Publication
Dalkey Archive Press (2001), Edition: 1st Dalkey Archive ed, 214 pages
Original publication date
1926
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Genres
Description
"Blindness is the story of John Haye, a young student, and begins with an excerpt from his diary, brimming with excitement and affectation and curiosity about life and literature. Then a freak accident robs John of his sight, plunging him into despair. Forced to live with his highhanded, horsey stepmother in the country, John begins a weird dalliance with a girl named Joan, leading to a new determination. Blindness is the curse of youth and inexperience and love and ambition, and blindness, John discovers, can also be the source of vision"--
User reviews
LibraryThing member lriley
Published in 1926--when the writer was 20-21 years old this book imagines a young man who in the aftermath of an accident loses his eyesight--John Haye on the verge of entering the world instead finds himself dependent on his stepmother for almost everything. For her part she belongs to a past that
I have one major problem with this work. I don't think the accident described--a child throwing a rock through the window of a passing train that John at the same time is looking out of--quite fits the bill for the damage done to John's face and to his eyes--one would almost expect a hand grenade for all that damage done. Apart from that Mr. Green has some awkward moments with his dialogue especially between John and a young girl who he is smitten with. All in all though this is well realized and the portrayal of John and the despair he feels is poignant. Astonishing actually for such a young writer to plumb the depths of such an afflicted psychology as John's. Not quite as atmospheric or as colorful in tone as the other novel I've read of his however different stories sometimes call for different approaches. Again Mr. Green was just starting out here. An excellent work even with the critiques I've made and a very worthwhile read.
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is almost out of touch with the world John has been striving to reach which further plunges John into despair about a present and also a future that may no longer exist for him. I have one major problem with this work. I don't think the accident described--a child throwing a rock through the window of a passing train that John at the same time is looking out of--quite fits the bill for the damage done to John's face and to his eyes--one would almost expect a hand grenade for all that damage done. Apart from that Mr. Green has some awkward moments with his dialogue especially between John and a young girl who he is smitten with. All in all though this is well realized and the portrayal of John and the despair he feels is poignant. Astonishing actually for such a young writer to plumb the depths of such an afflicted psychology as John's. Not quite as atmospheric or as colorful in tone as the other novel I've read of his however different stories sometimes call for different approaches. Again Mr. Green was just starting out here. An excellent work even with the critiques I've made and a very worthwhile read.
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LibraryThing member BellaFoxx
The book starts with a ‘journal’ written by John Haye, we get a picture of a young man, in love with life, with good friends and plenty of options and dreams. Then tragedy strikes, on the way home from boarding school, he is blinded in a terrible accident that also disfigures him. The rest of
What I thought was interesting was how Green showed everyone doing what they thought was best for John or what he wanted, without consulting him. John just puts up with the treatment, perhaps feeling that now he is a burden on them and as such shouldn't complain. John falls for a local girl, the daughter of the town drunk and imagines them going away together, but both know it is not possible. In the end, John’s step-mother takes him to London, believing he will be happy there and John plans to write, something he aspired to before the accident.
This is a character driven novel, it is rather short and interesting. I recommend it.
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the book deals with his recovery from the accident and how being blind affects his life and how people now treat him.What I thought was interesting was how Green showed everyone doing what they thought was best for John or what he wanted, without consulting him. John just puts up with the treatment, perhaps feeling that now he is a burden on them and as such shouldn't complain. John falls for a local girl, the daughter of the town drunk and imagines them going away together, but both know it is not possible. In the end, John’s step-mother takes him to London, believing he will be happy there and John plans to write, something he aspired to before the accident.
This is a character driven novel, it is rather short and interesting. I recommend it.
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LibraryThing member stillatim
Let me preface this by saying that Henry Green published this novel, which incorporates a number of highly advanced modernist techniques, in 1926; that this was one year after Woolf's To The Lighthouse, and one year before her Mrs. Dalloway; and that he managed to do this when he was 21. That's an
Unfortunately, I won't be re-reading this one. His use of dialogue is worth plenty of attention (the scenes in which John and 'June' discuss their malformed expectations are wonderful), and it's fun to train-spot eminent Etonians through the early diaristic bits. But the internal monologues, technically advanced and all, are *torturously* dull: repetitive thinking about boring aspects of life does not make for a worthwhile read. Anyone who continues to spout the idea that one must 'show, not tell,' should be forced to read these monologues, just once, and that should put them on the right track. You can tell people things.
One particularly interesting trick, though, is the way he changes tense in order to indicate a switch from narration to a character's direct thought; it's something I've toyed with myself. But Green puts thought in the past tense and narrates in the present; I went the other way round. I hope to find this in other authors, to see how they used it.
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amazing achievement, and more than enough reason for me to look forward to reading his later work. Unfortunately, I won't be re-reading this one. His use of dialogue is worth plenty of attention (the scenes in which John and 'June' discuss their malformed expectations are wonderful), and it's fun to train-spot eminent Etonians through the early diaristic bits. But the internal monologues, technically advanced and all, are *torturously* dull: repetitive thinking about boring aspects of life does not make for a worthwhile read. Anyone who continues to spout the idea that one must 'show, not tell,' should be forced to read these monologues, just once, and that should put them on the right track. You can tell people things.
