The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Mary Butts: Scenes From the Life by Nathalie Blondel
Irving Malin

Untitled document

Nathalie Blondel. Mary Butts: Scenes From the Life. McPherson, 1998. 553 pp. $35.00.

Mary Butts is, perhaps, the most obscure of major modern writers. Although she wrote wonderful fiction, she was also a brilliant critic admired by readers of The Dial, The Bookmen, and Time and Tide. (Blondel’s bibliography is valuable because it fully documents Butts’s criticism.)

Here are some details about Butts (1890-1937). She was a descendant of the Butts who was William Blake’s patron. The Blake connection is significant because it demonstrates the wealth of the Butts family and the influence of Blake upon Butts. Butts often struggled with her mother; she did not want to be a loyal daughter who kept her place. Her art was more important than family loyalty. Butts was a believer in hermetic theology; she believed in “astral projection,” occult revelation. Butts was a cocaine and heroin addict; she used drugs to heighten her awareness of “the other world.” These “scenes from the life” would not matter if she didn’t write remarkable prose. Here is an example from one of my favorite stories: “With or Without Buttons”: “Through walls and glass, through open doors or shut, a tide poured in, not of any light or dark or scent or sound or heat or coolness. Tide. Without distinction from north or south or without or within; without flow or ebb, a Becoming: without stir or departure or stay: without radiance or pace. Star-tide. Has not Science had wind of rays poured in from interstellar space?” The passage conveys the movement of the tide—a suggestive word—with it’s rhythm. The simple one-syllable words give clarity; but they are balanced by “interstellar,” “Science,” and “Becoming.” The entire passage is, in its way, about “within and without.” It is eerie and beautiful. I am grateful to Blondel. Her bibliography is detailed, clear, forceful; it is, like Carolyn Burke’s biography of Loy, a revelation of an extraordinary artist. [Irving Malin]


Interview with Founder Board of Directors Funders Submission Guidelines Dalkey Archive Full Catalog Current and Forthcoming Titles Recent Titles Review of Contemporary Fiction Special Library Offer Special Backlist Sale Stores & Wholesalers Academics Libraries Reviewers Context Casebooks Author Interviews Links Dalkey Archive News Events Newsletter

The Review of Contemporary Fiction Mary Butts: Scenes From the Life by Nathalie Blondel Irving Malin Untitled document Nathalie Blondel. Mary Butts: Scenes From the Life. McPherson, 1998. 553 pp. $35.00. Mary Butts is, perhaps, the most obscure of major modern writers. Although she wrote wonderful fiction, she was also a brilliant critic admired by readers of The Dial, The Bookmen, and Time and Tide. (Blondel’s bibliography is valuable because it fully documents Butts’s criticism.) Here are some details about Butts (1890-1937). She was a descendant of the Butts who was William Blake’s patron. The Blake connection is significant because it demonstrates the wealth of the Butts family and the influence of Blake upon Butts. Butts often struggled with her mother; she did not want to be a loyal daughter who kept her place. Her art was more important than family loyalty. Butts was a believer in hermetic theology; she believed in “astral projection,” occult revelation. Butts was a cocaine and heroin addict; she used drugs to heighten her awareness of “the other world.” These “scenes from the life” would not matter if she didn’t write remarkable prose. Here is an example from one of my favorite stories: “With or Without Buttons”: “Through walls and glass, through open doors or shut, a tide poured in, not of any light or dark or scent or sound or heat or coolness. Tide. Without distinction from north or south or without or within; without flow or ebb, a Becoming: without stir or departure or stay: without radiance or pace. Star-tide. Has not Science had wind of rays poured in from interstellar space?” The passage conveys the movement of the tide—a suggestive word—with it’s rhythm. The simple one-syllable words give clarity; but they are balanced by “interstellar,” “Science,” and “Becoming.” The entire passage is, in its way, about “within and without.” It is eerie and beautiful. I am grateful to Blondel. Her bibliography is detailed, clear, forceful; it is, like Carolyn Burke’s biography of Loy, a revelation of an extraordinary artist. [Irving Malin]

Search the full text of our books: