Book Review: Mr. Fortune’s Maggot

[osprey_archer]

A couple months ago, littlerhymes and I read Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes. My library copy was an omnibus edition also containing Warner’s Mr. Fortune’s Maggot, and for no better reason than this I decided to read this second book as well.

(Mr. Fortune’s Maggot is usually published in the US as Mr. Fortune, presumably because we don’t tend to use maggot in the sense it’s used in the title, which means something between “hobbyhorse” and “obsession.” Do the British still use it this way?)

To be honest, I assumed the two books were published as an omnibus because they were both about the same rather short length, and therefore made a pleasingly sized book together. In fact, as it turns out, they make a sort of diptych: What If You Just Abandon Society and Social Expectations, female and male versions.

In Lolly Willowes, Laura leaves London for the country town of Great Mop, where she becomes a witch. In Mr. Fortune’s Maggot, Mr. Fortune sails all the way around the world to an idyllic Pacific island, where he becomes a Christian missionary.

He’s quite bad at being a missionary. In fact, in his whole time on the island, he only makes one convert, Lueli, who is not so much a convert as a boy fascinated by all forms of novelty. Mr. Fortune’s weird stories about a god who was a man who died on the cross are just as strange and interesting as Mr. Fortune’s harpsichord, and Lueli sees no reason why listening to them should stop him from also hanging onto his own carved wooden god (for each islander has their own god).

At last, the unobservant Mr. Fortune realizes that Lueli is still worshipping his own wooden god in secret. They have a confrontation, where Mr. Fortune orders Lueli to burn his idol, and Lueli can neither bring himself to refuse or comply, and it seems that at very least their friendship is about to go up in smoke when the volcano at the center of the island erupts, forcing Mr. Fortune and Lueli to flee, leaving the idol behind to be burnt to a cinder by the lava.

Which might seem like the act of a jealous God, insisting that Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me. But in the aftermath, it’s Mr. Fortune who loses his faith in God. Lueli, as faithful to his burnt god as ever, collapses into a depression, because surely he can’t long survive its destruction.

First, Mr. Fortune attempts to heal Lueli by teaching him calculus. When this fails and Lueli tries to drown himself (only to be saved by the girl he soon after decides to marry), Mr. Fortune carves him another idol, which cheers Lueli far more effectively than writing equations in the sand. Having given Lueli this new wooden god, Mr. Fortune leaves the island, and we last see him sailing away in a launch.

Comments

[genarti]

Is THAT what maggot means here! I admit the name has been offputting to me, but I figured there must be some sort of slang or regional or archaic meaning I didn't know... As indeed there is, apparently.

What a fascinatingly odd story! One always winces more than a little at a tale of missionaries and idyllic made-up Pacific islands, but at least this one seems to have turned out okay for everybody (except possibly Mr. Fortune, depending on how upset he is about his crisis of faith, I suppose).

[asakiyume]

When I saw the title of Osprey Archer's entry, I confess I immediately imagined a picture book with a kindly guy and His Unusual Pet.

[osprey_archer]

Ahaha the worst part is that I can absolutely imagine this ill-conceived picture-book. WHY does this man have a pet maggot. WHO CAN SAY.

[asakiyume]

I can imagine it too--I can totally imagine the cartoon-style drawings.

[genarti]

Me too! Right on the border between charming and worrisome...

quick mockup

[asakiyume]

Re: quick mockup

[osprey_archer]

AHAHA oh dear... I think the comment formatting cut off some of the picture. You should post this over on your journal!

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[asakiyume]

No, that’s it; I doodled it on scrap paper that had words on it, but that’s all there is :-)

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[skygiants]

THIS IS SO CUTE

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[asakiyume]

Just a guy and his dear maggot 😌😌😌

Re: quick mockup

[osprey_archer]

Little guy with his little maggot friend!

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[asakiyume]

So sweeeeeet (.... says no one ever)

Re: quick mockup

[osprey_archer]

To be honest the way you drew it, it DOES look sweet, until you pause to think about the whole maggot business. Has Mr. Fortune considered a puppy?

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[asakiyume]

I feel like if you tried to tell Mr. Maggot how much more cuddly a puppy is, he'd end up getting a body pillow instead. In the shape of a maggot -_-

Re: quick mockup

[osprey_archer]

Some people just won't be detached from their maggots, I guess!

[osprey_archer]

Mr. Fortune doesn't seem at all bothered by his crisis of faith - indeed it's not even a crisis, it just switches off like a light after the volcano, and he's like "Oh, okay." He devoted his life to it and it's gone and he's unconcerned.

I for one am a bit concerned what he's going to live on henceforth, but perhaps he can find people who will pay to learn higher mathematics.

[genarti]

Ha! Well, fair enough. Full marks for adaptability, and I hope he finds some Pacific Islander navigators to trade math with or something, I suppose.