the sparsholt affair
While the Blitz rages in London, Oxford exists at a strange remove: an ephemeral, uncertain place, in which nightly blackouts conceal secret liaisons. Two of Freddie's friends, Peter Coyle, an artist, and Evert Dax, the son of an influential writer, both see Sparsholt and develop an obsession with him. The Sparsholt Affair Alan Hollinghurst. Despite the fact that David has a fiancée, Freddie introduces him to Evert, hoping to help Evert develop a relationship with him. The meeting goes well and seems to bring about new intimacy between father and son, but when Johnny brings up the matter of the fine David incurred, David denies the incident. We were up in my rooms, talking about the Club. The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst – the work of a master Spanning two generations of gay life, Hollinghurst’s tale of dreaming spires and secrets is his finest novel yet While I enjoyed the first part that took place at Oxford at the dawn of WWII, I often found the novel dragged. Over the course of one momentous term, David and Evert forge an unlikely friendship that will colour their lives for decades to come . Shortly after David's father dies in an air raid and Freddie loses touch with him as David goes to war. These promotions will be applied to this item: Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. Please try again. —Geoff Dyer “Extraordinary . A keen athlete and oarsman, he at first seems unaware of the effect he has on others – particularly on the lonely and romantic Evert Dax, son of a celebrated novelist and destined to become a writer himself. The delicious core of the book (for me, at least) is the gorgeous and sweeping language that author Hollinghurst brings to both narrative and dialogue. In October 1940, the handsome young David Sparsholt arrives in Oxford. In 1940 Freddie Green, a literature student, has rooms that overlook the room of a handsome young seventeen year old named David Sparsholt. Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2018. Engaging, atmospheric, told in lush and gorgeous prose, The Sparsholt Affair is a brilliant novel about sensuality and scruples set against a backdrop of radical social change, from a writer whose work is as provocative as it is precisely rendered. $28.95. parents, etc. [4], Learn how and when to remove this template message, "Author Alan Hollinghurst On Secret Affairs, Narrative Gaps And Writing Gay Sex", "GAY LIT ICON ALAN HOLLINGHURST ON SCANDAL, REPRESSION, AND BRITISH LIFE", "The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst review – passion and folly, beautifully observed", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Sparsholt_Affair&oldid=979164785, Articles to be expanded from January 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 19 September 2020, at 05:23. The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst. Through work Johnny meets Evert Dax, who is still friends with members of his Oxford circle, as well as befriending several young gay members of Dax's circle who are also members of the art world. The Sparsholt Affair is a gay sex scandal which takes place just before the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967. What happens to these two men in this year will affect many lives and will set in motion the mystery at the heart of The Sparsholt Affair. All life after dusk is lived under black-out, encouraging and covering what would normally be impossible liaisons. Even before this section of the novel ends we learn that it is a memoir found amongst Freddie Green’s papers after his death. "[1], Hollinghurst also identified the Henry James novella In the Cage as an influence on the work and his decision to give as little detail to the titular affair as possible. Richly observed, disarmingly witty and emotionally charged, The Sparsholt Affair is an unmissable achievement from one of our finest writers. It ends in the present day in a world of i-phones, body tattoos, same-sex marriage, children from sperm donors, etc. Hollinghurst is a master storyteller ... thrilling in the rather awful way that the best Victorian novels are, so that one finds oneself galloping somewhat shamefacedly through the pages in order to discover what happens next . Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Please try again. Alan Hollinghurst’s novel THE SPARSHOLT AFFAIR covers three generations of fiends who meet at Oxford in 1940. A sort of vote had taken place, and I had emerged as the secretary. The Swimming-Pool Library (Vintage Blue Book 12), Shuggie Bain: Winner of the Booker Prize 2020. On reading the reviews I expected this book to be one I could not put down. I thought "Sparsholt" was well written, but I didn't think it was especially interesting. Well-written and deserving of adaptation for the screen, it remains a credit to Hollinghurst that he has not abandoned the novel in favour of the screenplay. Shop Now. -- Geoff Dyer * Guardian * I was glad George Saunders won the Man Booker and for next year's prize it's hard to look beyond Alan Hollinghurst's masterful The Sparsholt Affair, which I found thrillingly stylish and gripping. . “The Sparsholt Affair” plays out across nearly a century of gay life in England. Brief content visible, double tap to read full content. Sparing and Holting: Take a pass on this one! The storyline is full of tease, suggestion and missing pieces which gives the reader work to do in filling in conclusions for broken off interactions (some sexual and physical) and gaps in time, as characters mature out of the story. The novel explores the changing attitudes towards homosexuality in England through the lives of two men: David Sparsholt, a teenager briefly attending Oxford during the Second World War, and his openly gay son, Johnny Sparsholt, who comes of age in London just as homosexuality has been decriminalised. After the scandal David divorced Connie but has now remarried to a woman. He offers moments and experiences such as the following: The Sparsholt Affair is Alan Hollinghurst’s sixth novel, and like his previous two — the Man Booker Prize–winning The Line of Beauty and, subsequently, The Stranger’s Child — the story travels through a series of eras, capturing in each the nature of gay life in England. Reviewed in the United States on March 21, 2018. Also I admire his boldness in telling us what he wants to, and leaving gaps in the narrative, so the reader has some intelligence work to do. A keen athlete and oarsman, he at first seems unaware of the effect he has on others – particularly on the lonely and romantic Evert Dax, son of a celebrated novelist and destined to become a writer himself. It is not as sexually explicit as some of his works either, but there is a tenderness to it which plays on your imagination. Does this book contain inappropriate content? Spanning three generations, The Sparsholt Affair plumbs the ways the friendship between these two men will influence their lives—and the lives of others’—for decades to come. