|
Christine Balint on the Inspiration for Her Novel
Ophelia’s Fan began with my own experience of hearing Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique along with its
rarely performed sequel Lélio or The Return to Life. Both of these orchestral works by the Romantic French composer were inspired by the Irish Shakespearean actress Harriet Smithson. Seeing her on stage in Paris in 1827, Berlioz fell in love. I sat in the audience in Melbourne watching an actor playing a young Romantic artist with long hair, lolling about on the grand piano and raving about Ophelia, Juliet, and Shakespeare. As I listened, I began to wonder what it would be like to be Harriet, hearing the work she inspired for the first time.
The subject of Harriet and Berlioz and the symphony is rich with possibility. It has allowed me to work with many subjects that have interested me for some time: music, Shakespeare, theater, and nineteenth-century history. The research process took me from the Bishop’s Palace in Ennis, County Clare, to the Freemason’s records in Dublin, to the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. I visited Drumcliffe cemetery where Father Barrett, Harriet’s childhood guardian, is reportedly buried, only to find unreadable headstones and a herd of dairy cows. I learned the almost-forgotten theatrical art of gesture in a course for actors and opera singers. My concluding performance was Ophelia’s “mad scene” in a flowing white dress.
It has been a fascinating journey for me re-creating the life and voice of such a talented woman who has been immortalized by music yet overlooked by history.
Discussion
Questions
1. Harriet’s parents make the seemingly unconventional decision to leave her with Father Barrett, an
elderly Catholic priest, to raise. Do you think that Harriet has a better childhood because of being
brought up in Father Barrett’s household or would she have been better off with her traveling parents?
How do her parents ultimately feel about their decision? How does this make Harriet a different
person?
2. Harriet’s family is Protestant and County Clare is heavily Catholic, particularly in Ennis, where
Harriet grows up. How do Catholic-Protestant relations in Ennis affect the story? How do Catholicism
and religion figure in Harriet’s life?
3. What is the effect of reading about Harriet’s childhood in the third person? (“She” rather than “I”
is used in the narrative.) Why would Balint use this more distancing voice for only the childhood
sections?
4. Do you think the Castle Coote family could have helped Harriet in other ways after Father Barrett’s
death? If so, why do you think they did not?
5. What does Harriet learn from Eliza O’Neill? How does their friendship shape Harriet’s personality
and her desires?
6. Why do you think other actresses were more popular in London? Is it the theater world that makes
them stars or is it something in Harriet that keeps her from reaching the top strata?
7. Given Harriet’s upbringing, what were her choices in life? Given the times—and you can think about
Jane Austen novels for background—what is allowable for women of Harriet’s class and profession?
8. Balint interweaves characters, mostly from Shakespeare, that Harriet played speaking directly to the
reader. Why would she want to include the voices of Juliet, Desdemona, Ophelia, and others? How does
Harriet feel about the women she portrays on stage?
9. Do you think Harriet is in love with her childhood friend Charles Castle Coote? Why does she react
to his proposition by turning him away? Is there any man in Ophelia’s Fan who could have made her
genuinely happy?
10. Harriet finds that she can use her natural Irish accent when on the stage in Paris, which she cannot
do when in England. In what other ways is France a relief after living in London? Why is Harriet more
successful in Paris than in London? Why does she decide to settle in France? What would have made her
later life in France easier?
11. Character is created in the theater by the use of makeup and props. For her pivotal role as Ophelia
in Hamlet, Harriet plaits straw in her hair but also uses a fan, which gives the title to Balint’s
novel. What does “Ophelia’s fan” symbolize and why would Balint want to focus the reader’s attention
on it? Are there other symbols in the book that evoke the story?
12. How would you describe Harriet’s acting style? How does it fit or seem in opposition to her intimate
self?
13. How does Berlioz first attract Harriet’s attention? Why do they have such a complicated and explosive
courtship?
14. Harriet’s younger sister, Anne, is an invalid. How does that color her relationship with Harriet?
How does Anne react to Berlioz’s wooing of Harriet? Why?
15. What are Harriet’s mother’s ambitions for her daughter and for herself? Why doesn’t Mrs. Smithson
want her daughter to marry a composer?
16. The Juliet in the novel says, “For suddenly I understood the meaning of marriage and that this
marriage was more important to me than my own life.” Is this how Harriet feels about Berlioz? Why does
she marry him?
17. Why do you think Balint chose to write a nonlinear narrative, moving around in time, rather than
telling the story chronologically from beginning to end? Why does she choose to use Father Barrett’s
philosophy for the titles of the part sections?
|