One particularly interesting trick, though, is the way he changes tense in order to indicate a switch from narration to a character's direct thought; it's something I've toyed with myself. But Green puts thought in the past tense and narrates in the present; I went the other way round. I hope to find this in other authors, to see how they used it.
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LibraryThing member Kristelh
The story is of a young man, John Haye. The book is divided into sections called Caterpillar, Chrysalis and Butterfly so we know that there will be change and maturing. The story starts with John at Public School of Noat. John is a boy who loves art, writing and plays. He enjoys beauty such as
The actual accident is perhaps a little unbelievable but the author did a great job of describing blindness and the way people behave around the handicapped person.
The chapter called Picture Postcardism-- focused a lot on the visual. What John could no longer see but what others (Joan) could see.
Social commentary: John’s mother’s treatment of servants (appalling). the defrocked Vicar feeling like he is entitled.
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daffodil blooming amongst the grass in the garden. In his senior year, John loses his eyesight in a freak accident. In Chrysalis, John is at home in the country with his stepmother and nanny. He is getting used to seeing a new way. He spends some time with the daughter of a defrocked parson and then his stepmother rushes John to the London, a new life. In the first part of the book, we are reading John’s diary. In the second part, we are learning the story of Joan (the parson’s daughter). John’s narration switches to his inner dialogue. The author was around 20 or 21 when he wrote this story and used several new techniques of modernism in writing his first novel. The actual accident is perhaps a little unbelievable but the author did a great job of describing blindness and the way people behave around the handicapped person.
The chapter called Picture Postcardism-- focused a lot on the visual. What John could no longer see but what others (Joan) could see.
Social commentary: John’s mother’s treatment of servants (appalling). the defrocked Vicar feeling like he is entitled.
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LibraryThing member iansales
The authors you love, I’ve found, do not come about due to wide or deep reading of their oeuvre, but from a single piece of work, usually in the first half dozen or so by that author you’ve read. It blows you away… and it colours all your other encounters with that author’s works. With
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Lowry, it was his novella ‘Through the Panama’, with Durrell it was The Alexandria Quartet, with Blixen it was her story ‘Tempest’… and with Green it was the first novel by him I read, Loving. A pitch-perfect control of voice, a refusal to tell the story using normal narrative techniques, and an excellent eye for detail… what’s not to love? Blindness is Green’s first novel, and concerns a public schoolboy whose bright future is snatched from him in an accident which blinds him (a kid throws a stone at a passing train, smashing a window through which the protagonist is looking). The story is told firstly through letters, then through semi-stream-of-consciousness narratives by the young man and his mother and the young woman (of an unsuitable family) whose company he enjoys… It’s very much a story of privilege and deprivation – the main character is the scion of a wealthy family, with a country seat boasting a large staff (members of which which the mother complains about repeatedly); but the young woman is the daughter of an alcoholic vicar fallen on hard times and, if anything, reads more like a DH Lawrence character (on his good days, that is) than a fit companion for the blind boy. Green had a reputation as “a writer’s writer”, which is generally taken to mean he was much admired but sold few copies. It’s true that there’s a dazzling level of technique on display in Blindness, a facility with prose no writer can fail to admire. And it’s Green’s writing prowess I certainly admire, rather than his choice of subjects or the stories he chooses to tell. But there’s a profound pleasure to be found in reading prose that is just put together so well, and that’s why I treasure Green’s writing. Show Less
LibraryThing member yarb
Green's first novel is not as good as what came after but still has much to recommend it. In the dialogue there are flashes of the quicksilver genius on display in books like Loving, Nothing, and Doting; many of the poetic descriptive passages are lovely although a few bubble over into purple
However, Blindness feels patchy and somewhat incoherent. It reads rather as though it was cobbled together from fragments - especially the adolescent diary entries that form the first section. I'm glad I read this but I'm also glad it was the seventh, and not the first of his novels that I read.
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prosiness. Green's treatment / evocation of blindness seems very astute for someone so young, and I liked the way he introduced Joan as a potential happy ending, only to buck the conventional narrative expectation (although I found the characters of Joan and her alcoholic ex-priest father hard to believe and rather melodramatic).However, Blindness feels patchy and somewhat incoherent. It reads rather as though it was cobbled together from fragments - especially the adolescent diary entries that form the first section. I'm glad I read this but I'm also glad it was the seventh, and not the first of his novels that I read.
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LibraryThing member curious_squid
The story is of a 17 year old boy named John who is blinded in an accident on the way home from boarding school.
Set in the English countryside of the 1920's, the book starts out before the accident, and then proceeds to after the accident.
I find the concept of going blind terrifying, and it made
That said, I was surprised and put off to find all the characters coming across as selfish and basically unlikeable.
Yet all in all the book was quite readable.
Set in the English countryside of the 1920's, the book starts out before the accident, and then proceeds to after the accident.
I find the concept of going blind terrifying, and it made
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me think about how one would cope with such an event. I can't imagine how hard it would be to go through for both the person and their family members/people close to them, and suspect it would be easy to seem insensitive.That said, I was surprised and put off to find all the characters coming across as selfish and basically unlikeable.
Yet all in all the book was quite readable.
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Language
Original language
English
ISBN
1564782654 / 9781564782656
Physical description
214 p.; 5.53 inches
Pages
214