Spleen [Paperback]

Olive Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

Dalkey Archive Press first introduced readers to this "best-kept secret" of British literature with the hardback Collected Writings of Olive Moore in 1992. Spleen, the best of the author's three novels, tells the disturbing story of a woman who goes into self-imposed exile to an island off the coast of Italy after giving birth to a deformed child. Filled with self-reproach and guilt about her son and her life (having yearned to give birth to something "new and rare, " she blames herself for her son's deformity), Ruth broods on what it means to be a woman ("nature's oven for nature's bun") and the inequalities between the sexes. Filled with the colors and beauty of the Italian countryside and in a style similar to Virginia Woolf's, Spleen challenges the assumption that women can't help but be tender and maternal, that their heads are only "ever-enlarging hearts."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Olive Moore, who disappeared from the literary world at age 29 after writing four novels in five years, was first introduced by Dalkey Archive Press in her Collected Writings. Dalkey has separately published the best of those, Spleen, which tells the story of a woman in self-imposed exile in the Italian countryside after giving birth to a deformed child. Ruth blames herself for the deformity, yet broods on the socialization of the sexes and what it means for a woman to be merely "nature's oven for nature's bun." Moore's novel reads much like Virginia Woolf -- but with more bite.

From Publishers Weekly

Published in the '30s, this short novel about an isolated woman was written by a neglected and mysterious modernist and feminist author.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 133 pages
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press; First Edition edition (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1564781488
• ISBN-13: 978-1564781482
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #590,048 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars overrated but good, August 8, 2011

By 

Joe Joe Magee - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Spleen (Paperback)

Pretty hard to read. Lots of weird references to localized British culture of the Victorian era, along with metaphors that are stretched way too far.

The story behind it is good, and the characters are interesting. And at times, the book can be quite funny. But overall, a little too stilted, language-wise.