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Post by yankee on Oct 18, 2019 17:48:28 GMT
I happened to see on Wiki that on this date 168 years ago Moby Dick was first published - and on your shores. 
Apparently it didn't turn up here in the states until a month or so later.
It was very interesting to see that the versions on offer on either side of the pond were quite different in content at that time.
It was also interesting to learn that American critics of the novel said that, after reading it, they were puzzled about some of the harsh comments made by their British colleagues about an improper ending to the story - not realizing at the time that each was reading a different version of the book - one with an epilogue and one without!
Of course it went on to become one of those must read books in school and led to a number of films and television adaptations and became a common metaphor for obsession. |
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Post by Delia on Oct 20, 2019 19:37:06 GMT
I remember enjoying it about 50 years ago, but finding it over long. A good tale, though.
Didn't know that about the different versions.
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Post by beverley61 on Nov 12, 2019 12:35:42 GMT
I happened to see on Wiki that on this date 168 years ago Moby Dick was first published - and on your shores.
Apparently it didn't turn up here in the states until a month or so later.
It was very interesting to see that the versions on offer on either side of the pond were quite different in content at that time.
It was also interesting to learn that American critics of the novel said that, after reading it, they were puzzled about some of the harsh comments made by their British colleagues about an improper ending to the story - not realizing at the time that each was reading a different version of the book - one with an epilogue and one without!
Of course it went on to become one of those must read books in school and led to a number of films and television adaptations and became a common metaphor for obsession. I don't think it ever become a must read book in school over here. Perhaps some did it at A Level. I have read it but found it overlong as is Robinson Crusoe who is a much nastier person than any film or TV adaptation has ever made him. I think there have often been different editions and endings of books here and over there. Tristram Shandy I think, was a case in point. Mainly because the punishment meted out by the Captain was actually illegal at that time and couldn't have happened and if it had he would have been court martialled. Captains did not have the right to administer capital punishment and could only administer punishment for petty crimes (punishments were pretty tough though, as they were on land), anything more than a petty crime required a court case on land, and a Captain had to hold the prisoner until that time. I think the publisher's here added a footnote informing people that the author had simply made it up or failed to check UK Law. It was, I think very popular in the US, obviously with the footnote removed in most editions. More recently that footnote has disappeared here too, but then it was never a very popular book here and I think would most likely be something studied at Uni where no doubt the whole thing would cover the actual rather than the fictional scenario. A bit like that recent book where the author wrote about the number of people being executed in the UK and had not understood that the sentence handed out did not mean capital punishment it meant capital punishment would not be considered in this case!!! Almighty cock up to say the least. |
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Post by yankee on Nov 12, 2019 13:21:26 GMT
Another example of what you say might be Uncle Tom's Cabin which I believe was very popular and had mass distribution in the UK but initially only very limited release in the US because it was written pre-civil war and of course the subject matter would be seen as radical in half the country at the time.
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Post by beverley61 on Nov 13, 2019 13:02:51 GMT
True and as above Uncle Tom's Cabin is hardly ever read nowadays and none of the Tom Sawyer books have ever been on the school curriculum over here. In fact American Literature is rarely studied outside of A Level and degree level English. You may get a Steinbeck at GCSE but it's not on every syllabus. Mind you that's probably a bonus.
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Post by yankee on Nov 13, 2019 15:45:33 GMT
While admittedly not a fully stocked cupboard...there are a few worth a look-see..  Hemingway, Faulkner, Vonnegut, Poe, Mailer, Dickinson, Capote, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kerouac. |
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Post by beverley61 on Nov 13, 2019 16:47:28 GMT
Oh I know, it's just that they are not often read in English schools.
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Hemingway, Faulkner, Vonnegut, Poe, Mailer, Dickinson, Capote, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Kerouac. 
Anymore to come?
