Wow! This book was just so incredibly disappointing. Probably because the abstract promises more than the book is about – clearly a case of misleading marketing. I wanted to read it because I have just recently found out about this writer, who grew up about 50 km from where I am from. So I was interested in the times and that little town that framed her childhood. Oh well, there is very little of it in this novel, though. Perhaps I will have to read another one of her books, either “Jigsaw” or “Quicksands”. This novel deals with the author’s parents’ generation before WW I, and most of it is set either in Berlin or abroad. There are three families interwoven by marriage; two from the rural German southwest, both aristocratic, one of them Catholic and in financial demise, but still living preposterously privileged lives, the other one very rich, of political influence and belonging to some obscure religious faction (Jesuit? Anabaptist?). In Berlin, the third family is Jewish and also very wealthy – I forgot where their money comes from. The narrator is the only child of the second marriage of the Catholic baron. The story of the baron’s brother serves as a kind of parenthesis for the story - how he was forced to go to military school by his father, which broke his spirit and led to an adultery murder scandal fifty years later. This story frame is almost the only worthwhile aspect of the book: the way the 1920s yellow press lashes out this shit storm on the family, kindling resentment and envy in the population by bringing up every possible stereotype about the military, the aristocracy and the Jewish upper class. The novel also makes an important point concerning the newly formed German Empire and how the iron discipline the Prussian leadership had in mind for their country led to multiple catastrophes, both on a personal and on a national level. Nevertheless, this point is not very prominently articulated. To that end, I would recommend the feature film “The White Ribbon” over this book. True, all these historical developments are an undercurrent of the story, and this is how it is marketed. However, it comprises only about a quarter of the book. For the remainder, you have to read through all those incredibly boring chapters of family gossip and numerous iterations of what rich people do to squander their money. The dialogues are often erratic and, more often than not, very trite. And while parts of the book make an interesting read, the narration fades considerably after the baron’s first wife dies. It was interesting, though, to find out what an enormous difference religion played in those days in the German society. There is an amusing episode where the Jewish bride decides to be baptized, but chooses the wrong faith, and is thus baptised twice in a row, first Protestant, then Catholic. I really wish that the author had chosen to write a family biography instead of shrouding everything and everyone with made-up names. Confusingly enough, she sometimes uses place names for locations that exist while others have been given fake names. (Benzheim and Landen don’t exist, while Breisach and Colmar do. It matters if you are a local.) Actually, I had planned to give this book to a friend who grew up only two towns away from the writer’s home in Südbaden. I don’t think he has ever heard of her though, as Sybille Bedford is virtually unknown in Germany. However, I don’t think I will. Overall, the book is just too stodgy. Once more, I was baffled by all those praises on the book jacket. Perhaps the book was ground-breaking in some sort of way in the 1950s, when it came out, and the praises are from the same era.
I have decided that I do not read enough female authors and so I intend to make sure that at least one of the books I am reading is written by a woman. Sybille Bedford is not very well known; just over 100 ratings and just over 20 reviews for this, her most famous novel. Yet listen to what has been said about her. Julia Neuberger called her the finest woman writer of the 20th Century (not sure I agree), the novelist and critic Francis King called A Legacy one of the greatest books of the 20th Century and Bruce Chatwin (no mean writer himself) described her as “one of the most dazzling practitioners of English prose”. I can guarantee that had a man had such plaudits then he would be well known and read by all and sundry; yet Bedford only died in 2006 and she seems to be mostly forgotten. She was a close friend of Aldous Huxley and his wife and was also friends with Mann and Brecht. She had written critical articles about the Nazis and was living in the South of France as the Nazis closed in. She needed a passport to escape and Huxley and his wife arranged a marriage of convenience to one of W H Auden’s male friends. The marriage was soon ended but Bedford retained the surname. She had a fascinating life and her main relationships were with other writers; Evelyn Gendel and Eda Lord. I now have Quicksands, Bedford’s memoirs on my tbr list. Eda Lord has two novels on GR, neither have a rating or review. The novel is partly autobiographical a portrait of two families (one Catholic, one Jewish) in pre World War One Germany. It captures the tensions in German society, the rise of militarism, the Catholic agrarian south vs the more cosmopolitan north (Berlin). It also explores the tensions of a marriage between a Jewish family and a Catholic family. It is a saga that spans generations and we see the central characters grow up and begin to grow old. There are some good comic turns from the minor characters (servants, grandparents etc) but the themes are powerful; madness, adultery, betrayal, financial ruin. The men in the novel tend to be moody, often distant, often feckless and idle and struggling to come to terms with a rapidly changing world. The women form something of a sisterhood (admittedly fragile at times) and tend to be the strong ones. There is a sense of gloom about the passages set in Berlin; they are very claustrophobic and so well written. Bedford is a remarkable writer of conversational passages; although she does make the reader work sometimes. I’m reading The Recognitions at the moment and she has the same habit Gaddis has of launching into dialogue whilst not mentioning to the reader who is involved! Incidentally the two novels were published about the same time. This is the first of a trilogy of autobiographical novels and I would highly recommend it
Do You like book A Legacy (2005)?
