DOCSLIB.ORG

Interview Summary Sheet Project: Memories of Fiction: an Oral History of Readers’ Lives

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Interview Summary Sheet Project: Memories of Fiction: an Oral History of Readers’ Lives Interview Summary Sheet Project: Memories of Fiction: An Oral History of Readers’ Lives Reference No. Interviewee name and title: Joanna Crooks Interviewee DOB and place of birth: Reading, 10/05/1939 Interviewee Occupation: Teacher Book group(s) attended: Putney Date(s) of recording: Monday 13 July, 2015 Location of recording: Interviewee’s home, Putney. Interviewer: Dr. Amy Tooth Murphy Duration(s): 1:56:10 Summariser: Haley Moyse Fenning Copyright/Clearance: Interviewer/Summariser comments: Key themes: Reading, book groups, libraries, teaching, English Literature, A-levels, characters, age, autobiography, endings, plots. All books and authors mentioned (those discussed for >20 seconds in bold): Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall Thomas Hardy Anthony Trollope Henry James E.M Forster William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair John Updike, Rabbit Run Charles Dickens, Bleak House Charles Dickens, Hard Martin Amis Ian McEwan William Shakespeare, King John William Shakespeare, Henry VI George Orwell, Animal Farm John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood Keith Waterhouse, Billy Liar Enid Blyton George and Weedon Grossmith, The Diary of a Nobody Geoffrey Chaucher, The Nun’s Preist’s Tale William Wordsworth L.P Hartley, The Go-Between Arthur Miller, The Crucible William Golding, Lord of the Flies Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden D. H Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice Margaret Drabble Daphne De Maurier, Rebecca Sally Vickers, Miss Garnet’s Angel George Du Maurier, Trilby Evelyn Waugh, Handful of Dust Enid Blyton Enid Blyton, The Twins of St Clare’s Thomas Hardy Noel Streatfeild, Ballet Shoes Noel Streatfeild, Tennis Shoes Noel Streatfeild, The Children of Primrose Lane Michael Frayn, Spies Noel Streatfeild, The Painted Garden Noel Streatfeild, Curtain Up Richmal Crompton, Just William series Harper Lee, Go Set a Watchman Arthur Ransome Nicolas Monsarrat, The Cruel Sea Nevil Shute, A Town Like Alice Charlotte Brontë, Villette William Shakespeare, Hamlet William Shakespeare, King Lear Louisa May Alcott, Little Women Jeanette Winterson Barbara Pym Graham Greene, Heart of the Matter Graham Greene, The Quiet Americans Iris Murdoch,The Sandcastle Iris Murdoch, The Bell Iris Murcoch, Under the Net Kingsley Amis Philip Larkin Iris Murdoch, The Sea The Sea Monica Dickens, One Pair of Hands, One Pair of Feet [1:56:10] [Session Two: 13 July 2015] 00:00:00 Joanna Crooks [JC] lived in Putney, London for 15 years as well as for 11 years when younger. Remarks that she is a member of Putney library, though sometimes uses Portsmouth. Mentions that Putney library does not charge overdue fines for pensioners. Discussion about Kindles: on holiday she will take a Kindle but does prefer books. Comments that her sister in Brazil prefers to use a Kindle. Brief anecdote about a friend who was beaten from reading Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind. Mentions Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall. Comments that it can be difficult to turn the page on a Kindle. Remarks that updates have made Kindles more user friendly. 00:05:52 Clarifies date of birth as 10/05/1939. Discussion about how reading habits have changed over course of working life and retirement. Comments that more effort has been made to read classic novels in retirement. Mentions Thomas Hardy. Mentions Anthony Trollope. Comments that she did not keep up with children’s literature. Remarks that her grandchildren do not read. Comments that when you feel your time may be more limited, you make more effort to read things you think you ought to have read. Anecdote about student at Oxford asked the difference between ‘literature’ and ‘Literature’. Mentions Henry James. Mentions E.M Forster. Comments that many people she knows are well-read. Mentions William Shakespeare: enjoyed plays at school more than novels. Discussion about differences between plays and novels: did not like set texts at school. Mentions William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair. Comments that recommendations for reading have not all been through the reading group, but also through friends. Mentions John Updike, Rabbit Run. Remarks that Putney reading group have focused on a lot of prize winners. Mentions teaching Charles Dickens, Bleak House and Hard Times but not reading much Charles Dickens. Mentions Martin Amis. Mentions Ian McEwan. 