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    The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight
    The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight
    The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight
    Ebook339 pages4 hours

    The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight

    By Elizabeth Von Arnim

    3.5/5

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateMay 1, 2006
    Author

    Elizabeth Von Arnim

    Elizabeth von Arnim was born in Australia in 1866 and her family moved to England when she was young. Katherine Mansfield was her cousin and they exchanged letters and reviewed each other’s work. Von Arnim married twice and lived in Berlin, Poland, America, France and Switzerland, where she built a chalet to entertain her circle of literary friends, which included her lover, H. G. Wells. Von Arnim’s first novel, Elizabeth in Her German Garden, was semiautobiographical and a huge success on publication in 1898. The Enchanted April, published in 1922, is her most widely read novel and has been adapted numerous times for stage and screen. She died of influenza in 1941.

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    Reviews for The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight

    3.5/5

    25 ratings4 reviews

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    • 4/5
      in this comic, satiric, novel of manners, Princess Priscilla has grown dissatisfied with life as a privileged princess in a German grand dukedom. Yearning for the simple life, she runs away to England accompanied by the palace librarian and a maid. The simple life is not anything like she expected it to be. Nor is she what the villagers in rural Somerset expected. Very funny with some moments of surprising darkness and intensity.
    • 4/5
      Princess Priscilla's Fortnight is a fairytale-like story with a moral by Elizabeth von Arnim, first published in 1905. Describing it as a story with a moral perhaps mmakes it sound quite dry but this is a rather charming tale of a princess of an unnamed German kingdom who finds life as a privileged princess so insupportable that she longs for a simple, ideal life where she can be free to think in peace. In short, she longs to run away."To her unfortunately the life within the walls seemed of a quite blatant vulgarity; pervaded by lacqueys, by officials of every kind and degree, by too much food, too many clothes, by waste, by a feverish frittering away of time, by a hideous want of privacy, by a dreariness unutterable. To her it was a perpetual behaving according to the ideas officials had formed as to the conduct to be expected of princesses, a perpetual pretending not to see that the service offered was sheerest lip-service, a perpetual shutting of the eyes to hypocrisy and grasping selfishness. Conceive, you tourist full of illusions standing free down there in the market place, the frightfulness of never being alone a moment from the time you get out of bed to the time you get into it again. Conceive the deadly patience needed to stand passive and be talked to, amused, taken care of, all day long for years. Conceive the intolerableness, if you are at all sensitive, of being watched by eyes so sharp and prying, so eager to note the least change of expression and to use the conclusions drawn for personal ends that nothing, absolutely nothing, escapes them"The announcement of Priscilla's engagement to a prince from a neighbouring monarchy precipitates her desire to be free and with her lady's maid and her faithful tutor she flees to England where they hope to find a quiet cottage to live in.But sheltered palace lives have not prepared any of them for the realities of life outside the palace. The idea of housework or rationing their money has never occurred to any of them and they struggle more and more as time goes by. Not only this, but the inhabitants of the small English village are also completely unprepared for the effects that Priscilla has on their small community."It will be conceded that Priscilla had achieved a good deal in the one week that had passed since she laid aside her high estate and stepped down among ordinary people for the purpose of being and doing good. She had brought violent discord into a hitherto peaceful vicarage, thwarted the hopes of a mother, been the cause of a bitter quarrel between her and her son, brought out by her mysteriousness a prying tendency in the son that might have gone on sleeping for ever, entirely upset the amiable Tussie's life by rending him asunder with a love as strong as it was necessarily hopeless, made his mother anxious and unhappy, and, what was perhaps the greatest achievement of all, actually succeeded in making that mother cry."Although Priscilla's tale is told lightly and humourously there is a seriousness to the message behind it and from the biography of Elizabeth von Arnim that I read earlier this year, it's hard not to see it as a lesson she was writing to herself as well as her readers: that the simple life Elizabeth felt she longed for, away from the strict requirements of German high society, might not turn out to be as simple as she hoped."But Priscilla's story has taken such a hold on me, it seemed when first I heard it to be so full of lessons, that I feel bound to set it down from beginning to end for the use and warning of all persons, princesses and others, who think that by searching, by going far afield, they will find happiness, and do not see that it is lying all the while at their feet. They do not see it because it is so close. It is so close that there is a danger of its being trodden on or kicked away. And it is shy, and waits to be picked up."
    • 4/5
      Priscilla, principessa silenziosa e obbediente, è desiderosa di libertà, per questo organizza la fuga verso l’Inghilterra aiutata dall’anziano insegnante.L’esperienza di vita in un villaggio sarà particolare, considerando che i modi da principessa non possono essere dimenticati con una semplice fuga dal palazzo.All’inizio stavo trovando il romanzo piuttosto noioso, una volta iniziata la vita nella cittadina inglese mi ha interessato molto di più ed è risultato più scorrevole, anche grazie alla presenza di diversi personaggi dal carattere molto diverso.---Priscilla, quiet and docile princess, wants freedom, so she sets up her escape towards England with her old teacher.The life in a small English village will be a peculiar one, considering that Priscilla’s princess manners cannot be forgotten with a simple escape from the palace.At the beginning I found the book a little boring, however I changed my mind once begun reading the adventures in England. The book becomes more interesting also thanks to the presence of various characters.
