About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherOxford University Press, Incorporated

ISBN-100192821350

ISBN-139780192821355

eBay Product ID (ePID)2102471

Product Key Features

Book TitleNya

Number of Pages480 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicRomance / General, Linguistics / General

Publication Year1989

GenreLanguage Arts & Disciplines, Fiction

AuthorNot Available

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.9 in

Item Weight11 Oz

Item Length7.7 in

Item Width5.1 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

LCCN87-031348

Dewey Edition18

Dewey Decimal823/.91

SynopsisA gifted young actor and writer who worked in Intelligence during World War II and died prematurely in 1943, Stephen Haggard published his first novel, Nya , in 1938 at the age of 27. Frank Kermode, the eminent British literary scholar and Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, has rediscovered this long-lost novel and has provided a new introduction. It tells the story of a love affair between a man in his mid-twenties and a thirteen-year-old girl who, having spent a carefree childhood in Nyasaland, returns to England for "an English training." Hovering at the threshold between latency and adolescence, Nya represents the noble savage who has experienced a "natural" upbringing. Simon, with whom she falls in love, comes from the same British middle-class background as the aunt and uncle who take in Nya. The poignancy of the story does not stem from the impossibility of their love, nor from the violation of the child by the man, but, rather, it lies in the chastity of the lovers. Although theirs is a passionate love, she does not lose her innocence. Unlike Lolita , which it somewhat foreshadows, Nya attempts in a serious and interesting fashion to reconcile passion with respect for normal conduct, while still portraying authentic passion. The cultural context for such a revolt has changed drastically in the intervening half-century, but the ancient argument between nature and custom, treated in this novel, continues today., Stephen Haggard--a gifted young actor and writer who worked in Intelligence during World War II and died prematurely in 1943--published his first novel, Nya, in 1938 at the age of 27. Frank Kermode, the eminent British literary scholar and Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, has rediscovered this long-lost novel and has provided a new introduction. Nya tells the story of a love affair between a man in his mid-twenties and a thirteen-year-old girl who, having spent a carefree childhood in Nyasaland, returns to England for "an English training." Unlike Lolita, which it somewhat foreshadows, Nya attempts in a serious and interesting fashion to reconcile passion with respect for normal conduct, while simultaneously portraying authentic passion. The cultural context for such a revolt has changed drastically in the intervening half-century, but the ancient argument between nature and custom, treated in this novel, continues today., A gifted young actor and writer who worked in Intelligence during World War II and died prematurely in 1943, Stephen Haggard published his first novel, Nya, in 1938 at the age of 27. Frank Kermode, the eminent British literary scholar and Professor Emeritus at the University of Cambridge, has rediscovered this long-lost novel and has provided a new introduction. It tells the story of a love affair between a man in his mid-twenties and a thirteen-year-old girl who, having spent a carefree childhood in Nyasaland, returns to England for "an English training." Hovering at the threshold between latency and adolescence, Nya represents the noble savage who has experienced a "natural" upbringing. Simon, with whom she falls in love, comes from the same British middle-class background as the aunt and uncle who take in Nya. The poignancy of the story does not stem from the impossibility of their love, nor from the violation of the child by the man, but, rather, it lies in the chastity of the lovers. Although theirs is a passionate love, she does not lose her innocence. Unlike Lolita, which it somewhat foreshadows, Nya attempts in a serious and interesting fashion to reconcile passion with respect for normal conduct, while still portraying authentic passion. The cultural context for such a revolt has changed drastically in the intervening half-century, but the ancient argument between nature and custom, treated in this novel, continues today.

LC Classification NumberPR6015.A19N9 1988