Come sempre, prima di scrivere questo post, ero curiosa di sapere cosa si dice in rete e mi sono imbattuta, tra gli altri, nel blog L’Oeil de Lucien, il cui commento mi ha letteralmente tolto le parole di bocca: in poche righe traccia gli influssi letterari del romanzo… togliendomi ogni originalità. Come dire, non avessi letto il suo post sarei qui con la coscienza pulita a dire le stesse cose… ma l’ho letto e quindi tutto è cambiato. Comunque… quanto è vero! L’atmosfera è proprio quella del racconto di Poe (Il crollo della casa degli Usher) e di Giro di vite di James.
«Del primo ha preso il tema
centrale, il declino e la fine di una famiglia aristocratica, del secondo la
composizione narrativa a spirale e l’inquietante presenza di un ospite
misterioso.» (Giuseppina La Ciura)
Insisto su Poe che ho approfondito ai tempi dell’università. Dando una veloce scorsa agli appunti, infatti, noto subito che il proprietario della casa maledetta si chiama Roderick e che il narratore è testimone degli eventi in quanto ospite nella casa stessa. Mi scatta un campanello d’allarme… urge rileggere il racconto alla ricerca di altri collegamenti!
Ho recuperato la raccolta di racconti di Edgar Allan Poe su cui avevo studiato ed ho ritrovato tutte le mie sottolineature e gli appunti. Ho già dichiarato il mio debole per i libri vissuti e ciò vale a maggior ragione per le proprie tracce, che offrono una sensazione di déjà vu tutta particolare. Emozioni a parte, la lettura è stata rivelatrice, proprio come mi aspettavo. Il proprietario della casa è Roderick Usher, ultimo rampollo di una famiglia di origine antichissima che è affetto da un “disordine mentale” di origine nervosa, caratterizzato da repentini cambi d’umore.
Già in questo ho ravvisato un forte parallelismo con il Roderick di Hundreds Hall. A ciò si aggiunge il fatto che il narratore è un amico di infanzia di Roderick che non lo vede da allora: il suo avvicinarsi alla casa e all’amico di un tempo riporta a galla ricordi di quando erano bambini e, al tempo stesso, riflessioni sui cambiamenti subiti da quel luogo. In maniera simile il Dottor Faraday si avvicina alla tenuta degli Ayres con il ricordo di quando era entrato da piccolo (era il figlio della bambinaia) e aveva staccato un pezzetto dagli elaborati stucchi. Mano a mano che la follia di Roderick si rivela essere in qualche modo motivata da strani eventi che si verificano nella casa, il narratore-testimone cerca di razionalizzare i fenomeni, esattamente come fa il dottor Faraday.
Il Roderick di Poe vive nella casa con la sorella (altro parallelismo), la quale è colpita da una malattia misteriosa il cui sintomo più evidente è l’apatia. Anche per questo personaggio si possono riscontrare analogie con Caroline Ayres che, soprattutto verso la fine, ha sintomi molto simili. La cosa che mi ha colpita di più del racconto di Poe e che mi ha aiutata a sviluppare una teoria sulle strane presenze di Hundreds Hall è che alla fine accade proprio ciò che Roderick aveva predetto e la sua presunta pazzia si rivela essere invece una motivata paura.
E qui arriviamo a ciò di cui mi interessa veramente discutere, ovvero come interpretare il ruolo di Faraday nel romanzo. Ho trovato un blog dove si discute animatamente di questo e le opinioni sono discordanti: c’è chi sostiene che Faraday in realtà è l’ospite a cui allude il titolo (in originale è The Little Stranger che, secondo me, rende l’ipotesi meno credibile), c’è chi sostiene invece che il fantasma esiste davvero e che Faraday non riesce e non vuole vedere. Io mi ero fatta un’opinione che si è consolidata dopo la lettura del racconto di Poe, ovvero che è stato proprio lui ad uccidere Caroline ma che non è lui lo spirito maligno che infesta la casa. Si tratta semplicemente di due eventi concomitanti.
