For years, my favourite of Elizabeth von Arnim’s novels has been Elizabeth and her German Garden. It is such a joyous, entertaining, and comforting book that I can go back to it again and again and always be delighted. I have loved many of her other novels, of course – The Pastor’s Wife, Christopher and Columbus, and Introduction to Sally stand out in my mind – but none of them have had quite the same magic. None, that is, except Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther, which has now overtaken Elizabeth and her German Garden as my favourite.
An epistolary novel first published in 1907, Fräulein Schmidt and Mr Anstruther has only the barest of plots, which exists only for form’s sake, providing structure and a reason for Rose-Marie Schmidt to be writing these entirely wonderful letters. And they are wonderful, just as Rose-Marie is wonderful. Part of what usually attracts me to von Arnim is her talent for writing unsympathetic characters and having great fun at their expense, but Rose-Marie is a heroine in the same mould as Elizabeth, one who the reader can not only love but admire for her intelligence, independence, and wonderful sense of humour.
Rose-Marie’s letters begin when Roger (Mr Anstruther), a young Englishman who has spent a year boarding with the Schmidts in the small town of Jena while he was there studying German, confesses his love for her just before his departure. The first flurry of letters – written every day, of course – reveal Rose-Marie’s amazement and joy that her feelings for Roger are returned. They are silly, doting love letters but already Rose-Marie has revealed herself as an unusually funny and perceptive correspondent. Her home life is dull and unpromising and Roger’s declaration brings with it not only the joy of love returned but the promise of a future away from her sour stepmother. Forced to sit through one of her stepmother’s speeches about Roger in the wake of his departure, one in which she congratulates her step-daughter on being too old and, damningly, ‘sensible’ to have attracted Roger’s attentions, Rose-Marie cannot help but bristle:
‘I fear, though, he is soft. Still, he has steered safely through a year often dangerous to young men. It is true his father could not have sent him to a safer place than my house. You so sensible –‘ oh, Roger! – ‘Besides being arrived at an age when serious and practical thoughts replace the foolish sentimentalness of earlier years,’ – oh, Roger, I am twenty-five, and not a single one of my foolish sentimentalnesses has been replaced by anything at all. Do you think there is hope for me? Do you think it is very bad to feel exactly the same, just exactly as calf-like now as I did at fifteen? – ‘so that under my roof,’ went on my stepmother, ‘he has been perfectly safe.’
Rose-Marie may not be the sensible spinster her stepmother sees her as but she is an intelligent woman, who, though happy to be in love, cannot see the point in defying convention and families – as Roger, the sentimental fool, is inclined to do. She has read widely and knows the romance of rebellious love, of Tristan and Isolde, of Romeo and Juliet, only works if the lovers die at just the right moment, at the very height of their passion. Living on to face the inevitable denouement and consequences of their folly would not do at all:
My point is, that if you want to let yourself go to great emotions you ought to have the luck to die at an interesting moment. The alternative makes such a dreary picture; and it is the picture I always see when I hear of love at defiance with the law. The law wins; always, inevitably.
Rather soon after their correspondence begins, you realise that Roger is regretting the rashness of his declaration and it is not long before their engagement is broken off. This is when things start to get fun.
After a brief break, their letters resume again. Rose-Marie has been ill but is now “…busy reading Jane Austen and Fanny Burney and Maria Edgeworth – books foreordained from all time for the delight of persons getting well…” and is happy to mend her friendship with Roger in the wake of their break. These are the letters that make the book so very wonderful. Rose-Marie writes friendly letters full of details of her own life, her philosophical ponderings, and her deliciously frank assessments of Roger’s character and actions. They are amazing: candid, playful, witty, and, above all, intelligent. Another character complains about Rose-Marie by saying “…there is something indescribable about her manners – a becoming freedom, an almost immodest frankness, an almost naked naturalness, that is perilously near impertinence” but it is that freedom and that frankness that makes her so marvellous.
Rose-Marie is entirely unlike the other people in Jena, having nothing in common with the rural hausfraus and their daughters that make up the rest of her social circle. There is one girl who is her particular friend – a young woman whose fiancé broke their engagement, leaving her family shamed and poorer after all the expenses they had incurred preparing for her wedding – but though Rose-Marie loves her they are far from intellectual equals. Jena is a town that prizes conventionality and sober respectability – no one who reads these letters could think Rose-Marie conventional or sober. She reads widely and, most importantly, thinks about what she had read. She delights in the natural world while maintaining a healthy skepticism of those who romanticise it. She faces all her struggles with a sense of humour that is sharp but never cruel. And she, no matter how upsetting the situation, never indulges in dramatics or sympathizes with those who indulge in dramatics of their own. She calmly states or reasons out her arguments and there is a steadiness about her, a calmness and maturity that is very attractive. She knows who she is and is content with the woman she has become:
At twenty-six I cannot pretend to be what is known as a young girl, and I don’t want to. Not for anything would I be seventeen or eighteen again. I like to be a woman grown, to have entered into the full possession of whatever faculties I am to have, to know what I want, to look at things in their true proportions. I don’t know that eighteen has anything that compensates for that. It is such a rudderless sort of age. It may be more charming to the beholder but it is not half so nice to the person herself.
