Legit Lit: Old Filth

For my first review in Legit Lit, I want to recommend a seriously underlooked book by a seriously underlooked author: Jane Gardam's Old Filth. It's the story of a man affectionately called Filth, or, even more affectionately, Old Filth, as he ages and rises through the ranks of the British legal system. "Filth" may not sound like a term of endearment, but rather than a judgement of Filth's hygiene or tastes, it is an acronym for Failed In London, Try Hong (Kong). 


I started this book on the flight to Spain, and it was so good I couldn't stop myself from seizing it as soon as I woke up and reading it for about an hour each day I was there before setting off to do things in Barcelona. (Reminds me of watching my brother reading The Agony and the Ecstasy while we were actually in Italy; he was so engrossed in the story he couldn't put it down to see the real-life art the book described.) Filth had a fascinating life and is one of the most roundly developed and endearing characters I've come across. He was born Eddie Feathers IV - don't you already love him just for that? - and spent his childhood in Malaysia, Wales, and England, where he meets a host of remarkable, wonderful, and despicable characters. He ends up spending his career practicing law in Hong Kong while it is still a British colony, where he achieves international fame and marries his beloved Betty. The story jumps around a great deal - for example, it begins near the end and then fast forwards immediately to Filth's birth - so I kept reading not so much to learn what would happen next as to learn how Filth had arrived at a conclusion I already knew. Learning about his life felt much like it would if I had actually met Filth as an elderly gentleman: I first gained a sense of who he was in his twilight years, and then piece by piece learned more and more about his history as I got to know him. 


I discovered Old Filth in a roundabout and rather lucky way: via NPR's incomparable Maureen Corrigan's review of Gardam's newest novel The Man in the Wooden Hat. I nearly always love the books she recommends, and she was practically tripping over herself to cram in as many wonderful comments about it as she could during her allotted time. I looked it up and found that it is a sequel to Old Filth, a detail I had somehow missed during Corrigan's review. I decided to read them in order. While one could definitely read The Man in the Wooden Hat first, I highly recommend starting with Old Filth; I feel it sets the stage a bit better than if you read them in reverse order. The Man in the Wooden Hat focuses on Betty, Filth's wife. She is also an extraordinarily intriguing character, perhaps even more so than Filth in that she has a bit of a dark side. He remains unbelievably noble from the word go, while Betty undergoes a transformation, marked by a youthful transgression that shapes the woman she becomes. To make her all the more colorful, she grew up in China and spent much of her childhood in a Japanese prison camp with her parents, a chapter of her life on which Gardam was disappointingly silent (which was frustrating, though fitting, as Betty was not the type to tolerate discussion of dismal topics and would likely have brightly changed the subject to something more cheerful if anyone had asked her about this). 

Jane Gardam

Gardam's writing is simply spellbinding. Neither book is even the smallest bit chronological, yet the way she reveals more and more information about the events of her characters' lives was far more meaningful, and kept me turning pages even while Barcelona beckoned. Her characters, as I hope I've managed to convey by now, are so real you feel as though they must surely exist somewhere, and her style is simply gorgeous. It's beyond me why she doesn't top the list of the the most iconic contemporary British authors. (I mean, look at her. Have you ever seen anyone who looked more canonical or English? Her appearance alone should be enough.) Perhaps she is more well-known in England. For her sake and yours, I really hope you'll help her gain some of the recognition she deserves elsewhere by reading both of these short, addictive novels; you won't be able to stop recommending them to friends if you do.