Voyage in the Dark
Back of the Book
Autobiographically inspired, Rhys created stories of the slightly adrift every woman looking for an anchor in a cold, hostile landscape. Her heroine in Voyage in the Dark is Anna Morgan, a young woman in her late teens, relocated to England from her beloved home in the West Indies. She works as a chorus girl, traveling the country to dank boarding rooms and shabby theaters. Fortune seems to grab her one day in the shape of a wealthy, older man who sets her up in London, calling for her as his needs dictate. Anna falls in love with him, and allows herself to rely on him totally. When he grows tired of her, she begins a long spiraling decline. This is poignant, tense writing by the woman whom A. Alvarez called "the best living English novelist."
Why You Should Read It
There is a desperation in the main character in Rhys’ Voyage that is deeply familiar to anyone living in what could only be described as a capitalist dystopia. Rhys’ narrative of disillusionment is so aligned with the modern understanding of capitalist realism, of the Mark Fisher kind, that its gloomy insides could be undermined if not for the upholstering of Rhys’ gorgeous, opulent language. Despair is done just as good as the next writer, but Rhys has an eerie knack for getting to the quick of it, of why it is despair and disillusionment, of why dreams falling apart is almost like regression, surfacing the sorrows of childhood, the disappointment of another reality check from the perspective of a growing mind too early in its development to grasp the concept of setbacks being the way of things if one is not comfortable in one’s circumstances, and there helpless. Voyage in the Dark’s narrative pace reads almost like mewling, its unsteady relationship with hope, with the how the light falters. Anna Morgan, our protagonist, becomes caught in the greyness of a dreary England after she moves from the West Indies, and is confronted with the cruelty of a life that is bound to never be what she expected of the English way.
Memorable Passage
Sometimes it was as if I were back there and as if England were a dream. At other times England was the real thing and out there was the dream, but I could never fit them together.
About the Author
Jean Rhys (1890–1979) was a Dominican-British novelist whose works, often exploring themes of colonialism, displacement, and identity, have earned her a distinct and influential place in 20th-century literature. Born Ella Gwendolyn Rees Williams in Dominica, Rhys gained international acclaim for her masterpiece, Wide Sargasso Sea, a prequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre that reimagines the life of Bertha Mason. Rhys's writing is characterized by its exquisite prose, psychological depth, and a keen awareness of the complexities of race and gender. Her own life experiences as an outsider in England and as a woman navigating a changing world deeply informed her narratives. Despite facing periods of obscurity, Rhys's work has experienced a critical revival, and she is now regarded as a literary trailblazer, worth knowing for her contribution to postcolonial literature and her ability to give voice to the marginalized and disenfranchised in her poignant and evocative storytelling.
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