Wednesday 19 June 2019

The Structure Of A Series: Dornford Yates III

Dornford Yates' ten Berry books subdivide not into two fives but into a six and a four.

1914-1936
The Brother Of Daphne (1914), pre-War
The Courts Of Idleness (1920), before, during and after WWI
Berry and Co. (1921)
Jonah and Co. (1922)
Adele and Co. (1931)
And Berry Came Too (1936)

I am currently rereading Yates so might have to revise some of these statements. And Berry Came Too is set during a summer between two chapters of Berry and Co. (or something). The theme is upper class life in the period that we recognize as between the Wars.

1945-1958
The House That Berry Built (1945), War approaches, ancestral home sold
The Berry Scene (1947), a review of the whole period
As Berry And I Were Saying (1952)
B-Berry And I Look Back (1958)

The last two are memoirs which step outside the fictional continuity.

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