Jane Gardam Old Filth

May 14, 2006
Jane Gardam's Old Filth
By schnucki
Jane Gardam Old Filth.
Old Filth is a story about a "Raj orphan", Edward Feathers, who was born in Malaya in the 1930s. After a blissfully happy childhood in the company of his much loved Malay amah, Ada, he was suddenly ripped away by his WW1 psychologically damaged father, and sent home to the old country. Later Feathers became a successful Silk and was known in the Inner Temple as "Old Filth" ("Failed in London Try Hong Kong").
There are many reviews and summaries of the book on the Web, but the best I found was the printed TLS review from the library: "The comforts of a stiff upper lip" 12 November 2004 p 21-22. This give some detail on the Rudyard Kipling connection.
The Raj orphans were in their way a Stolen Generation of children, who although they lived a life of wealth and privilege, their lives could often have been a very loveless and unhappy. All through the novel The Feathers charactert connects with other Raj orphans, who have each reacted to their unusual upbringing in different ways. In fact I think many British upper class children may have suffered a similar fate and scenes of Old Filth’s aunts and the father figure himself reminded me of Brideshead Revisited. John Gielgud gave a memorable performance in the BBC TV series, where he played Charles Ryder’s stiff and remote father.
The Feathers character is based on Rudyard Kipling. Kipling’s short story "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (1888) drew from his experience as an abandoned five year left with foster parents in England. Hi autobiography "Something of Myself" (1935) further explores this.
I thought the structure of the book, like a staged drama, with scenes created from different time periods, worked well. It added to the drama of Feathers’ life and helped to create anticipation and to move to story forward. The Feathers’ character wears a mask his whole life and there’s mention of him choosing an "actor’s life" in becoming a judge. It is not until finally, with the death of his wife, when the "days of terror" start and his persona start unraveling.
Old Filth is a type of mystery and we wait for the dark secret to be revealed at the end. Gardam cleverly introduces the names of Cumberledge, (Isobel scene page 74), but we never know who he is.
As a Raj orphan, Feathers’ life certainly could have been worse. He finds kindness and friends along the way, (Aunt May, Sir, the Ingoldby family, Albert Loss, his beloved wife Betty). Even his unsympathetic father is working behind the scenes, sending him money and books. Bit many friends desert him
Gardam creates wonderful word pictures. The early scene in Kota Kinakulu is evocative and poetic and the final portrait of Filth in declining old age is authentic.
The novel could have been quite a soppy maudlin story, but humour and irony shines though and some of the characters are particularly quirky: Babs, Isobel, the confessional priest, and the mysterious Albert Loss.
Of secondary interest to Gardam is plot and she’s quite happy to have coincidences such as Feathers’ arch enemy turned up next door, and other characters popping across his path.
Finally I would say a great book and I look forward to discovering more of Gardam.