According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge
"According to Queeney" is a historical novel by Beryl Bainbridge that reimagines the later years of Dr. Samuel Johnson, a prominent 18th-century writer known for his influential dictionary and biography. The narrative centers around Johnson's relationship with Hester Thrale, the wife of a wealthy brewer, and is ingeniously structured through dual perspectives. Bainbridge employs a third-person voice to describe events, complemented by letters from Queeney, Hester's eldest child, who reflects on these events from a distant future. This duality creates a complex interplay between narrative and interpretation, challenging the reader's understanding of historical truth as Queeney's contrasting views often undermine the preceding sections.
In this portrayal, Johnson grapples with emotional struggles, including obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression, while also exhibiting affection towards Queeney, who lacks maternal support. Hester Thrale emerges as a multifaceted character, perceived by Queeney as bitter and unloving, yet possibly shaped by her profound losses and fear of intimacy. The novel follows the travels of Johnson and the Thrales across England and Europe, ultimately culminating in Johnson’s deep sense of abandonment after Hester remarries. This exploration of complex emotional dynamics and historical interpretation invites readers to reflect on the nature of truth and memory in relationships.
According to Queeney by Beryl Bainbridge
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: 2001
Type of work: Novel
The Work
Most contemporary readers know about Dr. Samuel Johnson through two works: Johnson’s own A Dictionary of the English Language: To Which Are Prefixed, a History of the Language, and an English Grammar (1755) or James Boswell’s The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D (1791). Johnson enjoyed fame and notoriety during his own lifetime and continues to be remembered as one of the most important writers of the eighteenth century. In According to Queeney, Bainbridge imaginatively re-creates Johnson’s later years, when he was closely connected to Hester Thrale, the wife of a wealthy brewer.
Bainbridge structures the novel through two narrative voices. The first is a third-person authorial voice that details specific events in the lives of the characters. At the close of each section, a second narrative voice enters, that of Queeney, Hester Thrale’s eldest child. These sections are in the form of letters written long after the described events. Queeney’s interpretation of events is often at odds with the section the reader has just completed. As a result, it is difficult to construe “the truth” of the event. By so constructing her novel, Bainbridge both gives and takes away: Just as the reader settles into the story, the subsequent epistle undermines the narrative itself. Bainbridge thus calls into question the whole notion of historical truth. Rather, she seems to suggest, there are only interpretations.
The Samuel Johnson who emerges from According to Queeney is one beset with emotional difficulties. He clearly suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, as well as mind-robbing depression. At the same time, he shows sympathy and love to young Queeney, something seriously lacking in her life.
Hester Thrale, a woman who bears some ten children, only to lose most of them, is also an enigma. Viewed through Queeney’s eyes, she is a bitter, vicious woman, devoid of any maternal instinct. Readers, however, may find in her a fear of intimacy brought about by her loss of so many of her babies. Her problems with Queeney may stem not from loving her too little but from loving her too much.
The major parts of the novel trace the travels of Johnson and the Thrales across England and throughout Europe. By the end, Johnson has been abandoned by Hester, who has married a young Italian voice teacher after the death of her husband. Johnson dies without seeing her again.
Sources for Further Study
The Atlantic Monthly 288 (October, 2001): 125.
The Christian Science Monitor, July 19, 2001, p. 19.
The New Leader 84 (July/August, 2002): 26.
The New York Times, August 8, 2001, p. E10.
The New York Times Book Review 106 (August 12, 2001): 9.
The New Yorker 77 (July 30, 2001): 81.