• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

The Women in Black Author Background Madeleine St John Born: 1941, Castlecrag, Sydney Australia Died: 2006, London, England Madeleine St John was born to Edward St John, a Queens Counsel and Liberal MP, and Paris– Book Groups @ Blue Mountains Library born Sylvette (née Cargher). Immersed in federal politics, Edward instructed that St John and her younger sister Collette be sent away to a private school, later likened by St John to Jane Eyre’s grim Lowood school. It was here, when St John was 12, that they were informed by the headmistress that their beloved mother had died and they were never to speak of her again (Sylvette, who suffered depression, had committed suicide). St John eventually became permanently estranged from her father, who was said to be cold and aloof, although she acknowledged that he gifted her a great love of literature. St John studied arts at Sydney University, graduating in 1963. Her contemporaries included Germaine Greer, Clive James, Bruce Beresford, Les Murray, Robert Hughes and Oz editor Richard Walsh (later defended by St John’s father during his obscenity trial). Admired for her wit and brilliance, St John nevertheless had few close friends at University. Unusually among her libertarian set, she was and remained an avid churchgoer. St John married fellow student Christopher Tillam soon after graduating, and moved with him to San Francisco where he studied film. The marriage ended after she moved to England in 1968, and he failed to follow her. St John felt she had found her place in England, which fascinated her. She is quoted as saying “I was brought up on the idea that England was where I came from, in a deep sense where I belonged. Australia was a deviation of one's essence.”1 St John took a series of small jobs in bookshops and offices, eventually settling to working two days a week in an antique store in Kensington. For eight years she worked on a biography of the Russian spiritualist Madame Helena Blavatsky, before destroying the manuscript in dissatisfaction. St John turned to writing fiction in the early 1990s. The Women in Black was her first novel, published in 1993. Three other novels followed, A Pure Clear Light (1996), The Essence of the Thing (1997), and A Stairway to Paradise (1999). St John became the first Australian woman to be nominated for the Booker Prize for The Essence of the Thing. In 2015 The Women in Black was adapted intro a stage musical, and St John’s friend Bruce Beresford adapted it into a successful film in 2018. St John was working on a new novel when she died of emphysema at the age of 64. Her decade-long illness together with her inclination to privacy meant her final years were spent as a virtual recluse, and she died alone at St Mary’s Hospital in London. St John left strict instructions as to her funeral—no reference was to be made to her life (a rule circumvented with a speech made before the actual service). She also made provision as to the posthumous treatment of her work, with no translations into any other language permitted. Sources: The Monthly website, Obituaries Australia website, Wikipedia 1 Christopher Potter, www.anu.edu.au/obituary/st-john-madeleine-13361 retrieved 25/03/20 The Women in Black Book Summary The women in black, so named for the black frocks they wear while working at Goode’s department store, are busy selling ladies’ dresses during the holiday rush. But they somehow find time to pursue other goals… Book Groups @ Blue Mountains Library Glamorous Magda runs the high-end gowns department. A Slovenian émigré, Magda is cultured and continental and hopes to open her own boutique one day. Patty, in her mid-thirties, has been working at Goode’s for years. Her husband, Frank, eats a steak for dinner every night, watches a few minutes of TV, and then turns in. Patty yearns for a baby, but Frank is always too tired for that kind of thing. Sweet, unlucky Fay wants to settle down with a nice man, but somehow nice men don’t see her as marriage material. Lisa, a clever and shy teenager, takes a job at Goode’s during her school break. Lisa wants to go to university and dreams of becoming a poet, but her father objects to both notions. By the time the last marked-down dress is sold, all of their lives will be forever changed. A pitch-perfect comedy of manners set during a pivotal era, and perfect for fans of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Women in Black conjures the energy of a city on the cusp of change and is a testament to the timeless importance of female friendship. Source: Simon & Schuster website The Women in Black Discussion Questions 1. The Women in Black is set against the