The Heat of the Day by Elizabeth Bowen

First published: 1949

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Psychological realism

Time of plot: 1942-1944

Locale: London

Principal characters

• Stella Rodney, an attractive widow
• Roderick Rodney, her son
• Robert Kelway, her lover
• Harrison, a British intelligence agent
• Louie Lewis, the wife of a British soldier

The Story:

The afternoon of the first Sunday in September, 1942, finds Harrison sitting at a band concert in Regent Park. He is not listening to the music but is merely killing time until eight o’clock, when he can see Stella Rodney. Thinking of Stella and the awkward subject he must discuss with her, he keeps thrusting the fist of his right hand into the palm of his left. This unconscious motion, as well as his obvious indifference to the music, arouses the curiosity of an adjacent listener, Louie Lewis, a clumsy, cheaply clad young woman with an artless and somewhat bovine expression. Lonely without her soldier husband and entirely a creature of impulse, she offends Harrison by breaking into his reverie with naïve comments that he brusquely rebuffs. Unabashed, she trails after him when he leaves the concert, giving up only when he abruptly leaves her to keep his engagement.

In her top-floor flat in Weymouth Street, Stella wonders idly why Harrison is late. Her attitude of waiting is more defiant than expectant, for she has no love for her expected visitor. She hardly knows how he has managed to insinuate himself into her life; first, he turned up unaccountably at the funeral of Cousin Francis Morris, and, since then, his attentions have steadily increased. There was a subtle shade of menace in his demand that she see him that night, and a curious sense of apprehension prompted her to consent. As she awaits his knock, her glance flickers impatiently about the charming flat, and she recalls the facts that give shape to her existence: her young son, Roderick, now in the British army; her former husband, long divorced and dead; her own war work with Y.X.D.; and her lover, Robert Kelway, who is also in government service.

When Harrison arrives, he receives a cool and perfunctory greeting. His first remarks are hesitant and enigmatic, but he soon launches into words that leave Stella wide-eyed with shock and disbelief. He tells her that her lover is a Nazi agent passing English secrets to Germany. Harrison himself is connected with British intelligence, and he had been assigned to cover Kelway’s movements. There is just one way to save the traitor. Stella must give him up and switch her interest to Harrison. If she does, Kelway’s fate might be averted or indefinitely postponed.

The blunt proposition unnerves Stella. She refuses to believe in Kelway’s guilt, for Harrison does not impress her as a trustworthy man. She plays for time, winning a month’s delay in which to make up her mind. Harrison sharply advises her not to warn Robert: The slightest change in his pattern of action would result in his immediate arrest. As the interview ends, the telephone rings. It is Roderick, announcing his arrival on leave in London. Upon Harrison’s departure, Stella pulls herself together and makes quick preparations to receive her son.

Roderick’s arrival helps somewhat, temporarily depriving Stella of the time to worry. Roderick is young and vulnerable, and his father’s early abdication makes Stella feel doubly responsible for her son. Roderick wants to talk about his new interest in life, the run-down estate in Ireland recently bequeathed him by Francis Morris. The boy is determined to keep his new property; but until the war is over, the task of looking after it will be largely Stella’s responsibility.

The night after Roderick’s leave expires, Robert Kelway comes to Stella’s flat. She gives no hint of her inward agitation, although she casually inquires if he knows Harrison. Gazing at her attractive, considerate lover, Stella silently marvels that he should be a suspect—he, a lamed veteran of the Battle of Dunkirk. Because she knows nothing about his family, she renews her request that they visit his mother and sister in the country. A subsequent Saturday afternoon at Holme Dene reveals nothing strange about Robert’s background. On the night of her return from Robert’s home, she finds Harrison waiting at her apartment; he proves that he has been keeping watch on her by telling her where she has been and why.

Roderick’s interests briefly summon Stella to Ireland. Robert protests at losing her for even a few days, and they part affectionately. In Ireland, Stella’s distrust of Harrison receives a jolt; he had been truthful, she learns, when he told her that he had been a friend of Cousin Francis Morris. She resolves to tell Robert about Harrison’s accusation. When she returns to London, Robert meets her at the station. Minutes later, in the taxi, she reveals what she has heard; Robert, deeply hurt, denies being a spy. Later that night, he begs her to marry him, but Stella, both surprised and disturbed, succeeds in parrying his proposal.