Ho trovato molti elementi nel testo a sostegno di questa ipotesi e il fatto che nel racconto di Poe le manifestazioni a cui il testimone-narratore non vuole credere alla fine esistono realmente mi ha definitivamente convinta (dato che i cardini della storia della Waters poggiano su una struttura ispirata al racconto di Poe).
-Tornando al romanzo, la figura dello stesso di Faraday subisce una sinistra evoluzione: all’inizio viene presentato come un rispettabile professionista ed incarna la razionalità in persona poiché non si lascia impressionare da nessuno dei misteriosi eventi che accadono nella tenuta anche in sua presenza. Poi, però, questa razionalità si trasforma gradualmente in ottusità, facendo addirittura dubitare della credibilità di Faraday che, verso la fine, supera anche la soglia della sanità mentale per approdare nel regno della follia pura (mi riferisco all’ossessione che sviluppa nei confronti di Caroline).
-Inoltre lo strano blackout che lo colpisce proprio durante le ore della morte di Caroline è quanto mai rivelatore del suo ruolo nella vicenda.
-Come se non bastasse, successivamente il dottore ha delle oscure reminiscenze di quella scena, come se i suoi occhi avessero registrato le immagini ed il suo cervello le proiettasse all’improvviso nella sua mente.
-In aggiunta a ciò c’è il famoso ‘Tu’ pronunciato da Caroline prima di venire uccisa sarebbe esattamente ciò che avrebbe detto al dottore trovandoselo di nuovo in casa dopo averlo cacciato.
-Infine, il momento in cui il dottore avverte la presenza maligna nella casa e si volta a guardarla trovando il proprio riflesso in uno specchio, a mio avviso non è altro che un’ulteriore prova della sua colpevolezza.
Per quanto riguarda la malvagia presenza che alberga a Hundreds Hall, sono più propensa a credere che esista veramente e che il dottore non sia stato altro che uno strumento di cui si è servita. Secondo me l’episodio di Gyp è da interpretare come un’anticipazione in questo senso: “qualcosa” ha fatto scattare la furia di Gyp, un innocuo cagnolone, fino a fargli sbranare la bambina. Allo stesso modo io credo che si sia servita di Faraday per liberarsi di Caroline e il vuoto di memoria del dottore giustificherebbe questa interpretazione.
Insomma, la casa è viva almeno quanto i personaggi che la abitano, anzi è a conti fatti anch’essa un personaggio, con un proprio carattere e un’evoluzione. Lo dimostra il fatto che Hundreds Hall viene introdotta fin dalla prima riga del romanzo e solo dopo si passa agli altri personaggi, il che ci fa capire che è la vera e indiscussa protagonista. In un’intervista, Sarah Waters dichiara di aver scelto il nome pensando al termine che si usava per le suddividere le contee e immaginando la tenuta esattamente al confine tra due diverse contee. Inoltre, questo nome richiama anche alla mente un concetto di misura, di età, di obsolescenza che costituiscono, insieme, l’altro grande tema del romanzo, ovvero il declino dell’aristocrazia e dei suoi privilegi che è letteralmente incarnato dalla casa.
Il momento più triste: la soppressione di Gyp.
