Introduction

JOSÉ FRANCISCO FERNÁNDEZ

The publication of two plays, one for television, Laura (1964), and one for the stage, Bird of Paradise (1969), by a novelist of the stature of Margaret Drabble (1939–) amounts to more than a mere question of literary curiosity. From a variety of perspectives—biographical, social, historical, cultural—these pieces offer us a fine opportunity to reassess a specific period in English letters, the 1960s, one that shaped the coming of age of an influential generation, including Drabble herself.

The publication of these plays has been motivated by two main concerns: the consideration of Drabble as the social writer par excellence of her generation and the presence in her work of an artistic impulse that has always been open to evolution and transformation. In the former case, it is interesting to note that in her plays Drabble never abandons her curiosity about the world that surrounds her, offering at all times a questioning vision of the social issues of her time. In this sense, Laura and Bird of Paradise can be read as historical documents that testify to the situation of British women in the 1960s. In the case of the latter, it is of great interest to observe the artistic solutions that an accomplished author of fictional prose found when faced with the challenges of a different medium. Drabble is seen here adapting her ideas and narrative techniques to the technical requirements of theater and TV production. It is interesting to learn which playwrights she admires, the models she follows, and how she conforms to yet also deviates from expectations in terms of the kind of plays that novelists typically produce under commission.

This volume, which should be considered a complement to the understanding of Drabble’s whole literary production, is presented here in a critical edition because the rich texture of the plays invites a theoretical treatment, including both a broad contextualization and a discussion of the main topics in them. Contrary to Drabble’s own disparaging comments on her work for the theater, her plays are significant pieces, and their intrinsic merit should be stressed. In the case of Laura, kitchen-sink drama rarely presents as many concerns as those contained in Drabble’s single play for television. In addition, the sharp dialogues and the complex personality of the protagonist manage to transcend the naturalistic setting of this theatrical form. Bird of Paradise, her only drama for the stage, is equally challenging for the juxtaposition of different planes and a swift sense of construction, as if the pace of novelistic narration informed the concatenation of events in the play. These works by Drabble certainly get their times right, so that the forces and interests of a particular period of British history are interwoven with the settings, characters, and dialogues in a highly distinctive way. One can detect between the lines the changes of attitudes on morality, women’s rights, social welfare, sexuality, fashion, and so on that the 1960s represented (to be consolidated in British law through legislation on abortion, contraception, divorce, equal pay, the legalization of homosexuality, the relaxing of censorship). Despite its many shortcomings, Britain’s welfare state fostered the dream of a better society and the questioning of traditional values. In Laura and Bird of Paradise, Drabble continued with the discussion of ethical issues that features so prominently in her fiction, but from a different perspective. The opportunity to explore the combination of Drabble’s theories of social justice with the demands of new media, as proposed in the present project, is ample compensation for the fact that theatrical writing played a minor role in her oeuvre, which means that her plays can indeed provide useful insights into the intellectual and social concerns of postwar theater for students and scholars of British drama.

The importance of recovering the typescripts of Drabble’s plays became evident after the publication of her short stories, A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman (2011). It was seen at that point that in any consideration of the novelist’s production not only were the major narrative texts worth studying, but so were her forays into a number of other genres over more than fifty years of literary output. As we know, she has always been a regular contributor to the press, commenting on social issues of the moment, and has also written biographies and works of criticism. The publication of her short stories, then, began a process of bringing to light the multiform nature of her talent. The days when, in the words of Valerie Grosvenor Myer, “in Britain she won awards, but it was not the fashion to take her seriously” (1991, 11) had by now been left behind. In her pioneering study, Grosvenor Myer states that her main intention was to achieve recognition for Drabble as “a serious writer . . . with the gifts of social observation, satiric wit, compassion and coherent metaphysic” (1991, 11). Among other features, Grosvenor Myer identifies in Drabble a consistent view of the human condition and a capacity for moral analysis. These facets of her writing are well known, but the publication of her stories demonstrates how her writings are integrated into a larger scheme: in some of the pieces, the author is seen tying up the knots that had been left loose in the novels; also evident is the fact that major characters in her large-scale fiction had enjoyed a previous existence in the workshop of the short story. The major and minor texts, then, intertwine coherently, as can be seen in Drabble’s particular interest in the lives of especially privileged characters. A recurrent concern for Drabble has been the study of the contradictions inherent in those “who are different because they have talent, looks, intelligence, health, esteem, and money and, feeling guilty, must prove worth by living difficult, complicated lives” (Veach Sadler 1986, 2). Through Laura and Bird of Paradise, we can hear how the protagonists of both plays—Laura and Sophy, respectively, both members of that privileged group to different degrees—describe and explain themselves.

