This aesthetic Penguin Archives edition was a really lovely read thanks to the beautiful prose of McCullers. This narrative was first published in 1941: it’s a classical tragedy set in the frenetic American South, a Southern Gothic gem.
This is a layered story of two couples who are caught up in a complex love triangle or quadrangle or other geometric shape!
The Captain is following a Private around, mixing hatred and contempt with a forbidden desire for his young, healthy body. The Private is spying on the Captain’s wife. Then there’s the Major and Wife next door who also have their own parts to play in this vector of sex and desire. Plus, a Filipino companion, Anacleto, who occupies a strange position of confidante and employee, disturbing the marital balance.
Infidelity, desire, female “hysteria”, the oppressive heat of a Southern summer at a barracks. The parties. The neighbourly checking in. The rye whiskey. Galloping horses.
A short novella that packs a punch. Read it if you have a small moment you want to fill with strong images and want to read frenetically until the end.
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