Il momento più pauroso: l’incidente della signora Ayres nella vecchia stanza dei bambini… Premessa: io leggo soprattutto la sera prima di dormire. E’ il momento più tranquillo della giornata in questo periodo e ora che anche mio marito si è lasciato contagiare dal morbo della lettura, ce ne andiamo a letto presto e ci mettiamo a leggere. Per me non c’è nulla di più rilassante che mettermi comoda nella nostra ‘nanna’, aprire un libro e viaggiare con la fantasia. Spesso capita che mi dilunghi a leggere anche dopo che mio marito abbia spento la luce e mi trovo il gatto accoccolato addosso e la sensazione che ci siamo solo io e lui svegli è impagabile. Ebbene… l’incidente della signora Ayres è stato talmente inquietante che sono entrata nel panico quando mio marito ha chiuso il libro che stava leggendo per mettersi a dormire e quando mi sono resa conto che sarei presto rimasta sola a vegliare, mi sono ritrovata a supplicarlo di leggere ancora un po’ mentre mettevo velocemente via il libro per passare alla più rassicurante rivista dello zoo di Londra che avevo ricevuto quella mattina. Come dire… mi serviva un tempo di “decompressione” mentale per liberarmi dall’inquietudine e riuscire poi a dormire. Per fortuna ho sposato un tesoro…
LA BIBLIOTECA DI CAROLINE
SARAH WATERS'S THE LITTLE STRANGER
Before writing this post I was curious to know what people were saying online about her and I came across L’Oeil de Lucien’s blog, whose comment literally took the words right out of my mouth: in just a few lines she goes back to the origins of the novel… and leaves me without any originality. I mean, hadn’t I read her post I could be here with a clear conscience telling you the same things… but I’ve read it and so everything has changed. However… it’s true! The atmosphere is similar to Poe’s tale (The Fall of the House of Usher) and Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw.
“It took the main theme from the former –the decline of an aristocratic family-, and the narrative structure as well as the disturbing presence of a mysterious guest from the latter.” In particular, I must insist on Poe, whom I studied at university. I had a quick look at my notes to confirm my feelings and I found out that the owner of the cursed house is called Roderick and that the narrator is also testimony to the events as guest of the house.
An alarm bell started ringing in my head: I needed to re-read the story and look for other links. I found out the collection of Poe’s tales I had studied and I discovered with pleasure my own notes in pencil. I’ve already told about my weakness for worn-out books and this is most true for my own traces, whose effect is a special déjà vu feeling.
This re-reading was a revelation, just as I had thought. The owner of Poe’s haunted mansion is Roderick Usher -last heir to an ancient family. He’s affected by some sort of ‘mental disorder’ of nervous origin, with sudden mood swings. «I beheld him gazing upon vacancy for long hours, in an attitude of the profoundest attention, as if listening to some imaginary sound» This already bears a strong parallelism with the Roderick of Hundreds Hall. And there’s also the fact that Poe’s narrator is an old friend from Roderick who hasn’t seen him since they were children. When he approaches the house and his old friend he remembers when they were children and he thinks about the changes in the place. Doctor Faraday (in Sarah Waters’s novel) similarly approaches the mansion with his child memories -he was the nurse’s son- in particular he remembers removing a piece of stucco from the walls. As Roderick’s madness seems more and more linked to strange events in the house, the narrator tries to rationalize the phenomena, exactly like doctor Faraday.
Poe’s Roderick lives in the house with his sister (another analogy), who has a mysterious illness with apathy as its most evident symptom. This character bears similarities with Caroline Ayres, who has very similar symptoms towards the end of the story and dies, exactly like Lady Madeline in Poe’s tale. The thing that stroke me the most in The Fall of the House of Usher and that helped me develop a theory on the strange presences at Hundreds Hall is that in the end what he had predicted is what really happened. His supposed madness turns out to be credible fear.
What I really long to discuss is how to interpret Faraday’s role in the novel. I found a blog where people discuss a lot about that and there are differing opinions: some believe that Faraday is the stranger of the title, others suggest that the ghost is real and Faraday can’t or doesn’t want to see it. I had my own opinion, which grew stronger after re-reading Poe’s tale, namely that Faraday killed Caroline but he wasn’t the evil spirit haunting the house. The two events are simply concomitant, a mere coincidence. There are many elements from the book to support this view. The fact that in Poe’s tale the manifestations are real somehow convinced me (also because Ms Waters’s story has a structure that is clearly inspired by Poe).
Faraday’s character undergoes sinister changes:
-at the beginning he is introduced as a respected professional and he embodies rationality in person -in fact, he is not impressed by any of the mysterious events in the estate;
-then, his rationality gradually transforms into dullness, to the point that the reader sometimes questions his credibility;
-towards the end of the novel Faraday goes beyond the limits of sanity and arrives in the land of pure folly (I’m referring to his obsession with Caroline);
-the strange blackout he has during the hours of Caroline’s death is very revealing of his role in it;
-on top of that, the doctor has dark echoes of that scene, as if his eyes had fixed some images and the brain suddenly projected them into his mind;
-in addition, there’s the ‘YOU’ Caroline said before being killed, which would be exactly what she would have said to the doctor if he was in the house after being kicked out;
-lastly, the moment the doctor perceives the sinister presence in the house and turns to look at it, he only finds himself reflected in a mirror… well, that’s a sign of his guilt.