    • 5/5
      If I were allowed just two words to describe this novel I would say it is “charmingly delightful!”Set during the early 20th century, Priscilla is a princess of an unmentioned German kingdom. Unlike her two sisters she is supposed to be the model of a perfect princess. But within the closed quarters of her schoolroom, Professor Fritzing instills in this royal heart, a desire for freedom, to explore their ideals. Princess Priscilla is not happy with her lot, though no one (save the professor) suspects. She dreams of escape. And escape she does, when her wedding is fixed to a prince from a neighbouring kingdom. Priscilla, her old professor and a maid flee the palace one quiet afternoon when fortune smiles upon the fugitives, and they make their way to England. From there, they find themselves in a small, happy village that possesses just the ideal cottage Priscilla has her heart set on. The rest of the story follows Priscilla’s adventures in this little village, all of them brought about through her unwitting ignorance. The whole story is written with such a whimsical air. I simply loved Von Arnim’s style. It was such a pleasure to read – light-hearted, with a strong streak of humour and gentle satire. I found myself laughing aloud so often!The novel is not without its didactic side; as the author herself tells us in the narrative, But Priscilla's story has taken such a hold on me, it seemed when first I heard it to be so full of lessons, that I feel bound to set it down from beginning to end for the use and warning of all persons, princesses and others, who think that by searching, by going far afield, they will find happiness, and do not see that it is lying all the while at their feet. They do not see it because it is so close. It is so close that there is a danger of its being trodden on or kicked away. And it is shy, and waits to be picked up.And yet I could not accuse the writer of being preachy for she is most subtle in her method inspite, well, of not being subtle about her intentions. Recall that I described this novel as charmingly delightful – it was because of the writer’s very style. I have recently finished a novel by Dickens and am half way through one by Edith Wharton. Like the first, von Arnim takes the reader to a window to look through, but unlike Dickens, she does not make you feel like a stranger merely looking in, you become a part of Priscilla’s growing soul: and like Wharton, her narrative is full of satire, but unlike Wharton she does not demand that you see things the way she does; there is much food for thought.The story itself is much reminiscent of Roman Holiday, more particularly in Princess Priscilla’s role that is much like the princess-role of Audrey Hepburn in the movie. Was the simple life a sordid life as well? Did it only look simple from outside and far away? And was it, close, mere drudging? A fear came over her that her soul, her precious soul, for whose sake she had dared everything, instead of being able to spread its wings in the light of a glorious clear life was going to be choked out of existence by weeds just as completely as at Kunitz.Princess Priscilla is enjoying her freedom, unaware that it is the money that she has backing her up that allows her to dream. But things start getting stark ugly when she and the professor run out of every last penny they have. Herein lies one of the lessons – ideals are easy when there’s food in the stomach. He had not told Priscilla a word of his money difficulties, his idea being to keep every cloud from her life as long and as completely as possible.The reason they seem to run out of money so quickly is because the old professor doesn’t want to burden his princess with the state of their finances. Thus, with her being wholly unaware that they are fast sinking into poverty, she gives money like it grew on trees. Lesson two – communication is the key point to anything working out successfully. "Lose it? She has stolen it. Do you not see you have deliberately made a thief out of an honest girl?"Priscilla gazed in dismay at the avenging vicar's wife.It was true then, and she had the fatal gift of spoiling all she touched."And worse than that—you have brought a good girl to ruin. He'll never marry her now.""He?""Do you not know the person she was engaged to has gone with her?"And then, as a result of her free ways with money a robbery and a murder take place in the little village. Lesson number three – even among the poor money needs to be earned honestly and accordingly for free handouts are sure to lead to ruin. I am sure, along the way, that one is bound to pick up other such little lessons that might strike one. But, you are not to be daunted by all this. You can’t be. The writer simply does not allow it. She does not judge, she does not particularly comment. As she herself says, Now how can I, weak vessel whose only ballast is a cargo of interrogations past which life swirls with a thunder of derisively contradictory replies, pretend to say whether Priscilla ought to have had conscience qualms or not? Am I not deafened by the roar of answers, all seemingly so right yet all so different, that the simplest question brings? And would not the answering roar to anything so complicated as a question about conscience-qualms deafen me for ever? I shall leave the Princess, then, to run away from her home and her parent if she chooses, and make no effort to whitewash any part of her conduct that may seem black. I shall chronicle, and not comment. I shall try to, that is, for comments are very dear to me.But, by the situations described, you can’t help but notice that there is something didactic in all of that charming writing. Don't let that unman you though, Von Arnim is a delightful discovery - entertaining, full of life and fun, and not without a serious side.

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    The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight - Elizabeth Von Arnim

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