Review: I Pose

I Pose by Stella Benson
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

Tremendously popular and widely praised when it came out just over a century ago - and I'm not sure why. It's self-consciously self-conscious, with a highly intrusive narrator who reminds the reader frequently that it's a novel, and judges the poor characters constantly. It's like a postmodern novel before its time - and from me, that isn't praise.

All the characters are small-minded, small-souled, and small-hearted. The author gives the impression that she doesn't believe in the existence of large minds, hearts, or souls; a couple of the characters have large bodies, though, which she mocks.

I stopped a third of the way through, after some passages that, while they might have been considered acceptable a hundred years ago, read as vilely racist today.

Historical interest only.

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