Good Morning, Midnight

"Good Morning, Midnight" is a 1939 modernist novel by author Jean Rhys. Often considered a continuation of Rhys' three other early novels, "Quartet" (1928), "Leaving Mr Mackenzie" (1930) and "Voyage in the Dark" (1934), it is experimental in design and deals with a woman's feelings of vulnerability, depression, loneliness and desperation during the years between the two World Wars. Although it sold badly when first published, V. S. Naipaul wrote in 1973 that it is "the most subtle and complete of [Rhys'] novels, and the most humane." [Wolfe, Peter. "Jean Rhys." "Twayne's English Authors Series". New York: G. K. Hall & Co., 1999.]

After the novel was published, Rhys spent a decade living in obscurity. It was not until it was adapted into a theatrical production in 1949, and again into a radio play 1957 by the BBC, that Rhys was once again put into the spotlight.

Background

The novel's title is derived from the first stanza of a poem by the American poet Emily Dickinson: "Good Morning – Midnight – / I'm coming Home – / Day – got tired of Me – / How could I – of Him?"

Plot introduction

Sophia Jansen, a middle aged English woman, has returned to Paris after a long absence. Only able to make the trip because of some money lent to her by a friend, she is financially unstable and haunted by her past, which includes an unhappy marriage and dead baby. She has difficulty taking care of herself; drinking heavily, taking sleeping pills and obsessing over her appearance, she is adrift in the city that she feels connected to despite of the great pain it has brought her.

Reception and resurgence of popularity

Rhys had disappeared from public view and fallen into obscurity shortly after "Good Morning, Midnight" was published in 1939. In fact, many believed that she was dead as a result of the seeming end of her literary career.Lindfords, p. 269] When Selma Vaz Dias adapted the novel for theatrical presentation in 1949, her husband had to place advertisements in the "New Statesman" and the "Nation" to find Rhys in order to gain her permission, which she gave enthusiastically. Rhys credited Dias for reawakening her literary inclinations, stating in November of that same year that Dias had "lifted the numb hopeless feeling that stopped me writing for so long." In 1957 Dias's adaptation of "Good Morning, Midnight" was performed on BBC radio. [Lindfords, p. 270]

References

*"Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 117: Twentieth-Century Caribbean and Black African Writers, First Series". A Bruccoli Clark Layman Book. Edited by Bernth Lindfors, and Reinhard Sander,. The Gale Group, 1992. pp. 258-278.

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