What sort of books inspired you as a child?

My taste was defined by the possibilities of our library at home. Fortunately, it was very well stocked with books ranging from classics to contemporary French and Finnish literature. I am grateful that I could always ask for advice, but my choices were never questioned. That meant a somewhat premature reading of works that some might brand as wildly inappropriate for a child, such as Shakespeare translations or Emily Bront?¡¯s Wuthering Heights when I was 8. I did not read a great deal of children¡¯s literature, which I have been trying to fix ever since ¨C I revel in the beauty of English language children¡¯s books.

Your new book explores the theme of the country house in English literature. Which books spurred your interest in the theme?

Originally, I was drawn to the more generic theme of houses in English literature and therefore analysed mainly the works of John Galsworthy, E. M. Forster and Simon Mawer, where I approached the houses as symbols, settings and subject matters. After having read some of the must-reads of country-house fiction ¨C Evelyn Waugh¡¯s Brideshead Revisited and A Handful of Dust, Galsworthy¡¯s The Country House, Forster¡¯s Howards End ¨C I noticed a repetitive pattern of a house embracing some aspects of a communal paradigm: the country house. I widened the scope of my study and included uncharacteristic examples of fictional houses, such as Shruff End in Iris Murdoch¡¯s The Sea, The Sea. Last but not least, I was intrigued by the sumptuous evocation of the splendid ugliness of the houses in Ian McEwan¡¯s Atonement or Alan Hollinghurst¡¯s The Stranger¡¯s Child, and the aesthetic of inevitable decline in Sarah Waters¡¯ gothic The Little Stranger.

Which books have you found most useful for your own analysis?

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

It came to me as a surprise that, despite its prominence in English literature, the literary history of the country house was almost uncharted territory. I was saved by Malcolm Kelsall¡¯s concise and comprehensive study The Great Good Place: The Country House and English Literature and Vera Kreilkamp¡¯s beautifully written The Anglo-Irish Novel and the Big House.

Which general accounts of the social history of the country house would you recommend?

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

Mark Girouard¡¯s A Country House Companion for Beginners and Peter Mandler¡¯s The Fall and the Rise of the Stately ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ as a comprehensive handbook of the role, functioning and shifts of fortune of the country house. I relished reading Adrian Tinniswood¡¯s The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House, 1918-1939.

What is the last book you gave as a gift, and to whom?

I bought multiple copies of Alan Hollinghurst¡¯s delightful novel The Sparsholt Affair, and gave it to a couple of my friends. I also bought a copy of one of Tove Jansson¡¯s Moomins books as a Christmas present for my nephew.

What books do you have on your desk waiting to be read?

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ

There are many volumes waiting to be read that all develop a similar premise: a quest for home. I am really looking forward to Jaroslav Kalfa?¡¯s Spaceman of Bohemia, Penelope Lively¡¯s A House Unlocked and Simon Mawer¡¯s Prague Spring.

Tereza Topolovsk¨¢ is a lecturer in the department of English language and literature at Charles University in Prague. Her latest book is The Country House Revisited: Variations on a Theme from Forster to Hollinghurst (Karolinum Press).