The Lacquer Lady by F. Tennyson Jesse
Talk Project 1929
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2janeajones
Fryniwyd Tennyson Jesse, Lord Alfred Tennyson's great niece, started her career as a journalist and was best known for her crime reporting and mystery novels. The Lacquer Lady then is a departure from her usual ventures. In this novel, she tells the story of the downfall of the Burmese kingdom in the 1880s. In her Preface to the novel, Jesse states, "To the late Rodway Sinhoe, expert in matters Burmese and 'the Father of the Mandalay Bar', I owe my first thanks, for it was he who told me the true story of the causes which led to the Annexation of Upper Burma --how it was 'Fanny' and her love affir, and not the pretext (justified as that would have been) of the Bombay-Burma Corporation that drove the Indian into action at last."
Fanny Moroni, the protagonist of the novel is introduced to the reader as a young girl, the daughter of an Italian father and Burmese/British mother, at school in Brighton. She is called back to Burma as her parents have found favor at the court in Mandalay. She is accompanied on her return trip by the daughter of a missionary, Agatha Lumsden.
The author contrasts the characters and social positions of the two young women. Fanny is described as a rather shallow, but vivacious, young flirt, who is dazzled by the court at Mandalay. Agatha's role is to be the comfort of her widowed father and a virtuous paragon for the British missionary community. She eventually marries her father's young assistant, Edward Protheroe.
Jesse had access to members of the European Burmese community, some of whom were intimate with court life, so the details and descriptions of the Burmese court during the reign of its last monarch, King Thibaw, are vivid and memorable. I found this glimpse into a long, lost world the most intriguing and valuable aspect of the novel.
The story of the downfall of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat, as related by Jesse, is no doubt accurate to some degree, but it seems highly colored by a British colonialist bias. Oddly the characters of Fanny and Agatha are more described than enlivened. The one character with dimensional being is Edward Protheroe who actually ponders and considers the situations before him.
Given the current situations in the erstwhile British colonies of Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Pakistan -- this novel offers valuable historic insights into how we got here from there.
Fanny Moroni, the protagonist of the novel is introduced to the reader as a young girl, the daughter of an Italian father and Burmese/British mother, at school in Brighton. She is called back to Burma as her parents have found favor at the court in Mandalay. She is accompanied on her return trip by the daughter of a missionary, Agatha Lumsden.
The author contrasts the characters and social positions of the two young women. Fanny is described as a rather shallow, but vivacious, young flirt, who is dazzled by the court at Mandalay. Agatha's role is to be the comfort of her widowed father and a virtuous paragon for the British missionary community. She eventually marries her father's young assistant, Edward Protheroe.
Jesse had access to members of the European Burmese community, some of whom were intimate with court life, so the details and descriptions of the Burmese court during the reign of its last monarch, King Thibaw, are vivid and memorable. I found this glimpse into a long, lost world the most intriguing and valuable aspect of the novel.
The story of the downfall of King Thibaw and Queen Supayalat, as related by Jesse, is no doubt accurate to some degree, but it seems highly colored by a British colonialist bias. Oddly the characters of Fanny and Agatha are more described than enlivened. The one character with dimensional being is Edward Protheroe who actually ponders and considers the situations before him.
Given the current situations in the erstwhile British colonies of Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Pakistan -- this novel offers valuable historic insights into how we got here from there.
3janeajones
Picture from Wikipedia of King Thibaw and his two queens: Queen Supayalat and her sister Queen Supayaji, taken in 1885:
4lauralkeet
I have only read a few pages of this book, but was struck by this sentence in the preface, concerning Burma: We can but hope these troubles will soon cease and that there will be a true union of her peoples.
Sigh.
Sigh.
5lauralkeet
I finished this book yesterday. Here's my review. I enjoyed the historical context of this book, but I didn't care much for the main character and that dampened my enjoyment. That photo above is amazing -- I hadn't looked at it closely before reading the book but yet that's about how I imagined the court and the characters!
6rbhardy3rd
I have to admit that this was one of the few Virago Modern Classics that I've started to read and never finished. Precisely because I found it impossible to connect with the main character. I'm afraid I even passed along my half-read copy to the long-lost urania (a.k.a. Mary).
7juliette07
Just catching up with the 1929 group and oh dear - The Lacquer Lady was recommended to me and is nearing the top of Mt TBR. Even worse I have to report that it was recommended by none other than the long-lost urania herself!!
