Corrigan (New York Review Books Classics) [Paperback]

Caroline Blackwood (Author), Andrew Solomon (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 30, 2002 | Series: New York Review Books Classics

Corrigan is at once a mordant comedy of manners and a very modern morality play. Since her husband's death, the increasingly frail Mrs. Blunt has had only her trips to his grave to look forward to. Her raucous housekeeper's conversation, and cooking, are best forgotten. Nadine, her daughter, is an infrequent, uneasy visitor. Then one day a charming, wheelchair-bound Irishman shows up at Mrs. Blunt's door in search of charitable contributions. Corrigan is an arch manipulator, Mrs. Blunt is his mark, and before long we realize that they are made for each other. As the two grow ever more entrenched, Nadine fears for her mother's safety (or is it for her own inheritance?). With Corrigan Caroline Blackwood takes a long, hard look at our dearly beloved notions of saints and sinners, victims and villains, patrimony and present pleasure—and winks.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Caroline Blackwood combines a childlike neatness and exactitude of expression with an adult susceptibility to the charm of the unexpected and devious: an effective mix.
— The Times Literary Supplement

A fine creation—manic, at times demonic
— Penelope Lively, Sunday Telegraphy

Domesticity for Miss Blackwood has never been cozy; she listens for the ticking of the time bomb in the teapot.
— Carolyn Geiser, The New York Times Book Review

Funny, frightening and immensely enjoyable. The author writes with an appalled, amused intensity that is completely original but without a trace of pretentiousness. The result is unexpectedly powerful, like a box of chocolates with amphetamine centers.
— Francis Wyndham, Sunday Times (London)

One might say Blackwood practices a bullfighter’s feint. The author waves a red cape at us, knowing we will charge at the wrong target. The best example of this approach is Corrigan. This 1984 novel is Blackwood’s loveliest and most craftily assembled work of fiction and, strange to say, her sunniest, though the sunshine arrives late in the day and in an extremely perverse yet logical manner….There is a surprise lurking in its pages that overturns our understanding of what we’ve read about for a hundred pages or so, an enriching surprise that has been basking more or less in plain sight, but perhaps even more striking is the uncharacteristically wily optimism of Corrigan.
— Gary Indiana, Bookforum

About the Author

Caroline Blackwood (1931-1996) was born into a rich Anglo-Irish aristocratic family. She rebelled against her background at an early age and led a hectic and bohemian life, which included marriages to the painter Lucian Freud, the pianist and composer Israel Citkowitz, and the poet Robert Lowell. In the 1970s Blackwood began to write. Among her books are several novels, including Great Granny Webster and Corrigan (both available asNYRB Classics); On the Perimeter, an account of the women’s anti-nuclear protest at Greenham Common; and The Last of the Duchess, about the old age of the Duchess of Windsor.

Andrew Solomon is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, Artforum, and The New York Times Magazine, and the author ofThe Irony Tower: Soviet Artists in a Time of Glasnost; the novelA Stone Boat; and The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, for which he received the National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize nomination. He lives in New York City and London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: NYRB Classics (June 30, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590170067
• ISBN-13: 978-1590170069
• Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,321,468 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pleasantly surprising (and hilarious), December 20, 2002

By 

coco jones (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Corrigan (Hardcover)

A bacchanal and major home renovations ensue when a bewheelchaired stranger crunches up the gravel driveway of a wealthy widow.

Corrigan, while fundraising for the handicapped in the English countryside, rolls into the heart and home of lonely Mrs. Blunt, much to the chagrin of her streetwise housekeeper and the daughter who stands to inherit her wealth.

Brilliantly concise and characterized by a dry and confident wit, Corrigan is charming, hilarious, and rage-inducing all at once. Note of interest: Blackwood picked up writing as a hobby when she was in her forties and married to poet Robert Lowell.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Luck of the Irish, June 14, 2011

By 

JAK "jk" (nj) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Corrigan (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

Caroline Blackwood was a human disaster.That might have been what it took to write this brilliant , funny novel.It's the kind of book that makes you wish it's author had been prolific .Unfortunately , there isn't much more.There isn't much of a plot here.I suppose you'd call this a psychological tale.The characters interaction is consistently fascinating.I highly recommend this novel to readers of Hilary Mantel, Alice Thomas Ellis and Muriel Spark.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sly, witty, compassionate and surprising, November 28, 2006

By 

KatPanama "katpanama" (Readerville) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Corrigan (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)

Caroline Blackwood's "Corrigan" is sly, witty and surprisingly compassionate. Loved it. The perfect read for anytime you can spend some quality time with a novel. Finest kind indeed.