'Brazilian Marmosets' by Edwin Henry Landseer; oil on canvas
This is one of the more unusual entries in Bloomsbury-inspired literature that I've read and is a charming, if a dark-tinged one. It was an early book by the author who returned to its theme of the role animals play in the lives of humans in her 2018 award-winning novel, The Friend. Mitz was a marmoset who ended up living with Virginia and Leonard Woolf after being rescued from a junk shop window.
It all starts when the Woolfs visit their young friends, Barbara and Victor Rothschild in Cambridge, and Mitz appears across the lawn as they are eating dinner outside in the summer dusk.
Something human, all too human, about that naked little face—Virginia had always imagined the faces of elves looking perhaps like this. Elfin face, body and tail of a rodent: it was this combination that made Mitz such a wonder.
But it's clear Mitz isn't healthy and has undergone some rough treatment at an earlier point in her life. She takes to Leonard almost at once as many animals did over the years and when shortly afterwards the Rothschilds go abroad for a few weeks, the Woolfs agree to care for Mitz during their absence, and the little marmoset joins the household at 52 Tavistock Square. It's one of settled routine and a steady flow of guests with periodic stays in the country cottage of Monk's Head in Sussex. The other member of the family is Pinka, the cocker spaniel, and when the two are introduced by Leonard there is a bit of boundary-setting that happens, but eventually they settle down together.
Leonard undertakes to heal Mitz of her numerous ailments and injuries, and he visits a keeper at the London Zoo to find out more about marmosets. The keeper also gives him an idea of what Mitz probably went through after she was captured from the rainforests of Brazil. Under Leonard's care Mitz thrives and she becomes as lively and energetic as a marmoset should be. She adores Leonard and pretty much goes everywhere with him tucked into his waistcoat or riding on his shoulder. When Victor and Barbara return, Leonard tells them that he and Virginia are keeping Mitz, to their relief.
This is a slender book that weaves in Mitz's story with that of Virginia's and Leonard's lives at the time, and the slowly darkening international situation especially in Spain and Germany. Sigrid Nunez used letters, diaries, and other documents to base the book on and there are points that it reads like straightforward biography, but sometimes she imagines what people or animals might be feeling or thinking.
An amusing part of the story is the relationship between Virginia and Mitz and their similarities; both have benefited from Leonard's tender nursing care and both are highly strung.
Virginia was a skittish person—hardly less skittish than Mitz herself—easily startled by any loud noise or sudden movement, and Mitz's screeching (often the result of her having been startled) had made Virginia fling her pen into the air more than once.
Mitz is terribly jealous and whenever Leonard and Virginia are affectionate with each other, Mitz screeches in outrage and jumps on Leonard's shoulder. They quickly learn to use this to lure Mitz down out of trees in the garden at Monk's House.
Reactions to Mitz are entertaining and so are Leonard's responses. When the four of them take walks in the parks of London Mitz is mistaken for everything from a bat to a rat. She roams freely indoors and not everyone tolerates her very well, including their London char, Mabel, relatives, and various visitors. A fascinating story Nunez tells is of the time in 1935 the Woolfs drove through Holland, Germany, Austria, and into Italy to visit Vanessa who was staying in Rome for six months. They find themselves in a potentially dangerous situation in Germany and it's Mitz who saves the day. France is the only place they travel through that Mitz is not cooed over, which is a relief to Leonard.
Virginia and Leonard always had animals in their lives who were important to them both, but they didn't treat them as playthings for human amusement. They were annoyed by people who were overly sentimental towards their own pets, and Leonard especially was impatient with those who didn't like animals to behave like animals. They saw the creatures in their lives as autonomous beings with their own lives and ways of viewing what was going on around them. Animals were drawn to Leonard and he accepted them as they were and gently cared for them. Virginia wanted to know what was going on inside their heads and how they saw the world.
Like Virginia's Flush: A Biography, this book is a combination of nonfiction and fiction and is not only about the dog or marmoset, but their humans, and Mitz gives a poignant glimpse into the Woolfs's lives during those years of change. Virginia struggled mightily with The Years, and finally made it through after months of torment, there were deaths of family and close friends, and she worried that she was losing her ability to write. Leonard had a health scare and was devastated that the world he had fought so hard to change didn't and was on the verge of another war. But through it all Virginia and Leonard had each other, their work, and their books.
A word of warning, death not only strikes humans, but animals, and there's a part where Nunez imagines what Mitz went through as she was captured and put into the dark hold of a ship in a crowded cage for the trip across the Atlantic, where she lands in chilly and damp England. She was then sold to the proprietors of a junk shop who dressed her in Victorian doll's clothes, and stuck her on a perch in the window to bring in customers until Victor Rothschild happened by and rescued her.
Fortunately, Leonard Woolf came into her life and the rest of the little marmoset's life was one of love, plentiful food, and gentle care. Tucked into his waistcoat she went visiting, attended meetings, looked out at crowds as Leonard gave speeches, and went on long walks through London and the Sussex countryside. She had her own space in a wicker birdcage with open door in a warm corner, lined with soft pieces of cloth to rearrange and curl up in when she wanted to be left alone, and windows to escape out of to go climb trees in the garden in the sunlight.
(Mitz: The Marmoset of Bloomsbury was first published in 1998 and was re-issued by Soft Skull Press in 2019 with a letter to Sigrid Nunez from Nigel Nicolson and an afterword by Peter Cameron.
It was read for the February month-long ReadIndies event hosted by Karen at Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings and Lizzy at Lizzy's Literary Life. Soft Skull Press is an independent publisher based in New York and they want their books to "offer a refuge from, an alternative to, and an argument against mainstream culture and mainstream thinking".)
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