Forgotten Victorian Classics: Charles Reade

I would be surprised if anyone on my flist has heard of Charles Reade. But he is one of my favorite novelists and was very popular in 19th century.

His most famous book (and it's still in print) is "The Cloister and the Hearth," that is set in pre-Renaissance Europe and follows the adventures and travails of Gerard, a painter, who is forced to leave Netherlands due to scheming of his elder siblings. There is a doomed, star-crossed love affair that makes me cry, hair-raising adventures, funny bits, great secondary characters (my favorite is a Burgundian soldier Dennis who befriends him on the road), and great descriptions of Italy, Germany and France. This one begs to be made into a movie. It's definitely worth a look. Plus, Gerard is crush-worthy.

My favorite of his novels (that I've read) is "Hard Cash." It was wildly popular, created a sensation, and prompted reforms in the mental asylums. The plot is loosely based on a real case, and involves an Oxford graduate, Alfred, whose father has him committed to an insane asylum on the eve of his wedding because he is afraid that the son will reveal the secrets of his dishonest financial dealings and ruin him. I fell in love with the romance and stayed for the really harrowing look at 19th century mental institution conditions. This is a brilliant book. As I said, I love the romance (Alfred is intelligent, high strung and charmingly vulnerable. Also, he goes through hell. And Julia is no dishrag) and the interesting plot convolutions, but the parts that really stick with me and that haven't dated a bit are those that involve the insane asylum and the corruption and the horrible conditions in it. The situation of someone perfectly sane and intelligent who is trapped in a madhouse and cannot prove his condition because people are either bribed (they get paid per patient) or automatically assume he is mad (as they have their heads shaved etc) is a horrible situation and is made awfully vivid 100+ years before "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and similar. Alfred, who is perfectly rational, begins to slide into madness because of the conditions he is in. And of course, there are great scenes of his trying to legally prove his sanity in court. This is a wonderful book and deserves to be better known.

Why am I blathering about Reade? Well, currently I am reading another book of his co-written with Dion Boucicault, called Foul Play involving a man who gets accused and convicted of forgery and theft he did not commit. I haven't gotten much further so am not sure which way this is going, but I like what I see so far. Here's a sample quote, describing the heroine: "a young lady of fair abilities, who had gone through her course of music and other studies, taught brainlessly, and who was now going through a course of monotonous pleasures, and had not accumulated any great store of mental resources--she was listless and languid, and would have yawned forty times in her papa's face, only she was too well-bred." LOL

OK, where can you find Charles Reade books? There is a lovely answer to that one: all three I've mentioned (and some others) are all available for free on http://www.gutenberg.net

Do check him out. He is a wonderful writer.

Forgotten Victorian Classics: Charles Reade

I would be surprised if anyone on my flist has heard of Charles Reade. But he is one of my favorite novelists and was very popular in 19th century.

His most famous book (and it's still in print) is "The Cloister and the Hearth," that is set in pre-Renaissance Europe and follows the adventures and travails of Gerard, a painter, who is forced to leave Netherlands due to scheming of his elder siblings. There is a doomed, star-crossed love affair that makes me cry, hair-raising adventures, funny bits, great secondary characters (my favorite is a Burgundian soldier Dennis who befriends him on the road), and great descriptions of Italy, Germany and France. This one begs to be made into a movie. It's definitely worth a look. Plus, Gerard is crush-worthy.

My favorite of his novels (that I've read) is "Hard Cash." It was wildly popular, created a sensation, and prompted reforms in the mental asylums. The plot is loosely based on a real case, and involves an Oxford graduate, Alfred, whose father has him committed to an insane asylum on the eve of his wedding because he is afraid that the son will reveal the secrets of his dishonest financial dealings and ruin him. I fell in love with the romance and stayed for the really harrowing look at 19th century mental institution conditions. This is a brilliant book. As I said, I love the romance (Alfred is intelligent, high strung and charmingly vulnerable. Also, he goes through hell. And Julia is no dishrag) and the interesting plot convolutions, but the parts that really stick with me and that haven't dated a bit are those that involve the insane asylum and the corruption and the horrible conditions in it. The situation of someone perfectly sane and intelligent who is trapped in a madhouse and cannot prove his condition because people are either bribed (they get paid per patient) or automatically assume he is mad (as they have their heads shaved etc) is a horrible situation and is made awfully vivid 100+ years before "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and similar. Alfred, who is perfectly rational, begins to slide into madness because of the conditions he is in. And of course, there are great scenes of his trying to legally prove his sanity in court. This is a wonderful book and deserves to be better known.

