Those Barren Leaves · Chapter
Part II: Fragments from the Autobiography of Francis Chelifer explained
Francis Chelifer recounts his early life, his mother's literary aspirations, his father's quiet scholarly existence, and his own youthful disillusionment.
What happens
Francis Chelifer recounts his early life, his mother's literary aspirations, his father's quiet scholarly existence, and his own youthful disillusionment. He describes his mother's salon, her pretentious literary friends, and his growing contempt for the artificiality of their world. The narrative shifts to his time at Oxford, his failed poetic ambitions, and his eventual retreat into a mundane job at a company that publishes 'The Loves of the Parallels,' a sentimental magazine he despises. The chapter explores themes of authenticity versus performance, the emptiness of modern life, and the self-deception inherent in artistic pretension.
Themes in this chapter
Authenticity vs. Performance
Chelifer's mother and her circle perform the roles of artists and intellectuals, while Chelifer himself feels trapped between his genuine artistic desires and the need to perform a role in a world he despises.
Modernity and Meaninglessness
Chelifer's work at the company publishing 'The Loves of the Parallels' epitomizes the meaningless, commercialized culture of modern life, which he finds both absurd and inescapable.
Characters to notice
- Mr. Chelifer
The narrator and protagonist, reflecting on his past with bitter irony.
- Mrs. Chelifer
Francis's mother, a pretentious literary hostess who aspires to be a poet.
- Mrs. Cloudesley Shove
A frequent guest at Mrs. Chelifer's salon, a writer of sentimental verse.
- Mr. Falx
An elderly poet and regular at Mrs. Chelifer's gatherings, representing the old guard of literary pretension.
- Mr. Bosk
Another literary figure at the salon, a critic and essayist.
Key passages
“My mother was a woman of considerable literary ambition. She wrote verses, which were published in the more refined of the monthly magazines.”
Chelifer's mother was a would-be poet who managed to get her work published in respectable literary journals.
Introduces Mrs. Chelifer's pretensions and sets the stage for the satire of literary ambition.
“I was born, so to speak, into a library. My father was a scholar, a man of immense erudition and no practical ability whatever.”
Chelifer grew up surrounded by books, with a father who was deeply learned but utterly impractical.
Contrasts the father's genuine scholarship with the mother's performative artistry.
“The Loves of the Parallels was a weekly paper, price twopence, devoted to the interests of the domestic servant and the sentimental shop-girl.”
The magazine Chelifer works for is a cheap weekly aimed at maids and shopgirls, full of sentimental romance.
Highlights the degradation Chelifer feels in his job, producing what he considers trash for the masses.