A few nights later, Harrison has dinner with Stella in a popular restaurant. She stiffens with apprehension when he tells her that he knows she has disobeyed him by putting Robert on his guard. Before Stella can learn what Harrison intends to do, she is interrupted by the untimely intrusion of Louie Lewis, who crudely invites herself to their table after spotting Harrison in the crowd. Stella manages to intimate that she will meet Harrison’s terms if he will save Robert from arrest. Angry at Louie, Harrison makes no response; roughly dismissing the two women, he stalks off, leaving them to find their way home through a blacked-out London. Louie is fascinated by Stella’s superior charm and refinement and accompanies her to the doorway of her apartment.

Robert is at Holme Dene, so Stella does not have a chance to warn him of his danger until the next night. In the early morning darkness of Stella’s bedroom, they pledge their love anew, sensing that this is to be their last meeting. When Robert finally reveals that he is an ardent Nazi, prizing power above freedom, Stella finds no way to reconcile their views. Faint footsteps, as of outside watchers, are heard as Robert dresses and prepares to leave. He climbs up the rope ladder to the skylight in the roof and then comes back down to kiss Stella once more before leaving. He tells her to take care of herself as he hurriedly disappears through the skylight. The next morning, Robert’s body is found lying in the street where he had leaped or fallen from the steeply slanting roof.

More than a year passes before Stella sees Harrison again. The Allies have landed in Africa and invaded Italy, and the prospect of a second front being opened in the war grows ever greater. At first, Stella had had questions to ask Harrison about Robert, but when he finally returns it seems pointless to ask them. There is an air of constraint over their conversation and a feeling that Robert’s death has removed any real link between their lives. Harrison makes no romantic overtures; he even seems faintly relieved when Stella tells him that she is soon to be married.

Bibliography

Austin, Allen E. Elizabeth Bowen. Rev. ed. Boston: Twayne, 1989. A good introduction that discusses Bowen’s style, syntax, use of narrator, and evocative settings. Provides a detailed analysis of the setting, theme, and character in The Heat of the Day, comparing Bowen’s portrayal of three English classes with E. M. Forster’s. Helpful annotated bibliography.

Corcoran, Neil. Elizabeth Bowen: The Enforced Return. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. Analyzes several of Bowen’s novels, demonstrating how these and other works focus on three themes that are central to Bowen’s writing: Ireland, children, and war. Chapter 8, “War’s Stories: The Heat of the Day and Its Contexts,” focuses on this novel.

Ellmann, Maud. Elizabeth Bowen: The Shadow Across the Page. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2003. Introduction to Bowen’s life and writings, using historical, psychoanalytic, and deconstructionist approaches to interpret her works. The Heat of the Day is discussed in chapter 5.

Glendinning, Victoria. Elizabeth Bowen: Portrait of a Writer. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977. Primarily a biography, with some literary criticism interspersed. An oft-referenced work that provides good background material.

Heath, William. Elizabeth Bowen: An Introduction to Her Novels. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1961. A good introductory source. Provides clear analysis of setting, character, and theme in The Heat of the Day, revealing the novel’s use of the Faust motif and its connections of private anguish with public disaster.

Jordon, Heather Bryant. How Will the Heart Endure: Elizabeth Bowen and the Landscape of War. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1992. An especially relevant topic when studying The Heat of the Day. Jordan discusses Bowen as an Anglo-Irish writer and the attitudes that she displays toward war as a result of her heritage.

Kenney, Edwin, Jr. Elizabeth Bowen. Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press, 1974. Presents connections between the personal world of the Anglo-Irish country house and the larger world of international affairs and between public and private concerns. Stresses the importance of Bowen’s setting during the bombing of London, which intensifies the feelings of her characters.

Lassner, Phyllis. Elizabeth Bowen. London: Macmillan, 1990. Analyzes Bowen’s novels in a somewhat technical prose with a feminist slant. Includes a brief summary of Bowen’s life and a useful bibliography.

Lee, Hermione. Elizabeth Bowen: An Estimation. Totowa, N.J.: Barnes & Noble, 1981. Excellent introduction. Emphasizes the novel’s use of structure, style, and syntactical mannerisms, such as inversion, double negatives, and passive constructions, to reveal the emotional state of the characters’ lives and the turmoil of wartime London.