Allegorizings

March 15, 2021
A fitting coda to the career of a singular writer. Morris (1926-2020) was a prolific historian and author perhaps best known for her Pax Britannica trilogy about the British Empire as well as her participation in Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's 1953 Mount Everest expedition. Refreshingly, this thematically conceived collection of essays, unlike so many publications of miscellany issued shortly after an author dies, reflects the writer's intent and cooperation. As her longtime editor, Robert Weil, notes in the introduction, in her final decade of life, she discussed her work on a "posthumous book," one not to be published until after she died--though, as Weil points out, not because it "contained salacious revelations." Discussions of politics and other hot-button topics are scarce in this collection, which highlights the travel pieces that built the author's reputation for acute observation and analysis. In addition, the book showcases Morris' keen attention to mortality, faith (and lack thereof), and basic human decency--what Weil describes as her "adamantine belief in the power of kindness to help solve the immense problems of the world." The title is appropriate, as the author's essays are rarely about just one thing. A sterling example is her incisive appreciation of Ulysses, a novel she long resisted. Morris sees it not as a single coherent novel but rather an amalgamation of many parts: celebration of Dublin, portrait of an "outsider" figure, incomprehensible prose poem, "even a sort of sex manual, because a multitude of sexual preferences and variations are observed." Though Morris began her gender transition from male to female in 1964 (at the time, one of the most well-known cultural figures to do so) and underwent reassignment surgery in 1972, she summarily dismisses "those more interested in my gender than in my books." Throughout, she demonstrates the stylistic command that has always distinguished her work. While stressing empathy and resisting pomposity, she refuses to suffer fools gladly. Engaging reflections on a life lived fully and well.

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April 26, 2021
This shrewd posthumous collection from Morris (1926–2020) (Thinking Again) showcases the prolific writer’s personal musings and memories. The 45 essays are bite-size, and in the foreword, Morris calls the entries her most personal. True to her oeuvre, the pieces include travelogues, tributes to great ships, and odes to glimmering cities, and also dig into her own life. “Dreaming Dreams” sees Morris recounting a dream that coaxed a confession of an “unlovely habit,” nose-picking as an adult, which in turn leads to a stream of thoughts on memory, shame, mortality. “Transcendental Town” covers her fascination with Tournus, France, while “Invisible Loyalty” sheds light on her position as a Welsh-English “culturist” (rather than nationalist). Morris’s meditations are consistently charming—in “Sneezing,” she writes that “among all clearances, the sneeze stands alone.” “The Nijinksi of Grammar,” meanwhile, is an ode to the “graceful” exclamation point. Where these snapshots come together is in Morris’s steady unwinding of her idea that life is never what it seems, that imagination plays a role in constructing reality, and that living is a “majestically impenetrable allegory.” Morris’s fans will love these essays, and she’s bound to win new devotees, too, with a parting gift that’s gently wise and emotionally stirring. Agent: Caroline Dawnay, United Agents.