Wives and Daughters and a literary meme
Apr. 11th, 2010 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
birdienlBeen reading Wives and Daughters by Elizabeth Gaskell for the past few weeks. Much as I love reading classics, it always seems to take forever to finish them. Not good for shortening your TBR list! But I loved it and I think it deserves a post. I'm combining it with a literary meme, because I think that's sort of fitting.
Wives and Daughters is not an adventurous book. It's small and slow moving story is almost comparable to one of Austen, focusing on a few families in a small town and the growing-up of the central heroine. The heroine in Gaskell's case is Molly Gibson, the only daughter of the widowed town physician. When Molly arrives at an age when young men take an interest in her, her father decides to remarry to the shallow schoolmistress Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Completing this patchwork family is Mrs. Kirkpatrick's daughters Cynthia. Though Molly and Cynthia are as different as night and day, they instantly like each other. A friended family are squire Hamley and his two sons Roger and Osborne. Squire Hamley looks upon Molly as his own daughter, but it's Cynthia who wins the affections of the shy and sturdy young scientist Roger. And the elder son Osborne has a secret which threatens to tear apart his family.
The complete title of the book is Wives and Daughters, an everyday story. A common story it may be, but Gaskell writes complex characters and relationships, both of the family, friendship and romantic kind. She let's Molly grow up during the novel and you see her change and mature and cannot but love this girl who tries to do her best in a difficult situation. Ofcourse being a scientist myself, I also love this aspect in the novel. After all, the 19th century is the age of great discoveries and Wives and Daughters recognizes this, making Roger Hamley, son of a simple country squire, a celebrity because of his scientific expeditions to Africa.
Wives and Daughters was the last novel Gaskell wrote. In fact, she all but finished it before she died. Only a single chapter at the end is missing, the completion of the story. Luckily, Gaskell talked with friends and family about how she wished to end the story and therefore a fairly good idea can be formed of how the last chapter should have been. I'd so far only read North and South and Cranford by Gaskell. Wives and Daughters is somewhat comparable to Cranford, in telling of the lives of people in a small country town, but with a more rounded story and focusing on young men and women in stead of a group of elderly ladies in Cranford. The book is very different from North and South, less dark and less concerned with the social issues of the time. But all three books have one thing in common, Gaskell loves her characters. They are well rounded, complex and unable not to care for.
As most of you probably know, the BBC adapted the book in 1999 as a four-part series. It's an absolutely lovely period drama, but what's most striking about it is how close stays to the novel. I think well over 90% of the scenes in the novel can be found in the adaptation. Also the characterization is spot-on, even including rather minor characters such as Lady Harriet. Maybe Anthony Howell, playing Roger Hamley was not 'ugly, one couldn't even call him plain', as described in the book, but oh well, you can't have an ugly hero in a period drama can you? Ofcourse different from the book the adaptation does have an ending, but it's very subtle and lovely and you could absolutely imagine Gaskell writing such as ending.
On to the meme, taken from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tsuu
) What author do you own the most books by?
Jane Austen, all six of them
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
The Bible, I've got four
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not really, should it?
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Oh, the usual, Darcy, Wenthworth, Knightley, Rochester....
4a) What fictional character would you most like to be?
Elizabeth Bennet (I know, cliché)
4b) What fictional character do you think most resembles you?
You've got those 'Which Austen heroine are you most like' tests on the internet, and I always get either Fanny Price or Elinor Dashwood
5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
I don't reread books a lot, there's so much to read, I simply don't have the time!
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Every story about horses
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
Karen Kingsbury - Ever After
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Jeffrey Overstreet - Auralia's colours, very surprising and original fantasy
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Arena by Karen Hancock, a brilliant allegorical tale
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
A.S. Byatt
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Something of Jasper Fforde
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
I don't know really
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I don't remember most of my dreams and I remember none involving either writer, book or literary character. Would like to though!
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Something by Wanda Brunstetter probably
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Probably my Immunology textbook for university
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I've never seen a Shakespeare play
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
The French, I like Alexandre Dumas
18) Roth or Updike?
Can't choose, because I've not read either of them
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Can't choose, because I've not read either of them
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Chaucer
21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I haven't read any Shakespeare
23) What is your favorite novel?
Never ask this question of a book-lover!
24) Play?
Don't really read plays
25) Poem?
Don't really read poetry
26) Essay?
Don't really read essays (Yes, I know, but there are only 24 hours in a day!)
27) Short story?
Anything from Toon Tellegen
28) Work of non-fiction?
Anything by C.S. Lewis
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Never ask this question of a book-lover!
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Probably some Dutch literary genius, but actually I'm only saying that because I HATE Dutch literature
31) What is your desert island book?
