Anne of Somewhere or Other

[nineveh_uk]

I picked up a couple of later Anne books at a secondhand bookstall. Re-reading Anne of Ingleside confirmed, alas, that I don’t like it very much. Anne herself doesn’t do much except float around being the perfect mother (with occasional jealousy) wearing nice clothes, and I am entirely uninterested in her children. Can’t we at least hear what she does occasionally beyond gloat over babies and teach her children the wonders of the universe*. Is she organising Gilbert’s practice (someone must be, and he seems to spend all his time out slaving over midnight bedsides), doing household management beyond sewing, or ever writing anything at all? I found myself wishing that she had a gardening column a women’s magazine. I am also irritated by the narrative snobbery, which strikes me as particularly ironic given that Anne herself was an orphan and child nurserymaid who if she had been a boy and thus been required to work would no doubt these days be someone her children are not encouraged to associate with. It strikes me as a bit like the later Abbey Girls books, written far too much later in order to provide cash or completeness, and as a slot-in there is no room for significant things to really happen. I suppose I ought to get round to reading Rilla of Ingleside one day.

Anne’s House of Dreams, on the other hand, I do like, though I had not noticed** before how long they spend having dinner with other people, including one they’ve only just met, the evening of the day they get married and arrive at the house. And it’s not even Anne or Gilbert who invites Captain Jim to stay for supper! I have visions of Gilbert sitting there by the fire after dinner grinding his teeth and wishing everyone would just go.

The Guardian is not entirely positive about Peaky Blinders, post-WWI Birmingham set drama on BBC2 tonight. They are sceptical about the accent, which was my first worry. Still, I shall give it a go. You don’t get many TV dramas set in Small Heath.

*Now I want a Blue Castle/Brian Cox crossover. Also, anyone who wasn’t seen Horrible Histories’ Wonders of the Ancient Egyptian/Greek/Anglo-Saxon Universe has a treat in store on YouTube.

**I suspect I skipped the relevant chapters. I do tend to skip Montgomery's Person X Reminisces sections.

Comments

[tree_and_leaf]

I can never remember anything about "Anne of Ingleside", possibly for those reasons. On the other hand, I find "Rainbow Valley" entertaining, and "Rilla of Ingleside" is fascinating as a portrait of Canada in WWI (also, while I find Rilla very annoying as a child, she improves a lot as she grows up).

[antisoppist]

I think of Rilla every time I have to walk down the road carrying a cake (which happens surprisingly often) but it's the lisping that puts me off.

The one I hated as a child but found much improved as an adult was Windy Willows. I still have to skip all the whimsical faery stuff but all the appalling manipulative family relationships and old ladies being absolute bitches is fascinating. And I love Katherine Brooke determinedly refusing to be won over by Anne's bloody charm. I like Anne of the Island too, where they are all being students in a little house and wandering about in the graveyard.

[tree_and_leaf]

I think it may have mostly been the lisping, come to think of it.

Anne of the Island is virtually my favourite. I must reread "Windy Willows", though. I think I might find certain resonances with my current line of work.

[nineveh_uk]

I cannot stand cute lithping in books. Whoever first came up with it has a lot to answer for.

Ed. Also, I hope you are not disliked by an influential local family who wanted your job for one of their own.

[tree_and_leaf]

No. But there's a certain amount of coming into a somewhat inward-looking community and sensing that there's a lot going on that you're not quite getting because you don't know the backstory to the various feuds...

[nineveh_uk]

I've definitely read the Cake Scene - that must be Rainbow Valley.

I like Anne of the Island a lot. I find the Pringles plot in Windy Willows irritating, but am completely with you on Katherine Brooke. I have just found a fic on AO3 in which she doesn’t become a secretary, but that’s her cover story for being a male impersonator in a travelling show.

[antisoppist]

I have just found a fic on AO3
Ah. Mmm. Yes. Indeed. Quite.

[nineveh_uk]

At the point I read that I had not read the COMPLETELY INCORRECT author's note at the bottom of it...

[antisoppist]

That is spectacularly incorrect. I've read other stuff by the same author and now assume author's notes can be ignored as they will mostly be explaining in detail aspects of Britain in the 20th century that I do not need explaining.

[nineveh_uk]

Oh good Lord, 17 footnotes!

[antisoppist]

There are contexts in which it is not that essential to cite your sources. And there is not enough Dora Carrington in her Lytton Strachey (not a role model to emulate, younger me decided).

[nineveh_uk]

It may not be intended as such, but that kind of detail reads to me as showing off. The reader who cares deeply will either already know, or ask. It strikes me as footnoting every quote in a Wimseyfic in order to show how many you got in.

I keep meaning to watch that Carrington film and forgetting.

[antisoppist]

I think sometimes it is showing off and sometimes it is wild enthusiasm to share all the exciting new things they have discovered (without realising that they may not be as earth-shattering discoveries to everyone else) and sometimes it is someone who has been at university too long. But it often strikes me as insulting your readers' intelligence, like the footnoting quotes thing.

I read the Strachey biography instead.

[nineveh_uk]

Ascribing it to wild enthuasiasm sounds entirely plausible - and is less mean! But it does tend to come across as patronising.

I admit I’m footnoting something in the current WIP, but only because it’s funny.