From Publishers Weekly
In another of the mildly wicked dissections of the English character at which he excels, novelist ( Love Unknown ) and biographer ( Tolstoy ) Wilson attacks the unscrupulous practices of some members of the literary community while spinning the coming-of-age story of Julian Ramsay. Orphaned during the blitz, Julian has been brought up by his aunt and uncle in a small East Anglian village. Eccentric Uncle Roy, a vicar, is obsessed with the aristocratic Lampitt family, overvaluing his friendship with Sargent Lampitt, who treats him with snobbish disdain. Sargent's brother, belle-lettrist James Petworth Lampitt, dies offstage but remains squarely at the center of events because of a biography of him written by Raphael Hunter, a legendary charmer and seducer destined for a pivotal role in Julian's life. While the narrative tension centers around the sinister implications of Raphael's behavior, the revelations thus far (this is the first book of a trilogy) do not quite bear out the ominous foreshadowing. Enlivened by some darkly funny scenes set in the "English Gulag" (Wilson's name for prep schools) and by a series of wonderful character portraits, the book also delivers trenchant commentary on the nature of the literary art, particularly the gossip-centered, prurient biographies so much the rage today.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Library Journal
We are indeed compelled to "incline our hearts" toward Julian Ramsay, both narrator and protagonist of this frank and self-effacing tale. Julian describes his boyhood and adolescence as a continual trial to be endured within the confines of several "English Gulags," from the public school system to National Army Service. Contrasted with these harsh male worlds are Julian's anxiety at the early death of his mother, and his attraction, both physical and intellectual, to the few women who cross the perimeters of his prisons. With wit and poignancy, Wilson reveals both the eccentricity and ordinariness of the Ramsay family life to which our hero regularly returns. Given the somewhat inconclusive ending, many readers will eagerly anticipate the forthcoming volumes in this projected trilogy. Julia Duffy, CUNY Graduate Sch. Lib.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
