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.