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BUtterfield 8 -- John O'Hara

Although there has been small revival of interest in John O'Hara in recent years, as can be seen by the 2019 appearance of a Library of America edition of four of his novels, he is never going to regain the attention he enjoyed in the thirties, when he was a regular in the "New Yorker" and both the 1934 "Appointment in Samarra" and the 1935 "BUtterfield 8" were best sellers.

Amongst the many reasons for this decline is his stylistic weakness compared to his now more highly esteemed contemporaries; his prose cannot match the lyricism of Fitzgerald, the allusive brevity of Hemingway, or the distinctive modernist idioms of Faulkner or Dos Passos.

Nevertheless, his ability to create convincing dialogue is one of the strengths of "BUtterfield 8" and his acute ear is of a piece with the other observational powers at work is this novel of New York in the early years of the Depression. O'Hara had a sharp eye for the markers of social class and status, racial and ethnic prejudice, and the power of alcohol with Prohibition still in force. Notably, an unprurient candor about sex might surprise the reader of today and probably accounted at least in part for strong sales in the past.

The novel, revealing as it is about the Depression and the cafe society component of the metropolitan middle classes, is more than a document in social history. At its heart is the search of its young protagonist Gloria Wandrous for both love and freedom and her uncertainty about what these might be. This search and uncertainty are shown at work in her adulterous and abusive relationship with the older businessman Weston Liggett and the unconsumated yet deeper romance with commercial artist Eddie Brunner. She never finds what she is looking for, and these unresolved tensions are perhaps mirrored in the novel's conclusion, which has struck many critics as clumsily unsatisfying.

Although I recognize the literary weakness of the abrupt ending of the narrative, I found myself impressed by "BUtterfield *" both in regard to its social observation and psychological insight. I would recommend it to readers with an interest in the twenties and thirties and to those who would like to understand better how the rapidly changing role of women was portrayed at that time.

Many years ago I enjoyed "Appointment in Samarra". Now that I've read "BUtterfield 8", I'm going to give some of his short stories, his 1938 "Hope of Heaven", and 1940 "Pal Joey" a try.

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Butterfield 8 is a much more interesting and much better movie than its reputation would suggest.

One of the problems is that Butterfield 8 really is trashy. It’s an overheated sweaty sex melodrama. I happen to like overheated sweaty sex melodramas.

It dates from a period when Hollywood was tentatively exploring the idea of making movies for grown-ups.

My review: https://dfordoom-movieramblings.blogspot.com/2021/12/butterfield-8-1960.html

#ElizabethTaylor #LaurenceHarvey #classicmovies #FilmMastodon #JohnOHara #RomanceMovies