Hey, I think this is fascinating. Hampstead plays a large part (huge) in my life. My mother grew up there, her own mother having grown up there too. I went to school there in my turn. Emigré Hampstead was an astonishingly vital and vivid place bringing with it a complexity of mittel Europa and Jewish life, experience and politics, and that vibe and history mixed with a wide range of folk, lingered then and lingers still in its houses and roads and alleys and routes even now though so many of those past generations are gone. In my turn I went to school there. Its streets are like veins of my body. That white middle class British aura is more complex and made up ofvery different strands than it may first appear.
So, I do think there is a spirit that kind of hovers over the novels and novelists under its aegis. For my money, Penelope Lively and Gillian Freeman (seek her out…your efforts will be oh so wonderfully rewarded) are my go tos, just ahead of Drabble (I would never say Byatt was a Hampstead novelist…too Tory, too intellectualised so, to me, tipping over into cleverness for cleverness sake). I think I find it difficult to get over my awe of Drabble…
And…I dig that photo. @Arnie Bernstein had posted it on one of his typewriter Notes recently and I replied saying how wonderful a photo of a writer at her typewriter it is, how cool she is, how concentrated, how you can almost see the words and story leaving her brain and passing down her arms into her fingers and onto the keys of that stylish typewriter. And, all in the domestic context of her house. It could be a votive.
Thank you so much, Nicolas! And also for your insight into Hampstead, which is somewhere I have not (yet) visited. Penelope Lively is a writer who is on my list to research more about, but I have not come across Gillian Freeman before- do you have any specific book recommendations of hers? The photo: I can't tell you how much it inspired me! One day, when I am an old eccentric, I plan to live in an apartment filled to the brim with antique typewriters, just because :) (Also, as with your connection to Hampstead, Drabble is from my home city, so I like to imagine I have some kind of connection...)
Hey Kate, so you could go with Freeman’s The Alabaster Egg or The Leather Boys (yes, really: it’s a great novel for all readers - I’m not just campaigning!)
Wow. "It is clear from the photograph that she is working amongst the detritus of the family home."
This hit hard! :D Always surrounded by the aftermath of daily chores and trying to get some reading and writing done. That photograph is Drabble is exactly how I picture women writing despite everything. I just read your Byatt piece. Also, what is wrong with ‘middle-class orgasms, delicatessen food and high thought’? It sounds to me like an anti-criticism. I'd love to know more on this because am not well-versed in this topic.
Also, I thought it was a bit of an anti-criticism too! I hope to write about some more of the “Hampstead Novelists” in future newsletters as there are some great ones 😀
"The Hampstead Novel" is an honest exploration of a misunderstood genre. Your insightful analysis and personal reflections provide a fresh perspective on the significance of domestic fiction. Thank you for shedding light on the impactful work of female writers from the 20th century. Keep up the excellent work!
I hadn't heard of the Hampstead novel genre name, this is so interesting, thanks a lot for sharing, I have become a big fan of domestic novels. As usual, every piece of yours is a delight (I meant to go to bed to read a good while ago, but keep on reading!).
Hampstead is a borough very close to my heart, particularly the Heath. When I interviewed an affluent professional in his 60s who moved from Hampstead, where they raised their family, to London Bridge (this was probably 2017-2018), they mentioned the lack of life in Hampstead and that it wasn't what it once had been and what had made them move there in the first place was gone... He mentioned many homes were empty, just bought as investments, and most of her friends, once the kids had flown the nest, had moved away too.
Thank you! Yes, I came across the name “Hampstead Novel” while researching something else and was intrigued to discover more! It puzzles me why critics see the so-called “domestic” novel as less than. Surely we are all living domestic lives and therefore it is the very stuff of life! But then I suppose it Has often been seen as about women's lives…
Sorry, me again! Talking about domestic novels, have you read anything by Natalia Ginzburg? Family Lexicon is one of her best books I think, but her work is outstanding. She is one of my all-time favourite writers, The Little Virtues (essays, including Winter in the Abruzzi, a must-read) is another one that I'd recommend. I think it's Daunt books that has been re-publishing her work in the UK recently, in case you don't know her.
I read my first Ginzburg last year! I did a review of it on the newsletter. I have seen lots more of her novels, so am looking forward to more...it was The Dry heart I think.
That’s great, only after writing that comment I realised that I did write a little piece on The Little Virtues on my newsletter too. I read everything I could find by her, Family Lexicon is really superb, but I cannot think of any book of hers that I disliked. I hope you do manage to read more :)
Yes, totally agree. I am so tired of anything to do with women's lives seen as 'less than'. I think my annoyance has multiplied after I became a mother, how contemporary societies can play down the role of motherhood and expect women to go back to business as usual in no time puzzles me.
