Much of the narrative is word-for-word recollections of Elizabeth Finch’s lectures, which span pages, and consist mostly of the history and culture of the early Christian era, with a particular emphasis on monotheism and its scourge on culture. Neil addresses the reader directly, informally and as the title of the book suggests, writes almost exclusively about Elizabeth Finch and her theories, save for some scant biographical details of his own and a fifty-page essay on Julian the Apostate that takes up the entire Part Two, of three parts. She is conservative in dress – brogues, tartan skirts, discreet, tasteful jewellery, stockings or tights, “you never saw Elizabeth Finch with bare legs”, but liberal, even radical in opinion.Īt the end of her introduction to the class in which our narrator, Neil attends, the students “gazed back at her, some in awe, a few in puzzlement bordering on irritation, others already half in love.” Neil is patently one of the latter, not allowing a paragraph to pass without mentioning her full name or his often-preferred abbreviation, EF. Two biographies, a love story and a philosophical text all rolled in to one.ĮLIZABETH Finch is a lecturer, giving a class to adult learners on Culture and Civilisation.
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