Valmouth and Other Stories

Ronald Firbank wasn't a big seller in his day, but he has had a large impact on English language fiction. He influenced Evelyn Waugh, Ivy Compton-Burnett and Muriel Spark, among others. And his spirit can be seen in the works of such contemporary novelists as Edmund White and Alan Hollinghurst. Valmouth is his finest work.Firbank blazed the path away from Naturalism. He did with prose what contemporary artists were doing with paint: fixing an impression of life rather than making a copy of it. He knows his work is fantasy so he can write beautiful and witty prose about subjects polite people pretend don't exist such as religious mania, bigotry and sex in all its flavors. Although the overall impression of his style is baroque, flowery and often oblique, the writing is really swift and tight. Like Hemingway or Truman Capote, there's not one word, one syllable more than absolutely necessary.He writes marvelous dialogue. His innovation, I think, is how he captures the silences. A lot of what we understand from conversation comes from what remains unspoken--the pauses, the deflections, the silences. Firbank does the silences. The little sighs, the defensive change of subject, the little joke that hides a deep wound. All his strengths are presented in abundance in Valmouth. Valmouth is an English seaside resort where the salubrious air promotes extraordinary longevity. Its most industrious citizen is Madame Yajñavalkya, (whom we would identify as South Asian, but everyone calls nig--r) a chiropodist, masseuse, beautician, quack and perhaps procuress. She serves a delightful assortment of fussy dowagers from all levels of the social strata who are obsessed with death, romance, marriage and a particularly exquisite brand of Catholicism.Valmouth is a short read although not always an easy one. But becoming acquainted with this place where a footman may offer you "an ingenuity of tartlettes" is well worth the effort.