The English Understand Wool
My brain space is [this small] these days. A long time ago I requested The English Understand Wool, a 69-page novella by Helen DeWitt, part of a series of bite-sized books by Storybook ND — a division of New Directions Publishing. The tagline? “The pleasure one felt as a child of reading a marvelous book from cover to cover in an afternoon.” Guess I was really prescient months ago when I clicked that “request” box on the library site because not only is that my speed these days…it also sounds completely delightful. (The Los Angeles Times has called this series “highbrow pocket books.”)
When I picked up The English Understand Wool, I have to admit that I had no memory of why I requested it or where I had heard of it. (See aforementioned comment about brain space.) But as soon as I started, I knew why the description resonated. The English Understand Wool follows the publishing (mis)adventures of 17-year-old Marguerite who is to write about the unfortunate experience of discovering that her parents were not, actually, her parents. There’s a bit of a “taking things literally which points out the absurdity of everything” Eleanor Oliphant vibe going on, but I’d argue that The English Understand Wool is leveled up in a more “literary” way. My favorite scene was between Marguerite and her editor Bethany at a French restaurant in Manhattan (after Marguerite decides that good ol’ Le Pain Quotidien might be too pedestrian) — she can’t pay attention to her editor’s qualms about the direction of the book because “[She] wore white patent-leather shoes; these distracted [her] from the muddle of garments thrown together seemingly at random. (It seemed unkind to condemn these; New York offers hideous garments in an abundance rivaled only by Scotland. The shoes were inexplicable.)” Marguerite can NOT shake these shoes from her psyche.
The English Understand Wool is about the publishing industry, but it’s also about different notions of “good taste” — or, god forbid, “mauvais ton” (bad taste) in different cultures. See: white patent-leather shoes. Love it. (Also love that I’ve discovered a new-to-me author whose work I want to gobble up. A new obsession is born…mauvais ton?)
originally published on instagram