Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
NYRB Classics (2020), 176 pages
Description
The Hearing Trumpet is the story of 92-year-old Marian Leatherby, who is given the gift of a hearing trumpet only to discover that what her family is saying is that she is to be committed to an institution. But this is an institution where the buildings are shaped like birthday cakes and igloos, where the Winking Abbess and the Queen Bee reign, and where the gateway to the underworld is open. It is also the scene of a mysterious murder. Occult twin to Alice in Wonderland, The Hearing Trumpet is a classic of fantastic literature that has been translated and celebrated throughout the world.
User reviews
LibraryThing member kkisser
A coven of little old ladies, with the help of a pack of wolves, a nest of bees and a freelance mailman named Taliesin, steel the Holy Grail from the descendants of the Crusaders and return it to the Goddess from whence the Christians stole it in the first place. While illuminating the pagan roots
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of the Christian Mythology, Leonora Carrington also admonishes the church for its historically cruel treatment of women, especially the elderly variety, as second class citizens. But more then that, Carrington, a surrealist painter and writer, manages to evoke a brilliant sense of dreaminess and real emotion, something conspicuously absent from most surrealist writings. Personally, this is one of my all time favorite books. Show Less
LibraryThing member Michael.Rimmer
The Hearing Trumpet starts off as a light-heartedly humerous "batty old bag" kind of a story about a 92 year old woman, Marian Leatherby, and her rather unpleasant (or, at least, unsympathetic) family, who want to ship her off to a home for senile women, as they find her absent-minded wanderings
Once arrived at the institution run by the Well of Light Brotherhood ("financed by a prominent American cereal company"), things take a darker and more unusual turn. The Brotherhood is run on a strictly-observed religious regimine that seeks to elevate its members to enlightenment through a process of taking their money and enforced frugality. According to Ali Smith in her introduction to the edition I have, the head of the Brotherhood, Dr. Gambit, is based upon [author:G.I. Gurdjieff|214546], and Gambit's frequent references to "The Work" and exhortations to be "self-remembering" do seem to point in Gurdjieff's direction.
The middle section is a fairly long recitation from a manuscript of the doings of the patron saint of the brotherhood, Doña Rosalinda Alvarez Cruz della Cueva, who is portrayedby the Christian writer of the imagined manuscript as an evil witch, who we later find is a 'witch', and also an aspect of the tripartite Goddess of Celtic mythology .
There are links to alchemy through the image of the Hermaphrodite; to the tarot through the image of the Blasted Tower; to Celtic Arthurian mythology and Christian Gnosticism through the image of the Grail; and to Millenial prophecy through the coming of the End Times in the form of global and spiritual catastrophe, all mixed together through the account of an almost certainly unrealiable narrator.
The Hearing Trumpet has flavours that put me in mind of Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm and Gustav Meyrink's The Golem and The White Dominican, but Carrington uses her own recipe rather than following that of others.
Throughout the book, there are plenty of endearing and eccentric characters (I'm slightly in love with Carmella Velasquez!), as well as appallingly eccentric ones, waspish humour and deadly machinations. I've shied away from using the adjective 'surreal', as Carrington was a talented surrealist artist and it seems too easy and lazy a word to throw in, but there it is - there is defnitely a building up of surreal elements as the story progresses, but not, I think, simply for stylistic effect. I look forward to re-reading the book and unpeeling its layers.
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something of an inconvenience and an embarrassment.Once arrived at the institution run by the Well of Light Brotherhood ("financed by a prominent American cereal company"), things take a darker and more unusual turn. The Brotherhood is run on a strictly-observed religious regimine that seeks to elevate its members to enlightenment through a process of taking their money and enforced frugality. According to Ali Smith in her introduction to the edition I have, the head of the Brotherhood, Dr. Gambit, is based upon [author:G.I. Gurdjieff|214546], and Gambit's frequent references to "The Work" and exhortations to be "self-remembering" do seem to point in Gurdjieff's direction.
The middle section is a fairly long recitation from a manuscript of the doings of the patron saint of the brotherhood, Doña Rosalinda Alvarez Cruz della Cueva, who is portrayed
There are links to alchemy through the image of the Hermaphrodite; to the tarot through the image of the Blasted Tower; to Celtic Arthurian mythology and Christian Gnosticism through the image of the Grail; and to Millenial prophecy through the coming of the End Times in the form of global and spiritual catastrophe, all mixed together through the account of an almost certainly unrealiable narrator.
The Hearing Trumpet has flavours that put me in mind of Stella Gibbons's Cold Comfort Farm and Gustav Meyrink's The Golem and The White Dominican, but Carrington uses her own recipe rather than following that of others.