Why am I blathering about Reade? Well, currently I am reading another book of his co-written with Dion Boucicault, called Foul Play involving a man who gets accused and convicted of forgery and theft he did not commit. I haven't gotten much further so am not sure which way this is going, but I like what I see so far. Here's a sample quote, describing the heroine: "a young lady of fair abilities, who had gone through her course of music and other studies, taught brainlessly, and who was now going through a course of monotonous pleasures, and had not accumulated any great store of mental resources--she was listless and languid, and would have yawned forty times in her papa's face, only she was too well-bred." LOL

OK, where can you find Charles Reade books? There is a lovely answer to that one: all three I've mentioned (and some others) are all available for free on http://www.gutenberg.net

Do check him out. He is a wonderful writer.

Forgotten Victorian Classics: Charles Reade

I would be surprised if anyone on my flist has heard of Charles Reade. But he is one of my favorite novelists and was very popular in 19th century.

His most famous book (and it's still in print) is "The Cloister and the Hearth," that is set in pre-Renaissance Europe and follows the adventures and travails of Gerard, a painter, who is forced to leave Netherlands due to scheming of his elder siblings. There is a doomed, star-crossed love affair that makes me cry, hair-raising adventures, funny bits, great secondary characters (my favorite is a Burgundian soldier Dennis who befriends him on the road), and great descriptions of Italy, Germany and France. This one begs to be made into a movie. It's definitely worth a look. Plus, Gerard is crush-worthy.

My favorite of his novels (that I've read) is "Hard Cash." It was wildly popular, created a sensation, and prompted reforms in the mental asylums. The plot is loosely based on a real case, and involves an Oxford graduate, Alfred, whose father has him committed to an insane asylum on the eve of his wedding because he is afraid that the son will reveal the secrets of his dishonest financial dealings and ruin him. I fell in love with the romance and stayed for the really harrowing look at 19th century mental institution conditions. This is a brilliant book. As I said, I love the romance (Alfred is intelligent, high strung and charmingly vulnerable. Also, he goes through hell. And Julia is no dishrag) and the interesting plot convolutions, but the parts that really stick with me and that haven't dated a bit are those that involve the insane asylum and the corruption and the horrible conditions in it. The situation of someone perfectly sane and intelligent who is trapped in a madhouse and cannot prove his condition because people are either bribed (they get paid per patient) or automatically assume he is mad (as they have their heads shaved etc) is a horrible situation and is made awfully vivid 100+ years before "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and similar. Alfred, who is perfectly rational, begins to slide into madness because of the conditions he is in. And of course, there are great scenes of his trying to legally prove his sanity in court. This is a wonderful book and deserves to be better known.

Why am I blathering about Reade? Well, currently I am reading another book of his co-written with Dion Boucicault, called Foul Play involving a man who gets accused and convicted of forgery and theft he did not commit. I haven't gotten much further so am not sure which way this is going, but I like what I see so far. Here's a sample quote, describing the heroine: "a young lady of fair abilities, who had gone through her course of music and other studies, taught brainlessly, and who was now going through a course of monotonous pleasures, and had not accumulated any great store of mental resources--she was listless and languid, and would have yawned forty times in her papa's face, only she was too well-bred." LOL

OK, where can you find Charles Reade books? There is a lovely answer to that one: all three I've mentioned (and some others) are all available for free on http://www.gutenberg.net

Do check him out. He is a wonderful writer.

1930s fashion plates and movie stars...

First off, apologies to anyone who joined this lj for BSG and Bollywood. I have obviously not abandoned them but I have a tendency to go off on mini-rambles. And right now, I am all about old movies.

Anyway, this post is largely pic spam about two very fashionable 1930s stars.

Robert Montgomery was quite a popular actor in 1930s and 1940s. His most famous movie "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" about a boxer who dies prematurely and is sent back has been remade twice, once with Warren Beatty (shudder) and once with Chris Rock (also shudder).