The point of this book is to get to know Fräulein Schmidt – Mr Anstruther’s character is revealed early on and found wanting – and she is a woman well worth knowing.
The Captive Reader 
Oh, what a wonderful book this sounds, Claire! And you write about it so well. I don’t understand why Elizabeth von Arnim isn’t better known. Even among reprints and those of us who love 20th century women’s writing, she isn’t mentioned with the same besottedness as Elizabeth Taylor or Dorothy Whipple, and I think she is much better than both (love both though I do.) This sounds perfect and, luckily, I have a copy on my bookshelf!
It is a wonderful book, Simon, and it is a crime that EvA isn’t better known. I am not generally a Virago fan but I do give them credit for having reprinted at least some of her novels in the later half of the 20th Century. If they hadn’t, I am sure I would never have known about her. I enjoy Whipple and know others adore Taylor but, honestly, there is no comparison with von Arnim when you come to the quality of writing. She is ready for a renaissance! If Persephone wanted to publish the hilarious Introduction to Sally, that would be a great start…
I recently added a copy to my shelves, and now I’m looking forward even more to reading it – though I’m currently enjoying The Pastor’s Wife so much that I’m reading slowly, to make it last. I agree with Simon in wondering why EvA isn’t better known. Perhaps as her books become more available as e-books, she’ll be rediscovered again?
Isn’t The Pastor’s Wife wonderful? I am so glad that you’re enjoying it. This, obviously, is very different but that kind of range is what attracts me so much to von Arnim. I am sure you will love this when you come to it.
I doubt e-books alone will start a von Arnim rediscovery but at least they make it easier for those of us who know about her to access her work!
About half way through I couldn’t see how Roger could ever be worthy of Rose Marie, and I couldn’t imagine any ending other than them marrying. As the book went on I just loved it more and more — definitely my favourite Von Arnim too. And I also can’t think of any other book where it’s epistolary but you only see one side of the correspondence and yet the other character comes over so clearly.
Von Arnim’s ability to give us such a thorough understanding of Roger’s character without us ever hearing from him directly is extraordinary. Like you, I can’t think of any other author who has been able to do that quite so well. The only shame is that she didn’t write more epistolary novels; it was clearly a form she excelled at!
This sounds delightful. It and Elizabeth and her German Garden are high on my 2013 reading list.
Then you are going to have a very excellent 2013, Debbie! 🙂
“Books foreordained from all time for the delight of persons getting well” — I love that! Rose-Marie sounds like a wonderful character.
Isn’t that a perfect line? Though I’d probably add von Arnim herself to that list of authors.
So happy to see your glowing review here: this is indeed one of my very favourite Von Arnims. I first discovered Elizabeth and her German Garden, and I do love it. But this one is special — I love epistolary novels anyhow, and this is the best example I can think of. I’ve been lucky to find a few others in ebook format thanks to Open Library and so now have read nearly all of her work. I agree that she should be better known, she is so wonderful!
I agree that this is one of the best examples out there of the epistolary novel, especially of how to use a one-sided correspondence to best effect. And, like you, I am thrilled that her books are now so readily available in ebook form. I would never have gotten an e-reader if I hadn’t known that there were lovely girlebook editions of her books waiting to be downloaded!
I read Elizabeth and her German Garden because of your glowing review and it became one of the best of last year. Now you tell me there is one better? This is good news!
It is the best news! I do hope you love this as much as I did.
Claire, I just finished this book yesterday and I feel strangely bereft! What shall I do without Rose-Marie now? Any reading suggestions to relieve this loneliness? I think this is one of my all-time favorite books now, and Rose-Marie is absolutely my favorite book character. I am horrified that I might never have picked up this book if it hadn’t been for you!
Oh, I know that feeling well, Erika. It was so painful to part with Rose-Marie when the book ended. She is one of my very favourite literary characters now, right up there with Emma Woodhouse, Cassandra Mortmain, and Molly Gibson (the group doesn’t necessarily have a lot in common except my affection for them). As for what to read next, there is nothing that can possibly make up for the absence of Rose-Marie from your life. Nothing! (I know. I have been struggling with this since November.)
[…] by Elizabeth von Arnim Claire at The Captive Reader has been so enthusiastic about this title, review here, that when I saw it in a secondhand bookshop last month I knew I had to buy it and include it in my […]
Read her “Vera” as well! I loved Fraulein Schmidt – really, everything of eVa’s BUT
was amazed at “Vera.” So glad when i dont know a plot ahead of time, so I can be surprised and swept up.
This surely is the precursor for today’s HItchcock and other suspenseful dramas – I kept thinking, “She has captured the “Sleeping with the Enemy” in a way you couldn’t believe possible in 1920!!
Here’s my question maybe you could help me with – are there any fan fiction sites that writers pick up where her books leave off? I’d love another “chapter” or two of Fraulein…and definitely of “Vera.” Someone talented – get on it!!
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