Great essay! It’s interesting that the genre was often dismissed at the time, but we can see its influence in British literature today. Like you say, I think it’s fantastic how women were finding ways to write around family responsibilities - something parents are still striving to do today. Thank you for sharing :)
'I find the British wit and perception just a few degrees off, which makes for delightful reading!' I loved this line!! I would totally agree. Thank you for reading Patricia, I'm so glad you enjoyed it :)
I think Byatt would be considered as outside of this circle being, as you say, a bit more surreal/fantastical; as another reaser suggested, her fiction often has a more academic, intellectual edge to it.
Love this - I have never heard of the Hampstead Novel, and for some reason I've not spent any time with either Margaret Drabble or Fay Weldon (but plenty of time with Amis, Lucky Jim, and all of McEwan). This could change my life! 😊
Love, love, love this piece! Thank you so much for bringing together all this completely new to me information with so much heart and soul. It'll stay with me for a while.
Thanks for this piece. Margaret Drabble has long been one of my favorites. For me, “Jerusalem the Golden” remains an amazing achievement. It was one of the books that blew me away during my university days. I read it during a course on “modern (i.e. postwar) British fiction” taken during the late seventies. We certainly weren’t exposed to all the snobby criticism that you mention here, so I guess we got more of the pure experience.
Thank you, Ted. Yes, she is a remarkable writer, with such an incredible back-catalogue of work. She is also from my home city, so I try to claim some kind of kinship with her ;)
Hey, I think this is fascinating. Hampstead plays a large part (huge) in my life. My mother grew up there, her own mother having grown up there too. I went to school there in my turn. Emigré Hampstead was an astonishingly vital and vivid place bringing with it a complexity of mittel Europa and Jewish life, experience and politics, and that vibe and history mixed with a wide range of folk, lingered then and lingers still in its houses and roads and alleys and routes even now though so many of those past generations are gone. In my turn I went to school there. Its streets are like veins of my body. That white middle class British aura is more complex and made up ofvery different strands than it may first appear.
So, I do think there is a spirit that kind of hovers over the novels and novelists under its aegis. For my money, Penelope Lively and Gillian Freeman (seek her out…your efforts will be oh so wonderfully rewarded) are my go tos, just ahead of Drabble (I would never say Byatt was a Hampstead novelist…too Tory, too intellectualised so, to me, tipping over into cleverness for cleverness sake). I think I find it difficult to get over my awe of Drabble…
And…I dig that photo. @Arnie Bernstein had posted it on one of his typewriter Notes recently and I replied saying how wonderful a photo of a writer at her typewriter it is, how cool she is, how concentrated, how you can almost see the words and story leaving her brain and passing down her arms into her fingers and onto the keys of that stylish typewriter. And, all in the domestic context of her house. It could be a votive.
Lovely piece, Kate, lovely.
Thank you so much, Nicolas! And also for your insight into Hampstead, which is somewhere I have not (yet) visited. Penelope Lively is a writer who is on my list to research more about, but I have not come across Gillian Freeman before- do you have any specific book recommendations of hers? The photo: I can't tell you how much it inspired me! One day, when I am an old eccentric, I plan to live in an apartment filled to the brim with antique typewriters, just because :) (Also, as with your connection to Hampstead, Drabble is from my home city, so I like to imagine I have some kind of connection...)
Hey Kate, so you could go with Freeman’s The Alabaster Egg or The Leather Boys (yes, really: it’s a great novel for all readers - I’m not just campaigning!)
😀
Wow. "It is clear from the photograph that she is working amongst the detritus of the family home."
This hit hard! :D Always surrounded by the aftermath of daily chores and trying to get some reading and writing done. That photograph is Drabble is exactly how I picture women writing despite everything. I just read your Byatt piece. Also, what is wrong with ‘middle-class orgasms, delicatessen food and high thought’? It sounds to me like an anti-criticism. I'd love to know more on this because am not well-versed in this topic.
Also, I thought it was a bit of an anti-criticism too! I hope to write about some more of the “Hampstead Novelists” in future newsletters as there are some great ones 😀
I look forward to reading them! I think I will christen my writing mode as a "Hampstead writer" hoping it would romanticize the work a bit.
I know!! Isn't this just what so many of us have always done?? I loved that photo when I first found it. Thank you for reading, Sayani 😀
"The Hampstead Novel" is an honest exploration of a misunderstood genre. Your insightful analysis and personal reflections provide a fresh perspective on the significance of domestic fiction. Thank you for shedding light on the impactful work of female writers from the 20th century. Keep up the excellent work!
Thank you so much! 💕
I hadn't heard of the Hampstead novel genre name, this is so interesting, thanks a lot for sharing, I have become a big fan of domestic novels. As usual, every piece of yours is a delight (I meant to go to bed to read a good while ago, but keep on reading!).
Hampstead is a borough very close to my heart, particularly the Heath. When I interviewed an affluent professional in his 60s who moved from Hampstead, where they raised their family, to London Bridge (this was probably 2017-2018), they mentioned the lack of life in Hampstead and that it wasn't what it once had been and what had made them move there in the first place was gone... He mentioned many homes were empty, just bought as investments, and most of her friends, once the kids had flown the nest, had moved away too.
Thank you! Yes, I came across the name “Hampstead Novel” while researching something else and was intrigued to discover more! It puzzles me why critics see the so-called “domestic” novel as less than. Surely we are all living domestic lives and therefore it is the very stuff of life! But then I suppose it Has often been seen as about women's lives…
Sorry, me again! Talking about domestic novels, have you read anything by Natalia Ginzburg? Family Lexicon is one of her best books I think, but her work is outstanding. She is one of my all-time favourite writers, The Little Virtues (essays, including Winter in the Abruzzi, a must-read) is another one that I'd recommend. I think it's Daunt books that has been re-publishing her work in the UK recently, in case you don't know her.
I read my first Ginzburg last year! I did a review of it on the newsletter. I have seen lots more of her novels, so am looking forward to more...it was The Dry heart I think.
That’s great, only after writing that comment I realised that I did write a little piece on The Little Virtues on my newsletter too. I read everything I could find by her, Family Lexicon is really superb, but I cannot think of any book of hers that I disliked. I hope you do manage to read more :)
Yes, totally agree. I am so tired of anything to do with women's lives seen as 'less than'. I think my annoyance has multiplied after I became a mother, how contemporary societies can play down the role of motherhood and expect women to go back to business as usual in no time puzzles me.
Great essay! It’s interesting that the genre was often dismissed at the time, but we can see its influence in British literature today. Like you say, I think it’s fantastic how women were finding ways to write around family responsibilities - something parents are still striving to do today. Thank you for sharing :)
I know! I think although it was seen as a put down, it actually reflects how many writer's work. Thank you for your comment 😀
Absolutely wonderful, thanks Kate. Though no Margaret Drabble, nor a novelist, nor looking cool, I do currently work at the kitchen table.
Ha! I bet you look cool in your own way ;)
Hmmm… if the other person’s eyes are closed :)
💕
Wonderfully written essay, your style kept me intrigued while hating all labels attached to
women novelists! Something of an Anglophile, I find the British wit and perception just a
few degrees off, which makes for delightful reading! Thank you, Kate!
'I find the British wit and perception just a few degrees off, which makes for delightful reading!' I loved this line!! I would totally agree. Thank you for reading Patricia, I'm so glad you enjoyed it :)
Is Drabble's sister AS Byatt considered part of this movement or circle, or is her fiction too surreal/fantastical?
I think Byatt would be considered as outside of this circle being, as you say, a bit more surreal/fantastical; as another reaser suggested, her fiction often has a more academic, intellectual edge to it.
Love this - I have never heard of the Hampstead Novel, and for some reason I've not spent any time with either Margaret Drabble or Fay Weldon (but plenty of time with Amis, Lucky Jim, and all of McEwan). This could change my life! 😊
Haha, thanks! 😀 You are in for a treat!
Love, love, love this piece! Thank you so much for bringing together all this completely new to me information with so much heart and soul. It'll stay with me for a while.
Thank you so much for saying that! 💗 I found it a fascinating topic, too 😀
Thanks for this piece. Margaret Drabble has long been one of my favorites. For me, “Jerusalem the Golden” remains an amazing achievement. It was one of the books that blew me away during my university days. I read it during a course on “modern (i.e. postwar) British fiction” taken during the late seventies. We certainly weren’t exposed to all the snobby criticism that you mention here, so I guess we got more of the pure experience.
Also…you might be interested in this piece I wrote about the sibling rivalry between Margaret and her sister, the recently decease AS Byatt https://anarrativeoftheirown.substack.com/p/sibling-rivalry?utm_source=publication-search
Looking forward to reading about the sororal competition.
Thank you, Ted. Yes, she is a remarkable writer, with such an incredible back-catalogue of work. She is also from my home city, so I try to claim some kind of kinship with her ;)