Bessie Tulliver's Lament

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tenchboy
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Bessie Tulliver's Lament

Post by tenchboy » Mon Nov 25, 2019 8:59 pm

a.k.a. T'Mill On't Floss.

I take back what I said; that was worth reading: it says as much about our modern times as it does of the times in which it is set. Of the dullard Tom, and those like him, being sent to school and his wasted education and his gaining a position through family connections despite his lack of imagination; and the wonderful Maggie, bright perceptive, intelligent; self taught, always eager to learn more, determined to have a life of her own despite the lack of any help from the family unless it involves marrying rich and spending her days with embroidery and musical afternoons and being so helpless and delicate as to need help to do anything more than walk across the room: like the cousin Lucy. Or being condemned to go and stay with those dreaded aunts as a live in companion and a life of accumulating best china and best lace that is kept stored in the cupboard and never used so as not to be thought ill of by the others who do the same.

I think my initial dislike arose out of my not knowing what to expect and, having no-one to lead me; and expecting something else, something which, incidentally, it later became. For the later sections are written from a different perspective, they're more reflective and philosophical, more observational, which is what I was expecting from the start; for the start is written more from a child's perspective as they find their way in the world - major truths blurted from the mouths of babes! I had noticed this a few times but didn't pick up on it as a theme; and the aunts again: ridiculed to the point of comedy to highlight the absurdity of their position. If they really thought so much of the good family name, why didn't they use their money to help Maggie's father instead of keeping it so as to be able to leave a perfectly proportioned Last Will & Testament containing more, not less, than was expected? Everything revolves around their perceived respectability and goodness, what will people think? After all they are no longer manual workers now they have husbands who have that coveted 'position' however lowly that position may be. They may not yet be reading the Daily Mail - only the Express for now - but by 'eck they're working on it!

A model of our times.

And in the end, following a not unenjoyable victorian romance, poor Magsie is done for, cast out by that same respectability: like Thomas Hardy, George Elliot sets her up to say, "Look! This is the result of your ridiculous, so called, morality! This is what it does to people! These are the results!"

So I'd say, yes, read it, stick with it, enjoy it: you may be more used to such different styles than I was and may not read it, initially, quite so quizzically for the thread becomes a tapestry and a picture emerges. I'm off to read the others and then I'll read this again; but maybe not the Everyamn edition ediped by Beryl Gray which, as mentioned elsewhere, is packed full of howling typos.

Happy Days
TB
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GeenDienst
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Re: Bessie Tulliver's Lament

Post by GeenDienst » Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:14 am

Is there much shagging in it?
Just tell 'em I'm broke and don't come round here no more.

noggins
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Re: Bessie Tulliver's Lament

Post by noggins » Tue Nov 26, 2019 11:51 am

Damn you.

What else am I wrong about?

I've got plenty of unread books to read, now do I have to reread the read ones as well ?

Question how does the ending hold up? I read it when young and it seemed a bit Spoiler:

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