Dos historias nada decentes

Por Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett, con su mirada entre cándida y malévola, construye con estos dos relatos, tan indecentes como inteligentes, un conmovedor y muy divertido grotesco de la clase media.

La señora Donaldson es una viuda reciente, de cincuenta y cinco años, con una hija casada, puritana e insoportablemente convencional que pretende que su madre viva reverenciando la memoria de un difunto marido muy aburrido. Aburrimiento contra el que la señora Donaldson no se rebelaba, y ni siquiera cuestionaba, educada en la firme creencia de que ser y hacer lo que se espera de nosotros son los pilares de la cotidiana felicidad. O conformidad. Pero ahora su vida comienza a cambiar. Ha conseguido un trabajo en un hospital: actúa interpretando a pacientes, con sus correspondientes enfermedades, para ilustrar las clases del doctor Ballantyne. Y, de interpretación en interpretación, la señora Donaldson comienza a descubrir pliegues y honduras que ignoraba de sí misma. También ha alquilado una habitación a una pareja de estudiantes que le proponen un pago en especies para saldar lo que le deben: le ofrecerán un espectáculo porno sólo para sus ojos. Y ella, contra todo pronóstico, acepta, los contempla y cuando terminan les ofrece una taza de té. Y comienza La señora Donaldson rejuvenece. En cuanto a La ignorancia de la señora Forbes, su hijo Graham va a casarse con una chica que lleva el muy vulgar nombre de Betty. Y aunque muy rica, es fea. La dominante y esnob señora no entiende el porqué de todo esto; los guapos siempre se han casado con guapas, y viceversa. Ella lo hizo, y por eso tiene un hijo guapo. Además, su familia está en el escalón más alto de la clase media, donde no se usan nombres como Betty. El señor Forbes, por su parte, asiente a todo, y lo único que le inquieta es que Graham es y ha sido la principal ocupación de su esposa, y si se casa y se marcha, todo el peso de la insoportable señora Forbes recaerá sobre sus hombros. Y el bello Graham, a su manera, quiere a Betty, y hasta puede follar alegremente con ella, siempre que haya un espejo en el que él pueda verse, y quizá imaginar otros cuerpos menos femeninos, como el de Gary, por ejemplo. Porque la señora Forbes ignora muchas más cosas de las que sabe...

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Editorial Anagrama
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 6 feb 2013
• ISBN: 9788433934147

Alan Bennett

Alan Bennett has been one of England's leading dramatists since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His work includes the Talking Heads television series, and the stage plays Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, A Question of Attribution, and The Madness of King George III. His play, The History Boys (now a major motion picture), won six Tony Awards, including best play, in 2006. In the same year his memoir, Untold Stories, was a number-one bestseller in the United Kingdom.

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Comentarios para Dos historias nada decentes

[lukerik-1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Contents exactly as described in the title. Very naughty and funny. Good entertainment for a lazy afternoon.

[iambookish-1 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

What a disappointment from an author that gave me one of my favorite books, 'The Uncommon Reader'. If Bennet was trying to shock me he did a great job because it was shockingly bad. There was no bite and wit to these stories, they were just kind of limp and lame.

[chrisnewton-1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Very enjoyable. Two long stories, neither deep nor stupid.

[xleptodactylous · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

I fell in love with Bennett's 'The History Boys' after the 50 Years of the National Theatre on the BBC showed about 5 minutes of it. After that I was hooked.

Unseemly: not proper or appropriate.

'Smut' contains two short stories about, unsurprisingly, sex. From the title you can identify that those entwined within the stories of sex confront it in a somewhat old-fashioned sense. Sex is either very, very good or quite, quite bad.
In the first, a middle-aged woman discovers enjoyment in watching youngsters have sex, intermittently whilst acting as a fake patient for student doctors. The theme of acting and putting on another face is prominent through-out (also found in 'The History Boys') and strikes to the heart of how most of us live our lives. In any number of ways we are acting as part of our daily routine; be it with make-up, with lies or with blatant hypocrisies.

