Rather fortuitously, Ali passed me a copy of this book recently, just as the LibraryThing Virago Group we’re both in was planning a year of themed reading, with Teachers or Nuns as the first theme. So I picked up this novel about nuns with its fantastically gothic cover (and somewhat gothic events) and it was a good read, as Godden reliably is, with some reservations around language and terms (as you’d probably expect in a book set in India by a British author, published in 1939. I thought this was the only challenge this fits in with, and it’s a slightly odd contrast with all the Nordic stuff I’ve been reading recently, but astoundingly, it fills in one of the remaining years in my Century of Reading!
Rumer Godden – “Black Narcissus”
(05 December 2021 – from Ali)
A group of nuns from a fictional order with its Mother Convent in Surrey travel north into the very edges of Darjeeling to set up a convent, school and clinic in a disused “palace” half-way up a hill, looking over the Himalayas to Kanchenjunga. Their only help is The General, a man living in the shadow of the memory of his more exciting father and, more practically, Mr Dean, said to have “gone native” (more on terminology later) and able to get things done either himself or with the help of the local people. A group of English nuns, between the wars, stuck on their own in a slightly peculiar ex “house of the women” where concubines used to live, thrown on their own resources with one reasonably fit and healthy man going in and out (I don’t want to subscribe to stereotypes about nuns, but if you put a man in a nunnery, he’s going to be a Chekhov’s Gun of a man, isn’t he?) and with one among them who is likely to be trouble, and is from the start – throw in a creepy Ayah who is used to having the place to herself and mourning her dead mistress, the flamboyant son of the General who only wants to learn, and a ripe and luscious local girl, and a sort of amorphous mob of public opinion and you’re asking for something melodramatic to happen.
We see things through some people’s eyes more than others, and Sister Clodagh, the Sister Superior in charge, gets to show us her reason for becoming a nun, having flashbacks of memories of a lost love that she thought she’d tamped down. The local town acts as a sort of chorus, sardonic Mr Dean as a warning and recording angel, and the mysterious holy man who lives above the convent a sort of immovable figure, showing that everything will go on as it has been before when the nuns are inevitably thrown off the mountain. The psychological stresses within and between the central characters are subtly done and draw us on through the narrative as things wind up to their conclusion – whatever that might be.
It’s an entertaining novel and well done – but of course there are colonial attitudes to get through (although to be sort of fair on Godden, she praises her characters when they start to see the “natives” as individual humans). There are comical and naive locals, superstitions that the nuns try to stamp out, and while they’re seen as being inflexible and not seeking to understand, but to impose their standards on the village, and that this is not a good thing, there is also some really regrettable language that causes the modern reader to wince. An interesting period piece that needs to be read with an understanding of the context and the change in how we would interact with these Indigenous populations now.
joulesbarham
Jan 18, 2022 @ 13:00:33
This looks interesting – I probably have a copy somewhere (if I can find it!) Also fascinating re language – not the only mid 20th century author that makes me wince, obviously!
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Liz Dexter
Jan 18, 2022 @ 16:23:11
Yes, you must come across a few with your reading areas! I do think you’d enjoy it, though.
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cdvicarage
Jan 18, 2022 @ 13:09:54
This was my choice for this month’s book, too. I have read many of Rumer Godden’s novels and was surprised that I had not read this one before, although I have seen the film and the recent TV adaptation. I followed it with a re-read of In this House of Brede, which demonstrated a better idea of how nuns really live and behave!
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Liz Dexter
Jan 18, 2022 @ 16:23:42
I want to read Brede too but don’t have it so need to not go rushing to buy it quite yet!
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hopewellslibraryoflife
Jan 18, 2022 @ 13:38:51
Sounds excellent. I loved In this House of Bede–nuns.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 18, 2022 @ 16:24:00
She did seem to enjoy writing about nuns!
