Have just had a completely fantastic idea for a novel...

[nineveh_uk]

Alas, because I am not sure that I am willing to write it as complete tosh*, can anyone (Chalet readers out there?) recommend any non-fiction works on real British girls' boarding schools on the continent in the inter-war period?

*I may have to reconsider this, if it proves the only way it can work, but at first thought, I think it might also have a chance of Karen Blixen not-too-precise reality.**

**I adore Karen Blixen's stories. Alas, that I can only ever play on my own the game "tell how a famous story would work if it had been written by Karen Blixen". E.g. Hamlet, which ends:

'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."

The black-clad man gazed out over Øresund to the lights of Helsingborg, dancing like white-clad maidens over the water.

'Ah,' he said, 'but Hamlet, you have not my dreams.'

Comments

[dolorous-ett.livejournal.com]

Hooray for a new novel idea! I hope it goes well.

(sadly, I know nothing of girls' school stories, so I can't do much more than encourage you onwards.)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I am particularly happy that it really requires very little research and is potentially publishable (if it worked), as opposed to e.g. requiring me to find out about domestic life in Norway in WWII and not having a cat in hell's chance of getting it onto the shelf in Waterstone's.

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

I don't know if there is such a non-fiction work. I only know of Gillian Avery's "The best type of girl" on girls' independent schools and don't recall anything in it about schools abroad, though it's a long time since I read it.

I'll ask the book people who are visiting me tomorrow. Someone might know.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I may have to read the Avery anyway, so thanks for that. Also, if you know of anything on Girl Guides in the period... And, indeed Swiss sanatoria.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

Gosh, how wonderful to have an idea for a novel! If you want any cheerleading done, I have my pom=poms ready :-)

And I don't see why it has to be tosh, even if it's not scrupulously historically accuarate. Hailsham in Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go is a mix of every-boarding-school-book-you've-ever-read-(except-Harry-Potter) and stuff he completely made up, and it's the opposite of tosh.

'Ah,' he said, 'but Hamlet, you have not my dreams.'


ROTFL! I've never read any Blixen, but I found this immensely amusing. What a put-down! This is certainly a man who could come up with that line about flights of angels singing thee to thy rest.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I have lots of ideas for novels - alas, most of them are rather impractical, which is why it is nice that this one is both writable, and I can actually envisage other people reading it. Thank you for the cheering; no doubt once I have a moment to get started (and I will. Honest, I will) I shall call for cheering when despondent. I'll have a look at the Ishiguro book to see how he does it.

I love Blixen, but she does always end with a "profound" line, sometimes in a language I don't read very well. And if you haven't seen the film of "Babette's Feast" you must order the video RIGHT NOW.

[azdak.livejournal.com]

I haven't ever seen Babette's Feast, and I didn't realise it was based on a book by Blixen. Next time I'm putting in an amazon order, I shall remember this rec.

Never Let Me Go is a really good book, quite aside from the extensive boarding school sequences. Lots to chew over, and plenty to argue about.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

BF is magnificent (though make sure you get the subtitled rather than the dubbed version). Also, we watched in my Danish class the week before Christmas, with subtitles only in Danish. At one point my neighbour turned to me and asked despairingly what on earth the Swedish-speaking character was saying, to which I was able to respond, "righteousness and peace shall kiss one another, for today we have learned, dear brothers and sisters...". I confessed afterwards that I seemed to have memorised the subtitles in previous viewings.