Throughout the book, there are plenty of endearing and eccentric characters (I'm slightly in love with Carmella Velasquez!), as well as appallingly eccentric ones, waspish humour and deadly machinations. I've shied away from using the adjective 'surreal', as Carrington was a talented surrealist artist and it seems too easy and lazy a word to throw in, but there it is - there is defnitely a building up of surreal elements as the story progresses, but not, I think, simply for stylistic effect. I look forward to re-reading the book and unpeeling its layers.
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LibraryThing member CharlotteN
A strange, unlikely tale whose often absurd surrealism exposes the surreal-ness of everyday life. It echoes the absurdism of Eugene Ionesco while somehow making sense of ancient religion. A worthwhile read for anyone who enjoys the darkness of the weird and wonderful.
LibraryThing member le.vert.galant
Luis Buñuel gets it right: "Reading 'The Hearing Trumpet' liberates us from the miserable reality of our days." This is an amazing and brilliant piece of writing. The pacing is extraordinary. It begins as what seems to be a domestic drama and then expands into a fantastic story. To say more would
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spoil the impact. My recommendation is to plunge right in and save the introduction until after you've read the novel. Show Less
LibraryThing member kkisser
A coven of little old ladies, with the help of a pack of wolves, a nest of bees and a freelance mailman named Taliesin, steel the Holy Grail from the descendants of the Crusaders and return it to the Goddess from whence the Christians stole it in the first place. While illuminating the pagan roots
Show More
of the Christian Mythology, Leonora Carrington also admonishes the church for its historically cruel treatment of women, especially the elderly variety, as second class citizens. But more then that, Carrington, a surrealist painter and writer, manages to evoke a brilliant sense of dreaminess and real emotion, something conspicuously absent from most surrealist writings. Personally, this is one of my all time favorite books. Show Less
LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
Beginning as a simple tale of some of the indignities of aging, this soon veered off into the surreal and magical, but in a way that I thoroughly enjoyed. 92 year old Marion lives with her son, her son's wife, and the wife's son. She is deaf and eccentric, and they barely tolerate her. Soon after
The book was very funny. Carrington writes very well, and is a wonderful prose stylist. This is definitely a unique book, and one I will long remember.
Here are some snippets of "Marionisms" I enjoyed:
"Sleeping and waking are not quite as distinctive as they used to be, I often mix them up."
"People under seventy and over seven are very unreliable, if they are not cats."
"I do not wish anyone to think my mind wanders far, it wanders, but never farther than I want."
"I am never lonely....Or rather I do not suffer from loneliness. I suffer much from the idea that my loneliness might be taken away from me by a lot of mercilessly well-meaning people."
and finally,
"At times I had thought of writing poetry myself, but getting words to rhyme with each other is difficult, like trying to drive a herd of turkeys and kangaroos down a crowded thoroughfare and keep them together without looking into shop windows. There are so many words and they all mean something."
4 stars
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the book opens, they place her in a home for elderly women where Marion becomes involved with assorted other eccentrics. Each lives in a separate building, one shaped like a birthday cake, one like a mushroom, and so on. Things become more and more bizarre.The book was very funny. Carrington writes very well, and is a wonderful prose stylist. This is definitely a unique book, and one I will long remember.
Here are some snippets of "Marionisms" I enjoyed:
"Sleeping and waking are not quite as distinctive as they used to be, I often mix them up."
"People under seventy and over seven are very unreliable, if they are not cats."
"I do not wish anyone to think my mind wanders far, it wanders, but never farther than I want."
"I am never lonely....Or rather I do not suffer from loneliness. I suffer much from the idea that my loneliness might be taken away from me by a lot of mercilessly well-meaning people."
and finally,
"At times I had thought of writing poetry myself, but getting words to rhyme with each other is difficult, like trying to drive a herd of turkeys and kangaroos down a crowded thoroughfare and keep them together without looking into shop windows. There are so many words and they all mean something."
4 stars
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LibraryThing member ansate
this exists in some amazing space between Margaret Atwood and Kurt Vonnegut.
LibraryThing member gbill
‘The Hearing Trumpet’ reads like wild, feminist, apocalyptic fiction, or a surreal painting of another kind by artist Leonora Carrington. It starts off easily enough, as a very old woman with a hearing problem is marginalized by her son and his family, and then put away into a nursing home. The
It seems to me Carrington’s point is first and foremost feminist. Confining the old woman to the rigid boundaries and idiotic rules of the nursing home, seems to symbolize women being ‘put in their place’, and indeed, Carrington was not a fan of being shut in and contained throughout her life. Carrington also makes the point that men have dominated, making war on each other and inventing the atomic bomb. About Christianity, she asks “why was Eve blamed for everything?” and wonders “how their angry and vicious God became so popular”. In the apocalypse that mysteriously happens, she seems to be pointing out a need to return to more ancient, maternal ways, those connected with the natural Earth and universe.