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Tredynas Days
Jan 18, 2022 @ 13:55:51
I also saw the first episode of the tv version and gave up on it – too melodramatic for me, and I disliked the colonial attitudes you mention. Don’t think I’ll be seeking out this one.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 18, 2022 @ 16:24:48
I suspect the book is a bit more subtle and some colonial stuff was undermined. And it wasn’t as melodramatic as all that, more gritted teeth and the odd outburst.
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Kittiwake
Jan 18, 2022 @ 14:17:02
Have you ever seen the 1947 film of Black Narcissus? I’d definitely recommend it.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 18, 2022 @ 16:25:17
I haven’t seen the film, no – one to look out for in the fullness of time when I’ve forgotten some of the plot!
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Marcie McCauley
Jan 24, 2022 @ 19:52:17
I was going to ask this as well; I just saw a snippet of it via a library viewing platform and it looks so good.
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gertloveday
Jan 22, 2022 @ 05:04:17
Yes I can second that recommendation. A Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger film with the wonderful David Farrar and even a very young Jean Simmons.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 22, 2022 @ 12:58:55
Thank you!
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Jan 18, 2022 @ 15:20:13
A really thoughtful review, Liz – we have to look at these things in context even though, as you say, they make us wince. I did love your write-up of the plot elements too!!
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Liz Dexter
Jan 18, 2022 @ 16:25:52
Thank you – yes, it would be a shame to throw out the book as it has very good aspects. And glad you liked the plot bits without giving anything away!
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Janakay | YouMightAsWellRead
Jan 18, 2022 @ 16:30:43
I’m very fond of Rumer Godden; as you say, she can always be counted on for a good read. Although I’ve read several of her novels, I’ve skipped this one, which seems to be quite popular among her fans. Your review reminds me that I need to move it up in the TBR!
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Liz Dexter
Jan 19, 2022 @ 18:06:20
It is a good read and seems more measured than the film and TV adaptation might be. I hadn’t read any of her India ones so that was interesting.
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mallikabooks15
Jan 18, 2022 @ 16:48:33
I agree one has to look at these things in context–she was after all writing as a colonial and in 1939–but glad to know that she does at least see the need to view natives as people. I’d be interested to see how the nuns approach local superstition and such
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Liz Dexter
Jan 19, 2022 @ 18:07:21
The nuns are against it, they want to “help” with modern medicine etc. and interfere where they’re specifically warned against it. They certainly take against one practice very strongly with no reason. But they’re shown not to be correct in that attitude by the author.
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mallikabooks15
Jan 20, 2022 @ 14:11:54
Let me see if I can get my hands on a copy. If not soon at least in time for Brona’s next Rumer Godden week
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JacquiWine
Jan 18, 2022 @ 17:04:26
I read this last year and loved it, but you’re right in saying that it needs to be viewed in the context of attitudes at the time. It’s always something I try to consider when reading older literature, to avoid holding it to the values or principles we have today…
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Liz Dexter
Jan 19, 2022 @ 18:07:56
Yes, indeed, the good points outweigh the winces and it’s a very good story!
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Brona's Books
Jan 18, 2022 @ 21:06:08
Godden is an interesting woman. She credits reading E M Forster’s A Passage to India as a young woman for changing her views on the colonial life in India. Until then they lived the traditional life where the English and the Indian did not mix – at least the women and children. After reading the books she states that she insisted that her parents let her meet and talk to the locals. When she finished her education in England, she returned to India and opened a dance school for Indian and English children with her sister. She was still ‘of’ her time, but she was aware and trying to be different to her parents generation.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 19, 2022 @ 18:09:16
That’s interesting, can you remember where she writes about that? She certainly wrote this one early and I saw a comment elsewhere that she changed her mind on some things after it. She certainly isn’t massively pro-colonialism and shows that the nuns for all their striving don’t do any good and probably do some harm.
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Brona's Books
Jan 23, 2022 @ 00:11:40
It’s something I read about her in pretty much every article I read. It seems to have been one of her standard replies.