As concerns the dark presence at Hundreds Hall, I’m inclined to believe that it’s real and that the doctor has just been used by it. I think the episode with Gyp can be interpreted as an anticipation: “something” triggered Gyp’s fury, a really harmless big dog, to the point that it mauled the little girl. I also believe that it used Faraday to get rid of Caroline and the doctor’s memory lapse would confirm this interpretation.
In short, the house is alive as well as the people who live in it, indeed it’s a character itself, with an evolution of its own. This is proved by the fact that it is introduced from the very first lines and only after that the other characters are introduced… so, one can understand that the house is the true protagonist.
In an interview Sarah Waters says that she chose the name of the house with reference to the word used to divide counties and thinking of the estate as being exactly on the border between two different counties. Besides that, the name reminds the ideas of measurements, age, obsolescence, which are -together- the great theme of the novel, namely the decline of aristocracy and its privileges, perfectly personified by the house.
The saddest moment: when Gyp was put down.
The scariest moment: Mrs Ayres’s accident in the old nursery…
A premise: I mostly read before sleeping. That’s the quietest moment of the day and as my husband let himself be affected by my reading, we usually go to bed very early and start reading. Nothing could relax me more than lying comfortably in our bed, open a book and start travelling with imagination. I often read longer than him, going on after he’s already turned his light off, with the cat coiled up on me and the feeling that we -the cat and I- are the only ones awake is really priceless. Well… Mrs Ayres’s accident was so disturbing that as soon as my husband closed his book to start sleeping I really panicked, and I got to begging him to go on reading for a while and I put down the book to take on the London Zoo Magazine. I needed some “decompression time” to get rid of all that anxiety so that I could be able to sleep. Well… I’m married to a very tolerant man.
Leggi gli articoli relativi a Sarah Waters come eMagazine:
Download eMAGAZINE
Before writing this post I was curious to know what people were saying online about her and I came across L’Oeil de Lucien’s blog, whose comment literally took the words right out of my mouth: in just a few lines she goes back to the origins of the novel… and leaves me without any originality. I mean, hadn’t I read her post I could be here with a clear conscience telling you the same things… but I’ve read it and so everything has changed. However… it’s true! The atmosphere is similar to Poe’s tale (The Fall of the House of Usher) and Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw.
“It took the main theme from the former –the decline of an aristocratic family-, and the narrative structure as well as the disturbing presence of a mysterious guest from the latter.” In particular, I must insist on Poe, whom I studied at university. I had a quick look at my notes to confirm my feelings and I found out that the owner of the cursed house is called Roderick and that the narrator is also testimony to the events as guest of the house.
An alarm bell started ringing in my head: I needed to re-read the story and look for other links. I found out the collection of Poe’s tales I had studied and I discovered with pleasure my own notes in pencil. I’ve already told about my weakness for worn-out books and this is most true for my own traces, whose effect is a special déjà vu feeling.
This re-reading was a revelation, just as I had thought. The owner of Poe’s haunted mansion is Roderick Usher -last heir to an ancient family. He’s affected by some sort of ‘mental disorder’ of nervous origin, with sudden mood swings. «I beheld him gazing upon vacancy for long hours, in an attitude of the profoundest attention, as if listening to some imaginary sound» This already bears a strong parallelism with the Roderick of Hundreds Hall. And there’s also the fact that Poe’s narrator is an old friend from Roderick who hasn’t seen him since they were children. When he approaches the house and his old friend he remembers when they were children and he thinks about the changes in the place. Doctor Faraday (in Sarah Waters’s novel) similarly approaches the mansion with his child memories -he was the nurse’s son- in particular he remembers removing a piece of stucco from the walls. As Roderick’s madness seems more and more linked to strange events in the house, the narrator tries to rationalize the phenomena, exactly like doctor Faraday.
