An Autumn Sowing

An Autumn Sowing may or may not be a good story. You certainly won't find out by attempting to read this atrocious edition. Far beyond a few "typos" which one comes to expect with electronic books, this is quite possibly the worst example of eTranscription that I've ever seen. Punctuation has either been replaced by various symbols, or simply thrown out the window altogether. Perhaps the oddest thing of all is that, who/whatever did the transcription couldn't decide if the name of the protagonist family was Keeling, or Reeling. They seem to have flipped a coin whenever the name cropped up, and then hap-hazardously gone with the winner. I found myself wondering if it could be some sort of odd plot device.Benson was a wonderfully entertaining writer, and his work certainly deserves more respect than it's been given here. By all means, find a worthy edition and enjoy this book, but avoid this piece of electronic abortion at all costs!

E.F. Benson is best known for the Mapp and Lucia novels. Those books are campy and lighthearted. An Autumn Sowing is basically serious, although there is humor.The book is set in the early 1900's. The story concerns a prosperous merchant (Thomas Keeling) in a fictional English city. Keeling's wife is snobbish and empty-headed. Keeling hires a secretary, with whom he falls in love. Their story is the gist of the novel.Keeling's daughter provides a secondary story line. She is an "old maid" --- at 25 --- who falls in love with the new young parson, who is probably gay.There is another sub-plot, concerning Keeling's relations with the County Club. Keeling is a member of the City Club, which is composed of the local merchants. He is trying to get elected to the County Club. The County Club consists of the old, land-owning gentry. It looks down on the City Club. Keeling and his wife's relations with the local lord and lady are another story line.Frustrated and thwarted love is the major theme in both of the romantic story lines. But there is more. The Mapp and Lucia novels have much social commentary, and An Autumn Sowing is the same. Snobbery and social-climbing are presented in ways both humorous and serious. The concept of who is and is not a "gentleman" is explored and exemplified. An Autumn Sowing shows the influence of Anthony Trollope here.The pace of the novel is swift. There is a lot of story-telling in only 336 pages. The gradual way in which Keeling unconsciously (at first) falls in love is presented convincingly, in a series of small incidents. The scale is small and domestic. Most of the novel is set in either Keeling's home or his office. Both of these locales are elaborated.At the end of the novel, there is a melodramatic incident which is a bit over-the top. The resolution is unsatisfying. Up to that point, the stories are presented in a subdued and credible manner.The Bibliobazaar editon is a 5 ¾ x 8 ¾ paperback. It has a sturdy, heavy feel. The paper feels a bit heavier than ordinary copy paper. The cover has minimal graphics. There is no information other than the title and author. There is a picture of a sunset, which is appropriate to the story. The spine shows the title only, not the author. Inside, the text appears to be a photo-copy of the original edition. The text is a bit cramped. It occupies only a 3 ¼ x 5 ¼ space. There is a lot of empty space given to margins on each page.

There are many typographic and formatting issues with this book, but the writing is wonderful--my favorite Benson so far. If corrections were made to the text, it would be a real treat to read this.

This is the rather melancholic tale of a prosperous businessman in the "autumn" of his years (50s) realizing that all he has to show for his life are a silly wife, a preposterous daughter, a grotesquely-decorated house, business acquaintances, and a library full of books that hint at a world of beauty, grace and provenance that he covets even as he resigns himself to accepting that it is beyond his reach. Until a young woman enters his life, and he suddenly discovers himself "sowing" both the passion and pains of love.I'm not entirely convinced the author, E.F. Benson, knew what he wanted to accomplish in this novel. The first few chapters of the book read as relatively standard period satire, skewering such familiar targets as silly wives, self-important priests, and social castes. Somewhere along the way, however, a funny thing happens: Benson appears to develop a certain fondness for his businessman protagonist Keeling - perhaps because poor Keeling at least aspires to passion, or perhaps because Keeling possesses the good sense to fall in love with Norah, Benson's sensible and appealing female lead. Whatever the reason, the novel gradually transitions from satire to sentiment, finally resolving into a climax that's a muddle of both.Despite the novel's thematic inconsistency, however, I can't find it in me to be too critical. The fact is, I enjoyed Benson's comfortable prose, I found the main characters to be authentic and sincere, the satire was entertaining enough, and if the ending is a bit of a muddle, at least its a decorous muddle, sullied neither by cloying solicitude nor misogyny. An Autumn Sowing may not be an "improving" sort of book; on the whole, however, I felt its merits more than outweighed its flaws.

I came to this novel via the author's Mapp and Lucia stories, which I have read and re-read with much enjoyment, They are indeed a very hard act to follow.The first part of 'An Autumn Sowing' gives few if any clues to how tantalising and profoundly moving the story line will become. Outstanding, particularly as the tale progresses, is E.F.Benson's highly skilled use of language. His imagery is often poetic, evocative, and sometimes breathtakingly lovely. He is equally adept at drawing characters, their emotions, and the simple but treacherous situations they encounter in an era of rigid social expectation. I ended the book feeling far more impressed than I expected in the early pages, and I'm really glad that I stuck with it.

The insightfulness of Benson into life is revealed only too well in his characters.Those in this book are easily recognisable and even though written in the delicacies of his time produce a warming glow in the reader.

Paperback had some odd stamp markings on it. Not exactly pristine but ok.

This was different from most of the other Bensons I've read as it isn't predominantly a comedy. Yes, there are plenty of light touches along the way, but is mainly a touching account of a rather staid man in his 50s who begins to realise there is a great deal of life that he has missed out on. As always with Benson the characters are well drawn and he allows them to reveal themselves through dialogue, but there is a deep pathos here. I enjoyed this, and was genuinely moved by it.