Foreign Affairs (novel)

infobox Book |
name = Foreign Affairs
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = 1984 first edition
author = Alison Lurie
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Random House
release_date = August 1984
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 291 pp (hardback edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-394-54076-X (hardback edition)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"Foreign Affairs" is a novel by Alison Lurie. It concerns itself with American academics in England.

Plot summary

Unmarried, fifty-four year-old Virginia Miner (Vinnie), a professor at Corinth who specializes in children's literature, is off to London for another research trip. Her work has been trashed by a Professor L. Zimmern of Columbia and she is hoping to produce an important new book about playground rhymes that will restore her reputation and confidence.

The author makes a strong point of telling us that Vinnie is not conventionally beautiful — perhaps even considered ugly — but that she gets her fair share of lewd propositions nevertheless.

A 'pro' at long flights, her serenity is ruffled by her seatmate, a garrulous married man, Chuck Mumpson, of Tulsa who wishes to chat. She puts him off with difficulty. But the smoking and drinking Chuck is persistent. He could use help with a research trip of his own to trace his family history. Vinnie slowly becomes involved with his project, and then with him.

Meanwhile, her young colleague, Fred Turner, has left his wife, Roo, at home for his own sabbatical; they have quarreled. Soon, he consoles himself with the affections of Lady Rosemary Hadley. Quite by accident and with the encouragement of Chuck, Vinnie becomes an emissary for Fred's estranged wife in an improbable midnight walk on Hampstead Heath.

Just as she begins to think Chuck's affections have cooled, because of his silence of several days duration, she is visited by his daughter who describes his sudden death while climbing the stairs of a small town hall. When her publisher patronizes his memory, she realizes with surprise that he loved her and she loved him. She returns to her life in Corinth, solitary and unloved, but altered for having loved and been loved.

Characters in "Foreign Affairs"

*Virginia Miner (Vinnie) – professor at Corinth
*Fred Turner – Miner's young colleague
*Chuck Mumpson – who she meets on a plane

Awards and nominations

The novel won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1985, and was made into a made-for-TV movie. "Foreign Affairs" was also nominated for the 1984 National Book Award for fiction [Cite web| url = http://www.nationalbook.org/nba1984.html | work = The National Book Foundation | title = National Book Awards - 1984 | accessdate = 2008-01-20] and the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction. [Cite web| url = http://www.bookcritics.org/?go=pastAwards | work = The National Book Critics Circle | title = All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists | accessdate = 2008-01-20]

Film, TV or theatrical adaptations

In 1993, "Foreign Affairs" was made into a TV movie written by Chris Bryant.

External links

* [http://www.pprize.com/BookDetail.php?bk=67 Photos of the first edition of Foreign Affairs]

References and Notes