Pastors and Masters
Encyclopedia
Pastors and Masters is a short novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett
published in 1925
. Set in the present in an old English university town, it is about two academics with literary pretensions and the small circle of family and friends surrounding them.
for 10 to 14-year-old boys in the vicinity of his old alma mater
but only spends ten minutes a day at the school to read prayers in the morning. The school is run by Charles Merry, a 50-year-old man without a degree who has become a schoolmaster out of financial necessity. Married with four young daughters, he does his best to keep up appearances and make parents believe—mainly on Herrick's behalf—that they are sending their sons to the right school, despite their inadequate equipment and their motley staff of only four: Merry himself; his wife Emily, a mother figure as unqualified to teach as her husband; Miss Basden, an unmarried middle-aged schoolmistress with slight feminist
tendencies; and Mr Burgess, a very young and inexperienced graduate.
Herrick, who lives together with his unmarried sister Emily, deplores the fact that he has never got round to writing a novel, which in his eyes would make him a "real author." As a matter of fact, his lack of talent has prevented him from ever having a book published, and so he keeps spending his days idling in his study. When a very old don
dies and Herrick helps clear out his rooms he finds the typescript of a short novel which he believes the deceased academic has written. He steals it and claims that he has had a sudden inspiration for his long-due book. At about the same time Richard Bumpus, a don and a friend of the Herricks, announces his intention to publish a short novel, a complete rewriting of the book he authored as a young man and the only copy of which, as he found it of inferior quality and thus inadequate for publication, he asked William Masson, a friend and colleague, to bury in someone's grave.
The night Herrick and Bumpus want to give a reading from their respective works in progress
Masson surprises everyone by stating that he has actually kept, and read, Bumpus's youthful foray into fiction and that he is looking forward to comparing the two versions. When the two authors discover that their first sentences are identical it becomes clear that neither of them has written anything recently and that the only novel which ever existed is Bumpus's early work.
Ivy Compton-Burnett
Dame Ivy Compton-Burnett, DBE was an English novelist, published as I. Compton-Burnett. She was awarded the 1955 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for her novel Mother and Son.-Life:...
published in 1925
1925 in literature
The year 1925 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* April: F Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway meet in the Dingo Bar on rue Delambre, in the Montparnasse Quarter of Paris, France shortly after the publication of Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and shortly before...
. Set in the present in an old English university town, it is about two academics with literary pretensions and the small circle of family and friends surrounding them.
Plot summary
70-year-old Nicholas Herrick owns and heads a small day schoolDay school
A day school—as opposed to a boarding school—is an institution where children are given educational instruction during the day and after which children/teens return to their homes...
for 10 to 14-year-old boys in the vicinity of his old alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
but only spends ten minutes a day at the school to read prayers in the morning. The school is run by Charles Merry, a 50-year-old man without a degree who has become a schoolmaster out of financial necessity. Married with four young daughters, he does his best to keep up appearances and make parents believe—mainly on Herrick's behalf—that they are sending their sons to the right school, despite their inadequate equipment and their motley staff of only four: Merry himself; his wife Emily, a mother figure as unqualified to teach as her husband; Miss Basden, an unmarried middle-aged schoolmistress with slight feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
tendencies; and Mr Burgess, a very young and inexperienced graduate.
Herrick, who lives together with his unmarried sister Emily, deplores the fact that he has never got round to writing a novel, which in his eyes would make him a "real author." As a matter of fact, his lack of talent has prevented him from ever having a book published, and so he keeps spending his days idling in his study. When a very old don
University don
A don is a fellow or tutor of a college or university, especially traditional collegiate universities such as Oxford and Cambridge in England.The term — similar to the title still used for Catholic priests — is a historical remnant of Oxford and Cambridge having started as ecclesiastical...
dies and Herrick helps clear out his rooms he finds the typescript of a short novel which he believes the deceased academic has written. He steals it and claims that he has had a sudden inspiration for his long-due book. At about the same time Richard Bumpus, a don and a friend of the Herricks, announces his intention to publish a short novel, a complete rewriting of the book he authored as a young man and the only copy of which, as he found it of inferior quality and thus inadequate for publication, he asked William Masson, a friend and colleague, to bury in someone's grave.
The night Herrick and Bumpus want to give a reading from their respective works in progress
Work in progress
Work in progress may refer to:-Film:* A Work in Progress, a documentary film of the recording of Rush's Test for Echo album* Work in Progress , a computer-animated short film-Music:* Work in Progress , by Man Alive...
Masson surprises everyone by stating that he has actually kept, and read, Bumpus's youthful foray into fiction and that he is looking forward to comparing the two versions. When the two authors discover that their first sentences are identical it becomes clear that neither of them has written anything recently and that the only novel which ever existed is Bumpus's early work.
Read on
- Budd SchulbergBudd SchulbergBudd Schulberg was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his 1941 novel, What Makes Sammy Run?, his 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, his 1954 Academy-award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront, and his 1957 screenplay for A Face in the...
's 19411941 in literatureThe year 1941 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Frank Herbert marries Flora Parkinson.*F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished work, The Last Tycoon, is edited and published by Edmund Wilson.-New books:...
novel What Makes Sammy Run?What Makes Sammy Run?What Makes Sammy Run? is a novel by Budd Schulberg. It is a rags to riches story chronicling the rise and fall of Sammy Glick, a Jewish boy born in New York's Lower East Side who very early in his life makes up his mind to escape the ghetto and climb the ladder of success...
about 1930s Hollywood is a rags to richesRags to richesRags to Riches refers to any situation in which a person rises from poverty to wealth, or sometimes from obscurity to fame. This is a common archetype in literature and popular culture ....
story in which a film script is plagiarized. - David LeavittDavid LeavittDavid Leavitt is an American novelist.-Biography:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Leavitt is a graduate of Yale University. and a professor at the University of Florida...
's novel The Body of Jonah BoydThe Body of Jonah BoydThe Body of Jonah Boyd is a novel by David Leavitt, published in 2004, that depicts various consequences of the theft of a manuscript. It tells a story about the life of a common American family dealing with ethical principles, relationships and fairness today.The story is perceived through the...
(20042004 in literatureThe year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....
) is also about a stolen text and a case of plagiarismPlagiarismPlagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
. - Muriel SparkMuriel SparkDame Muriel Spark, DBE was an award-winning Scottish novelist. In 2008 The Times newspaper named Spark in its list of "the 50 greatest British writers since 1945".-Early life:...
's 2004 novella The Finishing SchoolThe Finishing SchoolThe Finishing School is the last novel written by Scottish author Muriel Spark and published by Viking Press in 2004. It concerns 'College Sunrise', a mixed-sex finishing school in Ouchy on the banks of Lake Geneva near Lausanne in Switzerland....
is about a school principal with literary ambitions who is jealous of one of his students who is writing a historical novel. - For other novels about school life, see the list at School and university in literatureSchool and university in literature-School in literature:*Thomas Bailey Aldrich: The Story of a Bad Boy*Laurie Halse Anderson: Speak*Christine Anlauff: Good morning, Lehnitz*F...
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