Lazy thoughts on a lazy episode! [on request]

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 6 years ago

#11

Yes, of course the Bronte sisters. Who can forget Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff? I also Like Jane Eyre and I have a DVD of the 1943 version wtth Orson Welles amd Joan Fontaine. Isn't it amazing that all the three Bronte sister wrote?n

But I still think Jane Austen, with such a slender output. is far more popular even today. Maybe because she sounds so contemporary.

I have actually never read anything of Gaskell's. Which would you recommend? Do you like Thomas Hardy?

I will try and get my brother to locate the ITV Vanity Fair for me. I don't think I will be able to get it in India. Ah, Becky Sharp!!!

Originally posted by: Brahmaputra

You forgot the Brontes.😃 They're more popular than Dickens. Mill on the Floss is the most moving, fast moving novel of Eliot. It is so tragic and unforgettable. After Eliot, I love Gaskell the most, then Anne Bronte. Yesterday only I watched ITV's new adaptation of Vanity Fair. It is so far the best one. Do watch it if you can!😊

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Brahmaputra

@Brahmaputra

Sparkler

+ 2

Posted: 6 years ago

#12

Originally posted by: sashashyam
Yes, of course the Bronte sisters. Who can forget Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff? I also Like Jane Eyre and I have a DVD of the 1943 version wtth Orson Welles amd Joan Fontaine. Isn't it amazing that all the three Bronte sister wrote?n

But I still think Jane Austen, with such a slender output. is far more popular even today. Maybe because she sounds so contemporary.

I have actually never read anything of Gaskell's. Which would you recommend? Do you like Thomas Hardy?

I will try and get my brother to locate the ITV Vanity Fair for me. I don't think I will be able to get it in India. Ah, Becky Sharp!!!

It is indeed amazing they all three wrote, four, infact. Their brother Branwell also wrote, but never published anything. I am not a big fan of Jane Eyre. I liked Villette more. And I like Wuthering Heights too. It is one sinister magnet!

Austen feels so contemporary, but there are indeed many fans for others too. Recently in a poll by BBC's cultural section, more than 50% ppl voted Middlemarch as the best British novel ever written.

FOR Gaskell, her each book is entirely different from another. And she wrote a lot of gothic short stories and novellas. All of them are good. I shall give a small list. You pick the ones you feel you should.

1. Mary Barton - her first novel. It is a little sentimental, as she wrote it to ease the pain for her little son's death. It is about family struggling to live in an industrial town.

2. Ruth - this one she possibly wrote to forget the pain of a 'fallen' girl who she helped to escape to some African country. It is about a young woman who enters motherhood before marriage, then how society sees it, and how Gaskell states it is not a woman's mistake if she becomes a mother without marriage. Her husband hated this book, and it was banned by the church. Sentimental, preachy, but good overall.

3. North and South - this is the ISS PYAAR KO KYAA NAAM DOON of 19th century. Highly recommended. Not just a love story, but a socially powerful one. It can be like a beginner's entry to Gaskell. Also watch BBC's 2004 adaptation.

4. Cranford - a small novella without any story. Cranford is a little town largely inhabited by spinsters. It is about their daily lives. One of my favourites. Do watch the BBC's 2007-2009 adaptation. Absolutely marvelous.

5. Sylvia's Lovers - One of the best love stories ever written. It is not for faint hearts. I wonder why it is NOT famous.

6. Wives and Daughters - Her best, and longest novel. One of my all time favourites. It would be what have Middlemarch been, if written by Jane Austen. Brilliant. Also watch BBC's 1998 stunning adaptation.

I adore Thomas Hardy. How he brings nature as a powerful character in every story is simply out of the world.

Where do we get ITV in India? You can try torrents to download the episodes.😉

Edited by Brahmaputra - 6 years ago

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 6 years ago

#13

What a nice, juicy list ! And such crisp, concise intros too. You are really a go to person for a whole lot of things, the Victorian classics included!

I would never have thought of finding someone like you in the IF. It just goes to show that one never knows what, or who is just round the corner.

Not like in the Hardy novels, where folks are always missing the one they seek!

