Amy Welborn on the mid-century novel The Feast by Margaret Kennedy:
The germ of The Feast lies in a conversation Kennedy had in 1937 with writer friends. The group played with the notion of writing a collection, each focusing on one of the seven deadly sins. That specific project never moved beyond the stage of an idea, but Kennedy continued to mull it over until in those post-war years, she found her angle. The Feast is an illustrative sketch of postwar England, a clever theological puzzle, and a suggestive invitation in its own right.
It’s an invitation to the reader to imagine the collection of characters squabbling under the looming cliff, imagine their virtues and vices, and then consider her place there. For in a sense, we are all dwelling under a sort of cliff, one that is bound to collapse at some unknown, surprising moment. We are all invited, as well—invited to the life-saving and life-giving feast hosted by the One the world holds in the least regard. Do we accept? Or do we remain in the inn, as one character thinks as she makes her way up the cliffside to the feast—All alone. All shut up alone in their rooms, yet none of them at peace.