Another interesting and thoughtful book by NYRB press. Very subtly written, almost to where I was confused in places, but a careful and slow second (or third) reading of certain parts helped. This was certainly intentional by the author which is why I'm lauding the book instead of hating it. The confusing parts were hard to get through, but that's just it. Much of what was confusing were the things in life (at that time) that were not addressed openly, keeping these plots lines in the shadows, in cryptic conversations between characters is so spot on. So, I struggle with what *really* happened in the book - because I think those shadowy plot lines were significant to understanding the whole - I'm pretty confident that Sarah was in love with Caroline, but she was also in love (at one time) with Jules? And were Sarah and Caroline ever in a secret relationship? I think so? There were several moments like these in the novel, again not the most important parts of the plot, but deeply important things to understand about the characters and this book (to me) was about the people. Also, there was a ton of political subplot that I simply didn't understand. I wish there was a guide to reading this book so modern readers (who are not German history experts) could fully understand all the nuance. I have a feeling this book is just as political as it is domestic.
—Suzy
The Legacy is a well written novel about two families from wildly different backgrounds (Jewish and Catholic) in pre WW1 Germany ,who become enmeshed through relationships of the children of the families. The narrator, a daughter, in a device Bedford has used in other novels , tells the story of what led to the present situation.The legacy is past events and actions of the characters, the plots turns involve religion, the wish to avoid scandal , mental illnessand politics, but also a finances, which are a cross current between the two families from the start.It's set in the same times as Snows of yesteryear , an autobiographical work, and Bedfords understandings of society and the culture of the times makes one at times think they are reading non fiction. A skillful storyteller, Bedford makes us feel we know the characters, Who do not always act altruistically and can be less than like able. The Legacy is very much worth reading.
—Barbara
Sybille Bedford was a German-born writer who wrote in English. Born in 1911, she died in 2006. Due to somewhat chaotic childhood circumstances, her youth was rather peripatetic. She lived in a number of European countries, eventually settling in London as an adult. A Legacy, one of her half-dozen novels, has autobiographical elements.The story involves two German families, the Merzs who are Jewish and the Feldens who are Catholic. The trajectories of these families are united by a brief marriage and remain interwoven subsequently. No individual is free from dysfunction, and the histories of all the characters are tangled with each other. Set in the late 19th century, shortly after the Franco-Prussian War, the narrative relates the effects of society and politics on two families that have been themselves curiously isolated from these currents, existing in their own histories and concerns that are both provincial and oddly cosmopolitan. The novel may remind the reader of several other novels, including Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks, although Bedford’s tone can be more biting. This is one of the most fascinating and engaging novels that I have read in a long time. Bedford’s psychological acuteness and her ability to depict nuances of mood, social interaction, and personal motivation are remarkable. A highlight of the novel is her ear for dialogue, the often ambiguous and elliptical references, assumptions, and allusions that form the basis for most of our actual conversations. The reader needs to be attentive to such subtleties in order not to be led astray. In addition, Bedford is not hesitant to employ temporal jumps to suddenly illuminate events and motivations, jumps that are not always obvious until the actions and interactions begin to play themselves out.This is a complex, almost mesmerizing work that provides not only immense enjoyment in the reading but also an opportunity to reflect on our own lives and interpersonal interactions. I want to read more of Bedford’s writing.
—Bruce
