See the Old Lady Decently
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark Gerson (photographer)
 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | B. S. Johnson |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Patrick McCreeth (jacket design) Mark Gerson (photographer) |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Hutchinson (UK) |
Publication date | 1975 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 139 |
| ISBN | 0-09-123730-0 |
| Preceded by | Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry |
See the Old Lady Decently is the seventh and final novel by the experimental British novelist B. S. Johnson. The book was published posthumously by Hutchinson in 1975, Johnson having committed suicide in 1973. It was intended to be the first part of a trilogy of novels about his late mother, but the other two volumes were never written.
See the Old Lady Decently was planned to be the first part of The Matrix Trilogy, whose later volumes were to be entitled Buried Although and Amongst Those Left Are You. The titles were intended to read a full sentence on their spines: "See the old lady decently buried although amongst those left are you."[1][2][3]
The novels were originally intended to be an observation of the life of Johnson's mother Emily. See the Old Lady Decently covers the period of Emily's birth in 1908 to Johnson own birth in 1933. Buried Although was to continue from this point to the end of the Second World War, and Amongst Those Left Are You would have covered Emily's death in 1971. Johnson later expanded the work to cover three interlinked themes: the death of his mother, the decay of the mother country, and the renewal aspect of motherhood.[1][3]