Quartermaine's Terms

by Simon Gray

Book Overview

Never has the celebrated author of Butley and Otherwise Engaged been more amusing and more touching than in this thoroughly delightful portrait of a mediocre but lovable English schoolteacher named St. John Quartermaine and his fellow faculty at a small school in Cambridge which teaches English to foreigners.2 women, 5 men

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0573113645
• ISBN13: 9780573113642
• Release Date: January 1985
• Publisher: Samuel French Ltd
• Length: 60 Pages
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Locked within ourselves

I was a former English Professor before my retirement, and so I could empathize with the characters in Quartermain's Term. My colleagues and I used to sit around the faculty room and talk, but after reading this play, I really wonder how much of our lives we did share. We talked about all kinds of superficial things: our classes, the students, the budget, the administration. We never shared what went on in our lives when we left the college. What were our lives really like? The play made me question how many lost opportunities I may have had to help or support my friends, all because we were too proud to share our problems. It taught me that everyone on earth has problems and we should be there for each other. Quartermain, himself, saddened me deeply. He had no life whatsoever beyond the school, and at the end, when he was let go, and had nowhere to go, it broke my heart that none of his friends had even realized he lived in the faculty office. This play was a great learning experience for me. It was well written and I think it taught me some well needed lessons. Diane G. Koenig Professor Emeritus