Sunday, May 6, 2012

New Title: The Bending of a Twig / Desmond Coke (Author); Craig Paterson (General Editor)


The Bending of a Twig
Desmond Coke (Author)                                                         
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Desmond Coke's, The Bending of a Twig, first published in 1906, is intended as a parody of the traditional school story. It tells of the experiences of its hero, Lycidas Marsh, at Shrewsbury School and is based on memories of Coke's own school days there. Coke pokes fun at other school stories such as Eric, Tom Brown, The Hill, and St. Dominic's by preparing his protagonist for public school life through reading and absorbing the contents of these stories! This approach is adopted because Lycidas March's father is not himself a public school man. Needless to say, the preparation is not a success, and only when Lycidas abandon ways of behaving according to these stories, does he really start to fit in at Shrewsbury.

"In School life at any rate, the Rule of Force and the Survival of the Fittest are no mere barren catch-words of philosophy."

Desmond Francis Talbot Coke (1879-1931) was a writer of stories for boys who was educated at Shrewsbury School and University College, Oxford. War injuries meant that he was invalided out of active service in 1917 and at the invitation of Lex Devine, the founder of Clayesmore School, joined the staff at his school, which was, by then, located in Iwerne Minster House, Dorset. Among his pupils at the school was Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979), destined to become a well-known book illustrator, who eagerly sought his teacher's opinions on art and the approval of his early work. Desmond Coke wrote under his own name and also used the pseudonym of Belinda Blinders. 

Viewforth Classics Series. Craig Paterson, PhD, General Editor.

LCCN: 2012938540 -- ISBN/EAN13: 1477410821 / 9781477410820  -- Page Count: 178 -- Binding Type: US Trade Paper -- Trim Size: 6" x 9" -- Language: English -- Color: Black and White -- Related Categories: School Fiction / Schoolboys -- England / English Public Schools -- Fiction.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

New Title: Belchamber / Howard Overing Sturgis (Author); Craig Paterson (General Editor)


Belchamber
Howard Overing Sturgis (Author)                                            Buy@Createspace    Buy@Amazon 
In this highly readable and underrated novel, Howard Sturgis, with gifted penmanship, portrays a rich and vibrant account of self-indulgent aristocratic life in England at the beginning of the 20th century. The main arch of the story traces the career of a young man-"Sainty"-Edwin William Augustus Chambers, Marquis and Earl of Belchamber-who is brought up in the midst of great luxury and privilege. Sainty is both "lame" in the leg due to a youthful riding accident and decidedly "scholarly" in his pursuits. Sainty is Sturgis's portrait of a sexually ambivalent (implicitly homosexual) young aristocrat who is pressured (for the sake of the family line and doing what is expected) into a loveless marriage with a woman who, like his mother, is also domineering and dismissive of his real interests and sensibilities. 

Originally published in 1904, Sturgis's novel has been enjoying a positive contemporary reappraisal by such authors as Edmund White and Alan Hollinghurst, both siding with E. M. Forster in his decades earlier phrase for the literary quality of the novel.

"Belchamber deserves to take its places as a true,  if minor, classic, for it is a work of imagination, deeply felt, truly observed, and achieved with a  sense of style and architecture."-Gerard Hopkins. 

Howard Overing Sturgis (1855-1920) was born in England to wealthy American expatriates. He attended Eton before going up to Cambridge. He became friends with Henry James, E. M. Forster, A. C. Benson, and Edith Wharton. After the death of his parents, inheriting a sizeable fortune, he bought a house in the country which he named Queen's Acre or Qu'acre. "Howdie" (as Sturgis was known) and his much-younger lover William Haynes-Smith (who he called "the Babe") entertained a wide circle of friends, including bohemian young Etonians, aristocrats and notable literary figures. Sturgis was a popular society host known for his biting wit and talent for mimicry. He was the author of two other novels published before Belchamber-Tim: A Story of School Life (1891), and All That Was Possible (1895).

LCCN: 2012938540 -- ISBN/EAN13: 1475215290 / 978-1475215298  -- Page Count: 240 -- Binding Type: US Trade Paper -- Trim Size: 6" x 9" -- Language: English -- Color: Black and White -- Related Categories: Gay / Fiction -- Edwardian Fiction -- Early 20th Century.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Viewforth Press: The Worst House at Sherborough. Desmond Coke (Author)


The Worst House at Sherborough: 
An English Public School Story
Desmond Coke (Author)                                               Buy@Createspace    Buy@Amazon 
Desmond Coke's "The Worst House at Sherborough," is a good example of the English public school genre story. First published in book form in 1913, the year before the outbreak of the Great War. The main arch of the story concerns the various attempts made by Dick Hunter to improve the lackluster performance of Wilson's House. Owing to a reversal of family fortunes, Dick Hunter is faced with the alternative of leaving Sherborough or taking up the post of Head Boy in Wilson's House, usually known as "Weary Willie's" on account of its general slackness. To Hunter, a keen athlete, Captain of the Boats, and hitherto the most popular boy in School House, the idea of helping Wilson's "pull up its socks" is scarcely less repugnant than leaving the school altogether. However, Dick makes up his mind to go through with it. The "Willieites" have no desire to excel at games or anything else. Dick valiantly hammers away at this unpromising material for a long time without result; but at last he succeeds in cultivating enough enthusiasm among the younger boys, which in time leads to sporting glory for Wilson's.

Desmond Francis Talbot Coke (1879-1931) was a writer of stories for boys who was educated at Shrewsbury School and University College, Oxford. In addition to his interest in writing, Desmond Coke also became a notable collector. War injuries meant that he was invalided out of active service in 1917 and at the invitation of Lex Devine, the founder of Clayesmore School, joined the staff at his school, which was, by then, located in Iwerne Minster House, Dorset. Among his pupils at the school was Edward Ardizzone (1900-1979), destined to become a well-known book illustrator, who eagerly sought his teacher's opinions on art and the approval of his early work. Desmond Coke wrote under his own name and also used the pseudonym of Belinda Blinders.

Viewforth Classics Series. Craig Paterson, PhD, General Editor.

LCCN: 2012936623 -- ISBN/EAN13: 1475123442 / 978-1475123449 -- Page Count: 174 -- Binding Type: US Trade Paper -- Trim Size: 6" x 9" -- Language: English -- Color: Black and White -- Related Categories: Public School Fiction / English School Fiction / Boarding Schools.

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.