Curiously enough, the publication of Drabble’s short stories reveals an author for whom sensual pleasures are not foreign, something also seen in Bird of Paradise. A focus on her puritanical conscience has sometimes eclipsed the fact that a hidden part of her work basks in the textures and warmth of the human touch. It is true that her own education prevented her from expressing this kind of emotion, as she recalls in her memoir, The Pattern in the Carpet: “There were some books on art in the school library, and I remember browsing through the paintings of Delacroix with an intense and presumably erotic emotion, but when I was discovered at this private occupation it was suggested to me that these works were ‘morbid’” (Drabble 2009, 163). However, an attentive reading will reveal that grace has a solid, physical base in Drabble’s work, something noticed by critics such as Margaret Morganroth Gullette, who claims that Drabble’s “creativity is intimately connected with her love of beautiful transfigurations” (1988, 87). Elaine Showalter also notes that in the stories there is “the combination of stern feminist values with great sensuality and delight in beauty, including one’s own” (2011). Drabble as an author enters this terrain with a controlled pulse, but the relish for a sensual life—as seen in her descriptions of nature, for example—is especially apparent when she works in a different genre. The presentation of the author’s plays for the theater and television, published for the first time in this edition by Syracuse University Press, thus seeks to deepen the exploration of the multiform venues of Margaret Drabble’s literary talent. This is an important point: the publication of these plays is not a matter of showing the author’s dabbling in playwriting as an anecdote or a rarity but rather an opportunity to discover and reveal new manifestations of a restless mind.

To help readers fully understand the origin and background of Drabble’s incursion into drama, the full, unabridged texts of the plays are accompanied in this edition by a biographical essay, one that notes the presence of the theater in her work and life from her early years as a writer until her latest novel. This brief biography is followed by two essays that provide contextualizations of the plays; the historical events in Britain during the 1960s as well as the ideological debates of the day, including legislation, inform the topics discussed in the works themselves. Next, an essay is devoted to an exploration of the links between the plays and Drabble’s early novels. Finally, two essays study the connection between the plays and the genres to which they belong: first, Bird of Paradise is analyzed in light of British postwar theater, and then Laura is examined in relation to the emergence of television in the same period.

When I approached Margaret Drabble with a proposal for the publication of her two plays, she gave her consent provided that the plays be included in an academic edition. She is aware that her work as a novelist is the most fundamental aspect of her writing, but she also acknowledges that the publication of her work for theater and television might provide new approaches for the interpretation of her narratives. I would like to express my gratitude to the team of scholars who have contributed to this volume for their enthusiasm, their patience, and their constructive criticism. The research on Drabble’s plays was supported by Lindisfarne research group and by the project CEI Patrimonio, both belonging to the University of Almería. Special thanks are owed to Roger Bridgman and John Bulmer for their generosity in providing the photographs that accompany this volume. I am also indebted to Suzanne E. Guiod for her valuable and extensive assistance with the editorial process. Finally, and above all, I gratefully acknowledge the support given by Margaret Drabble in sharing her memories of the theatrical world that she came to know as a young, unknown writer.

Works Cited

Drabble, Margaret. 2009. The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws. London: Atlantic Books.

————. 2011. A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman: The Collected Stories. Edited by José Francisco Fernández. London: Penguin.

Grosvenor Myer, Valerie. 1991. Margaret Drabble: A Reader’s Guide. London: Vision Press.

Morganroth Gullette, Margaret. 1988. Safe at Last in the Middle Years: The Invention of the Midlife Progress Novel. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.

Showalter, Elaine. 2011. “A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman by Margaret Drabble—Review.” Guardian, June 30.

Veach Sadler, Lynn. 1986. Margaret Drabble. Boston: Twayne.