The second story is bit more involved: a (unknown) gay man marries a rich orphan woman. His mother disproves, his father cares little and the whole thing is intertwined with blackmail and lies and adultery. Again, the theme of acting belongs solidly to this story, though the lies are far worse than could be found in the first unseemly story.

As to be expected, these stories are different to the play (admittedly the only play I've read) but they are still sublimely Bennett and rather quintessentially English.

[daniellemd-1 · Calificación: 2 de 5 estrellas]

The Greening of Mrs Donaldson - 1 star
The Shielding of Mrs Forbes - 3 stars

I started reading this book a few months back and quit about 10 pages in because the first story was so bad, but I picked it up again for a 50 Books Challenge. The second story was much better, but still not that good.

[vivienner_3 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Although Bennett's two "unseemly" stories involve sex, his portrayal has a down to earth quality that avoids indecency or eroticism. At the same time they are generously laced with humour that is tinged with a poignant element. Bennett's writing is never blatantly obvious, but rather it weaves many emotions that beautifully reflect reality. I enjoyed The Uncommon Reader more, but as usual, Bennett has created a thought-provoking work with subtle undertones.

[dickon.edwards · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Two wry yet poignant novellas, one of which was published in the LRB, one brand new. Weird to see Alan Bennett characters using the internet and mobile phones, when AB himself famously has no computer - he uses a manual typewriter bought from a Bradford charity shop...

Enjoyed both, though they are more of the same sort of thing: an older lady discovers an unlikely new lease of life from a sexual 'arrangement' with her tenants to pay the rent, while another older lady is kept from knowing the truth about her gay son and her husband's affair with his daughter-in-law. The latter story is a bit more exciting, because there's a villain to defeat, one who wants to reveal all and tear the family apart.

If you're new to AB's fiction - which he himself started late in life, in the 1990s - I'd start with The Uncommon Reader, where these themes are applied to HM The Queen discovering a late love of reading. But these latest two are still vastly enjoyable.

[burritapal · Calificación: 1 de 5 estrellas]

The Greening of Mrs Donaldson, 1 star
A story about a widow who, being a bit short of income, takes in lodgers; students. The first couple that she has, are short on rent for a few months, and offer to let her observe them having sex to compensate her.
The widow is also a pretend patient for student doctors. I enjoyed the part where she played a pretend patient, but I did not enjoy the other. A male author thinks a woman would enjoy this?

[thebookjunky · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Funny book. It is two short stories, both about middle aged women in circumstances or situations that, in former times may have been regarded primly as smutty, something which this book is not. It is witty and clever, light hearted, and gently pokes fun at society's preoccupations with "how things look".

[from 'The Shielding of Mrs Forbes'] “In the years since he was born her sights had risen and Graham was not nearly the classy name she’d once thought. She wished now that she could get rid of it as she had got rid of the dark oak dining suite that belonged to the same period. But though car-boot sales exist to dispose of discarded aspirations there are no stalls dealing in our most unwanted commodities like names, relatives or one’s own appearance in the glass.”

