The White Witch of Rosehall: A FanBoy's Review
The White Witch of Rosehall by Herbert G. de Lisser has been on my radar for a very long time. I first discovered the existence of this novel while reading an essay on White Creole Caribbean Literature in the a Routledge anthology filled with essays analyzing various aspects of Anglophone Caribbean literature. The first novel I encountered of this kind would have been Jean Rhys's masterpiece Wide Sargasso Sea. It was love after first read. Not the fickle, flippant puppy love which lingers on the tongue like champagne and disappears from memory with time, it was the terrorizing kind of love which haunts and lingers always in the shadows of the mind's inner sanctum filling one equally with feelings of ecstasy and dread.
The name of the novel piqued my interest since I thought it may be able in instill the same terrifying ecstasy as Antoinette did. A few months ago, I found it in Metropolitan Bookstore in Port of Span, Trinidad. It was everything I expected and more. First, I was intimidated to read it while in Trinidad. I thought of it as some sacred tome and opening it to behold its words too soon would be sacrilege. Eventually, I did and it was a slow start, just reading one chapter, then two, then some days as it became more climatic three or five chapters in a single session.
Then, I was filled with the old and familiar horror of a book only having a few chapters left. The desire of wanting to know the fate of the characters I had lived through while not wanting the joy ride to end. It was an amazing experience.
The book is written the way novels were written in that era, it was published in 1929. The language is in keeping with the epoch and characterization and setting have a blend on unremarkable prose and refreshing bouts of poetic lines. Mystery and Suspense are sufficiently utilized to kindled interest and the bumbling, book-keeper, Robert Rutherford has enough in common with readers to make them feel invested. Anne Palmer is the White Witch and Rosehall is one of the main settings. However, the term witch and the label of witch leads to an intriguing analysis of the work in terms of how it is bestowed by and on characters.
Hybridity is profound through out the work and binary opposites are used to create a suggestive lens through which to view the work. This was an amazing piece and well worth it!
Eternally grateful to the treasure trove known as Metropolitan Bookstore.
The name of the novel piqued my interest since I thought it may be able in instill the same terrifying ecstasy as Antoinette did. A few months ago, I found it in Metropolitan Bookstore in Port of Span, Trinidad. It was everything I expected and more. First, I was intimidated to read it while in Trinidad. I thought of it as some sacred tome and opening it to behold its words too soon would be sacrilege. Eventually, I did and it was a slow start, just reading one chapter, then two, then some days as it became more climatic three or five chapters in a single session.
Then, I was filled with the old and familiar horror of a book only having a few chapters left. The desire of wanting to know the fate of the characters I had lived through while not wanting the joy ride to end. It was an amazing experience.
The book is written the way novels were written in that era, it was published in 1929. The language is in keeping with the epoch and characterization and setting have a blend on unremarkable prose and refreshing bouts of poetic lines. Mystery and Suspense are sufficiently utilized to kindled interest and the bumbling, book-keeper, Robert Rutherford has enough in common with readers to make them feel invested. Anne Palmer is the White Witch and Rosehall is one of the main settings. However, the term witch and the label of witch leads to an intriguing analysis of the work in terms of how it is bestowed by and on characters.
Hybridity is profound through out the work and binary opposites are used to create a suggestive lens through which to view the work. This was an amazing piece and well worth it!
Eternally grateful to the treasure trove known as Metropolitan Bookstore.
Great Read. Looking forward for more.
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