I liked the book, but the combination of blending and warping mythological references, most of which were over my head, and the almost fairy tale like elements towards the end were just a bit too much for me to give it a higher rating.
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voice of this narrator is excellent, with little touches of wit and the perspective of someone whose mind is alive and well, and yet is misunderstood by everyone except her friend. The lady enters the home and finds others with various outlooks and intrigues, as well as an old painting of a mischievous looking nun, which Carrington then uses to create a ‘story within a story’ midway through the book. The nun puts up a good impression of being devout, but is in reality a believer in a fusion of all sorts of ancient mythologies and fantasies. As the book returns to the original, outer story, it becomes increasingly fantastical and ends in a crescendo of trippy, creative imagining.It seems to me Carrington’s point is first and foremost feminist. Confining the old woman to the rigid boundaries and idiotic rules of the nursing home, seems to symbolize women being ‘put in their place’, and indeed, Carrington was not a fan of being shut in and contained throughout her life. Carrington also makes the point that men have dominated, making war on each other and inventing the atomic bomb. About Christianity, she asks “why was Eve blamed for everything?” and wonders “how their angry and vicious God became so popular”. In the apocalypse that mysteriously happens, she seems to be pointing out a need to return to more ancient, maternal ways, those connected with the natural Earth and universe.
I liked the book, but the combination of blending and warping mythological references, most of which were over my head, and the almost fairy tale like elements towards the end were just a bit too much for me to give it a higher rating.
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LibraryThing member Cariola
As I'm not a fan of fantasy or magical realism, this book did little for me--except bore me to tears. The writing itself is fine, and I enjoyed reading the introduction, but that's about all.
LibraryThing member Jayeless
I don't want you to think this is a begrudging three stars; I really did like it. The book is very strange and weird, and I feel like a LOT of it went over my head, but... it was short (as I must have mentioned, this quality in a book will make me forgive a lot of sins), and it is highly
For instance, some quotes I got out of it - "Policemen are not human beings so how can police dogs be animals?" and "the notoriously pig-headed race of Britain…" (as an Anglo, this one cracked me up quite a lot.)
I also like the idea of writing about old women who've been basically cast out by their families, because they're too old to be considered properly "human" any more. And that's such a depressing idea, so I like that this book was quite light-hearted and good-humoured about it, without shying away from it at all.
It's just, like I said, I felt like a lot went over my head... and at one point there was a 27-page diversion to describe the history of some people and I tend to dislike it when books do that. But yeah. Overall, I liked it, and that's what three stars is meant to suggest so there!
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quotable.For instance, some quotes I got out of it - "Policemen are not human beings so how can police dogs be animals?" and "the notoriously pig-headed race of Britain…" (as an Anglo, this one cracked me up quite a lot.)
I also like the idea of writing about old women who've been basically cast out by their families, because they're too old to be considered properly "human" any more. And that's such a depressing idea, so I like that this book was quite light-hearted and good-humoured about it, without shying away from it at all.
It's just, like I said, I felt like a lot went over my head... and at one point there was a 27-page diversion to describe the history of some people and I tend to dislike it when books do that. But yeah. Overall, I liked it, and that's what three stars is meant to suggest so there!
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LibraryThing member PatsyMurray
This feminist, surrealist novel also managed to be highly amusing. There was not a word out of place. I was so amused and intrigued I am planning to order all of her other books.
LibraryThing member Jessqi
This wonderful piece of surrealism is rich in detail and character. It's my favourite book.
LibraryThing member booklove2
What a kooky, fun ride this book is! The plot falls further and further down the rabbit hole, which is fitting as this could exist alongside 'Alice in Wonderland'. I feel this reminds me of so many books, but so many of the weird books I have read have probably been inspired by Leonora's writing.
Another favorite book of mine is Heidi Sopinka's 'The Dictionary of Animal Languages' which is inspired by Leonora Carrington's life using another name for the main character (Ivory). Now that I have read this book, I can definitely see that Ivory of 'Dictionary of Animal Languages' is also inspired by Marian Leatherby of 'The Hearing Trumpet', both being older women over the age of ninety recounting their memories. Marian says "my memory is full of all sorts of stuff which is not, perhaps, in chronological order, but there is a lot of it" - which is basically the plot and purpose of 'The Dictionary of Animal Languages' and Ivory of 'Dictionary' says that she is in a "protest against forgetting".