I shall try and see if I can get some of the Gaskell novels as real books. I don't like ebooks very much, for I love the smell of leather binding and fine paper, and then gold lettering on the spine. One of my treasures is a 11 volume set of Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels, published in 1892 and in mint condition. I suspect the owner never read them! 😉

I love the French classics.too.-. Dumas, Hugo, Zola, and even Moliere and.Racine. As my.French is good, I can read them in the originals. Yes, and George Simenon's Maigret novels. They are only superficially stories of crime and detection, being more of studies of the human condition.

OK, it is past 11, so.I shall say goodnight. Thanks again.

Shyamala

PS: I have Villette, and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall too, besides Wuthering Heights. That sums up my.Bronte collection.

Originally posted by: Brahmaputra

It is indeed amazing they all three wrote, four, infact. Their brother Branwell also wrote, but never published anything. I am not a big fan of Jane Eyre. I liked Villette more. And I like Wuthering Heights too. It is one sinister magnet!

Austen feels so contemporary, but there are indeed many fans for others too. Recently in a poll by BBC's cultural section, more than 50% ppl voted Middlemarch as the best British novel ever written.

FOR Gaskell, her each book is entirely different from another. And she wrote a lot of gothic short stories and novellas. All of them are good. I shall give a small list. You pick the ones you feel you should.

1. Mary Barton - her first novel. It is a little sentimental, as she wrote it to ease the pain for her little son's death. It is about family struggling to live in an industrial town.

2. Ruth - this one she possibly wrote to forget the pain of a 'fallen' girl who she helped to escape to some African country. It is about a young woman who enters motherhood before marriage, then how society sees it, and how Gaskell states it is not a woman's mistake if she becomes a mother without marriage. Her husband hated this book, and it was banned by the church. Sentimental, preachy, but good overall.

3. North and South - this is the ISS PYAAR KO KYAA NAAM DOON of 19th century. Highly recommended. Not just a love story, but a socially powerful one. It can be like a beginner's entry to Gaskell. Also watch BBC's 2004 adaptation.

4. Cranford - a small novella without any story. Cranford is a little town largely inhabited by spinsters. It is about their daily lives. One of my favourites. Do watch the BBC's 2007-2009 adaptation. Absolutely marvelous.

5. Sylvia's Lovers - One of the best love stories ever written. It is not for faint hearts. I wonder why it is NOT famous.

6. Wives and Daughters - Her best, and longest novel. One of my all time favourites. It would be what have Middlemarch been, if written by Jane Austen. Brilliant. Also watch BBC's 1998 stunning adaptation.

I adore Thomas Hardy. How he brings nature as a powerful character in every story is simply out of the world.

Where do we get ITV in India? You can try torrents to download the episodes.😉

Edited by sashashyam - 6 years ago

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gemini54

@gemini54

Voyager

Posted: 6 years ago

#14

@jamy you seem to be encyclopedia of knowledge great going. I have not yet read the authors works will try it out.
@aunty reading the original works in French must be awesome. My mother keeps telling me to read Ponniyin Selvan in Tamizh and that English translation does not do it justice

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 6 years ago

#15

I agree with your mom, Sabita. I have Sivagamiyin Sabadam, set in the Pallava period, Ponniyin Selvan, and Partiban Kanavu, all by Kalki, in Tamil, and several other historical novels by Akilan, Jagachirpiyan, and others. I have seen the English translation of the first 30 chapters of Ponniyin Selvan, and it was not the same as reading it in the original.

My mother used to collect the chapters of such novels from the weekly Kalki and Ananda Vikatan magazines, with gorgeous illustrations, and have them bound. They are wonderful, and much better than the published books, for there the illustrations are sparse.

Jamy, I have actually started on Cranford! I shan't tell you how I laid hands on it, for then you would be seriously displeased with me! By the way, I never knew she was the biographer of Charlotte Bronte. Have you read that book?

OK, this is about enough to earn me a severe reprimand for being totally off topic, so I shall add a line about our show. The racing of the chariot was very oddly shot, and why did Arjun not pick Uruvi up at once when she fell sideways? Why, so that Karna and she could stare at each other from 2 feet away without getting cross-eyed! 😆

What I liked the best about the episode was the gorgeous, pure white horse. 😉

Shyamala Aunty/ Ji

Originally posted by: gemini54
@jamy you seem to be encyclopedia of knowledge great going. I have not yet read the authors works will try it out.
@aunty reading the original works in French must be awesome. My mother keeps telling me to read Ponniyin Selvan in Tamizh and that English translation does not do it justice

Edited by sashashyam - 6 years ago

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milinda.shreyz

@milinda.shreyz

Rocker

Posted: 6 years ago

#16

Wow! Fantastic discussions going on this thread!