backdrop of great societal change in 1950s Australia—from evolving roles for women to an influx of post-war European refugees. How do St John’s characters illustrate these changes? Considering that St John wrote this novel as an expatriate in London, are there places in the text where her feelings and attitudes about her home country emerge? Book Groups @ Blue Mountains Library 2. Early in her friendship with Lisa, Magda thinks, “It was very nice to have the charge of so ignorant a little girl, for she, Magda, could teach her everything”. Contrast this with Mrs. Miles’s comment to her daughter, “If only you knew what being grown-up can be like, you wouldn’t want to do it any faster than you have to”. Discuss how each woman influences Lisa in her own way. 3. Both Stefan and Rudi stand in stark contrast to the Australian men in the novel. Do you consider that the Australian men are as trapped as the women? Do any of the men in the book defy the roles set for them? 4. In some ways St John explores how family and connection can limit people. In other ways she shows the emptiness of life without connection. Discuss. 5. In what ways does Lisa symbolise the awakening Australian culture? What comment is St John making about the importance of art? 6. “Now then. Young girl. New frock. Box of chocolates. That’s all just as it should be!” Reviewer Susan Coll writing for The New York Times responds to this stanza at the end of the book by saying “As if the world might be set right if a girl just lands upon the right dress. Let’s raise a glass to the hope that such retro views have changed… ”. Do you agree with this reviewer that the protagonists’ deepest motivations are outmoded? If so, how did this affect your enjoyment of the book? 7. When Lisa falls in love with one of Magda’s model gowns, she is hit by “the sudden recognition that a particular frock is not merely pretty, would not merely suit one, but answers beyond these necessary attributes to one’s deepest notion of oneself”. Have you had a similar feeling about an item of clothing before? Discuss. Just for fun: 8. Do you have fond memories of visits to opulent old-fashioned department stores such as David Jones in Sydney? Discuss what makes these places memorable, and how they contrast with modern stores. Sources: Simon & Schuster website, Text Publishing website. The Women in Black Reviews Although its title suggests mystery and allure, this wry debut instead focuses on the loneliness and ennui of three department store employees. These women, identically attired in black dresses that serve as uniforms, work in the Ladies' Frocks Department at Goode's, a store in Sydney, Australia… St . John writes in a mannerly, witty style and in Book Groups @ Blue Mountains Library spite of her characters' stereotpyical girlishness (i.e., shallow infatuations with pretty ``frocks'' and ``eligible bachelors''), an essentially light-hearted tone sustains this tale. Publishers Weekly This glorious, witty snapshot of Australia in the 1950s…it really is a gem in the rough.…This is no nostalgia piece for a lost way of life, but a clever, funny argument for why things had to change. Sunday Times Department store particulars are part of the charm of The Women in Black, a deceptively smart comic gem that tracks four women through the pandemonium of one holiday season in 1950s Sydney. Laced with a fierce intelligence that captures the limited options for women and postwar xenophobic views, it’s also a love letter to department stores of yore. Let’s raise a glass to this heroic comic novel that’s not only still alive but getting a second wind. Susan Coll, The New York Times The Women in Black is a comedy of manners, set in a Sydney department store, F.G. Goode, circa 1960. Everything unfolds over the course of a scant few weeks. During that period a handful of weighty incidents do occur, but they never really threaten the plot’s placid surface. This is not a criticism, not in the final reckoning. St. John manages a buoyancy here that’s ultimately comforting. A quick engagement doesn’t end with a quick parting, perhaps in part because we don’t follow it even as far as the altar, though this doesn’t undermine the good feelings generated. A missing husband has actually gone away for the chance to make extra money. His failure to tell his wife this is the result of dumb self-centeredness, rather than an active wish to hurt her. And a young girl– the heart of the novel really – awaits her high school exam results, longs for a beautiful dress she sees in the department store, and learns something of fashion and life from her more worldly, older coworker, all without suffering a single, crushing blow.

Load more

  5

Copy Link