00:13:22 Discussion about books not yet read: often given as gifts. Comments on not liking Jacobian drama. Mentions restoration comedy. Mentions William Shakespeare, King John and Henry VI. 00:14:49 Discussion about how English Literature is taught in schools. Anecdote about teenagers who came to stay: were reading George Orwell, Animal Farm and John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men. Anecdote about Thomas Hardy poem. Description of English Literature A Level requirements when JC was teaching: 5 novels, 2 plays, 3 hour exam. 00:19:08 Further discussion about ex-pupil who interviewed at Oxford: decided that ‘Literature’ referred to a canon of work and ‘literature’ referred to paperwork. Discussion about experience of reading group in comparison to formal education. Comments that she tries to not make the sessions feel like a classroom. Remarks that there is another ex-teacher in the group who does not mind taking the role of leader. Comments that it is generally informal. Comments that there is more of a requirement to check everyone has contributed in a classroom. Description of the group: chatty. Discussion about language limitations for some reading group members. Comments on Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood: morbid. 00:23:21 Discussion about analytical reading and leisurely reading. Anecdote about granddaughter’s school report. Comments that it comes naturally to JC to read analytically. Remarks that she may read something light after something heavy for contrast. Discussion about emotional engagement with story. Comments that she wanted to be a writer as a child. Mentions Enid Blyton. Comments that studying literature may limit creativity: measure yourself more critically, realistically. Mentions Keith Waterhouse, Billy Liar. Comments that a lot of writing is online now and that publishing has changed dramatically. 00:28:46 Discussion about grandmother’s Agatha Christie collection: in spare bedroom, old green penguin paperbacks. Anecdote about grandfather meeting Virginia Woolf. Comments that grandfather liked Jane Austen and Laurence Sterne, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy. Comments that JC’s mother and father were both avid readers. Comments that mother’s favourite book was Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind. Discussion about books with sentimental value. Mentions George and Weedon Grossmith, The Diary of a Nobody. Description of green Charles Dickens collection: complete set from newspaper in the 1930s, contain mother, auntie’s, grandfather’s names inscripted. Comments that JC won a number of books as prizes in school and kept them. Mentions Cecil Day-Lewis. Remarks that there are so many books in the house which they will need to get rid of if they ever have to go into a residential home. Story about getting rid of a number of books about Literature. Mentions Geoffrey Chaucher, The Nun’s Priest’s Tale. Mentions William Wordsworth. Further discussion about Agatha Christie. Comments that she uses the same devices over and over again. Remarks that JC is very plot-driven. 00:36:07 Discussion about L.P Hartley, The Go-Between. Plot description of The Go-Between: boy of 13 stays in a grand house with a friend who is having a love affair with a local girl, he becomes the messenger for their relationship and is devastated by the eventuality of seeing them together. Further detailed plot description of The Go- Between: the character revisits the local girl much later in life who tries to convince him to reconnect her with her grandson. Story about one of JC’s pupils writing a continuing chapter for the book. Mentions Arthur Miller, The Crucible. Further discussion about symbolism and themes in The Go-Between. Comments that it is a very important book for her. Story about son reading William Golding, Lord of the Flies. 00:45:23 Discussion about story endings. Mentions Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights. Discussion about parallels in books. Description of The Secret Garden: upper-class sickly boy, sturdy peasant lad and the upper-class girl. Brief plot description of Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden, draws parallels with D. H Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights. Quotes the final line of Wuthering Heights. Discussion about first lines of novels [JC quizzes interviewer] Discussion about ending of Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre and Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice. Further discussion on The Go-Between: first read at the same age as the main character, 13. Quotes Margaret Drabble: so much more powerful if you read it at the right age. Mentions Daphne De Maurier, Rebecca. Mentions Jane Eyre. Quotes journalist Jill Tweedie: everyone young teenage girl identifies with Jane Eyre and Rebecca. Mentions Sally Vickers, Miss Garnet’s Angel. Mentions George Du Maurier, Trilby. 