Virago Monthly Reads: October 2018: Olivia Manning

Olivia Mary Manning CBE (2 March 1908 – 23 July 1980) was a British novelist, poet, writer, and reviewer. Her fiction and non-fiction, frequently detailing journeys and personal odysseys, were principally set in the United Kingdom, Europe, and the Middle East. She often wrote from her personal experience, though her books also demonstrate strengths in imaginative writing. Her books are widely admired for her artistic eye and vivid descriptions of place.
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Manning's books have received limited critical attention; as during her life, opinions are divided, particularly about her characterisation and portrayal of other cultures. Her works tend to minimise issues of gender and are not easily classified as feminist literature. Nevertheless, recent scholarship has highlighted Manning's importance as a woman writer of war fiction and of the British Empire in decline. Her works are critical of war and racism, and colonialism and imperialism; they examine themes of displacement and physical and emotional alienation.

Source: Wikipedia

The Wikipedia article is actually quite long so unlike previous months, I'm not going to reproduce much of it here. Follow the link above to read an account of Manning's early career, marriage, and life in Romania, Greece, Egypt, and Palestine before returning to post-war England. Her Balkan and Levant Trilogies are also discussed.

Three of Manning's works have been published as Virago Modern Classics:
* The Wind Changes
* The Play Room
* The Doves of Venus

I'm planning to read The Doves of Venus. Hopefully we will all get on better with Olivia Manning than we did Stevie Smith! What's on your reading list?

I have The Doves of Venus in a non-VMC edition so will try that first. I also have The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy but it might be a bit ambitious to tackle those in the next month or so.

Thanks for doing the thread Laura! 😁

After crashing out with Stevie Smith I’ll hopefully have more success this month!

The Balkan Trilogy is in my Top Ten books of all time. I don't think her VMCs are up to the standard of her more celebrated work.

I have The doves of Venus lined up too.

I read The Doves of Venus a while ago and wasn't that impressed. I've decided to try The Play Room this month, and hope it'll be better.

>7 vestafan: I disliked The play room when I read it some years ago, but I've just started The doves of Venus and am really enjoying it so far! Hope you will like The play room better than I did.

I finished Doves of Venus and really enjoyed it. To be honest, my expectations were low, but I quickly engaged with Ellie and enjoyed reading about the loathsome Quintin and Petta. Ellie's friendship with Nancy was particularly nice to see.

I haven't yet started The Doves of Venus but I have picked up a biography of Olivia Manning from the library. Surprisingly there were two different ones and i wasn't sure which would be the best so I went for the shorter, older one by what looks like a husband-and-wife team: Olivia Manning: A Life. If it turns out to be not so good I can always get the other one!

I read The Doves of Venus earlier this year and really loved it. Having also read The Danger Tree bk 1 in the Levant trilogy this year, I'm planning to start The Battle lost and Won later today.

I haven't started anything yet! I have several "reading commitments" this month from library books to book group reads, so I have been focused on getting through those. I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, so hopefully Ms. Manning is in my near future.

A few days ago I finished The Wind Changes (4****). I've been trying to read at least one book for each Virago monthly author, so this may really have to be "it" for Manning. I've got an awful lot else on my plate right now and I'm not sure I can take the time to get into either of the trilogies. Plus, I'd have to buy some more Mannings and I'd rather stick with reading books I've already got.

I finished The Battle Lost and Won earlier, I just love these Fortunes of War books. Just one left to read now.

I have now finished Olivia Manning: a life. It had had an interesting publishing history as both authors died before it was published and it was finally revised by two editors, one of whom had been a close friend of Olivia (both the authors were Olivia's friends too). This is by no means a scholarly biography and it contains no notes or sources, though there is an index. However, it was an interesting outline of her life, relationships and personality and it does make me want to read more by and about her.

I will probably get out the other biography but I'm not sure if I will start The Doves of Venus now, as The Balkan Trilogy sounds much more interesting to me after reading about its autobiographical content and who the main characters were based on. Funnily enough Olivia was a close friend of Stevie Smith for a time in their youth - one of the reasons for their falling out was her use of Stevie and other people they knew as a basis for characters in her novels.

