Buried Alive

Buried Alive
a Tale of These Days

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Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett

Published:

1908

Pages:

0

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Buried Alive
a Tale of These Days

By

5
(1 Review)
During January and February of 1908, I wrote "Buried Alive," which was published immediately, and was received with majestic indifference by the English public, an indifference which has persisted to this day. - Arnold Bennett, in the introduction to Old Wives Tale

Book Excerpt

as not ready, he had taken to his master's. He always did the natural thing naturally. And Farll had been forced to help him to undress!

From this point onwards Priam Farll, opulent though he was and illustrious, had sunk to a tragic impotence. He could do nothing for himself; and he could do nothing for Leek, because Leek refused both brandy and sandwiches, and the larder consisted solely of brandy and sandwiches. The man lay upstairs there, comatose, still, silent, waiting for the doctor who had promised to pay an evening visit. And the summer day had darkened into the summer night.

The notion of issuing out into the world and personally obtaining food for himself or aid for Leek, did genuinely seem to Priam Farll an impossible notion; he had never done such things. For him a shop was an impregnable fort garrisoned by ogres. Besides, it would have been necessary to 'ask,' and 'asking' was the torture of tortures. So he had wandered, solicitous and helpless, up and down the stairs, until at len

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Plot bullets

No, this is not a Poe-like tale of premature burial.
A famous, but timid, painter takes the opportunity to assume the identity of his dead valet.
Oh, for the peace with which anonymity might cover him.
The decision was quickly made, but a resurrection, may not be so easily accomplished.
He has assumed not only another mans name, but his past, also.
And what of his future? Painting is his life and not easily abandoned or hidden.