Shyamala aunty, u must watch BBC North and South; Richard Armitrage's Mr. Thornton is such a feast for eyes. Mothers and Daughters is a wonderful novel too. About Hardy what's ur opinion about Under the Greenwood Tree ? Although a lesser Wessex novel, I found that novel (and the movie version) quite entertaining, I guess it was the only novel that escaped Hardy's omnipresent shroud of melancholic pessimism.

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 6 years ago

#17

I haven't read it, I am afraid, my dear Milinda. And I have seen the movie version of only Tess, which was hauntingly beautiful even just visually. I seem to remember that it had the exquisite Nastassia Kinski. I watched it in the theatre. It deserved the big screen.

The list of the classics I haven't read is growing like Hanuman's tail! As is the list of their BBC adaptations!! But I shall persevere womanfully. 😉 I have a whole lot of Dickens adaptations, including even Little Dorrit, and all the Jane Austen ones including the classic 1995 Pride and Prejudice, but no Mrs. Gaskell or Hardy ones.

Thanks for recommending these two Gaskell adaptations, which Jamy had also liked a lot. No one does this stuff better than the Brits. Hollywood mucks them up royally. The 1940 Pride and Prejudice, which had Laurence Olivier, no less, as Darcy, was a mess. They even had so little period sense that they used the gowns left over from the 1938 Gone with the Wind, with huge hoops under the skirts, for all.the ladies!😡

I shall try and read Under the Greenwood Tree once I have finished with the ones of Mrs.Gaskell. I'm halfway through Cranford by now.

In fact once I catch the reading bug again, I shall probably abandon these serials, which all end up like either Mills and Boon or the saas bahu kind. This one too somehow just doesn't jell with me. Let me hope it improves!

As for the hatke discussions here, enjoy them while you can!😉I am constantly looking out for an off topic warning.😆

Shyamala Aunty

PS: Am I mistaken, or is your id picture that of Tinker Bell?

Originally posted by: milinda.shreyz
Wow! Fantastic discussions going on this thread!
Shyamala aunty, u must watch BBC North and South; Richard Armitrage's Mr. Thornton is such a feast for eyes. Mothers and Daughters is a wonderful novel too. About Hardy what's ur opinion about Under the Greenwood Tree ? Although a lesser Wessex novel, I found that novel (and the movie version) quite entertaining, I guess it was the only novel that escaped Hardy's omnipresent shroud of melancholic pessimism.

Edited by sashashyam - 6 years ago

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Brahmaputra

@Brahmaputra

Sparkler

+ 2

Posted: 6 years ago

#18

@ sabita - thank you. I never forget to get my eyes on anyything in word form. So it is only natural...😆

@ Shyamala ji - Thanks a lot. I am not quite anything like you said, I only give that appearance.😆 I also like books as books only, not much a fan of ebooks. I haven't read Sir Walter Scott. My list of

books to be read is already enough for 5 lifetimes. I once loved French. I would love to read Monte Cristo in the original. But who has time? You are lucky.😊 I haven't heard of Simenson. I shall check that author out.

I knew that Gaskell was Charlotte's biographer. She was her BFF from the literary world. But her biography of Charlotte is not worth reading. She made Charlotte a Mother Teresa. Charlotte, apart from her fabulous writing, was not a good person, especially considering what she did to her own sister Anne. But Gaskell put gloss over all that, made Charlotte a good Indian sanskari bahu material, by turning her father and brother into the villains they were not and reducing her sisters into sickly souls. If you wish to read about Brontes from a neutral POV, avoid Gaskell. There are better books.

I didn't watch Tess [BBC has a stunning adaptation] because that is one of the biggest melancholy ever written. Reading it itself was such an uncomfortable feeling that pushed me into a hopeless emotional blackhole... I never touched it again. And Tess sadly is still alive among us.

I am a great lover of British dramas. They have CLASS. American ones are more trashy and their dialogues are waayyy too trashyyy...