[col2910_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Synopsis/blurb.....The Shielding of Mrs Forbes.Graham Forbes is a disappointment to his mother, who thinks that if he must have a wife, he should have done better. Though her own husband isn't all that satisfactory either. Still, this is Alan Bennett, so what is happening in the bedroom (and in lots of other places too) is altogether more startling, perhaps shocking, and ultimately more true to people's predilections.The Greening of Mrs Donaldson Mrs Donaldson is a conventional middle-class woman beached on the shores of widowhood after a marriage that had been much like many others: happy to begin with, then satisfactory and finally dull. But when she decides to take in two lodgers, her mundane life becomes much more stimulating ...I might have a bit of a theme developing here with my last book in part concerned with sexual hang-ups and behaviour. Rest assured, this is temporary as my next/latest read is a wee bit more traditionally rooted in the crime genre. It is nice to freshen things up now and again though. I have obviously heard of the playwright Bennett and was intrigued enough to give try some of his shorter work, though apparently his memoir/autobiography/diary – Writing Home is supposed to be really interesting. It was a toss-up between Smut and Four Stories and Smut shaded it on length. As a further aside, I was moved enough when reading this to buy a copy of the film adaptation of his award winning play The History Boys. Released in 2006, the Keane family four, youngest daughter excused – “14 and bored” were entertained last Sunday evening by the Grammar school boys and their teacher’s efforts to achieve entry into Oxford/Cambridge Universities. The late, Richard Griffiths was fantastic.Back to Smut.... Amusing and slightly titillating, these two long short stories or novellas proved an entertaining diversion from my usual fare of crime, murder, police and thieves. Note to self - I think I ought to try and read outside my preferred genre a bit more often. Comedy writing can be a bit hit or miss, but when done well is satisfying. Bennett does it well, but also has me meditating on how closely we really know other people and on the secrets, often small things, that we keep from each other, particularly family. For a light book, Smut gave me some food for thought.3 from 5I think I got my copy, second-hand at the beginning of this year or end of last from either Amazon or E-Bay.

[gbelik_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

Cosy meets racy in these two novellas. They are fluffy and funny and fun to read.

[varwenea · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Smut is a fun, little book with two short stories. The joy of these stories is the richness of the story telling – so few words, so much being said, so much more to use your imagination.The first covers the recently widowed Mrs. Donaldson who earns extra money by renting out a room to lodgers as well as by character-and-case acting as patients to help teach doctors-in-training, after being referred by a lodger. The former results in the lodgers offering alternative means to pay the rent, by performing intercourse in front of Mrs. Donaldson. The latter becomes intertwined with the former when it became apparent that many of the students, including the teaching doctor learned of the special arrangement that Mrs. Donaldson is willing to accept.I found this first story humorous and intriguing in that I have no idea what Mrs. Donaldson may or may not choose to do. Some quotes:On marriage – kind of sad that there this feels like a lot of truth:“She was (or thought herself) a conventional middle-class woman beached on the shores of widowhood after a marriage that been, she supposed, much like many others… happy to begin with, then satisfactory and finally dull.” Was she or was she not into the moment? Only the later pages will reveal more.“Mrs. Donaldson’s first instinct was to look away so that rather than frankly considering this naked young man kissing his equally naked girlfriend with his hand buried between her legs she found herself looking at the floor and wondering if it was time she had the carpet cleaned. ‘Bring back memories?’ said Laura, Andy’s face now where his hand had been. ‘Ye-es,” said Mrs. Donaldson, thought the truth was it was a memory of a vase in the British Museum.”The speech from Ballantyne, the teaching doctor to the pupils. I rather liked this speech:“Remember. You are a physician. You are not a policeman nor are you a minister of religion. You must take people as they come. Remember, too, that though you will generally know more about the condition than the patient, it is the patient who has the condition and this if nothing else bestows on him or her a kind of wisdom. You have the knowledge but that does not entitle you to be superior. Knowledge makes you the servant not the master.”Another speech from Ballantyne, after Mrs. Donaldson’s acting character declares, “I’m bereaved but I’m not upset”. “I’m not sure how much it taught us about breaking bad news still less offering comfort to the bereaved but at least it reminded us that death and grief don’t always go together: sympathy needs to be on offer but it’s not necessarily welcome and can sometimes be thought presumptuous.” I had found this speech to carry a lot of meaning. Sometimes, it’s ok to say good bye and just let go, and there is no grief involved.The second story has layers of complexities that it’s best not to describe, except to say everyone has secrets. Even the author included this towards the end:“In conclusion, how much better… how much healthier… had all these persons, these family members, been more candid with one another right from the start.”And more importantly, the last sentence:“Still, for all that everybody, while not happy, is not unhappy about it. And so they go on.”Both these quotes have a simple profoundness that I can relate.

