Back in March, I posted a short item about two forgotten novels I’d come across in an advertisement in the Times Literary Supplement. Neither received much attention and both quickly disappeared from sight.
I was interested in knowing more about both books, so when I had the chance to visit the British Library for a few hours recently, I requested copies of both and took advantage of the book scanners available in most of the library’s reading rooms to grab a few pages from each. The Library’s copyright policy restricts one to copying one chapter or 5% of a book. I stretched the allowance a bit and scanned in two chapters from each.
I wish I could say great things for both books, but of the chapters of Bargasoles I read, I can only say that Geoffrey S. Garnier was probably smart to stick with visual art. Bargasoles purports to be a comic novel, but the comedy might best be described as lumpy.
Let’s move on, shall we?
In Our Metropolis, however, is blissfully silly. It could have made a fun little B comedy movie starring one of those English actresses with a name like Nova Pilbeam or Enid Stamp-Taylor. It’s almost a parody of itself. Take the first lines of dialogue spoken in the book: “Sweetheart?” “Darling!” “Sherry?”
Elizabeth and Ralph Ware are sophisticated, funny, and broke. “Gentlemen in bowler hats queue up at the door all day,” she complains. Cooped up in their apartment all day, she longs for a little chatter, a little small talk from Ralph. He buries himself behind a newspaper. Frustrated, she strips naked in front of him. “Are you mad?” Ralph exclaims, concerned that their son might walk in. “I promise to conceal all the facts of life from him so that he can get all the information required from the lavatories at Eton,” she assures him.
You can tell this book was published during the Phoney War. Hitler is part of Elizabeth and Ralph’s world, but he hasn’t yet become an existential threat. Asked if she’s been teaching their son geography, Elizabeth replies, “Geography went out when Hitler came in. What’s the good of learning anything about Central Europe with him nipping about in frantic fashion, changing the boundaries out of caprice every five minutes or so?”
I didn’t have time to read the whole book, but I can tell you that they all head off happily to India, well-paid position for Ralph in hand, leaving their creditors behind. What happens in between Chapter 2 and the end, I can’t say, but I have a feeling it matters less than whatever Elizabeth manages to come up with. If In Our Metropolis is at all successful as a comedy, I think it’s most due to her.
If you’re interested in the only sample available outside a handful of libraries, feel free to check out this PDF of Chapters 1 and 2.