Valancy toiled not, neither did she spin. These montage-chapters are absolutely sensuous.Įxcerpt from The Blue Castle – by L.M. Of the seasons passing, of their feeling for each other growing, etc.) Lucy Maud uses these montage sequences very deliberately – and you really get the sense of this relationship. We never feel like, as in some montages, that this is an author being LAZY, being unable to get us from point A to point B logically – so they resort to a montage. So here’s an excerpt (the book has a lot of chapters like this … almost like montage shots … Valancy’s time on the island, her marriage to Barney, what the two of them do together, how easy it is between them – but Lucy Maud is so good at this kind of writing – It’s a montage, yes – but it never loses its specificity. Ingrid Bergman says to Cary Grant, “This is a very interesting love affair.” He asks, “Why?” She says, “Because you don’t love me.” He says, “Actions speak louder than words.” Valancy and Barney are unconventional. It reminds me a bit (without the neuroses and the torture, of course) of the love affair in Notorious. There is a whimsy in the relationship … which just comes off as so appealing. Or – HORRORS! – eating out at a Chinese restaurant. Her family catches glimpses of her riding around town in the jalopy with Barney. And they obviously have a romantic relationship.
However, he accepts her fully into his life – there’s one room in his cottage that he will not allow her to go into (this all becomes clear later – he calls it Bluebeard’s Chamber, as a joke) – but other than that – Valancy is perfectly free to do whatever she wants. Lucy Maud does not, of course, take us into the marriage bed – but she suggests it … and it’s an interesting situation because: Valancy loves Barney but Barney does not love Valancy. To the absolute HORROR of her family, who all remain convinced that Snaith is some sort of embezzler, or murderer, or man on the run.
But you do that I have always thought you were a bit of a dear.” And he agrees. I know you don’t love me … but would you be willing to marry me and be with me until I die? Would you do that for me? And he contemplates it … and he finally says to her, “You know I don’t love you … I’ve never thought of being in love.
I mean – go, Lucy Maud, with the shocking-ness!! Valancy tells the truth to Barney: Look, I only have 8 months left to live, and I love you. She now only has 8 months to live, or whatever it is … and so … she makes up her mind. Go back to her old cringing shy spinster self.
She has to go home and live with her disapproving family again. Cissy dies – and so Valancy is faced with a choice. The heavenly third act of the book (first act: Valancy at home with her family, second act: Valancy living with Abel and Cissy) is when she moves out to Barney’s island, after the death of Cissy Gay.
0 kommentar(er)
