Between the Flowers: A Novel [Hardcover]

Harriette Simpson Arnow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 1999

Between the Flowers is Harriette Simpson Arnow's second novel. Written in the late 1930s, but unpublished until 1997, this early work shows the development of social and cultural themes that would continue in Arnow's later work: the appeal of wandering and of modern life, the countervailing desire to stay within a traditional community, and the difficulties of communication between men and women in such a community.
    Between the Flowers goes far beyond categories of "local color," literary regionalism, or the agrarian novel, to the heart of human relationships in a modernized world. Arnow, who went on to write Hunter's Horn (1949) and The Dollmaker (1952)—her two most famous works—has continually been overlooked by critics as a regional writer. Ironically, it is her stinging realism that is seen as evidence of her realism, evidence that she is of the Cumberland—an area somehow more "regional" than others.
    Beginning with an edition of critical essays on her work in 1991 and a complete original edition of Hunter's Horn in 1997, the Michigan State University Press is pleased to continue its effort to make available the timeless insight of Arnow's work with the posthumous publication of Between the Flowers.
 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Renowned in her time for her novels The Dollmaker and Hunter's Horn, Arnow (1908-1986) is largely unknown to contemporary readers. This early novel, Arnow's second work, was written in the 1930s, but not published in her lifetime. It carries some of the detailed heft of Dreiserian naturalism and more than a whiff of Steinbeck's dust bowl atmosphere and social awareness. Set in the locale Arnow knew well, the Cumberland region of Kentucky, the narrative describes the life and marriage of gifted, inquisitive Delph Costello and Marsh Gregory, a loner and daredevil who refocuses his energy on subsistence farming in hopes of providing the kind of security he believes Delph wants. Delph, however, yearns to know what lies beyond the hills and hollows, and she watches her contemporaries go off to Akron, Cincinnati and New York. Marsh is threatened by his feisty wife's independence, but his attempts to maintain authority breed frustration, for there is no end to the hardships of farming in Appalachia. With authoritative ease, Arnow realistically depicts the cycles of flood and drought, ravaging diseases and debilitating bitternessAand the help that comes only from neighbors. Pressured and confused, Marsh reacts violently when a pregnant Delph defies him. Delph tries to reconcile her wanderlust with her yen for stability, but the marriage is ruined. She is a character Arnow wrote about again, doomed because of her imagination and her dreams to remain an outsider. The narrative does meander, however, and in this ironic age, a reader may not know what to make of this patchwork of hardscrabble details and triumphant sincerity. (Nov.) FYI: Michigan State Univ. Press reissued Arnow's The Dollmaker in March 1999.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Young, orphaned Delphine desperately wants to see more of the world. She dreams of leaving the Kentucky hills to earn a college degree, and of seeing the world that is denied her by her strictly traditional uncle and her pious aunt. Sadly, Delph is not allowed to finish high school and is betrothed by her aunt and uncle to a quick-tempered, intolerant boy named Lagan. Delph's only pleasures are singing in the local church choir and riding her mare, Tilly, through the nearby woods. Arnow, author of the classic The Dollmaker (1954), tells Delph's story delicately, using simple, unadorned prose salted by the Kentucky dialect Delph and her community speak. Deeply moving without being either sentimental or melodramatic, Arnow's previously unpublished second novel unfolds the inner life of a young girl whose adventurous spirit brings her constantly into conflict with the ignorance and poverty into which she was born. Although written in the late 1930s, Between the Flowers is as fresh today as if the ink on the last page had just dried. Bonnie Johnston

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 426 pages
• Publisher: Michigan State University Press (November 30, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 087013535X
• ISBN-13: 978-0870135354
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #787,298 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Classic, July 18, 2000

By 

"skladybug" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Between the Flowers: A Novel (Hardcover)

Between the Flowers is one of the best books I have ever read! I came across it in a library, thinking I would take it home, read a little bit, and see how I liked it. From the moment I got into it, I was hooked! I think that part of the reason I enjoyed it so much was that I could identify with the characters. I am a young woman asking some of the same questions about myself that Arnow sets forth in her book. Another strength is that the characters and situations are totally believable. I would definitely recommend it to anyone, especially those who are interested in Appalachian literature.

