''The Counterplot'' is the second novel by

Hope Mirrlees (Helen) Hope Mirrlees (8 April 1887 – 1 August 1978) was a British poet, novelist, and translator. She is best known for the 1926 ''Lud-in-the-Mist'', a fantasy novel and influential classic,David Langford and Mike Ashley, "Mirrlees, Hope", i ...

. Written in 1923, it was originally published in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

, and is the only one of Mirrlees's three novels to take place in then-contemporary settings, ''Madeleine: One of Love's Jansenists'' (1919) being a historical novel, while ''

Lud-in-the-Mist ''Lud-in-the-Mist'' (1926) is the third and final novel by British writer Hope Mirrlees. It continues the author's exploration of the themes of Life and Art, by a method already described in the preface of her first novel, ''Madeleine: One of Lo ...

'' (1926) is a fantasy. Hope Mirrlees dedicated ''The Counterplot'' to Jane Harrison, with a Greek epigram taken from

Homer Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...

's ''

Odyssey The ''Odyssey'' (; grc, Ὀδύσσεια, Odýsseia, ) is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Iliad'', th ...

'', which translates to "nothing is greater than when two people keep house together, man and wife, a great grief to enemies and joy to friends."

Synopsis

The novel's protagonist is Teresa Lane, a woman of 28, living in Plasencia, a villa in the South-East of England, shortly after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, who studies the spectacle of her family life with the intent of transforming it into art. The result is a play, ''The Key'', written by Teresa after the style of the Spanish autos sacramentales and set in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

during the reign of

Pedro the Cruel Peter ( es, Pedro; 30 August 133423 March 1369), called the Cruel () or the Just (), was King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. Peter was the last ruler of the main branch of the House of Ivrea. He was excommunicated by Pope Urban V for ...

, the text of which is reproduced in its entirety within chapter eleven. A list of books by the same publisher, appended at the end of the novel, includes a brief description of ''The Counterplot'', calling it "a study of the literary temperament".

Reception

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...

'' wrote that "Miss Mirrlees' style is compact, forcible, and sometimes rarely beautiful." Meanwhile, ''

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 ...

'' noted the novel's complexity, noting that "is not easy to read, but the reward of it is worth the effort." In a brief review of the work, ''

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper t ...

'' compared Mirrlees' writing style for this novel to

Walter Pater Walter Horatio Pater (4 August 1839 – 30 July 1894) was an English essayist, art critic and literary critic, and fiction writer, regarded as one of the great stylists. His first and most often reprinted book, ''Studies in the History of the Re ...

as well as Thomas Browne and

Joris-Karl Huysmans Charles-Marie-Georges Huysmans (, ; 5 February 1848 – 12 May 1907) was a French novelist and art critic who published his works as Joris-Karl Huysmans (, variably abbreviated as J. K. or J.-K.). He is most famous for the novel '' À rebour ...

. The book was notably praised by Raymond Mortimer in ''

The New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

''. In a mixed review by ''

The Courier-Journal ''The Courier-Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Net ...

'', David Garnett praised the work for depictions of its family dynamics. However, Garnett noted that the work itself is badly written, writing that "Miss Mirrlees writes the most abominable sentences" and by citing the book's frequent use of unconnected imagery between its sentences.

Influence and legacy

A French translation appeared in 1929 under the title ''Le Choc en Retour'', tr. Simone Martin-Chauffier, published by Plon, Paris. An afterword by essayist

Charles du Bos Charles Du Bos (27 October 1882 – 5 August 1939) was a French essayist and critic, known for works including ''Approximations'' (1922–37), a seven-volume collection of essays and letters, and for his ''Journal'', an autobiographical work publis ...

is also included in the French version. In a diary entry dated 24 March 1955, writer Christopher Isherwood wrote that The Counterplot has "been one of the truly 'formative' books in my life", further writing that he knew "whole passages of it nearly by heart."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Counterplot 1924 British novels Alfred A. Knopf books William Collins, Sons books