Joyce Cary wrote two trilogies, or triptychs as he later preferred to call them. The first comprises: "Herself Surprised", "To be a Pilgrim" and "The Horse's Mouth". In the months before his death, Tom Wilcher, who is looked after by his niece and nephew (both concerned for their inheritance), lives his life over again in the house in which his childhood was spent. The religious family life of his youth is contrasted with the rootlessness of his heirs. The character of the old man is seen through his attitude to his family and the way in which he tries to make them feel the value of a family tradition. 'A remarkable novel...An original attempt to embody a complete vision of life, and it contains scenes as vivid and beautiful as anything else in modern fiction' - "The Listener". 'Its excellence lies in the great skill with which a character is drawn in all its variety, in the minor portraits of members of his family, with their subsidiary stories, and in the unhesitating and illuminating detail of half a century of English life' - "The Observer".
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Cary has a gift of humanity.... His humor shows no traces of carrion under the fingernails. His prose...suffuses his perceptions with all the vitality of a language well used and hard thought over. --Sidney Monas,Hudson Review
About the Author
Joyce Cary (1888-1957) was born in Ireland and studied to be a painter before serving in the British military and civil service in West Africa. In 1920 he returned to England and devoted himself to writing.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An overlooked masterpiece in a famous trilogy,
By A Customer
This review is from: To Be a Pilgrim (Hardcover)
To Be A Pilgrim is the second book in Joyce Cary's first trilogy, and should ideally be read in its proper place with the others (Herself Surprised and The Horse's Mouth). Cary once said that people liked The Horse's Mouth because it was funny. To Be A Pilgrim has less of that uproarious humor, which may be why it is less popular than its two companions. But this middle volume is the most ambitious of the three. It is the story of Tom Wilcher, lawyer and member of the love triangle between housekeeper Sara Monday and modern artist Gully Jimson. Now an old man who is being treated as an incompetent by his young relatives (who are locked in a triangle of their own), Tom tells us his life story, starting from childhood. Filled with the Cary's brilliant characters, this book asks hard questions, especially about sex.Don't miss it!
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First Sentence:
Last month I suffered a great misfortune in the loss of my housekeeper, Mrs. Jimson. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Aunt Lucy, Master Robert, Craven Gardens, Hog Lane, Sara Jimson, Lloyd George, Puggy Brown, Uncle Bill, Boer War, Bond Street, Cousin Blanche, Good God, Mansfield Park, Uncle Tom New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Last month I suffered a great misfortune in the loss of my housekeeper, Mrs. Jimson. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Aunt Lucy, Master Robert, Craven Gardens, Hog Lane, Sara Jimson, Lloyd George, Puggy Brown, Uncle Bill, Boer War, Bond Street, Cousin Blanche, Good God, Mansfield Park, Uncle Tom New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 8
books:
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100
books
cite this book:
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- Mansfield Park (Signet Classics) by Jane Austen on page 125
- Mansfield Park (Classic Library) by Jame Austen on page 125
- A Drama In Muslin by George Moore on page 425
- Christian Church (Keystones Series) by Alan Brown on page 73
- The Other House (New York Review Books) by Henry James in Back Matter
See all 8 books this book cites
- The House as a Symbol: Joyce Cary and 'the Turkish House' (Costerus NS 55) (Costerus New Series) by Barbara Fisher on 25 pages
- Herself Surprised (New York Review Books) by Joyce Cary in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Changing States: Transformations in Modern Irish Writing by Robert Welch Nfa on page 132, and Back Matter
- The Horse's Mouth (New York Review Books Classics) by Joyce Cary in Front Matter, and Back Matter
- Ireland's Women: Writings Past and Present by Katie Donovan on page 249, and Back Matter
See all 100 books citing this book
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