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Dodie Smith |
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| I Capture The Castle |
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First published in Great Britain by William Heinemann 1949. Various paperback editions currently available - that published by Virago Modern Classics, ISBN 1-86049-102-2, has an excellent introduction by Valerie Grove.
After success in the West End as a playwright, Dodie Smith moved to California and wrote screenplays until, after the war, she decided to write a novel. Probably best known today for the later One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Smith's first novel I Capture the Castle has not been out of print since first published in 1949. Often regarded as a children's book, Smith's biographer Grove makes a persuasive case for it to be regarded as a genuinely adult work, which is how it was first acclaimed.
The castle of the title is home to the Mortmain family: father James (suffering acute writer's block), the wondrously warm step-mother Topaz, two teenage daughters Rose and Cassandra, and their younger brother Thomas. Despite living in a castle, the Mortmains are virtually penniless, and a great deal of the story concerns their struggles to retain dignity while keeping body and soul together. Beginnings are important, and the first sentence of I Capture the Castle has a great opening line: "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink" As with so much of the novel, the reader is drawn to narrator Cassandra's adult and pragmatic acceptance of her difficulties, contrasting with of her dramatic and sometimes fanciful girlish schemes and plans for the future. Beautifully written, the novel explores both conventional and romantic responses to problems of life and love, allowing both head and heart to have their say.
Naturism might seem an unusual component of life in a castle, but Smith shows two of her characters enjoying communing with nature. The artistic Topaz finds striding around nude a necessary way of blowing away cobwebs and frustrations, of getting back to her true self. The rest of the family accept but do not share these "pagan" habits, until one day Cassandra gets an urge to try solo open-air nudity for herself. Smith treats this near-naturist behaviour as entirely reasonable - while acknowledging that it is not the sort of thing most people do, and pointing out that the activity is not "Nudism". She is clearly aware that exhibitionism and naturism are different and distinct: she shows that an individual getting free of clothing to be close to nature on their own has nothing to do with the former, but is not necessarily indulging in the latter. I think the descriptions are excellent - see for yourself in the extracts.
An edited version of this review appeared in the 2005 December issue of H&E Naturist magazine.
Ratings:
| Nudity | Naturist nudity | A good read? |
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Inevitably, the story has been filmed - by the BBC in 2001, although the first broadcast was not until 2003. I much enjoyed this sensitive adaptation featuring Bill Nighy, Tara Fitzgerald and Romola Garai. The film includes nude scenes for both Topaz and Cassandra - neither of them sensational or titillating. As with the whole production, these scenes are faithful to the spirit of the novel and take only legitimate liberties with the text. Available on video and DVD, the film has been given a PG certificate.
Last updated 2005 November 3.
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Other content Copyright © author Tim Forcer
