There are certain authors who are simply BLIND to the possibilities of hurt/comfort and Howells is, alas, one of them. Imagine what D. K. Broster could have made of the tender and fraught hurt/comfort possibilities presented by Easton and Gilbert! (Let's be real, if Broster were writing this book, Gilbert would have been too busy tenderly nursing Easton to ever get tortured and passionate about Mrs. Farrell.)
I find this book so interesting as a snapshot of a certain moment in the history of sexuality: Easton and Gilbert are so close they're repeatedly compared to lovers, and people sometimes think it's a little odd, but at the same time no one seems particularly bothered about it. It's odd but harmless, like an intense passion for stamp-collecting or something like that.
And yes, the ending is interestingly ambivalent, isn't it? 19th century novels often end up with the heroines either married off or dead, but this one just blithely refuses to do either. Rachel's studying art, Mrs. Farrell's debuting on the stage, and although there are vague hints at romantic prospects (although I found it hard to take the hints at Rachel/Gilbert seriously: neither of them ever showed the slightest interest in each other), basically they're just doing their own thing.
I also enjoyed the setting! Howells is not much use at hurt/comfort, but he IS consistently interested in how people live and how that differs from place to place and the way that places change with time and economic circumstance... his attention to these details is such a pleasure to read and so fascinating from a research perspective.
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I find this book so interesting as a snapshot of a certain moment in the history of sexuality: Easton and Gilbert are so close they're repeatedly compared to lovers, and people sometimes think it's a little odd, but at the same time no one seems particularly bothered about it. It's odd but harmless, like an intense passion for stamp-collecting or something like that.
And yes, the ending is interestingly ambivalent, isn't it? 19th century novels often end up with the heroines either married off or dead, but this one just blithely refuses to do either. Rachel's studying art, Mrs. Farrell's debuting on the stage, and although there are vague hints at romantic prospects (although I found it hard to take the hints at Rachel/Gilbert seriously: neither of them ever showed the slightest interest in each other), basically they're just doing their own thing.
I also enjoyed the setting! Howells is not much use at hurt/comfort, but he IS consistently interested in how people live and how that differs from place to place and the way that places change with time and economic circumstance... his attention to these details is such a pleasure to read and so fascinating from a research perspective.