I never, ever expected to reread "Harvest Home," again. I did, when it came out in 1973, back when I was eighteen. I never bothered watching, at the time, the 1978 TV miniseries made from it, because, for starters, I had never pictured--and still don't!!!!!!!--Bette Davis as the Widow Fortune, and I resented the title change to the more obvious, "The Dark Secret Of Harvest Home."
Those two words, "Harvest Home," alone, are creepier, and more effective.
So, when I came across the novel at--of all places, Villa St. Martha, in Dowingtown, PA,, where my father resides, I thought, why not? Though why this decidedly anti-Christian story should be amid the shelves of a decidedly Catholic place remains a mystery.
You are going to hear a lot about "Harvest Home" on here, girls, because, when I finish watching the miniseries, as I now plan to do, I will give an accounting of that.
What occurred to me, while I was reading it now, was how naive I was when I first read it. What a difference 40 years makes. For while the novel is clearly well written and compelling, it is clear Tryon was influenced highly by three authors--Shirley Jackson, Ira Levin, and James Frazer. The novel, with its village rituals, recalls Shirley Jackson's short story classic "The Lottery." The shift from a society where women are valued over men is an inversion of both Levin's "Rosemary's Baby," and "The Stepford Wives." As for Frazer, well, once upon time, in colleges back in my day, when American Literature got taught properly, in the first quarter students got a healthy dose of "The Golden Bough" by Frazer, which talks about ceremonies such as those depicted in "Harvest Home."
But before going there, let me say, oh my God! The men--all of them--are so DUMB!!!!!!!!! And the only two sympathetic women in the tale are a corpse, whose back story is told, leading the so-called hero, Ned Constantine, to a realization of the truth, and Sophie Hooke, wife of Harvest Lord Justin, who hangs herself on the day of Harvest Home. Her reason for doing to is painfully sympathetic, but the thing is, having been raised in the village, she has known this would happen for seven years, ever since her husband was crowned Harvest Lord. Which is why the villagers--and this is the only time I think they are right--don't think it is a good idea for the Harvest Lord and Corn Maiden to be married.
The whole thing harkens back to female worship of the Goddess Demeter. Every seven years, a healthy male specimen is chosen Harvest Lord, and for seven years gets the Royal Treatment, because, on Harvest Home Night, once he has, in front of everyone female, fertilized the Corn Maiden with his seed, he is sacrificed to the Goddess, by having his throat cut with s scythe!!!!!!!!!!
And the Harvest Lord knows this, for seven years, and accepts it?????????? Nuts, huh?????????
But that Tamar Penrose, she is one grade A bitch! She is not just the town postmistress, but the town, slut, and she throws herself at just about anything male. She never gets her chance to sink her claws into Worthy Pettinger, who, at the novel's start, has just been chosen Harvest Lord, so he knows what he is in for, and tries to escape. But he is found, and ceremoniously murdered for his troubles.
Other men, who stumble on to things, like Robert Dodd, or Jack Stump, are either blinded by the women, who gouge out the eyes, or have their tongue cut out. In the case of hero Ned, it is both!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I kept asking myself, why would reasonably intelligent men accept such nonsense, which demeans their sex?????? Sexual Politics has gone overboard in this town, darlings; the men need a dash of their own. Even Robert, when he reveals his blindness to Ned, showing that his eyes were gouged out upon discovery of what he had seen, accepts it! I would have slapped his wife Maggie,across the face, and walked out on her!!!!!!! Bitch!!!!!!!!!! And that goes double for Tamar Penrose!!!!!!!!!
How, I kept asking myself, could the Widow Fortune accept her lot; her husband, Clem, whom she apparently loved deeply, was a Harvest Lord sacrifice too, many years ago, and she is fine with it???????????
Something inhuman has gone out of the women in this town. They may cry maternal, but they are NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And that Beth Constantine! Turning over she and Kate to this cult, betraying her husband; what a bunch of prize bitches! The town should have been called Bitchville!!!!!!!!!!!
The most fascinating character is Tamar Penrose's mysteriously psychic daughter, Missy. I am telling you, when I first read the book, I said if this were made into a movie, this is the part I want! Tracey Gold, from "Growing Pains," plays it, and I have already heard Missy does not get the screen time she gets in the book! Mistake number one!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As for the high handed antics at Harvest Home, it reads like the Dance Of The She Demons! And when the women all gather around to touch "the living malehood of the Harvest Lord!," (that is how it is written; no kidding!!!!!!!!!) I had to laugh! It is really almost CAMP!!!!!!!!!!!! Jacqueline Susann must have had a good chuckle over this one!
Which is why "Harvest Home" should have been filmed for the screen; it had to be sanitized too much for TV! The campiness will never rise to the level of the women touching "Justin's rooster!" (Another eloquent phrase!!!!!!!!!!!!) Or it should be remade with MERYL as the Widow Fortune, Julianne Moore or Amy Adams as Tamar, and I am telling you it would be a hoot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was Tryon's follow up to his almost award winning, "The Other." That remains his masterpiece. The same poetic, elegiac prose is used here, but the results
are more entertaining than psychologically impacting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And proves men are dumber than women! To think this was written by a gay man! That's right, darlings, Tryon was gay. In fact, for Theater Queens, his lover was Clive Clerk, who originated the role of Larry, the Dance Captain in "A Chorus Line" back in 1975. When that show began to kick into gear, it was Tryon who realized its value, reminding Clerk, "Don't you realize what you are IN?????????"
All of which proves, as a character in the novel "Valley Of The Dolls" says, "Fags have pretty good taste!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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