The Bible
32) And ... what are you reading right now?
Will be starting A month of summer by Lisa Wingate tonight
Wives and Daughters is not an adventurous book. It's small and slow moving story is almost comparable to one of Austen, focusing on a few families in a small town and the growing-up of the central heroine. The heroine in Gaskell's case is Molly Gibson, the only daughter of the widowed town physician. When Molly arrives at an age when young men take an interest in her, her father decides to remarry to the shallow schoolmistress Mrs. Kirkpatrick. Completing this patchwork family is Mrs. Kirkpatrick's daughters Cynthia. Though Molly and Cynthia are as different as night and day, they instantly like each other. A friended family are squire Hamley and his two sons Roger and Osborne. Squire Hamley looks upon Molly as his own daughter, but it's Cynthia who wins the affections of the shy and sturdy young scientist Roger. And the elder son Osborne has a secret which threatens to tear apart his family.
The complete title of the book is Wives and Daughters, an everyday story. A common story it may be, but Gaskell writes complex characters and relationships, both of the family, friendship and romantic kind. She let's Molly grow up during the novel and you see her change and mature and cannot but love this girl who tries to do her best in a difficult situation. Ofcourse being a scientist myself, I also love this aspect in the novel. After all, the 19th century is the age of great discoveries and Wives and Daughters recognizes this, making Roger Hamley, son of a simple country squire, a celebrity because of his scientific expeditions to Africa.
Wives and Daughters was the last novel Gaskell wrote. In fact, she all but finished it before she died. Only a single chapter at the end is missing, the completion of the story. Luckily, Gaskell talked with friends and family about how she wished to end the story and therefore a fairly good idea can be formed of how the last chapter should have been. I'd so far only read North and South and Cranford by Gaskell. Wives and Daughters is somewhat comparable to Cranford, in telling of the lives of people in a small country town, but with a more rounded story and focusing on young men and women in stead of a group of elderly ladies in Cranford. The book is very different from North and South, less dark and less concerned with the social issues of the time. But all three books have one thing in common, Gaskell loves her characters. They are well rounded, complex and unable not to care for.
As most of you probably know, the BBC adapted the book in 1999 as a four-part series. It's an absolutely lovely period drama, but what's most striking about it is how close stays to the novel. I think well over 90% of the scenes in the novel can be found in the adaptation. Also the characterization is spot-on, even including rather minor characters such as Lady Harriet. Maybe Anthony Howell, playing Roger Hamley was not 'ugly, one couldn't even call him plain', as described in the book, but oh well, you can't have an ugly hero in a period drama can you? Ofcourse different from the book the adaptation does have an ending, but it's very subtle and lovely and you could absolutely imagine Gaskell writing such as ending.
On to the meme, taken from
tsuu ) What author do you own the most books by?
Jane Austen, all six of them
2) What book do you own the most copies of?
The Bible, I've got four
3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Not really, should it?
4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Oh, the usual, Darcy, Wenthworth, Knightley, Rochester....
4a) What fictional character would you most like to be?
Elizabeth Bennet (I know, cliché)
4b) What fictional character do you think most resembles you?
You've got those 'Which Austen heroine are you most like' tests on the internet, and I always get either Fanny Price or Elinor Dashwood
5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
I don't reread books a lot, there's so much to read, I simply don't have the time!
6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
Every story about horses
7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
Karen Kingsbury - Ever After
8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Jeffrey Overstreet - Auralia's colours, very surprising and original fantasy
9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
Arena by Karen Hancock, a brilliant allegorical tale
10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
A.S. Byatt
11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
Something of Jasper Fforde
12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
I don't know really
13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I don't remember most of my dreams and I remember none involving either writer, book or literary character. Would like to though!
14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Something by Wanda Brunstetter probably
15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
Probably my Immunology textbook for university
16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I've never seen a Shakespeare play
17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
The French, I like Alexandre Dumas
18) Roth or Updike?
Can't choose, because I've not read either of them
19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
Can't choose, because I've not read either of them
20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Chaucer
21) Austen or Eliot?
Austen
22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
I haven't read any Shakespeare
23) What is your favorite novel?
Never ask this question of a book-lover!
24) Play?
Don't really read plays
25) Poem?
Don't really read poetry
26) Essay?
Don't really read essays (Yes, I know, but there are only 24 hours in a day!)
27) Short story?
Anything from Toon Tellegen
28) Work of non-fiction?
Anything by C.S. Lewis
29) Who is your favorite writer?
Never ask this question of a book-lover!
30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Probably some Dutch literary genius, but actually I'm only saying that because I HATE Dutch literature
31) What is your desert island book?
The Bible
32) And ... what are you reading right now?
Will be starting A month of summer by Lisa Wingate tonight
