Olivia by Olivia

Olivia / by Olivia (Dorothy Strachey)
London: Virago, 1987, c1949.
112 p. 

This slim novel was the only one that Dorothy Strachey, sister of Lytton Strachey, ever wrote. Told as a reminiscence, in the immediate first person, it takes place in a girl's boarding school in France the year that Olivia is 16. A shy English girl, she's overwhelmed by the passion and freedom of her new life there.

But she soon begins to understand that it's a hothouse, with emotional connections forming and unforming, jealous taking of sides going on, and multiple loyalties to negotiate.

Olivia herself falls hard for one of the headmistresses, Mademoiselle Julie. Her love for Julie is much stronger and uninhibited than that of her friend Laura, another student who is generous and kind to all, but not at all as histrionic about her loyalties as Olivia.

While this is known as an early lesbian novel, the love is more charged emotionally than physically. There are a few embraces and kissing of hands, but it is more about the emotional state of young Olivia's teenage obsession, and Mademoiselle Julie's comfortable playing off of her students against one another and against Madame Cara, the other headmistress. Where do all their loyalties lie? Olivia can only see her own desire, and this does become a bit tiresome after a while. It's a good thing that this is so short, as I'm not sure I could have taken too much more of her florid idolization of Mademoiselle Julie. 

As a school novel I think it both highlights and exaggerates the way this closed community of women becomes keyed up by the dysfunction at the top. When the conclusion comes, one of them is dead and one is heading to Canada -- almost as bad?  

While intriguing for its historical content (and there is a long note that expands on the author's experiences in the Virago edition, which adds a lot of colour and interest to the story) this was a worthwhile read for her examination of character and desire. The student/teacher aspect is disturbing, but not unusual; and as the story comes from Strachey's own life there is probably a lot of verisimilitude to the way she presents it. 


Readalike:

Another school novel, certainly not as passionate, though it also has angelic students who set examples for the rest, Gwethalyn Graham's Swiss Sonata delves a bit more into the social conditions of a girl's school in the 30s. It does not shy away from talking about the political conditions in Europe in the 30s either, which makes it quite powerful.