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. An overarching theme of The Sparsholt Affair is the quest for love, often driven by "the feared and lurking strain of loneliness. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions. According to Evert, David proceeded to have sex with him. It is frequently referred to in the novel but never fully elaborated. Epic story that basically presents the arc of gay history from the 1940s to 2012. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required. Guideline Price: £20.00 By 1995 Johnny is a successful artist who has a 7-year-old daughter, Lucy, whom he conceived with Francesca, and is living with his partner, Pat. The joy Hollinghurst takes in life’s small shards of beauty…feel[s] like the joy of life itself—when Johnny and his French friend play in the sea as … The Sparsholt Affair is a gay sex scandal which takes place just before the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1967. While critics were quick to compare the novel with Hollinghurst's earlier work, The Stranger's Child Hollinghurst himself acknowledged that the two books were similar. This one moves from Oxford in the war years, to the present year (give or take) with sheer effortlessness and the characters are captivating and encompassing in an enigmatic way. Two young men are attracted to ‘a new man’ David Sparsholt observed and encouraged by a fellow student, Freddie Green. In the mid-1960s Johnny Sparsholt, David and Connie's son, is a teenage boy who has fallen in love with a French friend of his, Bastien. Johnny Sparsholt, now an adult, lives in London in the mid 1970s as an art dealer's apprentice while trying to make a career as a painter. Ivan however is a self-declared gerontophile who is attracted to Dax and who is only interested in Johnny's father and the infamous Sparsholt Affair of a few years ago. I like here, as elsewhere in his work, the stretch of English history and the vision of changing mores. . The Sparsholt Affair is a sweeping and intimate masterpiece, full of sensual pleasures and observational wisdom." THE SPARSHOLT AFFAIR By Alan Hollinghurst 417 pp. Do you believe that this item violates a copyright? Bastien spends a few weeks in the summer with the Sparsholts with Johnny spending most of his time hoping that they will renew the sexual aspect of their relationship that they engaged in the previous year. Noting that the narratives in both works often skipped over large historical and cultural milestones Hollinghurst stated that he was "interested in [...] the effects of these major things. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The superior, snobbish attitudes of that section of society are evoked with great skill plus details of place and time such as the smell of dust on a two bar electric fire. The Sparsholt Affair is the sixth novel written by British author Alan Hollinghurst. “The Sparsholt Affair,” his formally inventive and frequently gorgeous new novel, begins in typical Hollinghurst territory: with a beautiful young man and the young men who are enchanted with him. Ivan discovers the memoirs and forces Johnny to read it. The novel explores the changing attitudes towards homosexuality in England through the lives of two men: David Sparsholt, a teenager briefly attending Oxford during the Second World War, and his openly gay son, Johnny Sparsholt, who comes of age in London just as homosexuality has been decriminalised. While the Blitz rages… It is frequently referred to in the novel but never fully elaborated. The joy and pain of The Sparsholt Affair is in revealing the locking and unlocking of secrets across generations. A keen athlete and oarsman, he at first seems unaware of the effect he has on others – particularly on the lonely and romantic Evert Dax, son of a celebrated novelist and destined to become a writer himself. Like his previous book, The Stranger’s Child, this novel is composed of several parts, each of which jumps forward years or decades from the previous one. The Guardian called it a "beautifully observed" novel. After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. The Sparsholt Affair is the sixth novel written by British author Alan Hollinghurst. Reviewed in the United States on April 3, 2018. Peter Coyle, the painter, was there, and Charlie Farmonger, and Evert Dax. Does this book contain quality or formatting issues? This article appears in the 28 September 2017 issue of … Alan Hollinghurst is one of the best novelists of our age, but this, sadly, is probably one of his weakest works. The Sparsholt Affair (Book) : Hollinghurst, Alan : "From the internationally acclaimed winner of the Man Booker Prize, a masterly new novel that spans seven transformative decades in England--from the 1940s to the present--as it plumbs the richly complex relationships of a remarkable family. From the internationally acclaimed winner of the Man Booker Prize, a sweeping new novel that explores richly complex relationships between fathers and sons as it spans seven transformative decades in England, from the 1940s through the present.David Sparsholt is a … Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2018. -- Geoff Dyer ― Guardian I was glad George Saunders won the Man Booker and for next year’s prize it’s hard to look beyond Alan Hollinghurst’s masterful The Sparsholt Affair, which I found thrillingly stylish and gripping. The drama moves episodically from Oxford in 1940 to the present day, following the lives of a group of students and their offspring in a formula used successfully by the author in The Stranger's Child, encompassing a variety of relationships in the world of literature and fine art and ranging from surrogate parenthood to the gay dad/son dynamic, the latter no doubt a reflection of where the author finds himself today. While Evert believes this is the beginning of an affair, Freddie suspects that the sex was offered as a repayment for the loan. ISBN-13: 978-1447208211. Please try your request again later. Free UK p&p over £10, online orders only. David, who became a war hero during the Second World War, meanwhile spends much of his time with Clifford Haxby, a business friend and acquaintance, who is married but has no children. To order a copy for £17 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846. Some of the action was too nuanced -- on occasion, I had to go back and try to figure out what just happened. Of recklessness we don ’ t use a simple average Inc. or its affiliates nephew of Affair. I thought `` Sparsholt '' was well written, but this, sadly, is probably one our... Pages you are interested in books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle required! On your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required the 1940 ’ s to. 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