varnish, and a portrait of an Elizabethan boy, snug in his ruff, his lashless eyes denoting a childhood of unchildish amusements — nothing, in short, to appeal to the vague restlessness she always felt before settling down to another silent day’s work. But further down the street, in a gallery specializing in images of the nineteenth century destined for easy consumption — girls in frills on swings, neat northern townscapes — she found something to her taste, a smoky winter scene by an artist of whom she had never heard, Eugene Laloue. It was clearly signed at the lower left, and on the frame a small brass plate proclaimed; ‘Place du Chatelet under Snow’. She looked closer, drawn in by the dirty yellow sky, smoky where it met the roof of the buildings, under which she could imagine herself trudging home after a cold day. That yellow sky supplied its own illumination, although there were lights on in the buildings to the left, and even in a shop, too small to be of much consequence but surprising in this vaguely affluent setting. On the ground snow had been puddled into water by passing feet; it dusted the tops of the street lamps and the bench on which no one would sit. Groups of people stood waiting for the horse-drawn omnibus which could be seen approaching in the distance. In the centre of the picture a mother in a long black coat and a large black hat guided a dressed-up child to the nearer pavement. All this was suitably animated. But what continued to draw the eye was the yellow sky, lit from beneath as by a bonfire, stronger, stranger than the human crowd below. Somewhere, in the remote distance, a flag flew. She stood for perhaps seven or eight minutes examining this image, unperturbed by the jostling passers-by who barely registered in her consciousness, although they were recognizably of the same genus as the tiny winter-clad people in the picture. When she turned away from the window she was vaguely disconcerted to see that there was no snow on the ground and that the sky was the colourless grey of an overcast April day. She could not have said why the picture held such fascination for her, but she recognized that it was the high point of a day which promised nothing more exciting.
COMMENTARY
In this passage, the reader is able to examine Mrs Eldon as she examines the pictures in the windows.
Although the pictures are described in detail, we know absolutely nothing of her appearance, and yet we come to have a tremendous understanding of her private inner life. We sense her dissatisfaction and lack of fulfilment: she still thinks of herself as Miriam Sharpe and ‘hoped one day to find the image she unconsciously sought.’ She has a strong sense of longing; she hopes to see an image that would ‘lift the spirits’ and ‘transport her on an imaginary journey.’ It is blatantly clear, however, how banal ‘her everyday life’ is. She longs to escape, but the first picture of flowers is unappealing and does nothing for her restlessness. Further down the street, though, she is fascinated by a painting of a ‘smoky winter scene’ in Paris. For a while she forgets where she is. Although the picture allows her to escape from the present for a short while, her return is painful, as the contrast makes her realise how unexciting her day is. Looking at the painting was to be its highlight.
TASK
Imagine a character of your own. Describe: her/his journey to work. what she/he hopes to find in a shop window. what might she/he stop and look at. what she/he feels and thinks about it. Model your writing on the passage above. Notice that Anita Brookner’s description is very careful and precise. She does not hurry, but like Mrs Eldon, she really takes her time, so that the reader gets a long and steady look at her character and a strong sense of what she is looking at. Try to do the same.
Write no more than 500 words (the above passage is 501). Type and print your description out (with your name on it). Hand it in to your English teacher.