Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Viewforth Press: Gerard Eversley's Friendship: A Study in Real Life J. E. C. Welldon


Gerard Eversley's Friendship: A Study in Real Life
J. E. C. Welldon (Author)                                             Buy@Createspace    Buy@Amazon 
The theme of devoted friendship between two English public schoolboys--the aristocratic and glamorous blood Harry Venniker and the unprepossessing and rather pious scholar Gerald Eversley--is celebrated in the Rev. J.E.C. Welldon's public school genre novel--Gerard Eversley's Friendship--first published in 1895. Although set in the fictitious school of St. Anselm's, the novel is actually based on Harrow School, where Welldon held the position of Headmaster from 1885-1898. Although not as well written as E.F. Benson's later public school novel David Blaize, (Welldon is prone to over sentimentalize situations and dialogue) it is nevertheless still a rather enjoyable and amusing read, focused, as it is, on the world of idealized male relationships between two boys drawn from different social backgrounds whose lives become inseparably intertwined during the course of unfolding events.

James Edward Cowell Welldon (1854-1937) was an English clergyman, public school headmaster, Anglican bishop, and scholar. He was the author and translator of a number of classical and theological works. As Headmaster of Harrow School, Welldon was known to the boys as "the Porker"--no doubt uncharitably--on account of his substantial frame and somewhat 'porcus'-like facial appearance. Welldon never married. For nearly fifty years he maintained a close companionship with his devoted manservant, Edward Hudson Perkins, whose death in 1932 was a severe emotional blow to him. He died at the age of 83.
 
Notes on the original text by Craig Paterson, PhD. General Editor, Viewforth Classics Series.

LCCN: 2011939939 -- ISBN/EAN13: 1466381744 / 9781466381742 -- Page Count: 210 -- Binding Type: US Trade Paper -- Trim Size: 6" x 9" -- Language: English -- Color: Black and White -- Related Categories: Fiction / English Public Schools / Coming of Age.

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