The main focus of this book is the conflict that exists between the appeal of a wandering life and the appeal of establishing roots. Delph and Marsh want different things from life, but they want each other, too. Delph wants to travel for once in her life and Marsh wants to settle down for once in his. As was typical of the time, the will of the husband wins out and Delph and Marsh settle down to a life of farming. I think one of the most heartbreaking aspects of this struggle between wandering and settling is how Delph and Marsh lose sight of each other. They throw themselves into the farming, Delph to forget what her life could have been and Marsh to make a success of himself. Between the Flowers is a story mixed with the triumps that Delph and Marsh have together, and it is also the story of how they fail each other. It is a wonderful study of everday life.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars posthumous masterpiece blends naturalism and fine characters, January 26, 2002

By 

Bruce J. Wasser (Lake Bluff, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Between the Flowers: A Novel (Hardcover)

After having languished unpublished for over half a century, Harriette Simpson Arnow's magnificent "Between the Flowers" will rightfully restore her reputation as one of the twentieth-century's finest writers. Compared favorably with John Steinbeck at the onset of her literary career, Arnow's second novel, "Between the Flowers," failed to inspire publishers. The novel's dark naturalism and intricately detailed descriptions of the Cumberland River region of eastern Kentucky, now seen as extraordinarily rich qualities, appeared excessively regional and fatalistic to editors in Depression America. Fortunately, the Michigan State University Press has brought this book to a new generation of Americans, a generation which can appreciate the feminist slant to Arnow's characterization of Delph, the anguished and inarticulate conflicts in her husband Marsh and the exquisite detailing of a region of the United States either ignored or stereotyped by modern society.

Arnow's novel combines an overwhelming and frightening naturalism, two admirable, miserable characters who rage against their own flaws, social restrictions and elusive love and a sense of place that exalts the people who reside therein. Arnow's nature is not some beneficent prop; it is an indifferent overpowering force which mocks human attempts at control. Marsh and Delph's attempts to scratch out of a living in the midst of drought, heat and flooding appear small and futile in the face of the relentless battering factors of nature. One of the remarkable facets of this novel is the author's ability to make puny humans appear large in the face of overwhelming odds.

The greatest achievement of "Between the Flowers," however, is the creation of one of the most tormented and sympathetic couples in American literature. Bound to each other by hunger -- a deep and unfulfilled yearning for completion and self-respect, Delph and Marsh are ironically ill-suited for each other. Their passionate needs, which kindled their romance, ultimately cripple their possibilities for mutual happiness. Delph, the orphaned child of a family known for its rebelliousness, yearns for pesonal libeation, for travel, education and experience. Frustrated by the isolation of the Cumberland, she envisions an unbound future, kissed by urban experiences and inellectual growth. Rootless Marsh, a wandering oil-man, seeks place, solidity and permanence; he senses that land -- owning it, bending it to his will, husbanding it to produce -- will be his salvation. "Between the Flowers" is brilliant in its rendering of these two complicated, sympathetic people. The conflicts and tensions over "the having of things or the holding" advance both the narrative and the philosophical underpinnings of the novel.

Readers should not expect an easy time with this novel. Arnow's style is detailed, relishing in the opportunities to expound on the rugged beauty of the Cumberland, probing the consciousness and consciences of Delph and Marsh as they attempt to understand and live with their relationship. Arnow's themes of self understanding, family coherence, marital frustrations and disappointments, personal disappointment and self-hatred are given serious, thorough treatment. What publishers scorned as dense descriptive detail today appears as not only necessary, but enlightening. "Between the Flowers" deserves its belated praise.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An intuitive depiction of the cultural themes that dictate the lives of modern life, March 3, 2006

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Between the Flowers: A Novel (Paperback)

Between The Flowers by Harriette Simpson Arnow is an intuitive depiction of the cultural themes that dictate the lives of modern life, the appeal to traveling and the actualities of residing in a traditional community regardless of global positioning. Intriguing for its theme, Between The Flowers is an inspired and inspiring work of the earlier, realist based writings, informing the reader of the latent differences between men and women, and the difficulties in communication between them in both the artificial and traditional gender community. To be given high praise for its fundamental structure, storyline and content, Between The Flowers is strongly recommended to the literature enthusiast, particularly those in study of the realist mentality and influence.