Customer Reviews

The Fox in the Attic

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read 'The Fox in the Attic' many years ago when I was seventeen. It was a revelation to me of how literature can deal with history and politics on a deeper and more profound level than simple narration of events can do. As a journalist Hughes had travelled widely in pre-war Europe and the novel reeks with his knowledge of real people and places. In one sense perhaps this is a roman-a-clef but Hughes was interested intensely in the psychology of human beings, in the irrational, half-understood motives we have for our behaviour, and his writing focuses on that as much as on giving a picture of an era. This was the first of a projected trilogy; 'The Wooden Shepherdess' being the second installment. Hughes was not a prolific writer and he died before he finished the third - whether he had begun it or not I do not know. One of the minor greats of twentieth century English literature.

I'm only writing this "review" to express my amazement that this book has not received a uniform 5 stars. Richard Hughes is one of the most sublime discoveries of my literary life. The Fox in the Attic was supposed to be the first of a trilogy. The second book also got written by this very slow and idiosyncratic author (who loves parentheses), and it is equally wondrous although rather different from the first. The third was only begun, and what got written is disappointing. Then to discover A High Wind in Jamaica ... well, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. So if, as I had, you think you're not likely to discover an entirely new (to your experience) author of truly great and enjoyable novels, banish your malaise and give this fellow a try.

I have loved many of the books in this series of reprints by the New York Review of Books. Contrary to the criticisms of the previous review, left by someone who hadn't even read the book(!), the novel explores the cultural environment in Munich just following the first world war, so in and around 1919. It's also filled with enigmatic characters and great atmosphere- mouldering castles and mysterious guests with homicidal tendencies. Definitely worth checking out.

Richard Hughes wrote High Wind in Jamaica, one of the strangest and most compelling books that I've ever read. His next novel, The Fox in the Attic, is a well written and intelligent fictional account of life in Europe between the two world wars. A sophisticated, educated, and upper class Englishman visits his relatives in Germany and becomes aware of tensions between Bavaria and Munich and tensions between republicanism and monarchy. There is very little understanding between him and his relatives. The English feel revulsion towards the idea of war; the Germans, on the other hand, are determined to fight again, but to win this time. Hughes describes this very well. There are some notes that will remind the reader of High Wind in Jamaica: some charming descriptions of children and some concerns about what it means to be "I". The novel is odd, and the characters are difficult to understand, but High Wind in Jamaica was magical with characters that one will always remember. I'm not sure how I would have felt about this wook had I not read HW in Jamaica first. Recommended for people wanting a different viewpoint on Hitlers rise to power in Germany.

I read this at the prompting of a friend. However, I'm not that impressed -- it didn't hold up to the literary expectations I had. It isn't horrible -- just a historical novel about the 1920's in Germany and Britain. Hughes did a good job of providing sympathetic portrayals of characters some of whom are so flawed I would call them evil. Honestly, that contributes to why I don't care for the book.

To quote the previous review...

"A sophisticated, educated, and upper class Englishman visits his relatives in Germany and becomes aware of tensions between Bavaria and Munich and tensions between republicanism and monarchy. There is very little understanding between him and his relatives."

It is not surprising that the Englishman is little understood by his German relatives if he is talking about "tensions between republicanism and monarchy", since the German monarchy was overthrown in November 1918 in a popular revolution, many years before the date of this book.

I hope this oversight doesn't reflect further historical errors with the novel.