The Gate of Angels
 Cover to first edition hardback | |
| Author | Penelope Fitzgerald |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Published | 1990 (Collins) |
| Media type | Print (Hardback) |
The Gate of Angels is a novel by British author Penelope Fitzgerald. It is a historical novel set in 1912 at a fictional Cambridge college, St. Angelicus. It was short-listed for the Man Booker prize. Fitzgerald claims it is her only novel with a happy ending.[1]
Background
The original inspiration for the novel had been Fitzgerald's seeing, on a bus ride to Cambridge, cows in ecstasy over willow branches broken off by strong winds, which she viewed as an instance of reason giving way to imagination.[2]
Fitzgerald's uncle, Dillwyn Knox, a classics scholar, had a loss of faith in his younger years and had not wanted to confront his father, Bishop Knox, for fear of hurting his father's feelings. At Cambridge, he had been a member of "The As It Were In Contradistinction Society". Dillwyn had been a student and Fellow at King's, whose Provost at the time, M. R. James, was a medievalist, paleographer, and author of ghost stories.[3]
As further background, Fitzgerald reread C. P. Snow The Two Cultures.[4]
The central event of the book, the hard crash of Fred and Daisy, then mutual strangers, on their bicycles and waking up in the same bed, is based on an incident reported by Burne-Jones.[5][6]
Character summary
- Frederick Aylmer "Fred" Fairly
- A 25-year old Lecturer in Practical Physics and Junior Fellow at St Angelicus.
- Daisy Saunders
- A penniless nursing student who goes too far trying to help an attempted suicide.
- Thomas Kelly
- A low-class journalist.
- Dr. Matthews
- Provost of St James, medievalist, paleographer, teller of ghost stories.
- Professor Henry Flowerdew
- Fred's mentor, a strict Machian.
- George Turner
- Farmer, owner of the cart that collided with Fred and Daisy riding their bicycles.
- Herbert and Venetia Wrayburn
- Residents of Cambridge
- James Elder
- An attempted suicide.
- Dr Sage
- A quack.
Reception
In this novel, atoms and spooks have equal epistemological status.
Critical review
The novel has a chapter of its own in Peter Wolfe Understanding Penelope Fitzgerald[8] and Hermione Lee Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life.[9]
References
- ↑ Fried, Kerry. "High Spirits: The great Penelope Fitzgerald on poltergeists, plots, and past masters". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2015-03-09.
- ↑ Lee 2014, p. 352.
- ↑ Lee 2014, pp. 359–60.
- ↑ Lee & 2014 360–61.
- ↑ Fitzgerald, Penelope (1975). Edward Burne-Jones. London: Michael Joseph. p. 230.
- ↑ Wolfe 2004, p. 250.
- ↑ Jones, Louis B. (1992-03-01). "When People Collide". The New York Times Book Review: 7–9.
- ↑ Wolfe 2004, pp. 246–270.
- ↑ Lee 2014, pp. 347–376.
Further reading
- Lee, Hermione (2014). "The Gate of Angels". Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life. Alfred A. Knopf.
- Wolfe, Peter (2004). "Driving Toward Modernity". Understanding Penelope Fitzgerald. University of South Carolina Press.
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