The Present and The Past by Ivy Compton Burnett was recommended by Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis as a masterpiece, although I could not find it on The Greatest Books of All time site – there is another issue there, even Manservant and Maidservant, a magnum opus, is only 2972nd there, nevertheless, we have it among the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and more importantly for this place, it is one of my Top 200 – advertising: you have more than five thousand reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned and other sites, together with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

The Present and The Past by Ivy Compton Burnett was recommended by Magister Ludi Kingsley Amis as a masterpiece, although I could not find it on The Greatest Books of All time site – there is another issue there, even Manservant and Maidservant, a magnum opus, is only 2972^nd there, nevertheless, we have it among the 1,000 Novels Everyone Must Read and more importantly for this place, it is one of my Top 200 – advertising: you have more than five thousand reviews of magnum opera from the aforementioned and other sites, together with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html

 

 

8 out of 10

 

Manservant and Maidservant https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/08/manservant-and-maidservant-by-ivy.html by Ivy Compton Burnett is one of The 1,000 Movies Ever Made and I have found it wondrous, ergo one solid reason to read The Present and The Past, and then Kingsley Amis wrote that this is a chef d’oeuvre

 

Alas, somehow I did not resonate with this third novel, albeit I can see its worth, it is just that the work needs to be hitting all the right notes – The Mighty and Their Fall https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-mighty-and-their-fall-by-ivy.html was a 9 out of 10 also, almost three years ago

 

Cassius Clare is the main character, I would say, married first to Catherine for five years, then they divorce, their two sons, Guy and Fabian, would stay with their father, who has another spouse, Flavia, Catherine is gone for nine years, only to come back and upset the harmony, even if imperfect, making some demands

Kingsley Amis https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-kings-english-guide-to-modern-usage.html is indeed right in commending this novel, there is so much in there, it is just that I do not have the patience anymore, the writing has to be amusing and sophisticated, but not everyone writes like Amis, the father

 

Flavia Clare, the second wife has her own children with Cassius, she has also been a mother (called mater) to Guy and Fabian, and she is not happy, on the contrary, with this intrusion, especially given that Catherine had promised to disappear and never come back, something she wants to change now, asking for access

This becomes a bizarre situation, because after opposing this interference, Flavia decides to grant full permission, Catherine can come whenever she wants, the understanding of a mother may be the key here https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-female-brain-by-louann-brizendine.html this book would offer insight

 

Furthermore, the two women get close – my mind was pushing a theory that maybe they discover their sapphic side, which ever the deeper, or subconscious feelings might be, the result is devastating for Cassius, who feels abandoned, rejected, to the point where he contemplates suicide, even takes some pills

This becomes embarrassing to a degree, because they discover that he had not taken enough to die, so that was just a desperate effort to get more attention, some support, and I will end this here, before I say what happens next, and dedicate the last lines to my own past, brought forward by this situation, the adversity in it

 

In 1990, after the revolution that deposed Ceausescu, I met Miss Romania, and fell in love, an absolute joy – to quote Queen, ‘one year of love is better than a lifetime without’, or "it's better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all" as Tennyson said – expect that at times, it brought about trauma and pain

In Bulgaria, where I went with her, she had to be part of a spectacle, and I became so jealous, sure that I adore a woman that does not care for me, that I wanted to jump from the window of the hotel, eventually, she would leave me, and I had to see a shrink, got my ‘revenge’, when the fat cat she would marry went to prison, on account of the fortune he had embezzled

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’