Book: Ann Veronica
Aug. 14th, 2011 10:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livAuthor: HG Wells
Details: First published 1909; Pub Gutenberg e-texts 2006; Gutenberg versions
Verdict: Ann Veronica is an interesting historical piece with strong characterization.
Reasons for reading it: Several people mentioned it at Eastercon as being a sort of proto-feminist classic. I didn't quite realize that it's a purely mimetic book, but none the worse for that.
How it came into my hands: The ever wonderful Project Gutenberg.
Ann Veronica almost seems to be the missing link between Arnold Bennett's Anna of the Five Towns and John Wyndham's obscure Trouble with lichen. It's a very sympathetic portrait of a young woman who rebels against nineteenth century expectations of the role of a middle-class woman. Unlike a modern book which would be likely to show its protagonist triumphing over the odds, Wells is very clear-eyed about the practical difficulties of being an independent woman in a social context which has no respectable niches for such a person. The depth of the portrait of Ann Veronica really makes the book, because in plot terms it is somewhat odd. Wikipedia says that her character was based on HG Wells' own lover, which chimes with how vivid and plausible she is. She's also very believably young, she's impetuous and naive but also idealistic and much more her own person than the people around her realize.
The actual story doesn't entirely make sense, particularly the ending. However it does seem to be self-aware; there's a bit of dialogue in the final scene where Ann Veronica and Capes discuss how strange it is that after all the drama and willingness to completely abandon social norms for the sake of love, they did in fact end up a pretty conventional married couple. It would be easy to be disappointed that all Ann Veronica's efforts to be independent and choose her own life end up with her devoting herself to her husband after all, but the book very clearly tackles this issue, and I think has something interesting to say about it.
The book is also historically interesting, just because it's written so early in the history of modern feminism, and by a male author, who has made the decision to support women who want more autonomy without the benefit of historical hindsight. He doesn't necessarily approve of the Suffragettes as a political and activist movement, but he's generally in favour of women's rights. (Now I'm wondering if Ann Veronica is going to be inforthwritten's thesis, but perhaps it's a bit out of the scope.) He only reminds me of Wyndham because the latter writes as if he independently invented feminism without being aware of the actual feminist movement; Wells had the very good excuse that modern feminism actually hadn't been invented while he was writing! Plus the fact that Ann Veronica, like Diana Brackley, trains and works as a biologist. (Another fascinating (though minor) area where HG Wells lacked the benefit of hindsight is that there's a bit of background about the debate between the Mendelians and the Darwinists; the narrator's sympathy clearly lies with the latter, treating belief in Mendel's theory of heredity as a sort of proxy for holding old-fashioned values and not accepting scientific progress.)
There's a strong sexual subtext; indeed it isn't really very sub, especially for the period. Ann Veronica worries that she is "coarse" because she experiences sexual desire and not only pure romantic idealized love. There are not particularly coy references to the danger of having to resort to prostitution if you're a woman not being supported by a husband or father. I do like the fact that the central romance is both poetic and earthy at the same time; the book acknowledges that Capes falls a long way short of being ideal or perfect, and does not brush over the very real problems of a romance with a rather older person who is in a position of authority and who isn't exactly unmarried. There is also a very chilling scene where one of Ann Veronica's suitors expects sexual favours in exchange for buying her dinner, not something I'd expect to be handled so directly in a pre WW1 novel.
Details: First published 1909; Pub Gutenberg e-texts 2006; Gutenberg versions
Verdict: Ann Veronica is an interesting historical piece with strong characterization.
Reasons for reading it: Several people mentioned it at Eastercon as being a sort of proto-feminist classic. I didn't quite realize that it's a purely mimetic book, but none the worse for that.
How it came into my hands: The ever wonderful Project Gutenberg.
Ann Veronica almost seems to be the missing link between Arnold Bennett's Anna of the Five Towns and John Wyndham's obscure Trouble with lichen. It's a very sympathetic portrait of a young woman who rebels against nineteenth century expectations of the role of a middle-class woman. Unlike a modern book which would be likely to show its protagonist triumphing over the odds, Wells is very clear-eyed about the practical difficulties of being an independent woman in a social context which has no respectable niches for such a person. The depth of the portrait of Ann Veronica really makes the book, because in plot terms it is somewhat odd. Wikipedia says that her character was based on HG Wells' own lover, which chimes with how vivid and plausible she is. She's also very believably young, she's impetuous and naive but also idealistic and much more her own person than the people around her realize.
The actual story doesn't entirely make sense, particularly the ending. However it does seem to be self-aware; there's a bit of dialogue in the final scene where Ann Veronica and Capes discuss how strange it is that after all the drama and willingness to completely abandon social norms for the sake of love, they did in fact end up a pretty conventional married couple. It would be easy to be disappointed that all Ann Veronica's efforts to be independent and choose her own life end up with her devoting herself to her husband after all, but the book very clearly tackles this issue, and I think has something interesting to say about it.
The book is also historically interesting, just because it's written so early in the history of modern feminism, and by a male author, who has made the decision to support women who want more autonomy without the benefit of historical hindsight. He doesn't necessarily approve of the Suffragettes as a political and activist movement, but he's generally in favour of women's rights. (Now I'm wondering if Ann Veronica is going to be in
forthwritten's thesis, but perhaps it's a bit out of the scope.) He only reminds me of Wyndham because the latter writes as if he independently invented feminism without being aware of the actual feminist movement; Wells had the very good excuse that modern feminism actually hadn't been invented while he was writing! Plus the fact that Ann Veronica, like Diana Brackley, trains and works as a biologist. (Another fascinating (though minor) area where HG Wells lacked the benefit of hindsight is that there's a bit of background about the debate between the Mendelians and the Darwinists; the narrator's sympathy clearly lies with the latter, treating belief in Mendel's theory of heredity as a sort of proxy for holding old-fashioned values and not accepting scientific progress.) There's a strong sexual subtext; indeed it isn't really very sub, especially for the period. Ann Veronica worries that she is "coarse" because she experiences sexual desire and not only pure romantic idealized love. There are not particularly coy references to the danger of having to resort to prostitution if you're a woman not being supported by a husband or father. I do like the fact that the central romance is both poetic and earthy at the same time; the book acknowledges that Capes falls a long way short of being ideal or perfect, and does not brush over the very real problems of a romance with a rather older person who is in a position of authority and who isn't exactly unmarried. There is also a very chilling scene where one of Ann Veronica's suitors expects sexual favours in exchange for buying her dinner, not something I'd expect to be handled so directly in a pre WW1 novel.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-17 07:39 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-17 10:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-17 11:30 am (UTC)FVO "I" ET "
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-17 07:53 am (UTC)Wells was a rather dodgy ally of women's causes.
Historically, at that time, Mendel was the new exciting and controversial thing, because he'd only just been (re)discovered.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-17 10:54 am (UTC)I definitely wouldn't expect Wells to be the be-all and end-all of early 20th century feminism, (much less Wyndham who really seems to have been bizarrely unaware of the political reality around him). I find it interesting that he chose to be an ally at all, even if he was a dodgy one. And yeah, the whole discussion about (to put it in anachronistic terms) whether feminism gives women the right to choose to be submissive and subordinate, while worth bringing up, does seem a bit unsavoury coming from a male writer.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-18 10:10 am (UTC)likes and dislikes
Date: 2011-10-30 01:38 pm (UTC)