Self Condemned (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Wyndham Lewis
- First Published: 1954
- Type of Work: Psychological realism
- Time of Work: The late 1930’s and early 1940’s
- Setting: London and Rugby, England, and Toronto and Windsor, Canada
- Principal Characters: Rene Harding, Hester Harding, Percy Lamport, “Rotter” Parkinson, Dr. Lincoln Abbott, Cedric Furber, Professor Ian Mckenzie, Mrs. McAffie, Father Moody
- Genres: Long fiction, Psychological fiction
- Subjects: Suffering, Exile or expatriates, Education or educators, Marriage, 1940’s, World War II, 1930’s, Poverty or poor people, Emotions, England or English people, Hotels, motels, or inns, Canada or Canadians, London, Fire, Intellect, Arson
- Locales: England, Canada, London, England, Toronto, Canada, Momaco, Canada, Rugby, England, Windsor, Canada
The Novel
Self Condemned, which concerns the strange life of an English emigre in Canada, took Toronto off the map. The first part of the novel, which attempts to explain and justify Rene Harding’s reasons for leaving England in 1939, is emotionally but not intellectually convincing. Harding, whose rational premises are mistaken, deliberately drives himself to ruin. He moves blindly out of England without ever clearly explaining why he left and moves to Canada without any realistic sense of what he will find there. His Secret History of World War Two led The...
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