Pastors And Masters: Ivy Compton Burnett

[poliphilo]

Compton-Burnett has a reputation for difficulty which would disappear if her texts were acted. Pastors and Masters appears to be a novel, but what it really is- with its very brief sketches of character and its reliance on dialogue- is a script. Not a film script- it's too wordy for that- but a radio script, or- even better- a TV script.. She's writing for a medium that hasn't been invented yet. Her people are lively, witty and preposterous and a gift to the acting profession. Has she ever been televised? I don't believe so.