I read The Play Room this month and enjoyed it more than The Doves of Venus which I read some time ago. The conclusion seemed inevitable, but there was a slightly disturbing undertone, which was quite effective.

Notwithstanding my comments in >15 europhile: above I'm reading and enjoying The Doves of Venus at the moment. I've also obtained The Play Room from the library, along with the literary biography by Deirdre David. Obviously I won't be finishing all these by the end of the month!

I'm reading The Doves of Venus now also, I'd say I'm about halfway through. So far so good, I like the main character and am interested to see how she develops and works through the various conflicts/issues in her life.

I hadn't planned on reading anything beyond The Wind Changes but then I discovered that I already had The Great Fortune (5*****) lying around so I read it ... and it inspired me to get the full trilogies in the NYRB editions. I'm about to start the The Spoilt City and hoping I'll be able to complete The Balkan Trilogy in its entirety by month's end.

The foreign colony in The Great Fortune's Bucharest somehow reminds me of the foreign colony in Casablanca. And like Claude Rains's Capt. Renault, Yakimov as a supporting character steals the show.

Oh I am so glad someone else loves this trilogy as much as I do Mike. Casablanca is a good comparison. And yes - Yaki is one of the most infuriating and unforgettable characters in literature and definitely steals the book. I thought of Peter O'Toole all the way through.

The Doves of Venus maintained its high standard and appeal to the end. I then picked up Olivia Manning: A Woman at War - its author's stated purpose was to reassess "the work of one of the most undervalued and under-read British women novelists of the twentieth century". In this she succeeds very well. I would not normally read two biographies of one writer, especially not within the same month(!), but it was well worth it in this case, though it did confirm my view that I would have to set aside the time to read both the Balkan and Levant Trilogies at some point.

Over the last couple of days I have also read The Play Room which is quite a short, strange novel. It has its moments of interest but some of the language and several characters are not really credible and the ending is fairly predictable. This is clearly not one of Olivia Manning's best novels.

>21 europhile: I just finished The Doves of Venus yesterday, and I agree with you. I was surprised with the way things wrapped up; about halfway through I was expecting a different sort of storyline, more predictable for novels of that time period. This one went in some different directions, which I liked.

I have lent The Doves of Venus to a friend and hope she enjoys it as much as I did. My copy of The Balkan Trilogy shows a very young-looking Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh who starred in the TV mini-series Fortunes of War based on the two trilogies. I don't think this was ever shown on TV here but I found that the library has this series on DVD so I have now borrowed it.

>23 europhile: I have no idea how it compares to the book, but I recall enjoying that series. The two stars were indeed quite young -- and perhaps also married to one another? -- at the time.

I'm glad people are enjoying The Doves of Venus. It was one of my favourite books when I was young and one I re-read in my late teens and early twenties. I'm tempted to re-read again but suspect it would read quite differently now that I'm fifty. I remember relating to the young and naive ingenue protagonist and thinking that the other characters (probably in their thirties) were sophisticated but pretty old!

>24 lauralkeet: Apparently they met while filming this series and married some time later.

Ah ... I see. Thank you for fact-checking.

I have had two relative failures here. My friend read The Doves of Venus but did not really enjoy it 'because nothing much happened'. Oh well.

I also watched the first three episodes of Fortunes of War. Although it was quite dated to look at, mainly because of the youth of the two lead actors, the story was worth following. Unfortunately the fourth episode would not work at all so I had to take the DVDs back to the library without seeing the rest of the series. I am considering making the reading of The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy my summer reading project.

I have now watched the remaining episodes of Fortunes of War. Fortunately they were all available on-line. I enjoyed it and will definitely attempt to read both trilogies as part of this year's 1940's reading project.

I'm late in getting to this thread but just wanted to say that I've read The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy twice now. I liked them the first time around, and the second time I found ever so much more to like about them. Some of the characters have stayed with me in my head for decades--Olivia Manning must have a gift for creating memorable characters.