Conceit
by Deb McVittie
December 23rd, 2010 07:08 AM
Conceit, by Vancouver writer Mary Novik, is a delightful and skillfully crafted novel set in tumultuous seventeenth century England. The story opens in the heat of the Great Fire of 1666 and that inferno is reflected throughout the narrative as it explores the passions and poetry of the times.
Pegge Donne, daughter of notorious love poet John Donne, is a smart and rebellious girl, fascinated by the unpopular concept of marrying for love, the very action that prompted the aristocracy to titter behind closed doors about Pegge's parents. Without a mother to guide her, Pegge is determined to slip the noose of an arranged marriage and dreams of the possibilities for love expounded in her father's famous erotic poems.
Novik paints the streets and society and literature of 1600s London with wonderfully colourful and detailed brush strokes. Donne's wife muses from her grave: “..in that great house, words spilled from his lips into the bedchamber of my ear. I fell in love with John Donne's words, darting like swallows in and out of the frippery of this world, no more belonging to it than birds belonged inside a house. Yet they did belong...” Or Pegge's thoughts on spying on her sister and betrothed: “…he led her to honeysuckle bower, where she withdrew the lace from her bodice to dab her eyes, exposing robust curves. Sorrow, Pegge saw through the window, had cast a sheen of pearl all down her sister's throat… Pegge imagined the foolish words that were then shared about the mingling of their tears.”
In language that is gently tinged with the sound of the seventeenth century, we follow Pegge through the trials and tribulations of being a clever and passionate girl in a bawdy and distinctly patriarchal society. She tries to seduce the man who loves her older sister, and even later, when she marries, Pegge continues to explore the hidden corners of the human heart where sex and death, power and passion are never very far away.
This is an aptly titled book. In literary usage a conceit is a complex poetic metaphor that offers the reader a deeper level of insight into the subject at hand; its use is often associated with John Donne's work. It can also mean an individual's private thoughts, and we are treated to a fascinating kaleidoscope of those throughout Conceit.
Deb McVittie is the new owner of 32 Books Co. in Edgemont Village.
Copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Oct - Nov 07
Pegge Donne, daughter of notorious love poet John Donne, is a smart and rebellious girl, fascinated by the unpopular concept of marrying for love, the very action that prompted the aristocracy to titter behind closed doors about Pegge's parents. Without a mother to guide her, Pegge is determined to slip the noose of an arranged marriage and dreams of the possibilities for love expounded in her father's famous erotic poems.
Novik paints the streets and society and literature of 1600s London with wonderfully colourful and detailed brush strokes. Donne's wife muses from her grave: “..in that great house, words spilled from his lips into the bedchamber of my ear. I fell in love with John Donne's words, darting like swallows in and out of the frippery of this world, no more belonging to it than birds belonged inside a house. Yet they did belong...” Or Pegge's thoughts on spying on her sister and betrothed: “…he led her to honeysuckle bower, where she withdrew the lace from her bodice to dab her eyes, exposing robust curves. Sorrow, Pegge saw through the window, had cast a sheen of pearl all down her sister's throat… Pegge imagined the foolish words that were then shared about the mingling of their tears.”
In language that is gently tinged with the sound of the seventeenth century, we follow Pegge through the trials and tribulations of being a clever and passionate girl in a bawdy and distinctly patriarchal society. She tries to seduce the man who loves her older sister, and even later, when she marries, Pegge continues to explore the hidden corners of the human heart where sex and death, power and passion are never very far away.
This is an aptly titled book. In literary usage a conceit is a complex poetic metaphor that offers the reader a deeper level of insight into the subject at hand; its use is often associated with John Donne's work. It can also mean an individual's private thoughts, and we are treated to a fascinating kaleidoscope of those throughout Conceit.
Deb McVittie is the new owner of 32 Books Co. in Edgemont Village.
Copyright North Shore Magazine Issue Oct - Nov 07
