ISBN: Ostalo
Godina izdanja: Ostalo
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

First published in 1960, this collection of four novellas continue Bates`s sensitive, often witty, explorations of unhappy love.

The title story, `An Aspidistra in Babylon`, is a reminiscence of a girl`s loss of innocence. Christine, who describes herself at eighteen as `dull as one of the aspidistras that cluttered up ... our little boarding house` is seduced by the forty-year-old Captain Blaine, who charms her imagination with stories of a life on the Continent.

`A Month by the Lake` is a comedy of errors set in 1920s Lake Como revolving around two middle-aged vacationers unable to express their affection for each other. A film version starring James Fox, Vanessa Redgrave, and Uma Thurman was directed by John Irvin in 1995.

Also featured in this collection is `A Prospect of Orchards`, as narrated by a familiarly mild-mannered Bates character, concerning unfolding affections and blossoming relationships in this quirky tale of extra-marital intrigue. In contrast to this is the darker tone of `The Grapes of Paradise`, where the narrator relates the tale of a fellow traveller in Tahiti, laced with callousness, jealousy, and violence.

Included in this edition is bonus story `The Duet`, first published in 1935 and never before featured in any collection. It is the tale of a young choirmaster`s son, eager for the autographs of two famous singers. Ignored throughout the day, he follows the players he now considers haughty to a private room where, though the keyhole, he spies an intimate and affectionate scene between them that changes his perceptions completely.

The Spectator calls Bates `a supreme anecdotalist, endowed with vast self-confidence and the gift of imagery ten times the size of life.`