I hope you write me a review of Cranford. It is definitely better to read such books than watching these Indian soap operas. One day I would like to conquer Trollope, and at least a few of Margaret Oliphant.

@ milinda - Far From The Madding Crowd also lacks the pessimism typical to Hardy. AFAIK, his pessimistic stories took life from real life incidents. Not detailing on that...😆 I liked the movie version of Greenwood tree. Book is kinda okay okay...

@ all - did you watch yesterday's episode? did you notice that Karna shaved his mooch-daadi by the time he reached the lake? 😆 Surili is so far my favourite character in the show. She alone speaks some sense!

Edited by Brahmaputra - 6 years ago

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sashashyam

@sashashyam

Sparkler

+ 3

Posted: 6 years ago

#19

Dear Jamy,

It is Georges Simenon, and his policeman hero is Inspector Maigret. He mostly wrote short stories, which makes it easier to get acquainted with him, and he reminds me of Balzac in his compassion for human frailty.

If you intend to explore Scott, do wait for my recommendations, or his purely.Scottish.works will drive you away all too soon. 😉

I don't think I would be up to doing a proper review of Cranford, reading which is like floating down a placid stream, disturbed only by the occasional emotional eddy, or even a mini-whirlpool. Like Miss Matty's sad little romance, laid away in lavender for thirty years, only to resurface without warning, and end up badly wounding her gentle, unassuming heart.

The kind of review Cranford deserves would need more expert hands. But I shall attempt a mini, thumbnail take as soon as I can. Thanks a lot for introducing me to Elizabeth Gaskell!

I have also located a few books by Anthony Trollope, beginning with the Chronicles of Barset, that I plan to delve into after Cranford, as any more Gaskell novels would have to be ebooks.

I am already beginning to tire of this show, its over made up heroine, its overly phlegmatic hero, and the Mills and Boon territory towards which it is clearly headed. It will be manna from Heaven for young romantics, but it bores me. Which will be all the better for my reading plans!

As for Uruvi's matashree, of course she has, very foolishly, brought Monday's catastrophe on herself. But she is panic-stricken, and one loses one's sense of judgement when that happens. Melodrama unlimited on Monday, one presumes.

Shyamala

Originally posted by: Brahmaputra
@ sabita - thank you. I never forget to get my eyes on anyything in word form. So it is only natural... 😆

@ Shyamala ji - Thanks a lot. I am not quite anything like you said, I only give that appearance.😆 I also like books as books only, not much a fan of ebooks. I haven't read Sir Walter Scott. My list of
books to be read is already enough for 5 lifetimes. I once loved French. I would love to read Monte Cristo in the original. But who has time? You are lucky.😊 I haven't heard of Simenson. I shall check that author out.

I knew that Gaskell was Charlotte's biographer. She was her BFF from the literary world. But her biography of Charlotte is not worth reading. She made Charlotte a Mother Teresa. Charlotte, apart from her fabulous writing, was not a good person, especially considering what she did to her own sister Anne. But Gaskell put gloss over all that, made Charlotte a good Indian sanskari bahu material, by turning her father and brother into the villains they were not and reducing her sisters into sickly souls. If you wish to read about Brontes from a neutral POV, avoid Gaskell. There are better books.

I didn't watch Tess [BBC has a stunning adaptation] because that is one of the biggest melancholy ever written. Reading it itself was such an uncomfortable feeling that pushed me into a hopeless emotional blackhole... I never touched it again. And Tess sadly is still alive among us.

I am a great lover of British dramas. They have CLASS. American ones are more trashy and their dialogues are waayyy too trashyyy...

I hope you write me a review of Cranford. It is definitely better to read such books than watching these Indian soap operas. One day I would like to conquer Trollope, and at least a few of Margaret Oliphant.

@ milinda - Far From The Madding Crowd also lacks the pessimism typical to Hardy. AFAIK, his pessimistic stories took life from real life incidents. Not detailing on that...😆 I liked the movie version of Greenwood tree. Book is kinda okay okay...

@ all - did you watch yesterday's episode? did you notice that Karna shaved his mooch-daadi by the time he reached the lake? 😆 Surili is so far my favourite character in the show. She alone speaks some sense!

Edited by sashashyam - 6 years ago

Quote

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