Reading Josephine Tey's BRAT FARRAR

Brat Farrar by Josephine Tey

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
My copy happens to be a "pocketbook" that was published by the Berkeley Publishing Corporation (in arrangement with the Macmillan Company), and was sold at $0.35 then. I almost got this copy completely tattered while reading the book mostly in the subway to and fro my regular part-time jobs, because of the fragile condition of the paper used for printing this book. Having said that, I was greatly satisfied, again, with Josephine Tey's work in this suspense novel. The novel runs very similar to what has been tackled in the movie "The Talented Mr. Ripley." With some twists added into it, the story's roughly about an impostor who's working on his fraud to "rightfully" claim an inheritance from his supposedly twin brother who turned out to be the killer of the real twin who died nearly eight (8) years ago. I've been working on reading all her works that come my way (I got this second hand copy from a thrift shop, costing a dollar), as she writes in the most "English" way, if there is such a thing actually these days (with "EnglishA Grammar of the English Tongue" growing to become most extensively used the world over, until perhaps "Mandarin" overtakes its commercial usage now--but that's again another topic). Of course, this, perhaps, is the kind of "English" most of readers and writers these days refer to when they use English, if ever they actually find time to read and write given today's varied distractions. Based on my reading experience in English, Tey's writing is absolutely among the standard works in English the way the language was used in Great Britain when Tey's still alive (sad that she died young: I wonder if she lived longer and got to write far more exquisite fiction works!) before the end of the 1950s.

Now, my contention behind these review remarks is mainly to express my displeasure against perceived notions on how to write in the most "English" way, as a writer can be guided by Tey and other writers like her who were born, raised and educated in Great Britain. Does that mean that those of us who learned our "English" outside of Great Britain does not know much "English" for us to be relegated to secondary or even lower levels (as I can imagine the scheme on these matters go about, as perpetrated by snotty, jobless, insecure writers, readers, self-assigned authorities elsewhere in the English speaking world) because we did not learn our "English" in Great Britain itself. I've always been intrigued and at times amused by utterly and dismissive notions about not being "English" enough, or being a "non-native English speaker" to be able to write really in the clearest voice, and gain much deserved attention and respect from willing and paying readers in the English language (at least outside of Great Britain, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other former colonies of the United Kingdom).

What happens to us writers (plus readers) who learned "English" from our books, our TV sets (remember Sesame Street?), and the succeeding generations of teachers from when "English" was first introduced to our shores and culture by an invasive group of self-interested and greedy caretakers? Do our "English" collective works possess qualities not "native enough" to be considered seriously? Or do we certainly have to make our point clear and loud, and be heard well enough as there are many of us (count those in the Philippines, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Nigeria, the Caribbean countries, Guyana, etc.) actually outside of those countries mentioned here, and not be relegated to just being mere "readers" or non-native speakers. We writers in the English language from other places excluded from the enumeration earlier are very well now claiming our heritage and our learnings, in honor of our great teachers and those who came ahead of us, and we're not going to be considered "secondary or lower," even certainly at times (or perhaps more times than can be counted), there may be lapses in strictly following grammar rules as they are dictated and put into standards by authoritarian academicians and other highly-critical know-it-all English-language writers. We come to claim our rightful places of our stakes in propagating English as we've known it (and not according to the terms of how those in current top minority are making use of "English"). We have come into complete terms about the very use of "English" given its accompanying cultural baggage, and now making use of the language as our very own, and shaped accordingly to our local and personal tastes and experiences.

Tey's novels have allowed me to read fiction works, and experience them in the very language that I considered to be my tongue when I write (this being my choice, realizing that the audience of my works are mostly those who'd be reading in English). At least, I'm confident that her books have been written in unadulterated "English" (if ever there is such a thing!). This issue of being not "English" enough becomes more relevant and critical when a writer like myself, makes use of a language among several choices I got (being myself bilingual, on top of being able to understand other languages in my native Philippines, plus a version of the Spanish language). I give credit to my teachers and the environment where I grew up, plus the accumulated experiences I have earned that have allowed me to write in this language. In the said process, I have gained much from well-written works in "English." They include Tey's novels, as they have contributed to my being able to experience the human condition framed in a criminal-mind set-up as she deftly depicted in her novels in her rather "stiff" or "serious" English tone. I certainly write in a different manner and tone, but I wonder if I can even write according to Tey's style and manner. These elements give a certain charm to her work, and I look at her works as "standards" that are a challenge even to emulate (I don't really see myself doing much fiction works, anyway---as of the time of this writing!)