Work
Apart from Dolores (1911), a traditional novel she later rejected as something "one wrote as a girl", Compton-Burnett's fiction deals with domestic situations in large households which, to all intents and purposes, invariably seem Edwardian. The description of human weaknesses and foibles of all sorts pervades her work, and the family that emerges from each of her novels must be seen as dysfunctional in one way or another. Starting with Pastors and Masters (1925), Compton-Burnett developed a highly individualistic style. Her fiction relies heavily on dialogue and demands constant attention on the reader's part: there are instances in her work where important information is casually mentioned in a half sentence. Her use of punctuation is deliberately perfunctory: there are no colons or semi-colons, no exclamation marks, no italics.
Read more about this topic: Ivy Compton-Burnett
Famous quotes containing the word work:
“I work hard in social work, public relations, and raising the Grimaldi heirs.”
—Princess Grace (1929–1982)
“when I work I am pure as an angel
tiger and clear is my eye and hot
my brain and silent all the whining
grunting piglets of the appetites.”
—Marge Piercy (b. 1936)
““The work is done,” grown old he thought,
“According to my boyish plan;
Let the fools rage, I swerved in nought,
Something to perfection brought;”
But louder sang that ghost “What then?””
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)