''The Quincunx (The Inheritance of John Huffam)'' is the epic first novel of
Charles Palliser
Charles Palliser (born December 11, 1947 in Holyoke, Massachusetts) is a best-selling novelist, American-born but British-based. His most well-known novel, '' The Quincunx'', has sold over a million copies internationally. He is the elder brother ...
. It takes the form of a
Dickensian
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...
mystery set in early 19th century England, but Palliser has added the modern attributes of an ambiguous plot and
unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unrel ...
s. Many of the puzzles that are apparently solved in the story have an alternative solution in the
subtext
Subtext is any content of a creative work, which is not announced explicitly (by characters or author), but is implicit, or becomes something understood by the audience. Subtext has been used historically to imply controversial subjects without ...
.
[The Quincunx, Second edition (1993), Author's Afterword]
Plot introduction
The novel begins in London with a secret meeting between two legal men. A bribe reveals the confidential details of a correspondent who is the link to a vital hidden document. Meanwhile, young John Mellamphy is growing up in the remote countryside with his mother Mary, ignorant of the name of Huffam. Gradually it becomes clear that they are threatened by the search for the document.
Plot details
#An attempted burglary tempts Mary to show her hand. She possesses a
codicil
Codicil may refer to:
* Codicil (will), subsequent change or modification of terms made and appended to an existing trust or will and testament
* A modification of terms made and appended to an existing constitution, treaty, or standard form c ...
to a
will
Will may refer to:
Common meanings
* Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death
* Will (philosophy), or willpower
* Will (sociology)
* Will, volition (psychology)
* Will, a modal verb - see Shall and will
...
which is valuable to the Mompesson family, owners of a nearby estate. Meanwhile, John begins to suspect he is descended from the Huffams, the original owners of the estate. Mary is put under further pressure by the death of her protector in London, Mr Fortisquince, and by subsequent treacherous advice which persuades her into a loss-making property speculation. She reluctantly visits Sir Perceval Mompesson, who wishes to buy the codicil. At the Hall, John encounters Henrietta Palphramond and her
governess
A governess is a largely obsolete term for a woman employed as a private tutor, who teaches and trains a child or children in their home. A governess often lives in the same residence as the children she is teaching. In contrast to a nanny, th ...
, Miss Quilliam. The codicil is not sold, but later an attempt is made to abduct John; it is possible that his death would alter the inheritance of the estate. To escape, John and his mother travel to London.
#With dwindling savings, John and his mother are forced into successively poorer lodgings and are pursued by
bailiffs
A bailiff (from Middle English baillif, Old French ''baillis'', ''bail'' "custody") is a manager, overseer or custodian – a legal officer to whom some degree of authority or jurisdiction is given. Bailiffs are of various kinds and their o ...
. They find refuge with the Isbister family, but flee when they discover they are amongst the
body-snatchers of Bethnal Green. They discover Miss Quilliam, who takes them in. Mary decides to sell the codicil to the Mompessons, but then fears betrayal and they flee to Fortisquince's widow. The codicil is purchased on condition that John goes to a school in the north. More debts wipe out Mary's gains and force Mary into a
debtors' prison
A debtors' prison is a prison for people who are unable to pay debt. Until the mid-19th century, debtors' prisons (usually similar in form to locked workhouses) were a common way to deal with unpaid debt in Western Europe.Cory, Lucinda"A Historic ...
. John meets with cruelty and danger at the school and escapes back to London. He finds Mary who has got out of prison only by becoming a prostitute. On reencountering John she leaves that life but, still penniless, she ultimately dies of
consumption
Consumption may refer to:
*Resource consumption
*Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically
* Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms
* Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...
.
#John seeks out Henry Bellringer, who is a relation of a school friend. But instead he finds himself among a gang of thieves, living in a part-built mansion. There he reads his mother's journal, which gives tantalisingly incomplete details of his parentage, of the death of his grandfather, and of the legacy. If John dies, others could inherit. Eventually John escapes from the gang and a kindly household takes him in. But their act is not what it seems, for they are part of the Clothier family, to whom the codicil was unwittingly sold. With John as their
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
, they aim to inherit by having him sent to an
insane asylum
The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital.
The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatry ...
. It is there John meets Peter Clothier, whom he now knows as his father.
