The Fancy Woman (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Peter Taylor
- First Published: 1940
- Type of Plot: Psychological
- Time of Work: Probably the late 1930's
- Setting: A country home in Tennessee
- Principal Characters: Josie Carlson, George, Amelia, Mr. and Mrs. Roberts, Mr. and Mrs. Jackson, Mr. and Mrs. Colton, Jock, Buddy
- Genres: Psychological fiction, Short fiction, Domestic realism
- Subjects: Values, Family or family life, Sex or sexuality, South or Southerners, Violence
- Locales: Tennessee
The Story
From the opening sentences, the story portrays a mental state as well as narrating a series of events; this emphasis on subjectivity means that the impact of events is at least as important as the events themselves. The story's central consciousness, Miss Josephine Carlson, has been invited by her man George to spend a week at his country place, and the sentence fragments and uncertain grammar of her “voice” hint at both anger and anxiety. In this opening scene, the combination of alcohol and sex with Josie's lack of options in the relationship sets the stage for...
[The entire page is 1532 words long]
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