''Dusty Answer'' is English author

Rosamond Lehmann Rosamond Nina Lehmann (3 February 1901 – 12 March 1990) was an English novelist and translator. Her first novel, ''Dusty Answer'' (1927), was a ''succès de scandale''; she subsequently became established in the literary world and intimate ...

's first novel, published in 1927. She sent it unsolicited to publishers

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...

who agreed to publish it, saying it showed "decided quality".anokatony.wordpress.com
/ref> It went unnoticed on initial publication but then received an effusive review by respected critic

Alfred Noyes Alfred Noyes CBE (16 September 188025 June 1958) was an English poet, short-story writer and playwright. Early years Noyes was born in Wolverhampton, England the son of Alfred and Amelia Adams Noyes. When he was four, the family moved to Abe ...

of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

'' who called it "the sort of novel

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

would have written", which brought it to public attention and it became a bestseller,Introduction by

Jonathan Coe Jonathan Coe (; born 19 August 1961) is an English novelist and writer. His work has an underlying preoccupation with political issues, although this serious engagement is often expressed comically in the form of satire. For example, '' What a ...

Virago Press Virago is a British publisher of women's writing and books on Feminism, feminist topics. Started and run by women in the 1970s and bolstered by the success of the Women's Liberation Movement (WLM), Virago has been credited as one of several Briti ...

edition, publ. 2000, and according to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' a "landmark book of the interwar period". Its success allowed her to leave her then husband and run off with maverick artist Wogan Philipps whom she later married.

Plot introduction

The story contains many elements of the author's own childhood and upbringing, albeit idealised. Like the author, the protagonist, Judith Earle, grew up privately educated in a large riverbank house in

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, but unlike the author, Judith is an only child, with her only playmates being the five cousins next door: Julian, Charlie, Roddy, Martin and Mariella. Childhood friendships develop into romantic entanglements that continue as Judith leaves home for

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college status ...

. Judith's brief romantic involvement with Jennifer, a fellow student, scandalized contemporary readers.

Reception

With the exception of Alfred Noyes, most contemporary reviews concentrated on what was perceived as the author's unhealthy preoccupation with sex. In her memoir ''The Swan in the Evening'', Lehmann states "It was discussed, and even reviewed, in certain quarters as the outpourings of a sex-maniac". The ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' cited ''Dusty Answer'' and

Alec Waugh Alexander Raban Waugh (8 July 1898 – 3 September 1981) was a British novelist, the elder brother of the better-known Evelyn Waugh, uncle of Auberon Waugh and son of Arthur Waugh, author, literary critic, and publisher. His first wife was Bar ...

's ''The Loom of Youth'' as being a "corrupting influence" on the young. The novel triggered a literary scandal and came to be regarded as an epitome of the

Zeitgeist In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history. Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...

Publication history

*1927, UK, Chatto & Windus, hardback *1927, US, Henry Holt, hardback *1936, UK, Penguin/The Bodley Head, paperback *1945, US, Reynal & Hitchcock, hardback *1947, UK, The Albatross Modern International Library, hardback *1975, US, Harcourt Brace, , paperback *1978, UK, Collins, , hardback *1981, UK, Penguin (Modern Classics), , paperback *1990, UK, Penguin (Twentieth Century Classics), , paperback *1996, UK, Flamingo, , paperback *2006, UK, Virago, , paperback *2012, UK, AudioGo, MP3, read by

Jenny Agutter Jennifer Ann Agutter (born 20 December 1952) is a British actress. She began her career as a child actress in 1964, appearing in ''East of Sudan'', '' Star!'', and two adaptations of ''The Railway Children''—the BBC's 1968 television serial ...

Radio dramatisations

It has twice been dramatized for

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

: *In 1990 by

Elspeth Sandys Elspeth Somerville Sandys (born 1940) is a New Zealand author and script writer. Background Born in Timaru in 1940, she grew up in Dunedin. She was adopted by the Alley family and was exposed to literature from a young age by Rewi Alley. ...

for ''The Monday Play''. *In 2010 by

Lavinia Greenlaw Lavinia Elaine Greenlaw (born 30 July 1962) is an English poet, novelist and non-fiction writer. She won the Prix du Premier Roman with her first novel and her poetry has been shortlisted for awards that include the T. S. Eliot Prize, Forward Pri ...

for '' Woman's Hour Drama'', narrated by

Julia Hills Julia Hills (born 3 April 1957) is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Rona in all eight series of the BBC sitcom ''2point4 Children''. She also portrayed various roles in Channel 4's first late night satirical sketch show ''Who ...

.bbc.co.uk
/ref>

References

External links

Full text of ''Dusty Answer'' at the Internet Archive
from ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' magazine (October 3, 1927)
{{"'Half-amused, Half-mocking': Laughing at the Margins in Rosamond Lehmann's ''Dusty Answer''"
Sophie Blanch,

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its royal charter in 1966, along with a number of other institutions following recommendations in the Robbins Report. The institut ...

1927 British novels English novels British romance novels British bildungsromans Novels set in Buckinghamshire Novels set in University of Cambridge Chatto & Windus books Henry Holt and Company books 1927 debut novels British LGBT novels