William Cooper (2) (1910–2002)

In 2010 Penguin Books published Scenes from Provincial Life and Scenes from Married Life for the first time in an omnibus edition in their series Penguin Decades as a landmark of storytelling from the 1950s.

While there is broad agreement that the suppression of Scenes From Metropolitan Life, which was to be the volume linking Scenes from Provincial Life and Scenes from Married Life was damaging to both the continuity of the novel series and Cooper's career, the publisher has not set that right. It would have been logical to publish the first two or first three volumes from the series in one omnibus edition, instead of just volume 1 and 3, as they were originally published in that order. Restoring the original order would have given old readers the satisfaction of inclusion of that second volume, while to new readers the book would probably more balanced.

In the current omibus edition there is the hiatus which leads to the broken story-line which leaves readers wondering what has become of the characters Myrtle and Tom (from volume 1), while the new, main secondary character Robert is not properly introduced.

The introduction by Nick Hornby is flimsy, insincere an merely repeats what everyone can find on Wikipedia for themselves.

Scenes from Provincial Life is great, and well worth reading. The subsequent Scenes from Married Life is rather disappointing. The presentation of Scenes from Provincial Life: Including Scenes from Married Life as a seminal work for the 1950s seems dubious.

However, readers who are interested in the genre of the somewhat humourous, literary novel serial, may read William Cooper's 5-volume series in conjunction with E.M. Delafield's five-volume series The Diary of a Provincial Lady (1930), The Provincial Lady Goes Further (1932), The Provincial Lady in America (1934), The Provincial Lady in Russia: I Visit the Soviets (1937) and The Provincial Lady in Wartime (1940). With Delafield's last volume leaving off in 1939 / 1940 and Cooper's first starting around that same time, Cooper's series seems a continuation of the genre. At least both authors describe an apparently autobiographical series of episodes, centred around an aspiring author and their daily affairs, Delafield writing from the female point of view, abd Cooper from the male point of view. Both books share a suble, wry and ironic humour. But wheras Delafield's writing is still firmly rooted in the late-Edwardian writing tradition, Cooper's writing feels quite modern. He also writes much more frankly and openly about sexuality, and people's psychology.

The genre is continued with works by Paul Gallico's series following the exploits of Mrs Harris in four volumes, in Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Paris (1958), and subsequent titles in the series Mrs. 'Arris Goes to New York (1960), Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Parliament (1965), and Mrs. 'Arris Goes to Moscow (1974).… (mehr)

Scenes from Married Life (1961) was written as the third installment, but published as the second volume in William Cooper's 5-volume fictionalized (auto-)biographical novel series, after the second installment was suppressed, and subsequently published in 1982.

The "missing" volume does not hinder the reading and understanding of the continued story. In part 1 of Scenes from Married Life Joe says that he has no intention of marrying Sybil after fifteen years (p.245). His unwillingness to try to understand Sybil demonstrates his disinterestedness in having anything else but a sexual relationship without any attachments. Being still unmarried, the reader can fill in the blanks themselves, and draw the conclusion that Joe must have ditched Myrtle, his girl in the first volume of the series Scenes from Provincial Life most likely in the same way. This attitude seems shared by his friend Robert, who cares very little for his girlfriend Annette.

Joe is now a somewhat more successful author, with a novel coming out, but still lacking in a true sense of responsibility. He now works as a civil servant, but money is still tight, and works on a new novel in his free time. He is now married to Elspeth, and a certain dullness creeps in. The description of "the morning after" the marriage, with its concealed implication of the consummation of marriage is exemplary of the anti-climax experience of Joe as a voracious but now tamed womanizer. The rest of the novel is divided between problems surrounding the new novel as danger of a law suit which might be brought forward if it is published over scenes which could be understood as rape, and difficulties at work.

The problems with the novel referred to in the story probably refer to the suppression of volume two in the series, but are as such difficult for the reader to understand. Scenes from Married Life lacks the crispness of the previous volume, Scenes from Provincial Life, mainly because Robert is a much less interesting character than Tom. While Scenes from Provincial Life sparkled with sarcasm, Scenes from Married Life seems a rather dull affair.… (mehr)

Now largely forgotten, William Cooper's novel Scenes from Provincial Life, published in 1950, is set in 1939. The title calls E.M. Delafield's five volumes The Diary of a Provincial Lady (1930) The Provincial Lady Goes Further (1932), The Provincial Lady in America (1934) and The Provincial Lady in Russia: I Visit the Soviets (1937) The Provincial Lady in Wartime (1940). William Cooper continued to publish several sequel volumes to the first Scenes from Metropolitan Life, which was written but unpublished in the mid-1950, Scenes from Married Life (1961), Scenes from Later Life (1983) and Scenes from Death and Life (1999). With Delafield's last volume leaving off in 1939 / 1940 and Cooper's first starting around that same time, Cooper's series seems a continuation of the genre. At least both authors describe an apparently autobiographical series of episodes, centred around an aspiring author and their daily affairs, Delafield writing from the female point of view, abd Cooper from the male point of view. Both books share a suble, wry and ironic humour. But wheras Delafield's writing is still firmly rooted in the late-Edwardian writing tradition, Cooper's writing feels quite modern. He also writes much more frankly and openly about sexuality, and people's psychology.

Scenes from Provincial Life is centred around the lives of Joe Lunn, his girl friend Myrtle, Tom and his lover Steve. Joe and Tom are aspiring writers, who have both already published and are working on subsequent novels. Joe, whose main job is his work as a teacher, has a rather free pre-marital sexual relationship with Myrtle. She believes he will one day marry her, but Joe's feelings are much more that he does not want to be bound. He at various times expresses this sentiment that he does not want to be tied down, a sentiment which, while is Britain seems connected with his inflated idea of his bohemian life-style, while in connection with his planned emigration to the US is inspired by his idea that he could not support her. Despite the fact that Joe seems quite sure that he does not want to marry Myrtle, he is quite envious of the attention she receives and her possible courtship by Haxby.

Quite surprising for a novel published in 1950 is the gay relationship in the novel between Tom and Steve. This relationship is not problematised, and appears as a quite natural part of the bohemian life-style of Joe and Tom, who share the rent of a weekend house where they meet their lovers on an alternating basis.

Tom appears, through the eyes of Joe that is, a rather nasty character. He shock of red hair has warned the reader at an early stage of course that Tom will act the part of the evil character, and thus he is portrayed as domineering, manipulative and dishonest, often seen as outright lying or distorting the truth. There are several humourous moments is the novel where his cunning is outdone by Steve or Steve and Joe.

Both Joe and Tom have elaborate plans to emigrate to the US, but as the net closes, and the war descends over Europe, these plans are thwarted.

Like Delafield's books Cooper's Scenes from Provincial Life has very little to offer in the sense of a plot. Nonetheless, the human relations are poised with irony, which makes the book a thoroughly enjoyable read.… (mehr)