Poe’s Roderick lives in the house with his sister (another analogy), who has a mysterious illness with apathy as its most evident symptom. This character bears similarities with Caroline Ayres, who has very similar symptoms towards the end of the story and dies, exactly like Lady Madeline in Poe’s tale. The thing that stroke me the most in The Fall of the House of Usher and that helped me develop a theory on the strange presences at Hundreds Hall is that in the end what he had predicted is what really happened. His supposed madness turns out to be credible fear.
What I really long to discuss is how to interpret Faraday’s role in the novel. I found a blog where people discuss a lot about that and there are differing opinions: some believe that Faraday is the stranger of the title, others suggest that the ghost is real and Faraday can’t or doesn’t want to see it. I had my own opinion, which grew stronger after re-reading Poe’s tale, namely that Faraday killed Caroline but he wasn’t the evil spirit haunting the house. The two events are simply concomitant, a mere coincidence. There are many elements from the book to support this view. The fact that in Poe’s tale the manifestations are real somehow convinced me (also because Ms Waters’s story has a structure that is clearly inspired by Poe).
Faraday’s character undergoes sinister changes:
-at the beginning he is introduced as a respected professional and he embodies rationality in person -in fact, he is not impressed by any of the mysterious events in the estate;
-then, his rationality gradually transforms into dullness, to the point that the reader sometimes questions his credibility;
-towards the end of the novel Faraday goes beyond the limits of sanity and arrives in the land of pure folly (I’m referring to his obsession with Caroline);
-the strange blackout he has during the hours of Caroline’s death is very revealing of his role in it;
-on top of that, the doctor has dark echoes of that scene, as if his eyes had fixed some images and the brain suddenly projected them into his mind;
-in addition, there’s the ‘YOU’ Caroline said before being killed, which would be exactly what she would have said to the doctor if he was in the house after being kicked out;
-lastly, the moment the doctor perceives the sinister presence in the house and turns to look at it, he only finds himself reflected in a mirror… well, that’s a sign of his guilt.
As concerns the dark presence at Hundreds Hall, I’m inclined to believe that it’s real and that the doctor has just been used by it. I think the episode with Gyp can be interpreted as an anticipation: “something” triggered Gyp’s fury, a really harmless big dog, to the point that it mauled the little girl. I also believe that it used Faraday to get rid of Caroline and the doctor’s memory lapse would confirm this interpretation.
In short, the house is alive as well as the people who live in it, indeed it’s a character itself, with an evolution of its own. This is proved by the fact that it is introduced from the very first lines and only after that the other characters are introduced… so, one can understand that the house is the true protagonist.
In an interview Sarah Waters says that she chose the name of the house with reference to the word used to divide counties and thinking of the estate as being exactly on the border between two different counties. Besides that, the name reminds the ideas of measurements, age, obsolescence, which are -together- the great theme of the novel, namely the decline of aristocracy and its privileges, perfectly personified by the house.
The saddest moment: when Gyp was put down.
The scariest moment: Mrs Ayres’s accident in the old nursery…
A premise: I mostly read before sleeping. That’s the quietest moment of the day and as my husband let himself be affected by my reading, we usually go to bed very early and start reading. Nothing could relax me more than lying comfortably in our bed, open a book and start travelling with imagination. I often read longer than him, going on after he’s already turned his light off, with the cat coiled up on me and the feeling that we -the cat and I- are the only ones awake is really priceless. Well… Mrs Ayres’s accident was so disturbing that as soon as my husband closed his book to start sleeping I really panicked, and I got to begging him to go on reading for a while and I put down the book to take on the London Zoo Magazine. I needed some “decompression time” to get rid of all that anxiety so that I could be able to sleep. Well… I’m married to a very tolerant man.
Leggi gli articoli relativi a Sarah Waters come eMagazine:
Download eMAGAZINE