00:53:30 Further discussion about The Go-Between and understanding a book at the same age of the main character. Comments that the lead character is naïve. Remarks that she read the book every few months for years before teaching it in the early 1990s, by which time she knew it very well. Mentions reading Evelyn Waugh regularly. Mentions Evelyn Waugh, Handful of Dust. Discussion about re-reading: sometimes you get something new from re-reading but it can also be comfort reading, familiarity. Comments that there are a number of books of which she could quote the next line. Remarks that happiness can often be the first half after the ending of a great misery. 00:57:10 Discussion about childhood reading. Story about being bored by Enid Blyton after a while.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Reading London's Suburbs: from Charles Dickens to Zadie Smith
    Copyrighted material – 978–1–137–34245–4 © Ged Pope 2015 Photographs © Salim Hafejee 2015 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978–1–137–34245–4 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
    [Show full text]
  • The Guardian's 100 Greatest Novels
    The Guardian’s 100 Greatest Novels 1. DON QUIXOTE 6. CLARISSA by Samuel Richardson by Miguel De Cervantes FICTION RIC FICTION CER, OVERDRIVE EBOOK, One of the longest novels in the OVERDRIVE AUDIOBOOK, HOOPLA English language, but EBOOK, HOOPLA AUDIOBOOK unputdownable. The story of the gentle knight and his servant Sancho Panza has 7. TRISTRAM SHANDY entranced readers for centuries. by Laurence Sterne FICTION STE 2. PILGRIM’S PROGRESS One of the first bestsellers, dismissed by John Bunyan by Dr Johnson as too fashionable for HOOPLA AUDIOBOOK its own good. The one with the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair. 8. LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES by Pierre Choderlos De Laclos 3. ROBINSON CRUSOE FICTION LAC by Daniel Defoe An epistolary novel and a handbook Y FICTION DEF, CD AUDIOBOOK, for seducers: foppish, French, and OVERDRIVE AUDIOBOOK ferocious. The first English novel. 9. EMMA by Jane Austen 4. GULLIVER’S TRAVELS FICTION AUS, CD AUDIOBOOK, by Jonathan Swift OVERDRIVE AUDIOBOOK, HOOPLA FICTION SWI, CD AUDIOBOOK, AUDIOBOOK OVERDRIVE AUDIOBOOK, HOOPLA Near impossible choice between this AUDIOBOOK and Pride and Prejudice. But Emma A wonderful satire that still works for never fails to fascinate and annoy. all ages, despite the savagery of Swift's vision. 10. FRANKENSTEIN by Mary Shelley FICTION SHE, CD AUDIOBOOK, 5. TOM JONES by Henry Fielding OVERDRIVE AUDIOBOOK, HOOPLA FICTION FIE AUDIOBOOK The adventures of a high-spirited Inspired by spending too much time orphan boy: an unbeatable plot with Shelley and Byron. and a lot of sex ending in a blissful marriage. 11. NIGHTMARE ABBEY by Thomas Love Peacock A classic miniature: a brilliant satire on the Romantic novel.
    [Show full text]
  • S P E C T R E S O F C L a S
    SPECTRES OF CLASS: REPRESENTING SOCIAL CLASS FROM THE FrENCH REVOLUTION TO THE PrESENT University of Chester, UK • 15 - 16 JUly 2011 CONFERENCE PrOGRAMME, ABSTRACTS, GENERAL INFORMATION SPECTRES OF CLASS: REPRESENTING SOCIAL CLASS FROM THE FrENCH REVOLUTION TO THE PrESENT 15 / 16 July 2011 English Department, Faculty of Humanities, University of Chester Welcome to the Spectres of Class bonuses, royal weddings, and governments conference 2011 organised by members dominated by privileged elites on the one of the English Department at the hand, and mass redundancies, rising energy University of Chester. As you can see bills and in the worst case, catastrophic from the programme, we have two days famine on the other. of broad-ranging, thought-provoking, interdisciplinary talks to look forward to. Explaining the roots of these tensions is an Whilst many of us are experts in a diverse intellectual minefield and also an ideological range of academic fields – such as literary battleground. For instance, Professor Mike studies, linguistics, history, sociology, Savage, who heads up the BBC Great British media studies and social anthropology – Class Survey, points out that the labels what brings us together for this two-day ‘working’, ‘middle’ and ‘upper’ class which event is our shared interest in social class. first appeared in the 19th century as a way of classifying social differences stemming One of our original aims was to make a from Britain’s role in the industrial revolution, modest contribution to bringing social class may not be quite as simplistic today. - as a significant force in the ways human However, these categories are still deeply beings are divided by structural inequalities rooted in the discourse of how we categorise - back onto the academic agenda.