[clara53_1 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Wickedly entertaining... A slight hint of A.McCall Smith, but not nearly as benign.

[gbill_7 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

“Smut” is two short stories, “The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson”, and “The Shielding of Mrs. Forbes”. In the first, a middle-aged widow takes in lodgers who occasionally fall behind on the rent, and make up for it by having sex in front of her. In the second, a combative couple’s son decides to marry a woman who is not as physically attractive as he is; it turns out the son is gay and having a dangerous liaison, but his fiancée has a few secrets of her own as well. Both tales are told with wonderful British humor.Quotes:On being a doctor:“Remember. You are a physician. You are not a policeman nor are you a minister of religion. You must take people as they come. Remember, too, that though you will generally know more about the condition than the patient, it is the patient who has the condition and this if nothing else bestows on him or her a kind of wisdom. You have the knowledge but that does not entitle you to be superior. Knowledge makes you the servant not the master.”On love:“This is where love generally comes in: whether the inequality between the partners is physical or social or indeed financial, evening up the score is what love is about. Still, even in the most perfect of unions there’s often detectable an element of bestowal. And that Betty was of the wrong gender made making love to her seem to Graham the greatest bestowal of all.”On old age:“It’s also interesting,’ he continues, ‘that though a daughter can say ‘I have to do everything for her’ about her aged mother, at the other end of life a mother would never say of her infant child ‘I have to do everything for her’. Why do we take the helpless condition of infancy without complaint but not that of senility?”On religion:“’If you are getting married in church, Graham, the vicar likes you to pretend you believe in God. Everyone knows this is a formality. It’s like the air hostess going through the safety drill. God’s in His Heaven and your life jacket’s under the seat.’‘I don’t see what that’s got to do with whether we’ve done it or not.’‘When you are as old as Canon Mollison,’ Mr. Forbes said patiently, ‘one of the few perks of the job is talking to young people about the sexual act. What in any other context would probably get him arrested, in the vestry passes for spiritual advice.’”On sex, I smiled at this very ‘British’ way of putting it:“Betty, whose sexual expectations had not been very high, found herself the object of prolonged and vigorous and on the whole pleasurable assault.”And this one:“Their congress concluded, the Donaldsons retired to their separate sides of the bed and went to sleep. There was never any discussion or comment even. It was over until next time. Not so these young people who if an orgasm is a little death proceeded to conduct a post-mortem in an assessment of their respective quotients of gratification and pleasure.”On voyeurism in middle age, I laughed over this one:“Mrs. Donaldson’s first instinct was to look away so that rather than frankly considering this naked young man kissing his equally naked girlfriend with his hand buried between her legs she found herself looking at the floor and wondering if it was time she had the carpet cleaned.‘Bring back memories?’ said Laura, Andy’s face now where his hand had been.‘Ye-es,’ said Mrs. Donaldson, though the truth was it was a memory of a vase in the British Museum.”On women:“One of the functions of women, Mr. Forbes had long since decided, was to impart an element of trouble into the otherwise tranquil lives of men.”

[abealy_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Alan Bennett is brilliant and this short comedy on the conventional mores and prejudices of English life is wonderfully illuminating.

