The Victorian Chaise-Longue

First edition (publ. Cresset Press)

The Victorian Chaise-Longue (1953) is a novella by the English novelist Marghanita Laski. Published in 1953, the book describes the experience of an invalided young woman who wakes up in the body of her alter-ego eighty years previously. Described by Anthony Boucher as 'relentlessly terrifying', and as 'disturbing and compulsive' by Penelope Lively, the novella plays on the fear of the unexpected and unknown.[1][2]

It was republished in 1999 by Persephone Books

Reception

New York Times reviewer Kenneth Fearing praised the story as "a subdued, evenly paced nightmare."[3] Writing in F&SF, Anthony Boucher described The Victorian Chaise Longue as "an admirably written book, highly skilled in its economic evocation of time, place and character -- and a relentlessly terrifying one."[1] P. Schuyler Miller placed the "slight but beautifully written" novella on "the borderlands of fantasy and science fiction."[4]

Television

Two adaptations of the story were produced for American television. The first, in 1957, starred Joan Fontaine and appeared on the Ronald Reagan-hosted General Electric Theater.[5] The second, starring Frances White, appeared as an episode of Studio 4 in the United Kingdom in 1962.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 'Recommended Reading', F&SF, October 1954, p.95.
  2. ↑ 'Persephone Quarterly', Persephone Books,
  3. ↑ "Time Moved Backward", The New York Times Book Review, June 13, 1954, p.22
  4. ↑ "The Reference Library", Astounding Science Fiction, February 1955, p.145
  5. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0586371/
  6. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0712162/
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