vr_trakowski | The Temple Puzzle (Reply)

I’m currently re-reading Frances Hodgson Burnett’s T. Tembarom, for the nth time. Though I haven’t read all her work (yet), I consider it one of her best works for adults* - an engaging protagonist, a fun if melodramatic story, a lot of subtle humor, and - a rare thing - an awareness of the tropes used in the plot.

Also a happy ending, which is by no means guaranteed with her work.**

The plot involves a young New Yorker who discovers he is the heir to an ancient, if untitled, estate in England, and must go there to claim it rather against his own wishes. He grew up on the streets and lacks education, polish, and any knowledge of how to get on in English upper-class country society, but he is possessed of intelligence, drive, and what the novel describes as good humor but which translates to an innate generosity and kindness.

There’s intrigue, romance, misunderstandings, and one hell of a plot twist. The latter would be completely over the top - except that the hero, T. Tembarom himself, is actually aware of the absurdity of it, and so brings it into the realm of the possible.

The thing that keeps nagging at me, though, is I can’t quite tell when the story is supposed to take place.

Normally, I wouldn’t really think about it at all, except at one point the term “Mr. Buttinski” is used, which I (who am no kind of historian) would have placed much later than the book’s setting in any case.

It was published (serialized) in 1913, but it’s obviously set earlier. There are streetcars and elevated railways in New York, which would put it later than 1868, but absolutely no mention of automobiles. One character mentions seeing General Grant in a parade, which would have to have taken place before 1885, but since the character is probably between 20 and 25 years old, the story could start later.

Queen Victoria is seen to pass by in London, so it’s earlier than 1901. One character, the Duke of Stone,*** was “a sinful young man of finished taste” in 1820, which means he’d have to have been born no later than about 1802. He makes reference to his “seventy-second” birthday and implies that he hasn’t reached the next one, so that’s, what, about 1874 at the latest?

But one of the other characters was lost in the Klondike. It can’t have been too long in the past, since his fiancée is still considered young enough to be a candidate for marriage, but while no direct reference is made to gold, there’s a newspaper clipping about the “Rush for the Klondike”. The Klondike Gold Rush didn’t start until 1896.

It doesn’t quite add up!

Now, it’s entirely possible that Burnett just didn’t catch a couple of errors in her timeline. But it’s also quite possible that she simply didn’t care enough to make sure all the details matched. Or, if she was writing it as it was being serialized, she might have made adjustments on the fly but been unable to go back and tweak things. If a biography of her exists, I’ve never heard of it, so I don’t know what her process was.

Nevertheless, the book is one of my favorites among her work, and I recommend it (with the usual warnings of period-typical sexism, language, and style - fortunately the racism is minimal). You can download it for free at Project Gutenberg, in a variety of file types.

*Not that kind of “adult”. Getcher mind outta the gutter.

**I will never forgive you, Through One Administration.

***This title is not nearly so exciting as it sounds.