Testimonies From Our Imprisoned Sisters
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''Testimonies'' is a 1952 novel, set in
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
, by the English author
Patrick O'Brian Patrick O'Brian (12 December 1914 – 2 January 2000), born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series. These sea novels are set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and ...
. It was first published in the UK under the title ''Three Bear Witness'' and in the US as ''Testimonies''. The book was re-issued in 1993 (US) and 1994 (UK), both under the title ''Testimonies.'' Although the book's first English reviews were not encouraging, its American reviews were quite different and in an influential article
Delmore Schwartz Delmore Schwartz (December 8, 1913 – July 11, 1966) was an American poet and short story writer. Early life Schwartz was born in 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, where he also grew up. His parents, Harry and Rose, both Romanian Jews, separated when ...
highly praised the book at the expense of
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...
,
Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...
,
Angus Wilson Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson (11 August 191331 May 1991) was an English novelist and short story writer. He was one of England's first openly gay authors. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for '' The Middle Age of Mrs ...
and
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
. By 1994, O'Brian had become a well-known author with a high reputation for his Aubrey-Maturin nautical historical series of novels, and English reviewers of the re-issue were very complimentary of the quality of the writing.


Plot

The story is constructed from the testimonies that three witnesses give to an unnamed divine inquisitor: Joseph Aubrey Pugh, an Oxford don; Bronwen Vaughan, the woman he comes to love; and Mr Lloyd, a schoolmaster. Pugh says that he had been expecting the visitation, and that he will do his best to set down in writing what had taken place. According to his testimony, having become exhausted and demoralised by his academic life in Oxford, Pugh decides to rent a small cottage in North Wales for an extended break, intending to spend his time walking in the hills and reading. He throws himself into his new life, becoming friends with Emyr, son of the elderly owners of the neighbouring farm of Gelli, Mr and Mrs Vaughan. He helps out at Gelli to the best of his ability, though he disapproves of Emyr using strychnine to poison the foxes that threaten the farm's lambs. Gradually Pugh finds himself falling in love with Emyr's wife, Bronwen. On receiving an unexpected bequest, he abandons his academic career and takes the cottage as his permanent home. The schoolmaster, Mr Lloyd, tells the inquisitor that Bronwen had been brought up in a different valley and that she was "not our sort". After marrying and coming to live at Gelli with Emyr and his parents she had been considered "proud" and was unpopular with the local women. Bronwen testifies that her marriage was initially good, and she had a child, but that she became scared of Emyr when he became violent toward her one night. As her fear and hatred of Emyr became increasingly evident, his mother turned against her and daily life at Gelli became very difficult. Pugh falls ill and moves to Gelli to recuperate. There he spends hours talking to Bronwen, and his love for her deepens. Mr Lloyd's cousin, a famous preacher by the name of Pritchard Ellis, comes to stay. He is revered by the local people for the power of his public oratory, but in private he is a hypocrite and sexual voyeur. After sexually touching Bronwen when they are alone, and being repulsed, he retaliates by spreading false rumours that Pugh and Bronwen are committing adultery. He preaches a powerful two-hour sermon in chapel denouncing Bronwen and Pugh's "wickedness", though without mentioning them by name, which results in their being ostracised by the community. One night, Emyr is sexually violent to Bronwen again, and she tells the inquisitor that her husband nearly killed her. Pugh sees her the next day and realises what Emyr has done. He departs for a long and nightmarish walk through the mountains, contemplating suicide. Seriously injured, Bronwen is put to bed and a doctor is called. Old Mrs Vaughan comes in with some medicine and Bronwen, after taking a sip, realises immediately that it is laced with strychnine. She drinks it and dies. Pugh returns, utterly exhausted, and lies unconscious before being awakened to learn of Bronwen's fate.


Background

The novel's setting is closely based on Cwm Croesor in
North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
, where O'Brian and his wife had rented a small cottage in 1945 as an escape from post-war London. The character of Pugh is semi-autobiographical, and his intended monograph ''The Bestiary Before Isidore of Seville'' was a subject that O'Brian later said he had himself been working on before the war. According to his step-son and biographer
Nikolai Tolstoy Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky (; born 23 June 1935), better known as Count Nikolai Tolstoy, is a British historian and writer. He is a former parliamentary candidate of the UK Independence Party and is the current nominal hea ...
, the fiction provided the flimsiest of veils for the author's deepest personal concerns. Tolstoy took the view that that Pugh – like O'Brian himself – sets himself up as a gentleman and adopts a new name appropriate to his improved status, about which he does not like to be questioned.


Publication

The novel was first published in 1952, the UK version appearing under the title ''Three Bear Witness'' as O'Brian's publishers
Secker & Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...
were of the view that his preferred title ''Testimonies'' would be difficult to sell. In the US it was published by
Harcourt, Brace Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. It was known at different stages in its history as Harcourt Brace, & Co. and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. From 1919 to 1 ...
as ''Testimonies''. Unaware that O'Brian had changed his name in 1945 from Richard Patrick Russ, many reviewers assumed the book to be the author's first, although under his new name he was in fact already the published editor of ''A Book of Voyages'' (1947), and author of '' The Last Pool'' (1950). In 1994, the UK version was renamed ''Testimonies'' and re-published by
HarperCollins HarperCollins Publishers LLC is a British–American publishing company that is considered to be one of the "Big Five (publishers), Big Five" English-language publishers, along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, Macmi ...
with new cover art by
Geoff Hunt Geoffrey Brian Hunt, (born 11 March 1947), is a retired Australian squash player who is widely considered to be one of the greatest squash players in history. Hunt was born in Melbourne and now resides in Queensland. He won the Australian ...
, the cover-artist for the re-issued volumes of the
Aubrey–Maturin series The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of nautical historical novels—20 completed and one unfinished—by English author Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centring on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the R ...
. Hunt illustrates a cottage almost identical with the real-life cottage in Cwm Croesor in North Wales that O'Brian and his wife had rented in 1945. In the US the novel was reissued in 1993 by Norton, again under the title ''Testimonies.'' A dramatised adaptation of the book by Colin Haydn Evans was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
in 2002.


