Ivy Compton-Burnett (1884-1969) wrote some twenty novels, ‘The Present and the Past’ (1953) coming relatively late in her career.
Her parents were the medical author James Compton-Burnett and his second wife, Katharine. She was the seventh of twelve children: eight girls and four boys. Despite the hyphen, their origins were relatively humble.
Home educated until 14, she subsequently attended two schools before taking a Classics degree at Royal Holloway College. Then she returned to the family home to serve as tutor-governess to four of her younger sisters.
Two brothers later died – Noel on the Somme and her favourite, Guy, of pneumonia – and her two youngest sisters killed themselves in a suicide pact.
None of the eight girls married and none of the twelve siblings had children of their own.
Ivy enjoyed a relationship with the author Margaret Jourdain between 1918 and Jourdain’s death in 1951 – and then another with fashion editor Madge Garland, though the latter allegedly had multiple partners.
Her novels are an acquired taste. Over the years, I have made several fruitless attempts to engage with these narratives of moneyed middle class life, constructed almost exclusively from stilted, oblique dialogue.
For Compton-Burnett, there is neither time nor space for purple passages. One must concentrate on exactly what is said, since vital clues are easy to miss, rendering the narrative still more opaque.
‘The Present and the Past’ is no different.
There are three broad groups of characters:
- The adults, principally Cassius Clare, a middle-aged man, his second wife Flavia, his former wife, Catharine, and his father, Mr Clare. We also meet Catharine’s siblings, Elton and Ursula Scrope.
- The children: Fabian (13) and Guy (11), born to Cassius and Catharine; and Henry (8), Megan (7) and Toby (3), born to Cassius and Flavia. All five live at home with Cassius and Flavia.
- The servants: Ainger, the butler, leads the household staff, comprising Mrs Frost, the cook, Kate, the upper housemaid, Halliday, the ‘general man’ and Madge, the under housemaid; Miss Ridley, the governess, is supported by Miss Bennett, the nurse and Eliza, the nursemaid; and finally there is William, the gardener.
The plot is relatively simple. Cassius and Flavia’s marriage is strained. Nine years after their divorce, Catharine returns to the vicinity, ostensibly to stay with her brother and sister. But she also longs to see her two sons, from whom she has been parted since the divorce. Cassius grants her wish.
But, rather than rivalry, friendship grows between Catharine and Flavia. Cassius feels increasingly neglected by his womenfolk, and disliked by his children. He attempts suicide by taking some of his father’s medication, but knows it is too little to kill him.
This cry for help apparently fails to register.
Some time later, Cassius is again discovered comatose. He is believed to have repeated the exercise, but is in fact seriously ill with a heart complaint. Because the doctor is not called promptly, he dies.
Flavia asks her two stepsons who they now choose to live with. Fabian chooses his natural mother, Catharine. Guy prefers to remain with Flavia, but cannot bear to be parted from his brother.
Excessive suspension of disbelief is demanded, since – apart from Toby -the children tend to speak like miniature adults. All but Toby seem absurdly sensitive to, and perceptive of, what is going on around them. Toby principally has comedic value.
None of the real adults is particularly likeable.
Cassius is plagued by insecurity and low self-esteem. Flavia and Catharine seem focused exclusively on each other, when not worrying about their children.
Ainger is a pompous, egotistical fool. Mr Clare often seems to take Flavia’s side in her arguments with Cassius. Elton and Ursula Scrope are almost completely self-absorbed.
I’m afraid this was another fruitless exercise. It was all rather wearing.
I begrudged the effort it took to read the slim volume, and am not at all disposed to give Compton-Burnett another chance.
TD
April 2025
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