    [Show full text]
  • Rory's List (In Alphabetical Order)
    Rory's List (in alphabetical order) 1984 by George Orwell The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (TBR) The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank Archidamian War by Donald Kagan The Art of Fiction by Henry James The Art of War by Sun Tzu As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner Atonement by Ian McEwan Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy The Awakening by Kate Chopin Babe by Dick King-Smith Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women by Susan Faludi Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie Bel Canto by Ann Patchett The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (TBR) Beloved by Toni Morrison Beowulf: A New Verse Translation by Seamus Heaney The Bhagava Gita The Bielski Brothers: The True Story of Three Men Who Defied the Nazis, Built a Village in the Forest, and Saved 1,200 Jews by Peter Duffy Bitch in Praise of Difficult Women by Elizabeth Wurtzel A Bolt from the Blue and Other Essays by Mary McCarthy Brave New World by Aldous Huxley Brick Lane by Monica Ali Bridgadoon by Alan Jay Lerner Candide by Voltaire The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer Carrie by Stephen King Catch-22 by Joseph Heller The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger Charlotte's Web by E. B. White The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman Christine by Stephen King A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess The Code of the Woosters by P.G.
    [Show full text]
  • Ronald Thomas Calls the Detective Genre a “Diversion from Some Historical Reality”
    At the beginning of Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science (2004), Ronald Thomas calls the detective genre a “diversion from some historical reality”. Thomas situates this idea in the first Sherlock Holmes story, when Holmes announces that he both takes cocaine and created the role of “the detective’ because he ‘abhor[s] the dull routine of existence” (1). This article, however, is tied to that historical reality which Thomas argues the detective escapes, looking to a figure who, though often sidelined in history, is, in fact, emblematic of that “dull routine of existence” that so offends Sherlock Holmes: the lower-middle-class clerk. For the late-Victorian clerk, suffocating in an office increasingly pressured by mechanisation, female competition, and a dwindling status, detective fiction offered an opportunity for exciting and intellectually stimulating escapism. Hence, by the “golden age” of detective fiction, clerical workers were at the centre of a middlebrow readership that had helped to popularise the genre. At the same time, within the detective fiction which they so enjoyed, this same clerk was represented in a negative light, as a reflection of the tensions between the middle classes (the “bourgeoisie” who Walter Benjamin called “obsess[ed] with law and order”) and the lower middle classes (McCaw 20). As a result, the clerk-character was not, for instance, a great Holmesian mastermind, nor even a cunning and celebrated criminal; instead, he was repeatedly depicted as being either a low-level criminal, bereft of ingenuity, or signalled as such in order to provide a “red herring” for the reader.
    [Show full text]
  • Tchaikowsky Brochure TEXT.Indd
    ANDRÉ TCHAIKOWSKY Josef Weinberger Catalogue of Works 12 - 14 Mortimer Street London W1T 3JJ Tel: +44 (0)20 7580 2827 Fax: +44 (0)20 7436 9616 [email protected] www.josef-weinberger.com André Tchaikowsky ANDRÉ TCHAIKOWSKY Catalogue of Works JOSEF WEINBERGER London - Frankfurt am Main - Wien ANDRÉ TCHAIKOWSKY © Sophie Baker Polish-born British composer and pianist André Tchaikowsky (1935-82) was an outstanding musician who led an extraordinary life. Born on 1 November 1935 in Warsaw, named Robert Andrzej Krauthammer, he survived the Warsaw ghetto and the Nazi occupation of Poland, endured years of uncertainly while touring with concerts around the USA and Europe, and finally settled in England in the early 1960s. The complexity of Tchaikowsky’s personality, his wonderful sense of humour, his astonishing literary talent, erudition, memory, dedication to his work, his love for his friends and his outstanding support of them in times of trouble may make him difficult to capture in words: he was a part of the history of the Holocaust and his story of survival is touching and sobering; he was volatile; he had a professional conflict of composer v. pianist; his sexual orientation caused him much self-doubt at various stages of his life; and the list of people he worked with and knew is almost as long as the list of those he offended with his scathing remarks. Tchaikowsky was the protégé of Arthur Rubinstein, student of Stefan Askenase and Nadia Boulanger, and a prize winner of Chopin International Piano Competition in 1955, and Queen Elizabeth International Piano Competition in 1956.
