The hero as author in Elizabeth Jolley's 'The Well'

In a novel which abounds in fantasy and fabrication, in ‘small’ tales as well as ‘tall’ tales, The Well itself may well serve as a symbol of inspiration and imagination, just as the Ancient Greek (Pierian) spring, sacred to the Muses, did. By the end of Jolley’s novel, Hester Harper has been officially entrusted with the telling of the tale. Afraid that Katherine has already revealed to the Borden family the ‘truth’ about the ‘thing’ in the well, Hester is ‘inspired’ to tell the children a ‘monster’ story; except that she can’t decide WHICH monster to tell about. (1) The implication in this is that more than one monster lurks in Hester’s past. Or, that there are many different ways of telling a story.

While the novel is ostensibly constructed by means of the ‘third-person omniscient’ narrative mode, it seems that Hester is frequently ‘active’ in the various ‘voices’ that are heard throughout. Like the voices in the well, the novel echoes to ...