Anyway, he's a good actor and made some movies I enjoyed quite a lot, but the real reason the picspam is here is because of 1930s elegance. He really looks as if he'd just stepped out of the pages of Wodehouse (and appropriately he was the lead in an adaptation of "Picadilly Jim," one of my Wodehouse favorites). Basically, I just love the look and the style. You can just imagine the cocktail glass in one hand, and a fancy cigarette in the other. aliterati will be glad to know he played a dapper and charming psychopath in "Night Must Fall."

( Pictures Here )

And then there is Merle Oberon. One of my favorite 1930s actresses, she was gorgeous, and British, and always well-dressed, period movies or not. She was Cathy in "Wuthering Heights" (which is so the version you should watch. She and Laurence Olivier are amazing together), she was Marguerite in "The Scarlet Pimpernel," she was in two not as well known but excellent angst-o-ramas "Beloved Enemy" and "Dark Angel." And she was one of the two schoolteachers accused of lesbianism in the earliest adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play "The Children's Hour" which was (because of controversy) retitled "These Three" for the movie version. I could totally see her as one of Wodehouse's capable, madcap girls.

( Pictures here )

1930s fashion plates and movie stars...

First off, apologies to anyone who joined this lj for BSG and Bollywood. I have obviously not abandoned them but I have a tendency to go off on mini-rambles. And right now, I am all about old movies.

Anyway, this post is largely pic spam about two very fashionable 1930s stars.

Robert Montgomery was quite a popular actor in 1930s and 1940s. His most famous movie "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" about a boxer who dies prematurely and is sent back has been remade twice, once with Warren Beatty (shudder) and once with Chris Rock (also shudder).

Anyway, he's a good actor and made some movies I enjoyed quite a lot, but the real reason the picspam is here is because of 1930s elegance. He really looks as if he'd just stepped out of the pages of Wodehouse (and appropriately he was the lead in an adaptation of "Picadilly Jim," one of my Wodehouse favorites). Basically, I just love the look and the style. You can just imagine the cocktail glass in one hand, and a fancy cigarette in the other. aliterati will be glad to know he played a dapper and charming psychopath in "Night Must Fall."

( Pictures Here )

And then there is Merle Oberon. One of my favorite 1930s actresses, she was gorgeous, and British, and always well-dressed, period movies or not. She was Cathy in "Wuthering Heights" (which is so the version you should watch. She and Laurence Olivier are amazing together), she was Marguerite in "The Scarlet Pimpernel," she was in two not as well known but excellent angst-o-ramas "Beloved Enemy" and "Dark Angel." And she was one of the two schoolteachers accused of lesbianism in the earliest adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play "The Children's Hour" which was (because of controversy) retitled "These Three" for the movie version. I could totally see her as one of Wodehouse's capable, madcap girls.

( Pictures here )

1930s fashion plates and movie stars...

First off, apologies to anyone who joined this lj for BSG and Bollywood. I have obviously not abandoned them but I have a tendency to go off on mini-rambles. And right now, I am all about old movies.

Anyway, this post is largely pic spam about two very fashionable 1930s stars.

Robert Montgomery was quite a popular actor in 1930s and 1940s. His most famous movie "Here Comes Mr. Jordan" about a boxer who dies prematurely and is sent back has been remade twice, once with Warren Beatty (shudder) and once with Chris Rock (also shudder).

Anyway, he's a good actor and made some movies I enjoyed quite a lot, but the real reason the picspam is here is because of 1930s elegance. He really looks as if he'd just stepped out of the pages of Wodehouse (and appropriately he was the lead in an adaptation of "Picadilly Jim," one of my Wodehouse favorites). Basically, I just love the look and the style. You can just imagine the cocktail glass in one hand, and a fancy cigarette in the other. aliterati will be glad to know he played a dapper and charming psychopath in "Night Must Fall."

( Pictures Here )

And then there is Merle Oberon. One of my favorite 1930s actresses, she was gorgeous, and British, and always well-dressed, period movies or not. She was Cathy in "Wuthering Heights" (which is so the version you should watch. She and Laurence Olivier are amazing together), she was Marguerite in "The Scarlet Pimpernel," she was in two not as well known but excellent angst-o-ramas "Beloved Enemy" and "Dark Angel." And she was one of the two schoolteachers accused of lesbianism in the earliest adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play "The Children's Hour" which was (because of controversy) retitled "These Three" for the movie version. I could totally see her as one of Wodehouse's capable, madcap girls.

( Pictures here )