"Although freedom has come to us somewhat late in life, we have no intention of throwing it away again. Many of us have passed our lives with domineering and peevish husbands. When we were finally delivered of these we were chivvied around by our sons and daughters who not only no longer loved us, but considered us a burden and objects of ridicule and shame. Do you imagine in your wildest dreams that now we have tasted freedom we are going to let ourselves be pushed around once more by you and your leering mate?" (pg 154)
The book is definitely not only kooky. There is some real deep meaning and messages there.All three of these women - Leonora, Marian, and Ivory did not need to reach old age to be marginalized. In my mind, they exist in conversation with each other. I am very appreciative to 'The Hearing Trumpet' for at least opening my eyes to a new facet of 'The Dictionary of Animal Languages' and of course, Leonora herself.
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The details are so funny and so charming. I really enjoyed it. Another favorite book of mine is Heidi Sopinka's 'The Dictionary of Animal Languages' which is inspired by Leonora Carrington's life using another name for the main character (Ivory). Now that I have read this book, I can definitely see that Ivory of 'Dictionary of Animal Languages' is also inspired by Marian Leatherby of 'The Hearing Trumpet', both being older women over the age of ninety recounting their memories. Marian says "my memory is full of all sorts of stuff which is not, perhaps, in chronological order, but there is a lot of it" - which is basically the plot and purpose of 'The Dictionary of Animal Languages' and Ivory of 'Dictionary' says that she is in a "protest against forgetting".
"Although freedom has come to us somewhat late in life, we have no intention of throwing it away again. Many of us have passed our lives with domineering and peevish husbands. When we were finally delivered of these we were chivvied around by our sons and daughters who not only no longer loved us, but considered us a burden and objects of ridicule and shame. Do you imagine in your wildest dreams that now we have tasted freedom we are going to let ourselves be pushed around once more by you and your leering mate?" (pg 154)
The book is definitely not only kooky. There is some real deep meaning and messages there.All three of these women - Leonora, Marian, and Ivory did not need to reach old age to be marginalized. In my mind, they exist in conversation with each other. I am very appreciative to 'The Hearing Trumpet' for at least opening my eyes to a new facet of 'The Dictionary of Animal Languages' and of course, Leonora herself.
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LibraryThing member bness2
Like her paintings, this story is a surrealistic fantasy. It starts fairly normally as a story of an aging woman who is being shuffled off to an old people's home and gradually veers off into the fantastic. What is most delightful about the book is the witty voice of the main character, who is the
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narrator of the story. The ending is utterly unexpected and trippy. Show Less
LibraryThing member SandDune
Born in 1917, Leonora Carrington was the archetypal Surrealist wild child and muse, and a painter and writer in her own right, who ran away from London to Paris age 19 to continue her love affair with the painter Max Ernst. Post war, and after incarceration in a Spanish mental institution, she
Marian Letherby, age 92, is an Englishwoman living in an unnamed Spanish-speaking American country with her son and his family. Given a hearing trumpet by her friend Carmella she discovers that her family is planning to send her to a home run by the ‘Well of Light Brotherhood:
‘The Well of Light Brotherhood’ said Carmella, ‘ is obviously something extremely sinister. Not I suppose a company for grinding old ladies into breakfast cereal, but something morally sinister. It all sounds terrible. I must think of something to rescue you from the jaws of the Well of Light’.’
On arrival at the home, Marion discovers that the ‘Well of Light’ is strange indeed:
‘The main building was in fact a castle, surrounded by various pavilions with incongruous shapes. Pixielike dwellings shaped like toadstools, Swiss chalets, railway carriages, one or two ordinary bungalows, something shaped like a boot, another like what I took to be an outsize Egyptian mummy.’
And why is there a very strange portrait of a winking nun in the dining hall?
The first half of The Hearing Trumpet is merely a little idiosyncratic, but halfway through Marion is given a manuscript to read: ‘A True and Faithful rendering of the Life of Rosalinda Alvarez Della Cueva, abbess of the Convent of Saint Barbara of Tartarus’ and after this things get very weird indeed.
I struggled with this half-way through, but the ending was so utterly unexpected and so very, very mad that it completely redeemed itself. Imagine a surrealist painting written down and you won’t go far wrong!
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settled in Mexico. The Hearing Trumpet is just as surprising and anarchic as you might expect from someone with Leonora Carrington’s history.Marian Letherby, age 92, is an Englishwoman living in an unnamed Spanish-speaking American country with her son and his family. Given a hearing trumpet by her friend Carmella she discovers that her family is planning to send her to a home run by the ‘Well of Light Brotherhood:
‘The Well of Light Brotherhood’ said Carmella, ‘ is obviously something extremely sinister. Not I suppose a company for grinding old ladies into breakfast cereal, but something morally sinister. It all sounds terrible. I must think of something to rescue you from the jaws of the Well of Light’.’