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Lisa Hill
Jan 18, 2022 @ 23:42:15
You make very good points about reading ‘problematic’ novels from another period. In general I prefer to read contemporary novels that deal with issues in our own time, but there are novels like this one that shine a light on issues like colonialism. Despite the cringeworthy elements or perhaps because of them, the contemporary reader is able to see entitlement laid bare. And yet — like Orwell, who was in the Colonial Service — Godden offers a more nuanced portrait of colonialism in India than, say, Kipling, and we can see from within the emergence of discomfort with the inequalities of empire and with the behaviour of the people who benefited from it.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 19, 2022 @ 18:10:44
Yes, indeed, for its time it’s both of its time and starting to interrogate colonial attitudes, and certainly not Kipling-y and gung-ho. You can read the whole thing as a critique of colonialism, not doing much good and probably doing harm, although some of the language and the stuff about “going native” is tricky.
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Lisa Hill
Jan 20, 2022 @ 03:33:41
I think the conclusion, that they go with their ambitions unfulfilled, and leave the locals to their own devices is very telling.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 20, 2022 @ 06:36:38
Yes, indeed.
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FictionFan
Jan 19, 2022 @ 00:36:32
I’m afraid we either have to put up with unfashionable language and attitudes, or restrict our reading to things that came out last week! If I had to make a list of all the terms I’ve been told by pressure groups to use over the years only to be told a couple of years later, often by the same pressure groups, that that term has become unacceptable, it would take several pages of foolscap… now there’s a word you don’t hear often any more. 😉 Sorry you didn’t enjoy this one more.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 19, 2022 @ 18:11:51
Yes, I agree, although a lot of the terms here I don’t think have come back round once we realised they were inappropriate. I did enjoy it very much, and I’ve enjoyed the discussion in the comments, too, I just felt I should point out there is some difficult content that needs to be taken in context.
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wadholloway
Jan 19, 2022 @ 11:35:21
I read books whose politics annoy me, sometimes. But I try and work out what’s going on. In this case it’s more than just racism – Britain made itself enormously rich by raping India, a much older and more complex civilization; and then add to that another layer of colonization, Catholic missionaries, and it’s not a book I’d get any pleasure from.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 20, 2022 @ 06:40:09
It’s a bit more subtle than that, and I don’t think I got that across successfully in my review, although the discussion in the comments has refined it. The author is not saying colonialism and the raping of the colonies is a good thing – the nuns are going to fail and they are certainly shown as being temporary with the culture running on regardless (they’re also not Catholic but a weird Anglican active order, if that helps). The colonial attitudes I winced at included someone being described as “going native” which was said in reported speech but is still uneasy, and the language used to describe the Indigenous population, which is tricky. There might be an underlying attitude that taking the “right” approach might still have worked (there was an unsuccessful order of Brothers before with a failed school) but the author I think is showing colonialism doesn’t work and is harmful. I mean, I know it won’t make you read the book, nor should you if you don’t want to, but I hope that makes things clearer.
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wadholloway
Jan 20, 2022 @ 06:47:48
Thank you for taking such care with your answer, Liz. It is very difficult for us white settlers to justify or explain our position. It makes me at least very touchy. At least the Brits got out of India. Indigenous Australians wish they were so lucky.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 20, 2022 @ 14:40:50
Our legacy of empire is still horribly damaging, here and in the countries we invaded.
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heavenali
Jan 19, 2022 @ 17:49:21
I really enjoyed this novel by Rumer Godden, but it is definitely of its time, and should be read in context. It is very melodramatic, and that 1947 film even more so I seem to remember, I only watched one episode of the more recent adaptation, but didn’t really take to it.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 20, 2022 @ 06:40:53
Yes, there’s a real Gothic, melodramatic tension to it and I would imagine they ramped that up in the film. Interesting about the recent adaptation!
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State of the TBR – February 2022 | Adventures in reading, running and working from home
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