BEYOND THE FOREST

by Stuart Engstrand ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 24, 1948

The Sting and the Arrow dealt with latent homosexuality in a clinical, effective way. Beyond the Forest also concerns itself with a neurosis, a form of narcissism. Rosa Moline was a woman capable of loving no one but herself, a woman who hates the world, a woman who is pathologically susceptible to flattery because it enhances her pride. Tormented by the small mill town in which she lives, repulsed by her weak, ineffectual husband, the town's only doctor, Rosa withdraws into a shadowed, hope-filled world which becomes her only reality. In that world, she is the center, the queen. The intensity of her neurosis causes her to break out of this interior world occasionally, at which times she attempts to carry out her dream plans. She seduces Victor, a handsome, vacillating farm boy, because she finds his attentions flattering. She seduces Latimer, a wealthy lumberman, because he is a link with far-off, glamorous cities, and because, through him, she can hurt and perhaps escape her husband. The book ends on a thoroughly unhappy note.. Engstrand appears to be doing a bit of wallowing here and the result is a not too well written book that has trashy undertones and overtones.

Pub Date: Sept. 24, 1948

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Creative Age

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1948

Categories: FICTION