#John escapes from the asylum with the help of the Digweed family, whom he once encountered in the countryside. He starts a new life with them, surviving by scavenging the
sewers of London. He visits Jeoffrey Escreet, who tells the story of the murder of Mary's father. John resolves to take the name of Huffam. His salvation may lie in a second will, hidden in the Mompesson's London house. After a failed burglary he gets a job as a servant at the house, where he reencounters Henrietta Palphramond. He learns more of the codicil, and that the second will may mean the legacy goes to her. Eventually John steals the will and flees.
#John again seeks out Henry Bellringer to help him take advantage of the will. But Bellringer betrays him to another potential legatee, Silas Clothier. Clothier burns the will and attempts to murder John, but John escapes and Clothier dies. A Maliphant claimant comes forward anonymously. But it emerges that the burnt will was only a copy and that Bellringer has the original. With that, it is possible for Bellringer to win the inheritance by marrying Henrietta. During a storm, John interrupts a secret marriage ceremony between them in a derelict chapel at Mompesson hall. Bellringer is killed by David Mompesson, who flees the country. As the book draws to a close John finally comes within reach of the inheritance. As he does so he loses his original heroic character, becoming cynical and dismissive of his past friends. At the last moment it is revealed that the inheritance is still being determined in
Chancery and may be worth nothing because of debts. With the outcome unresolved the story ends.
Style
''The Quincunx'' was a surprise bestseller. It is notable for its portrayal of 19th century England, covering the breadth of society from the gentry to the poor and from provincial villages to metropolitan
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, and its dealing with the eccentricities of English land law. In a review citing parallels with ''
Great Expectations
''Great Expectations'' is the thirteenth novel by Charles Dickens and his penultimate completed novel. It depicts the education of an orphan nicknamed Pip (Great Expectations), Pip (the book is a ''bildungsroman''; a coming-of-age story). It ...
'', ''
Little Dorrit
''Little Dorrit'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, originally published in serial form between 1855 and 1857. The story features Amy Dorrit, youngest child of her family, born and raised in the Marshalsea prison for debtors in London. Arthur Cl ...
'', ''
Our Mutual Friend
''Our Mutual Friend'', written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quo ...
'', ''
Martin Chuzzlewit
''The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit'' (commonly known as ''Martin Chuzzlewit'') is a novel by Charles Dickens, considered the last of his picaresque novels. It was originally serialised between 1842 and 1844. While he was writing it ...
'', ''
The Pickwick Papers
''The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club'' (also known as ''The Pickwick Papers'') was Charles Dickens's first novel. Because of his success with ''Sketches by Boz'' published in 1836, Dickens was asked by the publisher Chapman & Hall to s ...
'', ''
Oliver Twist
''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...
'' and ''
Nicholas Nickleby
''Nicholas Nickleby'' or ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby'' (or also ''The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, Containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes, Uprisings, Downfallings, and Complete Career of the ...
'',
Michael Malone has written that,
"Mr. Palliser appears to have set out not merely to write a Dickens novel but to write all Dickens novels". But Palliser looked beyond Dickens for his depiction of the social conditions, drawing on Mayhew's ''
London Labour and the London Poor
''London Labour and the London Poor'' is a work of Victorian journalism by Henry Mayhew. In the 1840s, he observed, documented and described the state of working people in London for a series of articles in a newspaper, the ''Morning Chronicle'', ...
''.
J. Hillis Miller
Joseph Hillis Miller Jr. (March 5, 1928 – February 7, 2021) was an American literary critic and scholar who advanced theories of literary deconstruction. He was part of the Yale School along with scholars including Paul de Man, Jacques De ...
points out that,
"The conventions ... of Dickens’ novels,
are made salient through parody and exaggeration, just as a
postmodern building makes the fragility and artifice of those old styles
evident..." But Palliser differs from Dickens in that there are "no benevolent father figure, no guiding Providence, almost no
good people, no guarantee that justice will eventually be done,
nothing, for the most part, but uncertainty and prolonged suffering. It
is as though Palliser were saying: 'Let me show you what things were
really like at that time'."
The book is deeply researched. For example, the plot turns on an aspect of inheritance law - the distinction between a ''
fee simple
In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., perm ...
'' and a ''
base fee
A base fee is an interest in real property that has the potential to last forever, provided a specified contingent event does not take place. For example, a grantee might be given an interest in a piece of land, "as long as the land is not used f ...
