Havishamesque

See also: Havisham-esque

English

WOTD – 2 October 2021

Etymology

An illustration of Miss Havisham by Harry Furniss from a 1910 edition of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations (originally published 1860–1861). The word Havishamesque is derived from this character in the novel.

From Havisham +‎ -esque (suffix meaning ‘in the style or manner of’ forming adjectives), after the character Miss Havisham from the novel Great Expectations (1860–1861) by the English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870), a wealthy spinster once jilted at the altar, who lives in a ruined mansion and always wears her wedding dress.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˌhævɪʃəmˈɛsk/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛsk
• Hyphenation: Ha‧vi‧sham‧esque

Adjective

Havishamesque (comparative more Havishamesque, superlative most Havishamesque)

1. Stuck in the past; also, refusing to accept change or failure.

   Synonyms: fossilized, Miss Havishamesque; see also Thesaurus:obsolete

   • 1987 October, Julie Michaels, Susan Zesiger, “Guaranteed Listings”, in Daniel Okrent, editor, New England Monthly, volume 4, number 10, Haydenville, Mass.: New England Monthly, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 97, column 2:

     Unlike most historic sites, which tend to ossify into Havishamesque stillness, Chesterwood, the turn-of-the-century home of popular academic sculptor Daniel Chester French, welcomes the fresh breezes of life.

   • 1990, Mary Ann Kelly, chapter 11, in Park Lane South, Queens (A Thomas Dunne Book), New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 177:

     Iris went away to boil water or something, and Claire had time to investigate the shabby finery of the room. It was sad if you looked at it one way, almost Havishamesque.

   • 1994 July, Martin Filler, “Shingle Stylish”, in Louis Oliver Gropp, editor, House Beautiful, volume 136, number 7, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Corporation, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 103, column 2:

     In vitrines throughout the house are several of the couple's collections—Dick [Cavett]'s Native American artifacts, Carrie [Nye]'s seashells, and one Havishamesque glass-topped table preserving a robin's nest with eggs, her ballet teacher's toe shoes, her grandmother's silk wedding slippers, and a copy of [Rudyard] Kipling's Recessional that belonged to Tennessee Williams's mother and was inscribed by him to Carrie.

   • 2012, Matthew Crow, My Dearest Jonah, large print edition, Anstey, Leicestershire: Ulverscroft, F. A. Thorpe (Publishing), published 2014, →ISBN, pages 90–91:

     Her husband died three years into their nuptials and she has sat ever since, sour and Havishamesque, waiting on that porch. Waiting for what I do not know: for his return from the great beyond, I suppose, or perhaps for her own demise, and their ensuing reunion.

   • 2013, Simon Doonan, “Lipstick on Your Kneecaps”, in The Asylum: A Collage of Couture Reminiscences … and Hysteria, New York, N.Y.: Blue Rider Press, Penguin Group, →ISBN:

     When she told me she hadn't seen it [the film Grey Gardens (1975)], I launched into an enthusiastic gush about this legendary seventies Maysles brothers documentary about a mother and daughter who lived in Havisham-esque decay in East Hampton.

   • 2018, Cory Ingram, chapter 7, in Paradise, [Calgary, Alta.]: Ganymede Press, →ISBN, pages 86–87:

     On some level Chris felt sorry for abandoning Arthur; however, in Chris's mind, that still didn't justify the dramatics of it all—the maudlin, Havishamesque world he'd been dragged into because of a single mistake.

Alternative forms

• Havisham-esque

Translations

stuck in the past, refusing to accept change or failure

Further reading

• Miss Havisham on Wikipedia.Wikipedia