7th September 2005 At the ECW list we are reading Bate's biography of John Clare. I was not too sure about the earlier parts of the book, both becuase it seemed to me that Bate was failing to provide an adequate context for the political and literary world which formed the backgorund to Clare's emergence …
Tag: ninteenthcentury
Cranford and Other Events
18th December 2007 There have now been two superb television series this year - Rome Part 2 (and I have written extensively of Rome) and now Cranford. It is hard to imagine two more superficially different series -Rome is blood and thunder, exploitation, over-the-top drama; Cranford quiet, understated. David (as in the painter) against Vermeer …
Cognitive Behaiour Therapy (OP)
4th May 2006 A brilliant article by Magnus Linklater in The Times (3/5/06) on Cognitive Behaviour Therapy... >>Freud-lite: the ideal modern cure Magnus Linklater “WHAT PROGRESS we are making!” said Sigmund Freud. “In the Middle Ages they would have burned me. Now they are content with burning my books.” You were overoptimistic, I fear, Dr …
Work, work, work (OP)
15th August 2007 Peter Linebaugh in The London Hanged (p14) writes... >>new morality became triumphant among the capitalist class at the end of the seventeenth century. Christopher Hill contrasted it with the religious attitudes prevailing earlier: 'Labour, the curse of fallen man, had become a religious duty, a means of glorifying God in our calling. …
November Miscellany
Overall November has been another good month despite some bad days at the end compounded by a resurgence of back trouble. This month's miscellany is dominated by television (and quite a bit of it bad television at that!) but that is partly because I have hived off comments on other forms to separate blogs ('Three …
Scott’s Tales of a Scottish Grandfather
Walter Scott's Tales of a Scottish Grandfather takes as a paratext the idea that he is explaining Scottish history to his grandson. In fact the degree to which Scott remembers this varies - he certainly slips in the odd reference to 'your grandfather' or 'your grandfather's grandfather', but for the majority of the time it is clear that …
Gogol’s Dead Souls
As a result of reading Alexander Herzen's brilliant My Past and My Thoughts (about which I am still trying to start writing) I have embarked on a course of 19thC Russian literature to try and, very slowly, enlighten my dismal ignorance in this area. My first book was Nikolay Gogol's novel Dead Souls. Due to …
Goldsmith’s Traveller
On the EighteenthCenturyWorlds List ( see right for link) Ellen recently posted some verses from Goldsmith's The Traveller..... Goldsmith, from "The Traveller" Creations' mildest charms are there combined, Extremes are only in the master's mind. Stern o'er each bosom reason holds her state, With daring aims irregularly great; Pride in their port, defiance in their …
July Days – Witley Court and Church
Witley Court is a country house in Worcestershire which was largely gutted by fire in 1937. Although the house is still a ruin, English Heritage, who acquired the property in the 1980's, have been working to restore the historically important gardens. In addition Great Witley Church, which is attached to the house, fortunately escaped the …
Reeves on Mill – Chapters 1-5
The following are my comments on Richard Reeves biography John Stuart Mill Victorian Firebrand (2007) taken directly from my comments on Trollope-l - some of the remarks therefore refer to debates on list but these are pertinent so I have refrained from any editing. Chapters 1 and 2 I have now started Richard …
Moving Toyshop 