A Game of Hide and Seek - Elizabeth Taylor

I want to start writing about books... since each week throws me two to four great novels of the twentieth century, might as well right? This will get me talking about stuff I'm reading in a 'fun', no pressure, non-literary way. (And I think it might be good for me to rediscover the joys of reading if I want to go into publishing...)

Ttoday I have been squirrelly trying to get through Elizabeth Taylor's A Game of Hide and Seek, which is a bit of a shame because her writing is to be savoured with a cup of tea. A Game of Hide and Seek is a deceptively simple book in terms of plot and themes; childhood friends Vesey and Harriet go through life, tiptoeing around their half-formed love, Harriet marries a boring but devoted husband a good deal older than her, the War happens, they are still in love. Harriet is a frustrating character in terms of her childlike passivity. I like her ideals of love and soulmates, but one wonders if she would ever have the courage to act upon her ideals. So okay you get a 'conventional' love story but Taylor writes with great subtlety and originality:

"Harriet tried to put on a polite and considerate look. She loved music, but could not allow herself to enjoy it among strangers. Sunk too far back in her too large chair she felt helpless, like a beetle turned on its back; and as if she could never rise again, nor find the right phrases of appreciation" (51)

I've often felt the same way about listening to music around other people.. it seems to be such an intensely private experience. when i know that someone is listening attentively beside me, i sort of don't know what to do with my hands and feet, whether or not to sit up in the chair. maybe others feel the same way too?

but the passage that really got me sitting upright, was one between Harriet and her good friend Kitty, who is advising Harriet on forgetting Vesey for the sake of her husband and family life.

' "Those magazines in hairdressers," she went on, "Those letters readers write in about their problems. 'Is this love? Am I in love?' As if love were a special kind of fish one catches in one's net... sorting through a handful of weeds, wondering, 'Is this the right thing? Is this what I am after?' But how can you catch what is only a mood, or a reflection of yourself? Forbidden fruit would be just as boring as the other kind if we ate it all the time."

"Fruit! Fish! Reflections!" Harriet said restlessly, turning to face the fire, her hands on the chimney-piece.

"Then let us come to Vesey. Let us call everything by its proper name. I shall be very harsh, I warn you. I shall use words like 'infatuation'."

[...]

"What does 'infatuation' mean? Or any words like it? I loved him when I was a child, I know..."

"And the idea of him ever since. ... Our feelings about people change as we grow up: but if we are left with an idea instead of a person, perhaps that never changes. After every mistake Charles made, I expect you thought: 'Vesey wouldn't have done that.' But an idea can't ever make mistakes. He led a perfect life in your brain. When he turned up again, the climate was right for him, tempered by your imagination. But his climate isn't right for you." ' (176-177)


The ideas are nothing new, but I love the way she expresses them...