Nothing (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Henry Vincent Yorke
- First Published: 1950
- Type of Work: Drawing-room comedy
- Time of Work: After World War II
- Setting: London
- Principal Characters: John Pomfret, Elizabeth (Liz) Jennings, Jane Weatherby, Richard Abbot, Mary Pomfret, Philip Weatherby, Penelope Weatherby, Arthur Morris
- Genres: Long fiction, Satire
- Subjects: Culture, Values, Tradition, Sex or sexuality, Social issues, Marriage, 1940’s, England or English people, Upper classes, London, Youth, Generation gap
- Locales: London, England
The Novel
Nothing, one of Henry Green’s last novels, is an experimental effort to embody his creative theory that the best way to create a sense of life in narrative is by dialogue. In this drawing-room comedy about the generation gap among the so-called Mayfair social set in London following World War II, there is much idle chatter from the characters but very little explanation or probing of motives by the author. The result is a novel of little action, made up of oblique dialogue, somewhat in the Jamesian manner (but without Henry James’s complexity of thought),...
[The entire page is 1837 words long]
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