    [Show full text]
  • Canterbury Tales III CD Booklet
    THE George & Weedon Grossmith COMPLETE CLASSICS The Diary UNABRIDGED CLASSIC FICTION of a Nobody Read by Martin Jarvis NA440312D 1 The Diary of a Nobody – Introduction by Mr. Pooter 1:10 2 Chapter 1 3:43 3 April 5th 4:02 4 Chapter 2 April 9th 4:54 5 April 12th 3:55 6 April 15th, Sunday 5:14 7 Chapter 3 April 19th 5:37 8 April 24th 4:48 9 April 28th 3:20 10 Chapter 4 April 30th 4:09 11 May 7th 4:46 12 Before I could think of a reply... 4:10 13 Chapter 5 May 8th 5:32 14 May 12th 4:47 15 June 6th 3:35 16 July 31st 4:16 2 17 Chapter 6 August 4th 4:39 18 August 7th 3:02 19 August 16th 3:52 20 Chapter 7 August 22nd 4:25 21 August 28th 3:30 22 November 1st 4:00 23 Chapter 8 November 5th, Sunday 5:50 24 November 9th 3:25 25 November 13th 3:26 26 Chapter 9 November 15th 4:18 27 At ten o'clock we went down to supper... 3:34 28 Chapter 10 November 16th 4:53 29 November 19th, Sunday 3:07 30 Chapter 11 November 20th 3:02 31 November 23rd 5:51 32 November 25th 3:53 33 In the evening (Sunday evening of all others)... 4:19 34 Chapter 12 December 17th 4:31 35 December 20th 4:08 3 36 Chapter 13 December 24th 4:33 38 December 27th 4:14 38 December 29th 5:33 39 Chapter 14 January 1st 4:12 40 January 4th 3:46 41 January 21st 3:48 42 January 25th 5:02 43 Chapter 15 February 8th 4:08 44 February 11th 4:16 45 Chapter 16 February 18th 4:28 46 For my own part, I was horrified..
    [Show full text]
  • 7Th August a Holiday Quiz in Four Parts: Part 1: the Booker Prize 1
    7th August A holiday quiz in four parts: Part 1: The Booker Prize 1. Who won the first ever Booker prize? Name the author, title and year. 2. Who was the first woman to win the Booker prize in 1970 and what was the title of her novel? 3.The prize was shared by two authors last year but this has happened on two other occasions. Name the years in question and the four authors. 4. What is the longest winning novel in the prizes’ history? 5. What is the Booker Dozen? 6. Who won the special Golden Booker celebrating fifty years of the award and for which work? Answers 1. P H Newby. Something to Answer For . 1970. 2. Bernice Rubens. The Elected Member . 3. 1974. Stanley Middleton and Nadine Gordimer. 1992. Michael Ondaatje and Barry Unsworth. 4. The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. 2013. 5. The longlist comprising thirteen novels. 6. Michael Ondaatje for The English Patient . Part 2: Poetry 1. Name the two poets who edited The Rattle Bag poetry anthology in 1982. 2. Which character in Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood sings of loving Tom, Dick and Harry? 3. Who composed a symphony based on W.H. Auden’s The Age of Anxiety ? 4. Who dreamt about making a hot beverage for Kingsley Amis and what was the beverage? 5. Uccello’s painting Saint George and the Dragon (National Gallery) is the subject of which amusing poem by U.A. Fanthorpe? 6. In which two poems did John Betjeman refer to Highgate mansion flats? Name the poems and the flats.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vitae
    Kate Flint: CV October 2018 KATE FLINT Provost Professor of Art History and English University of Southern California Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts & Sciences Department of Art History THH 355 3501 Trousdale Parkway University Park Campus Los Angeles, California 90089-0351 [email protected] Education D.Phil. University of Oxford, 1985: “The English Critical Reception of Contemporary Painting, 1875-1910” (supervisors: Christopher Butler and Francis Haskell) M.A. History of European Art: Courtauld Institute, University of London, 1977: “Italian Art and Social Realism, 1860-1910” (supervisor Alan Bowness) B.A. English Language and Literature: University of Oxford, 1976 Academic Employment Regular Appointments July 2011 - Provost Professor of Art History and English, University of Southern California 2006 - June 2011 Professor II [now renamed Distinguished Professor], Department of English, Rutgers University 2001- 2006 Professor, Department of English, Rutgers University 1996-2001 Reader in Victorian and Modern English Literature, University of Oxford, and Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford 1992-1996 University Lecturer in Victorian and Modern English Literature, University of Oxford, and Fellow of Linacre College, Oxford. 1985-1992 Fellow and Tutor in English, Mansfield College, Oxford 1980-1985 Lecturer, Department of English, University of Bristol Honors, Grants, Prizes 2018 Faculty Fellow, USC Society of Fellows (2018-20) 1 Phi Kappa Phi award, University of Southern California, for Flash! Photography, Writing, and Surprising
    [Show full text]
  • Literary Road Map of Islington
