![]() If the comparison with Cheever breaks down almost as soon as it is made, that is indicative of the larger point - which may also be a smaller point - that there can be no American equivalent of a writer defined so thoroughly by her Englishness. (The unfortunate name didn’t help - doubly unfortunate since Betty Coles chose to use her married name as her pen name.) She became known for being less known than she deserved. ![]() When Taylor died, the sense of there being something middling about both her brow and status subsided into a kind of well-disposed neglect. But Cheever’s collected stories became a monumental success and our awareness of him was heightened by the posthumous evidence of delirium (tremens), torment and wreckage. John Cheever is a good fit chronologically (both were born in 1912 Taylor predeceased him by seven years in 1975) and thematically: domestic life in the suburbs and countryside, booze, stifled desire. So, as a way of identifying the signature qualities of the English writer Elizabeth Taylor, we’ll begin by asking which American writer she most closely resembles. ![]() It’s possible to make a point by missing the point, to show the way by heading in a misleading direction. ![]() MRS PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT By Elizabeth Taylor ![]()
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