Tension (1921) by E. M. Delafield. I very much enjoyed the author’s critical view of the self righteousness, hypocrisy, and prejudice that affects the functionaries of a secretarial college. Delafield’s portrayal of Lady Edna Rossiter is masterful. Unfortunately her kind of zealotry manifests itself all too commonly in various aspects of society. The portrayal Sir Julian Rossiter is also very well done, and I found him disturbing in a quite a different way. The story also illustrates the enormous difficulties faced by women who lack social standing, especially unmarried women, an all too common situation in the interwar years. The author is a brilliant humorist. The humor in this work is largely sarcastic, but there are glimpses of the kind of light, charming humor that is the hallmark of her later novel, Diary of a Provincial Lady (1930). Overall I was surprised by how different Tension is to the Provincial Lady books, but I highly recommend that you experience this side of E. M. Delafield.
Excerpts:
Edna Rossiter, in common with the majority of her sex, supposed herself to be a religious woman because she had, from early girlhood, indulged nightly in five minutes, spent on her knees beside her bed, her face pressed against the satin quilt, while she thought about herself. 😁 p25
When Lady Rossiter indulged, in the presence of her husband, in a space of silent reverie, it was always her intention to meet with interruption and enquiry that should lead to a mutually beneficial discussion upon the subject of her thoughts. In spite of the many disappointments inflicted upon her by Sir Julian in this respect, it was also her custom to return good for evil by never allowing him more than ten consecutive minutes of reflectiveness without some sympathetic reminder that he was not alone. p127
I always love the French name, perce-neige, said Lady Rossiter, who, like many another cultured soul, generally saw more beauty and expressiveness in the vocabulary of languages other than her own. p127
Spoiler: Lady Rossiter analyzed - She energetically perpetrates great harm while believing in her own deluded sense of infallibility and righteousness. Tragically this mindset is shared among religious and political zealots who commit even worse crimes with a clear conscience.