[suetu_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Naughty was never so niceI’m a fan of Alan Bennett’s wonderful plays, but my greatest affection is reserved for his charming novella The Uncommon Reader. Coming in at a slight 160 pages, Smut is similar in length, but this book is made up of two brief stories. In content, they have nothing in common with that earlier tale, but they exhibit the same trademark humor and warmth. This is a writer it’s difficult not to like. Therefore, it may be surprising to hear that Mr. Bennett is writing Smut. These tales are about sex—at least in part. And though it’s been years since I read them, these stories remind me of nothing so much as the “adult” stories of Roald Dahl. The first and longer of the two stories was my favorite. “The Greening of Mrs. Donaldson” involves a middle-aged widow who supplements her income by acting out symptoms for medical students to diagnose. There’s much more to it, of course, but half the pleasure here is in the discovery. The other half of the pleasure is the loveable and very human Mrs. Donaldson. And then the third half of the pleasure is the gentle humor.I didn’t like the characters in “The Shielding of Mrs. Forbes” quite as much, but they weren’t meant to be as likable. The vain Graham Forbes has several secrets he’s keeping from his new wife, but it turns out she has an agenda of her own.Despite Bennett’s natural sweetness, these stories really do discuss sexual matters in a very frank and adult manner. Nonetheless, I wouldn’t describe them as graphic. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend The Uncommon Reader to anyone who’s ever loved a book. I won’t be recommending Smut quite as unreservedly. I think more open-minded readers will enjoy these stories the most. But I enjoyed them immensely, and I do recommend them.

[phollando · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

In this rather slight volumes sit two charming stories of unexpected sexuality. The first story is 'the Greening of Mrs Donaldson' and deals with a recently widowed middle-classed woman who to earn some extra income on the side takes a job at the local hospital as a part-time demonstrator helping medical students with their diagnosis technique by feigning different physical and mental conditions and at the same time catching the eye of their professor. As she takes in a couple of students as tenants she finds herself in an interesting predicament as the rent cheques begin to dry up there is an offer to pay the arrears in kind.The Shielding of Mrs Forbes features another unorthadox sexual arrangement. Mrs Forbes has a handsome, eligible if not air-headed son called Graham and he is betrothed to a somewhat plain but extraordinarily intelligent woman. They would be set for a happy life if it weren't for the fact that Graham was a closeted homosexual whose extra-marital sexual encounters get him under the control of a blackmailing policeman.Both stories are about people pretending to be whom they are not and failing miserably at the task. Both stories lead to rather unexpected conclusions and the brunt of the humour is rather directed not at the named protagonists themselves but at the people around who are in on the secret.It's a slender volume and the stories are entertaining enough but it does leave me wondering if they were of sufficient calibre to justify individual publishing. I think Alan Bennett has reached the same level as Umberto Eco where anything he says or writes from now on will be snapped up and bound which is great if you're an avid fan eager for new material but it is no guarantor of continuing or consistent quality.

[davidgnp · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

It's probably fair to say that my rating for this book would be a little higher if I were reviewing a writer I am not familiar with, but as Alan Bennett is one of my favourite authors my expectations are proportionately greater, and 'Smut' does not not rate as highly as most in the corpus.'Smut' comprises two longish short stories about unconventional sexuality in apparently conventional domestic situations. The fulcrum of 'The Greening of Mrs Donaldson' occurs when a student couple, tenants of the widow Mrs Donaldson, suggest she might like to watch them have sex in lieu of unpaid rent. 'The Shielding of Mrs Forbes' turns on the blackmailing of Mrs Forbes' newly-married son by his gay lover, a corrupt policeman. The stories are comic, wittily written in the Bennett style - deceptively homely with acerbic twists and curtain-parting satire. They are proficient sketches by a master, without much depth or texture.And I think that's the trouble, really. The stories are slight. The characters (with the exception of the emergent Mrs Donaldson) do not grow much beyond caricature. Bennett offers us more than whimsy, but not a great deal more. There is not that much we can carry away beyond the simple pleasure we find in the telling; as we do having watched, say, a well-turned Ayckbourn farce. I found myself wondering whether there was enough here for these two stories (though they are complementary) to merit publication on their own.Sometimes you end a book wanting more for all the right reasons, having invested so much in the story and the characters that you are reluctant to leave them, want to be along for the rest of the journey or a new one, or because you have developed some new understanding as a consequence of reading the book, and want to reach for further enlightenment. Here, I wanted more because I felt vaguely dissatisfied despite my enjoyment of the experience as far as it went. I felt a bit like Peggy Lee when she sings, 'Is that all there is?'Reviewer David Williams writes a regular blog as Writer in the North.