Houses

Worksheet 3
1. Satis House, in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Miss Havisham's decaying lair is as much of as an intrigue as the character herself. Stopped
clocks, rooms paused in time, a name that literally translates as "enough": Satis House is home,
prison and memorial a wonderfully realised epression of the contradictions of !eing at
home.
2. Des Esseintes' country house, in !ebours by "oris#$arl Huys%ans
"ossi!ly the most intricately detailed and descri!ed home in literature, the place where the
#uc $ean des %sseintes heads to spend his life in decadent contemplation is a home of
etraordinary richness, of o!sessive attention to detail. &t is a place where he can live out his
aesthetic fancies and fantasies. &t is, however, a house in which you feel that only des
%sseintes could feel at home.
3. &artlebooth's apart%ent, 11 !ue Si%on#Crubellier in 'i(e a )ser's *anual by Geor+es
,erec
"erec's masterpiece and to my mind the greatest novel since 'lysses takes place in a
"arisian apartment !lock (ust after the death of eccentric %nglishman )artle!ooth on *+ $une
,-./. "erec ghosts around the rooms, telling the stories of the inha!itants, showing the lives
that have populated the place over the preceding years. &t is )artle!ooth's that is the most
interesting: a simple place of retreat0 a home as a place of reflection on the rest of the world.
-. .hrushcross Gran+e in Wutherin+ Hei+hts by E%ily &ront/
1he scene in which 2athy and Heathcliff first come across their well3to3do3neigh!ours' house
has remained, for me, one of its most enduring images. 1he Heights is a working farm, a place
of la!our0 the 4range is a!out leisure, luury, relaation. &n such a colourless and !lasted
narrative, the deep crimsons and golds of the 4range's decorations show class divisions in an
unsu!tle yet highly effective manner. Heathcliff's return and ownership yet lack of residence
of the place also serves to show home, unlike wealth or status, as a place even more difficult
to escape.
0. .he 1slan2 *useu% in .he 1n3ention o( *orel by 2ol(o &ioy Casares
5 home in a slightly less conventional sense, the island retreat in which the unnamed fugitive
lives is nonetheless a compelling image of home. )ioy 2asares's novel is part modernist
triumph, part sci3fi thriller0 part compelling novel of ideas, part a tautly sprung mystery. 1he
Houses
events that take place there to eplain too much of the plot would spoil the (oy of reading it
for the first time show home as a place of repetition and of playing host to the whole gamut
of human eperience.
4. &ucky Wun2erlick's apart%ent in Great "ones Street by Don De'illo
)ucky 6underlick a rock star modelled on #ylan and $agger retreats from the world to an
apartment with a refrigerator full of records and a !ath in the living room. 1he charged
strangeness of #e7illo's third novel comes from this odd homestead, from its anonymity and
from the fact that seemingly everyone knows where he is. &t is the ultimate rock star crashpad.
5. !uth's house in Housekeepin+ by *arilynne !obinson
5ll of 8o!inson's !ooks deal with home to a greater or lesser etent, !ut Housekeeping remains
my favourite of her three novels. & first read it !y a pool on holiday, and the chill descriptions
of growing up in 9inger!one, &daho, acted as a sort of literary air3conditioning. 1his is home as
a collection of people under one roof, home as a place to escape from and to return to, home
as a shifting sense of selfhood.
6. Dr "ekyll's house in .he Stran+e Case o( Dr "ekyll an2 *r Hy2e by !obert 'ouis
Ste3enson
:nly at home do $ekyll and Hyde coeist0 segregated !etween the front, where $ekyll presents
his pu!lic persona, and the !ack, where his la!oratory has created Hyde. &t is a home in
turmoil something !rilliantly eploited !y ;alerie Martin in Mary 8eilly and yet it is the only
place where $ekyll can truly !e himself.
7. $arl's (ather's house in Death in the 8a%ily by $arl 93e $naus+aar2
1he home of <nausgaard's father is terrifying0 !leak and swirling with past misdemeanours and
regrets. &ts s=ualid filth, the result of his now3dead father's alcoholism, is foully, vividly
rendered: the stink and decay !ecoming the physical em!odiment of a man slipping from
middle3class respecta!ility into his own personal hell. &t's a reminder that a home can not only
!e a place of sanctuary !ut also an indulgence that allows you to refuse the world outside.
1:. 12- &luestone !oa2 in &elo3e2 by .oni *orrison
,*> )luestone 8oad is perhaps the most cele!rated of modern haunted houses, a home "full of
a !a!y's venom". &t's the vital constituent of Morrison's novel: a living, !reathing, almost
sentient mem!er of the cast of characters0 a true vector of the past and present.
Houses
Which house are ;e tol2<
,. 2reates a meaningful contrast to another residence
*. &s a place where the imagination can !e eplored
+. %mphasi?es recurrence
>. Has a name which suggests desperation
/. &s one of the novel@s characters
A. &s a setting for escapism
.. &s a place of conflicted division
B. 7acks character
-. 8elates tales of earlier residents
,C. %plores the nature of community