On arrival at the home, Marion discovers that the ‘Well of Light’ is strange indeed:
‘The main building was in fact a castle, surrounded by various pavilions with incongruous shapes. Pixielike dwellings shaped like toadstools, Swiss chalets, railway carriages, one or two ordinary bungalows, something shaped like a boot, another like what I took to be an outsize Egyptian mummy.’
And why is there a very strange portrait of a winking nun in the dining hall?
The first half of The Hearing Trumpet is merely a little idiosyncratic, but halfway through Marion is given a manuscript to read: ‘A True and Faithful rendering of the Life of Rosalinda Alvarez Della Cueva, abbess of the Convent of Saint Barbara of Tartarus’ and after this things get very weird indeed.
I struggled with this half-way through, but the ending was so utterly unexpected and so very, very mad that it completely redeemed itself. Imagine a surrealist painting written down and you won’t go far wrong!
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LibraryThing member emmakendon
Stuck in the Home Counties during lockdown, and reading Sussex-related lit, this is a bit of a tangent. Loved by a couple of friends, and charming - especially Marian Leatherby herself, but I'm spoilt by Angela Carter & Fevvers! Some really fun moments, though, like the observation about people
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following governments, the fudge-poison sequence, every bit of spying and eavesdropping, and the calculation of how long it would take to collect enough cat fur for a sweater. Still, the only lockdown-walking related resonance really came from the sense of money and smugness of Chiddingly & East Hoathly, not least the Parsonage and its huge land ownership, in the service of 'their angry and vicious God'. Show Less
LibraryThing member Estramir
The Hearing Trumpet is a fantastic little book, way ahead of it's time, it should be classed as a classic. To have the main character as a woman in her 90's is very empowering for those of us who are feeling a little old! Absolutely enjoyable and eccentric. Leonora Carrington was a most remarkable
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person by all accounts, if you haven't heard of her you certainly should find out! Show Less
LibraryThing member raketemensch
The original Latin root for 'obedience' is obaudire. It can be translated as ‘standing by, ready to listen’. Don’t let it fool you, The Hearing Trumpet is drenched in anarchism.
Its timeless rebelliousness appears as matter of fact and is of the healthiest kind: the stabbing social commentary
The book is full of brilliantly subtle comic characterizations but one truly unforgettable character is Remedios Varo-inspired Carmella: an avid loud-thinker and a red-wig wearing proto-riot girl in her 80’s. She steals the show every single time she appears.
Wild at heart and weird on top, this endlessly inventive book about elderly ladies has aged much better (if at all) than you’d think surrealist writing could. It may be not exactly my cup of tea but I can recognize a genius when I see one.
Read it and live free or die hard.
Its timeless rebelliousness appears as matter of fact and is of the healthiest kind: the stabbing social commentary
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sustains a very low level of venom and the narrator’s tone remains stately even when things get violent (it’s Mrs Carrington's signature trait, I am told). The novel follows the surrealist tradition with grace and without the usual self-indulgence that plagues the art of this variety. It’s all genuine, free-spirited and plain awesome sabbath of the weird; the bizarre imagery bleeds into the book’s reality gradually, in increasingly incisive bursts, but never diminishes the idea behind it. Even the now-familiar White Goddess tropes are delivered with flair and same thing can be said about the amazing finale in which, not to reveal too much, the order of things becomes somewhat re-oriented. The book is full of brilliantly subtle comic characterizations but one truly unforgettable character is Remedios Varo-inspired Carmella: an avid loud-thinker and a red-wig wearing proto-riot girl in her 80’s. She steals the show every single time she appears.
Wild at heart and weird on top, this endlessly inventive book about elderly ladies has aged much better (if at all) than you’d think surrealist writing could. It may be not exactly my cup of tea but I can recognize a genius when I see one.
Read it and live free or die hard.
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LibraryThing member lisapeet
Wonderfully weird tale of a very old woman consigned to a fantastical facility, the people she encounters there, and the adventures they have. It's full of strong-willed characters navigating old age and a very strange universe. Carrington's writing here has exactly the right surrealism-to-logic
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proportions to keep the book from spiraling out into whimsy—it's funny and dark, but never silly. It made for a great book club discussion, especially for all of us ladies of a certain age. Definitely recommended if you're one of those. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
1967 (Spanish)
1969 (French)
1974 (English)
Physical description
176 p.; 8 inches
ISBN
1681374641 / 9781681374642