'' with a ''
remainderman
A remainderman is a person who inherits or is entitled to inherit property upon the termination of the estate of the former owner. Usually this occurs due to the death or termination of the former owner's life estate, but this can also occur due ...
''. Another crucial point is the timing of John Huffam's birth, indicated by reference to contemporary events such as the
Ratcliff Highway murders
The Ratcliff Highway murders (sometimes Ratcliffe Highway murders) were two attacks on two separate families the Marr and Williamson families that resulted in seven fatalities. The two attacks occurred twelve days apart in December 1811, in ho ...
,
the Great Comet of 1811,
Wellington's capture of
Ciudad Rodrigo
Ciudad Rodrigo () is a small cathedral city in the province of Salamanca, in western Spain, with a population in 2016 of 12,896. It is also the seat of a judicial district.
The site of Ciudad Rodrigo, perched atop a rocky rise on the right bank ...
, and the passing of the
Rose
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be ...
act determining how
parish register
A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...
entries should be made. On another level the hero's name hints that the author may have given him the same birth date as
Charles John Huffam Dickens.
Structure
The novel has a fivefold structure. Each of the five parts takes the name of one of the families linked to the inheritance. Each part is then divided into five books, and each book is divided into five chapters.
At the beginning of each part, a
quincunx
A quincunx () is a geometric pattern consisting of five points arranged in a cross, with four of them forming a square or rectangle and a fifth at its center. The same pattern has other names, including "in saltire" or "in cross" in heraldry (dep ...
of
quatrefoil
A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...
roses from the relevant family's
arms
Arms or ARMS may refer to:
*Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body
Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to:
People
* Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader
Coat of arms or weapons
*Armaments or weapons
**Fi ...
are displayed. These then reappear as a count of one to five roses at the start of each Book. At the end of the novel all five families' devices are combined in a larger design, a quincunx of quincunxes. The pattern of narration of the 125 chapters - John Huffam, an omniscient narrator and a third person - exactly matches the colour pattern - white, black and red - of the 125 elements of the design.
The Symbol Made Text: Charles Palliser's Postmodernist Re-Writing of Dickens in The Quincunx
Susana Onega, University of Zaragoza, ''Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses'' 6 (1993): 131-41
The mixture of first-person and detached narration is similar to the alternation between Esther Summerson's story and a neutral point of view in ''Bleak House
''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...
''.
Palliser also notes that the heart of the book is an account taken from a journal which has a further subdivision into five "Relations" and a central ambiguity made by some missing pages. The information in the journal (as John Huffam suggests obliquely at the end of the book) is a key to reinterpreting all the events.
The design of the five families' devices is also important within the story, when it is the key to the secret hiding place of the second will.
At the end of each Part of 25 chapters, a partially revealed family tree is given, showing the relationships as John so far understands them.
The book also includes extracts from Richard Horwood
Richard Horwood (1757/8 – 3 October 1803) was a surveyor and cartographer. He is mainly remembered for his large-scale plan of London and its suburbs published in 32 sheets between 1792 and 1799. He also published a plan of Liverpool in six she ...
's 1813 map showing key locations in London. The rural locations are, however, fictional. Although the central settlement is on the York-London road and shares its name with Hougham in Lincolnshire the story contradicts this identification by placing it 159 miles from London.
Awards
Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction
The Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction is awarded by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The $5,000 prize is given for the best published first novel or collection of short stories in the preceding year. It was established in 1979 in memory ...
1991
References
External links
* Forum: http://s1monmorr1s.wordpress.com/quincunxsnarkout/ (copied from the defunct http://www.snarkout.org/seven/000827.php)
* Unofficial website: http://gix.pagesperso-orange.fr/quinconce/index.html
Charles Palliser Bibliography
José Ángel García Landa. (Word
A word is a basic element of language that carries an semantics, objective or pragmatics, practical semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of w ...
document; in
A Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism and Philology
')
* First edition cover source
Punch or May Day
1829 painting by Benjamin Haydon
Benjamin Robert Haydon (; 26 January 178622 June 1846) was a British painter who specialised in grand historical pictures, although he also painted a few contemporary subjects and portraits. His commercial success was damaged by his often tactles ...
in the Tate
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quincunx, The
1989 British novels
British historical novels
British mystery novels
Fiction with unreliable narrators
Canongate Books books