I have a Goodreads shelf called British Charm, and one of my favorites from that group is Alan Bennett's The Uncommon Reader, a delightful novella about what would happen if the Queen of England suddenly became an avid reader. My affection for that book inspires me to seek out anything Mr. Bennett writes.Another Goodreader recommended The Lady in the Van, which is a bittersweet play based on a true story. In 1974, Bennett bumped into a woman named Miss Shepherd, who was delusional and living in an old van. After several weeks of Miss Shepherd parking the van on the street — and some neighbors complaining — it ended up in Bennett's obliging garden, where it would stay for about 20 years. Yes, you read that right: A crazy old woman in a rundown van was living in Bennett's yard for two decades. At this point you may ask yourself what would YOU do if a crazy homeless person set up quarters in your yard. I consider myself a do-gooder, donate to charities and progressive causes and all that, but I doubt my generosity would extend as far as Bennett's. In the play, this action dovetails with his own mother's frailty, and Bennett contemplates the fact that he's putting his mother in a nursing home at the same time there's another sick elderly woman living on his lawn.I described this play as bittersweet, because while the dialogue with Miss Shepherd is quirky and amusing, it is at heart a sad tale. It also underscores how as a society (pardon me for lumping together America and Great Britain, but clearly nobody has figured this out) we don't know what to do with crazy people, especially if they don't want to be institutionalized. But rather than end this review on a sad note, I'd like to close with the fun first exchange between Bennett and Miss Shepherd. Bennett was standing by the convent in Camden Town and looking up at a crucifix on the wall.Miss Shepherd: You're looking up at the cross. You're not St John, are you?A. Bennett: St John who?Miss Shepherd: St John. The disciple whom Jesus loved.A. Bennett: No. My name's Bennett.Miss Shepherd: Well, if you're not St John I want a push for the van. It conked out, the battery possibly. I put some water in only it hasn't done the trick.A. Bennett: Was it distilled water?Miss Shepherd: It was holy water so it doesn't matter if it was distilled or not. The oil is another possibility.A. Bennett: That's not holy too?Miss Shepherd: Holy oil in a van? Don't be silly. It would be far too expensive. I want pushing to Albany Street.(Bennett pushes the van while Miss Shepherd directs.)Miss Shepherd: What have we stopped for?A. Bennett: This is Albany Street.Miss Shepherd: The top of Albany Street. I want the bottom.A. Bennett: That's a mile away.Miss Shepherd: So? You're young. I'm in dire need of assistance. I'm a sick woman, dying possibly.Later, when Bennett offers to let Miss Shepherd move the van into his garden to avoid being ticketed by police, she objects.Miss Shepherd: There's a lot of ivy in your garden. Ivy's poison. I shall have to think about it. You're not doing me a favour, you know. I've got other fish to fry. A man on the pavement told me that if I went south of the river I'd be welcomed with open arms.A. Bennett: I was to learn that to reject favours when offered was always Miss Shepherd's way. Time had to pass to erase any sense of obligation or gratitude, so that when eventually she did avail herself of the offer and bring the van in the feeling was that she had done me the favour. One laughs, but international diplomacy proceeds along much the same lines.
I probably liked this even more than I would have if I hadn't seen a terrific production of it with Dame Maggie Smith. Alan Bennett is charming and I enjoy his writing, but it was even better to picture Smith (who, as Alan Rickman once said, can raise an eyebrow like nobody else) as the Miss Shepherd, enunciating "possibly" with so much relish. In 1971, an old woman parked her van in front of Alan Bennett's house in Camden Town. And there she stayed until her death in 1994. Cantankerous, regal, and eccentric, Miss Shepherd becomes a fixture in Mr Bennett's life. I would have liked to meet Miss Shepherd.
What do You think about The Lady In The Van (1999)?
THE LADY IN THE VAN. (1994). Alan Bennett. ****.I have to presume that this is non-fiction. Bennett tells the story in the first person and takes on his role in the various events described. It’s the story of Miss Shepherd, a woman in her seventies that we would term a street person, with one important exception: she lives in a caravan (RV). After a series of incidents where she was forced to move her van from its several early parking places, she ends up parking in the garden of Bennett’s house. Bennett, being the kind of person he is, lets her stay, and takes on the task of watching out for her – as much as she will let her. She is obviously mentally unbalanced, but not in any harmful way. Over the years she has developed a myriad of strategies for survival that she adheres to fiendishly. She has definite ideas about government and justice and world affairs, and writes out her beliefs in chalk on the sidewalks of the neighborhood – she can’t afford the costs of printing. She does have problems with hygiene, though, which does bother Bennett somewhat. She tolerates his company, but on her own terms. The van itself is a model of messiness; her ideas of housekeeping are very different from the average housewife. We don’t learn a lot about her early life, but we can surmise a lot from her current actions. The humor in this work arises from the clash between Ms. Shepherd and the conventional people around her, including Bennett. Nowhere, however, is the humor disrespectful of her beliefs or actions. This is a fond look at the life of a person cast out by society who manages to create and maintain her won world. Recommended.
—Tony
Eine längere (die Titelgeschichte) und drei kürzere Erzählungen, die sehr autobiografisch daher kommen und es vielleicht nur teilweise sind. Das Highlight ist natürlich die Lady im Lieferwagen. Sie lebt ziemlich runtergekommen in diesem Gefährt, ist äußerst schwierig und schnoddrig. Sie lebt schließlich viele Jahre im Garten des Ich-Erzählers. Das Verhältnis der beiden ist äußerst ambivalent. Der Erzähler möchte irgendiwe helfen, andererseits aber auch seine Ruhe. Erst nachdem sie stirbt, erfährt er einiges aus ihrem früheren Leben.Sehr schön auch die kurze Geschichte "Der Verrat der Bücher" über die Diskrepenaz von realer und literarischer Welt, dem unterschiedlichen Umgang mt Büchern und unterschiedliche Leseverhalten zwischen den Generationen. Dabei gibt es auch hier biogafische Parallelen, vor allem wenn er beschreibt, was in der Kriegszeit alles nicht zur Verfügung stand und er als Junge auch dies dem Unterschied zur Literatur zuschrieb.
—Steffi
