A Good School by Richard Yates
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A Trivial Memoir

A Good School is an autobiographical novel of adolescence. It is clearly located in the Avon Farms School (as the Dorset Academy) near Hartford, Connecticut between 1941 and 1944. Perhaps, if it had been written closer to the time rather than 35 years later, it could be considered a period piece. As it is, its language and concerns - largely adolescence and associated neuroses - don’t correspond with its time. The 1960’s created a decisive break in style and subject matter to which Yates obviously had succumbed, and with incongruous results.

Perhaps the most appropriate comparison is with Louis Auchincloss’s The Rector of Justin, written in the early 1960’s and based on his experience in The Groton School in the 1930’s. Both books treat of the culture and unique sociology of New England private schools. The class structure, bullying, teenage angst, loneliness, and homoerotic tension among the students; and the political and sexual intrigue among the teachers are common to both books. And both Yates and Auchincloss use the more or less permanent financial crises of these schools as a thread to hold the narratives together.

The principle difference between the two books is that while the The Rector of Justin has a substantial plot and moral significance beyond the details of private school existence, A Good School is at best a fictionalised memoir. This latter book has a fundamental technical flaw: there is no real central character who must grapple with a significant issue. The titles, I suppose, are telling. Auchincloss has a protagonist; Yates has a venue. Given that focus, all Yates can do is recount anecdotes, most often of minor sexual perversion, and string them together in a barely perceptible narrative progression. The book has no depth, no import as a consequence. By 1978, the world had already had its fill 0f adolescent sexual awakening with novels like Catcher in the Rye, Portnoy’s Complaint and Franny and Zooey among so many others. A Good School adds nothing to the genre, nor to an appreciation of the condition.

The comparison becomes even more unfavourable for Yates when the similar point of the stories is recognised. Yates has his primary character summarise the situation at the school when he has him say “I mean everything’s over anyway, isn’t it?” Auchincloss poses a similar question about his school’s future. But what is ‘over’ in each is very different. For Yates it is merely the life of the school - regrettable as a matter of sentiment for its students but otherwise unworthy of note. For Auchincloss what is passing is an era of old wealth, personal character and character-building institutions. A new culture is being formed that is grounded in rapaciously competitive advancement rather than individual development. It clear to me which of these is the more interesting and revealing commentary on mid-century America.

Postscript: Another novel concerned with the more recent culture of New England private schools can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

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