Reception


First edition 1952

Many of the first English reviews were not encouraging. An unnamed ''Times'' reviewer called the book "a slight and technically immature piece of work, loose-jointed and clumsy in construction to the point of amateurishness", though conceding that the book leaves an impression of genuine talent. The ''
Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'' considered it a quiet little story of much merit, while likewise holding its central literary device to be clumsy. Not all were so negative, though. ''
The Illustrated London News ''The Illustrated London News'', founded by Herbert Ingram and first published on Saturday 14 May 1842, was the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. The magazine was published weekly for most of its existence, switched to a less freq ...
'' thought the novel intensely personal and ghastly in a quiet way, yet full of beauty and consolation, while a brief notice in the ''
Daily Mirror The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...
'' called the story a jungle of human emotion, love, hate and the clash of wills. The US reviews were uniformly positive. In an influential review in ''
Partisan Review ''Partisan Review'' (''PR'') was a left-wing small-circulation quarterly "little magazine" dealing with literature, politics, and cultural commentary published in New York City. The magazine was launched in 1934 by the Communist Party USA–affi ...
'',
Delmore Schwartz Delmore Schwartz (December 8, 1913 – July 11, 1966) was an American poet and short story writer. Early life Schwartz was born in 1913 in Brooklyn, New York, where he also grew up. His parents, Harry and Rose, both Romanian Jews, separated when ...
praised the book at the expense of
John Steinbeck John Ernst Steinbeck ( ; February 27, 1902 – December 20, 1968) was an American writer. He won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his realistic and imaginative writings, combining as they do sympathetic humor and keen social percep ...
,
Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...
,
Angus Wilson Sir Angus Frank Johnstone-Wilson (11 August 191331 May 1991) was an English novelist and short story writer. He was one of England's first openly gay authors. He was awarded the 1958 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for '' The Middle Age of Mrs ...
and
Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...
. Schwartz said: "To read a first novel by an unknown author which, sentence by sentence and page by page makes one say: he can't keep going at this pace, the intensity is bound to break down, the perfection of tone can't be maintained – is to rejoice in an experience of pleasure and astonishment ... tmakes one think of a great ballad or a Biblical story ... The reader, drawn forward by lyric eloquence and the story's fascination, discovers in the end that he has encountered in a new way the sphinx and the riddle of existence itself." He concluded by comparing O'Brian's prose to the lyrics of the great Irish poet
W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (, 13 June 186528 January 1939), popularly known as W. B. Yeats, was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer, and literary critic who was one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the ...
.Schwartz, Delmore, 1952, reprinted as preface to In the 1994 re-issue, Schwartz's review was reprinted as a preface. The ''
New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...
'' Book Review called it one of the finest books to come along for some time, while '' Saturday Review'' said that the story moves to its end with the rightness and inevitability we think of as Greek.La Farge, Oliver '' Saturday Review'', 23 August 1952, quoted in ''
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
'' considered the novel to be of unassuming proportion and immaculate design. In a long review, ''
The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...
'' dubbed the book "A rare and beautiful novel, deceptively modest in form, never faltering in the unobtrusive skill of its poetry and dramatic dimensions". The reviewer appreciated the author's handling of speech and the story's visual scene, the sympathetic portrayal of Bronwen being singled out for particular praise, with the character being compared, in some ways, with great heroines such as
Anna Karenina ''Anna Karenina'' ( rus, Анна Каренина, p=ˈanːə kɐˈrʲenʲɪnə) is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Tolstoy called it his first true novel. It was initially released in serial in ...
.


Re-issue 1993/1994

By the time of the novel's UK reissue as ''Testimonies'' in 1994, O'Brian had become a well-known author with a high reputation for his ''Aubrey-Maturin'' nautical historical series of novels. Writing in ''
The Sunday Telegraph ''The Sunday Telegraph'' is a British broadsheet newspaper, first published on 5 February 1961 and published by the Telegraph Media Group, a division of Press Holdings. It is the sister paper of ''The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Tele ...
'', Jessica Mann recognised O'Brian's early use in this novel of the surnames Aubrey and Maturin, and she asked how this book could possibly have been so completely neglected after its initial 1952 publication. She considered the author's evocation of place, and his handling of the characters' attitudes, motives and feelings elevated the story to one of perfect tragedy. ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' commented on the writer's apparently effortless yet powerful evocation of emotion, and the way in which he brought very modern language to a story full of "ancient haunting purity". Sophia Sackville-West for the ''
Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...
'' praised the precision of the prose, the depth of the characterisations, and the story's "subtle but feverish tension". Reviewing the US re-issue, ''
Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, no ...
'' likewise highlighted the precision of the prose, and suggested that it lends purity to a "quiet, tragic idyll".


References


Bibliography

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External links

* {{Patrick O'Brian 1952 British novels 1952 in Wales British autobiographical novels Harcourt (publisher) books HarperCollins books Novels by Patrick O'Brian Novels set in Wales Secker & Warburg books