[GO] BD:Violets: Drains and sanitation
Barbara Dryden wrote: The conflict between a middle/upper class link between fresh air and health and the lower orders' belief that night air will kill you seems eternal. In Elizabeth von Arnim's books (the German ones) there is a lot about the stupid peasants sealing themselves into their houses and sewing their children into their clothes while Elizabeth believes the children would be healthier if they got some fresh air. Not only class but geograpical/climatical differences. When you live in a cold climate you can't sleep with open windows for most part of the year - you need to keep the rooms warm. Even upper classes in Sweden in earlier days - mostly living in wooden houses - had double glazing inserted in the autumn and the whole windows sealed up for the winter. The rooms were aired for spring cleaning. I'm not sure about the winter temperatures in the Alpes, but I guess that that open dormitory windows might not have been advisable in practice other than for short periods each day. Sleeping in very cold air is not very healthy, not even if you don't suffer from asthma or similar troubles. I haven't read von Arnim, but I have a feeling that neither she nor EBD had much understanding of the traditional ways of Continental - or even British - peasants to adapt to climate and living conditions. I've never heard about children being sewed into their clothes in Sweden, but poor people didn't have many changes a hundred years ago. Eva Margareta, waiting for the approaching winter and hoping we won't get any temperatures below -10 this season. -- Girlsown mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] For self-administration and access to archives see http://home.it.net.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/girlsown For FAQs see http://www.club-web.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/girlsown/faq-0.htm
[GO] BD Sweet Violets
Sally Dore wrote: What strikes me reading Eva's notes on DFB, and contrasting them with the other authors so far mentioned, Haverfield and LMM particularly as well as some of the various American ones covered by Christine, is that DFB uses illness in many of the *plot-progressing* ways outlined by Dorian, but unlike the others, she seems not to use illnesses in the other way of varying the emotional tone, tugging heart-strings, as the others do. There are no bedside crises. The character building is more on the side of the characters who must take on responsibility because of somebody else's absence - not only illness or accidents - like Daphne gaining a new confidence in herself. Or, showing up as incompetent for responsibility. DFB is more interested than EBD in the building of plots based on the interaction of leadership and friendship inside the school community and illness is only one of the devices she uses for creating such situations. Peggy's situation in New House Captain is similar to that of Daphne even if Diana is physically well and present. If EBD etc have *more* illness in their books than real-life would have indicated at the time, surely DFB has *less* than would be representative of the times. And she doesn't even seem to use them as a way of illustrating character, indicating stoicism etc. Why? I have no real theory why. Her mother was an invalid for many years, so she had experience of illness, but perhaps she thought she had enough of if in RL? DFB seems to have used different aspects of illness and accidents when they suited her plots. The epidemic is an important plot device in New House Captain. Being somewhat delicate is part of the characterisation of Nicola Carter, which is used again as an important plot device in Captain Anne. But she's doing her best to ignore her delicacy. (I must confess this method suits me better, who grew up as a badly delicate child and never liked reading much about illness g) As I suggested, DFB is less Victorian than EBD in many aspects, though EBD shows rather modern attitudes in some politic issues. But I think the idfference is mainly due to DFB's basic interest in the interaction of characters and plot. Eva Margareta (suffering from an ordinary banal cold) -- Girlsown mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] For self-administration and access to archives see http://home.it.net.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/girlsown For FAQs see http://www.club-web.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/girlsown/faq-0.htm
[GO] DF Bruce
