Literature presents many different ways of observing the new year. Much like real life, the options range from big parties to quiet stay-at-home gatherings… and existential crises.
In Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, Meg and Jo March attend a New Year’s Eve party at the home of their family friend Mrs Gardiner. ‘Down they went, feeling a trifle timid, for they seldom went to parties, and informal as this little gathering was, it was an event to them.’ This is the moment that Jo converses with Laurie for the first time and sparks fly as they watch the New Year’s Eve party from their shared point of refuge in a small curtained recess. They mock the dancing that takes place in the next room and they laugh together for the rest of the evening (activity that surely appeals to most non-dancers).
Charles Dickens issues a warning in his novella The Chimes. Toby Veck is a ticket porter, on his feet in ‘leaky shoes’ all day. He reads the negative reports – the ‘obserwations!’ – in the newspapers, and he feels low about stories concerning the working class. ‘“I can bear up as well as another man at most times; better than a good many, for I am as strong as a lion, and all men an’t; but supposing it should really be that we have no right to a new year – supposing we really are intruding – ”’. Meg, his daughter, interrupts his thoughts. They meet an economist who reinforces Toby’s feeling that he has no right to anything. In a twist akin to A Christmas Carol published the year before, Toby discovers that of course he, and everyone, is deeply valued. Dickens closes the story with a breathless ending, one that cleverly reveals more about the reader than our troubled Toby.
A new year in literature means new beginnings all round, for readers and subjects alike
Festive reading would not be complete without an Agatha Christie story. In The Mysterious Mr Quin, Tom Evesham and his wife Laura are hosting a New Year’s Eve gathering at their country mansion for close friends. The conversation turns to the house’s previous occupant, Mr Derek Capel, who apparently died by suicide quite suddenly ten years earlier. The topic shifts for the benefit of the ladies present but Mr Evesham, Mr Satterthwaite, Sir Richard Conway and Alex Portal resume their discussion of Mr Capel over tumblers of whisky after the women have left. They are shortly interrupted by three knocks at the door. Mr Harley Quin enters the house, explaining that his car has broken down outside and he would like some shelter from the cold while it is being fixed. Mr Evesham obliges and adds a few more logs to the fire. Mr Quin tells the party that he knew the late Mr Capel, and he keenly discusses the mystery of Mr Capel’s death. Their meeting causes the case to be solved once and for all.
Suicide is mercifully prevented in Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down. Martin Sharp’s life has not panned out the way he envisaged. On New Year’s Eve he climbs to the top of a building with the plan of ending his life. When he gets there, however, he meets single mother Maureen, 18-year-old Jess and musician JJ, all of whom have assembled at the great height with the same idea. Far from being the bleak read any brief summary of the novel might suggest, the four strangers form a heart-warming bond and learn to enjoy their second chance at life.
The protagonist in White Teeth by Zadie Smith experiences similarly devastating thoughts on New Year’s Day in 1975. Archie Jones’s wife has just left him and he attempts to gas himself in his car. Fortunately, Archie is interrupted by a sudden epiphany and he realises that ‘life still wanted him’. So he embraces it.
Nora Helmer and her husband Torvald share the sense of bright optimism that Archie gains for their new year in Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House. The play begins on Christmas Eve as the Helmers receive a visit from two people: their close friend Dr Rank, and Kristine Linde, Nora’s old friend who she has not seen for years. Kristine tells Nora that she has lived alone, in poverty, since her husband died. She asks if Nora’s husband Torvald might be able to find her a job at the bank where he works and Nora replies that she is confident he will help her. Nora confides in Kristine that she understands the strain of financial difficulties. When she married Torvald, he became unwell and he had to recuperate in Italy. To fund this trip, Nora lied to him and said the money had come from her father, when in fact she had to borrow it in secret – a loan that she is still repaying. Then a man called Krogstad arrives at the house. He is one of Torvald’s employees, and his appearance makes Nora uneasy. In a series of dramatic twists, each player is revealed to have something they would rather keep to themselves, and the promise of a new year offers a welcome and much-needed new start for everyone.
Light-hearted relief can be found in Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary, with Bridget boldly attacking the new year with a list of resolutions, and a hearty turkey curry buffet courtesy of her Aunt Una. In Wuthering Heights, New Year’s Day is also the day assigned for young Cathy and Hareton’s wedding.
As ever, books from the past can help us celebrate the future. A new year in literature means new beginnings all round, for readers and subjects alike.
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