Anna of the Five Towns

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Bennett portrays the Five Towns as a dark, dreary place, devoted unabashedly to the business of getting and spending. The towns are mean, somber, hard-featured, and uncouth, and the poison vapors emitted by their ovens and chimneys have shrivelled the surrounding country. In Bursley, where Anna Tellwright lives with her father and sister, residents have created a park, but even it is “unlovely”; it is a sign, says the narrator, of the first faint longings for beauty in a district resigned to unredeemed ugliness. With their ever-present factories and cramped red-brown streets, the Five Towns provide a broad context for the lives of Bennett’s characters. While other settings offer residents respite, even beauty, the bleak industrial setting is never far away, a reminder of the narrow, oppressive quality of life in the Five Towns. Cresciuta dove le angherie morali del dispotico padre erano all’ordine del giorno, Anna Tellwright si trova tout après al centro dell'interesse di Henry Mynors, bello, intelligente, nonché pilastro dell’industria locale. Anna is invited to visit the Isle of Man by Alderman and Mrs Sutton, who see Anna as a suitable friend for their over-indulged daughter, Beatrice. Mynors is also invited. By the end of the visit, Anna and Henry are engaged to be married, but Anna still harbours secret feelings for Willie Price, who she also knows well from the Methodist movement. Of those visiting a new park, "people going up to criticize and enjoy this latest outcome of municipal enterprise... housewives whose pale faces, as of prisoners free only for a while, showed a naive and timorous pleasure in this unusual diversion; young women made glorious by richly coloured stuffs and carrying themselves with the defiant independence of good wages... a small well-dressed group whose studious repudiation of the crowd betrayed a conscious eminence of rank." There are attempts to evoke the colour and chatter of the “five towns”, where the quiet courtship of Anna and Mr Mynors dominates gossip. Conrad Nelson’s production leans heavily on the presence of the Phoenix Singers, a local choir whose songs neatly stitch together various scenes. But these musical sequences often feel underpowered, as do some of the supporting performances. Rarely do we get a sense of what’s at stake.

stato il primo lavoro di Bennett che io abbia mai letto, perché qui in Italia è caduto un po’ nel dimenticatoio e certamente meriterebbe di essere riscoperto al più presto, poiché è uno scrittore abile e avvincente. Tenía la intención de empezar a leer este libro poco a poco, sin devorarlo, tomándomelo con calma y disfrutando de la preciosa edición a la que nos tiene acostumbrados la editorial . As everybody knows there are just two types of people in the world, however as many suspect, there is some disagreement as to who they are. Some say the rich and the poor, others the hungry and the fed, a few with a touch of whimsy might suggest women and men, or old and young. If however you've a sense of the depth and breadth of the division between the reserved and the expansive, then you can appreciate the muted tones of this book. Henry calms many of her fears: he's wonderful with Agnes, and even with her father - teasing the former, and braving the latter (even daring to ask for more beef). Anna and Henry marry. No more is heard of Willie Price; the story hints that he too commits suicide.Il ritratto di Anna, che Bennett ci regala, mostra tutta la tenerezza che lo anima e porta l’impronta del grande Turgenev. Al contrario di Eugenie Grandet, Anna è molto più brillante, più moderna, più abile, insomma molto più reale e complessa. In lei ho rivisto molto di Lisa (la protagonista di Nido di nobili): la stessa aspirazione al bene e lo stesso impulso che le porta a volere bene al più vulnerabile tra i due uomini da cui si sentono amate; ma forse, anzi soprattutto, nella scelta che compiono cioè quella di perseguire risolutamente e senza esitazioni il proprio dovere. Anna è corteggiata da Henry Mynors, un uomo di trent’anni dalle impeccabili credenziali. È lo scapolo più ambito della cittadina; bello, intelligente, affabile, rispettabile, ambizioso, astro in ascesa dell’industria e pilastro della chiesa metodista locale. Membro di una delle famiglie più importante del distretto, possiede una moderna fabbrica di ceramiche, ben avviata e molto produttiva. Insomma sembra essere l’uomo perfetto. L’universo malinconico, grigio e fumoso della regione industriale dello Staffordshire ricorda un po’ il Nord del bellissimo “North and South” di Elizabeth Gaskell (aww, John Thornton..*sospiri d’amore*) e “Shirley” di Charlotte Bronte e nella mia libreria questo bel volumetto di Bennett ha trovato il suo spazietto vitale proprio accanto a questi due altri capolavori.

Landsdowne House. Home of the Sutton family, which Anna visits for a sewing party. Here, as elsewhere in the novel, Bennett develops Anna’s character by describing her reaction to a particular place. The house is everything that the Tellwright house is not—rich, luxurious, overstuffed—its rooms filled with expensive furnishings, its walls adorned with beautiful pictures. Anna’s friend Beatrice Sutton shows Anna the upstairs art studio that her father has furnished for her. Later, Mrs. Sutton serves an ample tea of fancy breads and cakes, jams, sandwiches, and pork pies. Anna, who has had almost no social life, is amazed by the opulence of the Sutton household, a stark contrast to her own meager life. Most of Bennett's books are set in the area he knew well. He portrays small town politics, industry, rivalries, and even makes factories seem beautiful. You are the meekest of angels," said Willy Price. "Thy soul is pure. My father killed himself because he had forged Mr Sutton's promissory note and was to be exposed."Should one read this story for plot or for character portrayal? For both or for either. Each character is well drawn. This makes you need to know what will happen to them, making plot equally important!