Avital wrote: I've just read my first Dorita Fairlie Bruce book, The Girls of St Bride's. I loved the book, but think the girls sound pretty awful on the whole, only liking people if they have done anything for the school. And as for the sneaking, if the other girls' lives were at risk then Winifred/Cynthia should have been thanked. I like Morag and Christine though, hope they don't become too St Bride-ish later on. I'm not sure whether you'll be disappointed when you read the next book, Nancy at St. Bride´s, Avital. The St. Bride's/Nancy series is rather complex; only three of the books are set at St. Bride's - with several years between them - and the rest in Maudsley Grammar School, a day school in south England, and the last one in Scotland during the War. The Girls of St. Bride's was evidently not intended as part of a series, as the idea of a series from the same school was more or less founded by DFB, with the Dimsie books, and EJO by this time. Girls of St. Bride's plays the same part as a 'prequel' to a series as Girls of the Hamlet Club. Nancy at St. Bride's is a retrospective book about Nancy's first term at St. Bride's, before she gets to Maudsley. It takes place several years after GOSB, when Christine is a prefect; Morag has left school but appears briefly in this book. Nancy Goes Back is set several years later again, when Nancy returns for a last year and meets some of her contemporaries from her first sejour. I'm not sure if Christine in the second book turns into what you call 'St. Bride-ish' GOSB is very much about how Morag, Cynthia and the juniors fights against what must be the tendencies you dislike in the other seniors - some of them are not intended to be very nice -. Don't you even like Christine's set among the juniors? I'm not wholly sure I undersand exactly what you mean by 'St. Bride-ish'; being too obsessed about what you can do for the school is very common in school stories, for good or bad. Girls of St. Bride's is one of my favourite DFBs, both for the setting and atmosphere and the skilfull handling on the plot. Inchmore is in this book said to be in the Outer Hebrides, but it's seen from the two later books that it's really Great Cumbrae in the Firth of Clyde - which is sometimes counted among the Inner Hebrides - opposite Largs, which, as 'Redchurch' and 'Colmskirk', is the centre of DFB land in Scotland. Eva Margareta DFB Website: http://home.swipnet.se/flickbok/bruce.html I'm afraid I haven't had time to finish the short summaries I was rash enough to promise long agog> In reading order: The Girls of St. Bride's Nancy at St. Bride's That Boarding School Girl (Maudsley) The New Girl and Nancy (Maudsley) Nancy to the Rescue (Maudsley) The Best Bat In the School (Maudsley) Nancy in the Sixth (Maudsley) Nancy Returns to St. Bride's (Maudsley) Nancy Calls the Tune -- Girlsown mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] For self-administration and access to archives see http://home.it.net.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/girlsown For FAQs see http://www.club-web.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/girlsown/faq-0.htm
[GO] Re: GO Sunday School prizes
I don't remember who asked about religious book outside the US, but Debra wrote Are Sunday School prize books still widely given? The church we went to in England didn't have Sunday School as such, just family services with a creche for very small children, and I think this was the case with other local churches too. Religious and moralistic stories for children were published in Sweden in the 20th C, mainly by publishers associated with independent churches, and I believe some of them are still published. I have a few of them, including Salvation Army annuals - collecting more or less all Swedish children's books pre-1960 - They are evidently less heavy than the American Victorian. Many Victorian/early 20th C religious tracts were translated, but not Elsie. The Church of Sweden Sunday school magazines in the 1950s had quite nice moralistic stories, though I unfortunately gave away all my childhood magazines a few years later - keeping all the books - They were probably very mild in their kind, not different from those in the girls' annuals. We didn't get books for Sunday School prizes, only one page of a story to glue into a little book each week, or just pictures. I still have those; one is about two Indian children coming to a missionary hospital, the girl going to train as a nurse. They also met an - obviously Swedish - engineer working with the project of drilling wells in villages. Our teacher in the early school used to read from Arthur Marshall's collections of moralistic 'sunshine' stories, and I loved them, found one of them in a charity shop this year. Eva Margareta, who hasn't really time for writing this, having been asked to work today when I intended staying home to finish my Sweet Violet paper, so, please, don't expect too much from me tomorrow. I'll have to finish and post it from work tomorrow, in an interval between catalogueing new books and lending others to students;-) -- Girlsown mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] For self-administration and access to archives see http://home.it.net.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/girlsown For FAQs see http://www.club-web.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/girlsown/faq-0.htm