    Literary Road Map of Islington North Islington Aaronovitch, Ben (1964-) Whispers Under Ground (2012). The third Rivers of London novel is set in Tufnell Park. [CT] Baird, Nicola Coconut Wireless (2010) and other titles. The journalist and author of the Islington Faces blog lives in north Islington. [F, NF] Blackman, Andrew (1965-) On the Holloway Road (2009). Inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, the novel is set over one windy night on Holloway Road. [F] Brellend, Kay The Street (2011) and other titles. Books set in Campbell Road known locally as Campbell Bunk (now Whadcoat Street). [F] Busby, Sian (1960-2012) A Commonplace Killing (2012). The novel was set around Holloway Road, Seven Sisters Road and Caledonian Road. [F] Clee, Nicholas Don't sweat the Aubergine (2005). The writer and journalist lives in Plimsoll Road with his wife Nicolette Jones. [F, NF] Craig, Joe (1981-) Jimmy Coates series (2013). Children’s author lives in Tufnell Park. [CYA] Davies, Caitlin (1964-) Bad Girls: A History of Rebels and Renegades (2018). Davies lives in Holloway and has written about Holloway Prison. [NF, AB] Dickens, Charles (1812-1870) Bleak House (1853), Our Mutual Friend (1864/5) and other titles. In Bleak House Inspector Bucket first picked up the trail of Honoria, Lady Dedlock “at the Archway Toll over at Highgate”. Reginald Wilfer’s “home was in the Holloway region north of London, and then divided from it by fields and trees.” in Our Mutual Friend. [F] Dunant, Sarah (1950-) Fatlands (1993). Author lived in Highwood Road. [CT, F] Fiegel, Eddi John Barry - A Sixties Theme (2012).
    [Show full text]
  • 'A Mere Clerk': Representing the Urban Lower-Middle-Class
    ‘A MERE CLERK’: REPRESENTING THE URBAN LOWER-MIDDLE-CLASS MAN IN BRITISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE: 1837-1910. DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Scott Douglass Banville, M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2005 Approved by Dissertation Committee: Professor David G. Riede, Adviser Adviser Professor Clare Simmons English Graduate Program Professor Amanpal Garcha ABSTRACT My dissertation explores the various ways in which the lower middle class is represented in the Victorian period. Drawing on literary texts by Charles Dickens, Anthony Trollope, and George Gissing and non-literary texts appearing in periodicals, comic newspapers, and music-hall songs I show how the lower middle class consisting of those members of British society working variously as Civil Service, commercial, and retail clerks, school teachers, and living in the suburbs of London and other large cities is represented as dangerous, laughable, and pitiable. Through readings of self-improvement books by Samuel Smiles, conduct and instruction manuals, and didactic literature I show how middle-class anxieties about its own position vis-à-vis the aristocracy and the working class drive middle-class elites and its representatives to represent the lower middle class as dangerous and thus in need of containment and surveillance. One of the constant fears of the middle class is that the lower middle class will develop a cultural and economic identity of its own and as a result will over shadow the middle class. Often times this middle-class anxiety is cloaked in moral concern.
    [Show full text]
  • Reader's Block
    The impact of reader’s block on reading groups A study submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Librarianship at THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD by ANH-HONG NGUYEN September 2009 Abstract Background The concept of reader’s block reflects the cultural anxiety which surrounds our choice of reading material. Reader’s block describes the difficulties that are encountered in reading a critically-acclaimed or canonical work and the pressure to persevere with them, despite the fact that little enjoyment is being gained in reading these books. Tied into this is also the issue of choice which faces readers in selecting books from the ever-increasing number of published books. Consequently, readers are in need of more guidance than ever and book prizes, book lists and literary canons provide this direction for readers. Aims The aim of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of reader’s block, its prevalence amongst members of reading groups and any strategies which may be adopted to combat reader’s block. In addition to this, the study also explored whether reader’s block affected their reading habits and attitudes towards reading. Methods This study took a qualitative approach and the two methods of primary data collection utilised were semi-structured interviews and focus groups. The semi- structured interviews were carried out with four members of library staff in Sheffield public libraries who were involved with organising or running reading groups in public libraries. The focus groups were conducted with four reading groups; three of which were based in a Sheffield public library and one was a workplace-based reading group (who also acted as the pilot group).
    [Show full text]