When I am bored out of my wits in the office-there are many such occasions-I try to read book. The Project Gutenberg is a wonderful place to browse through. They have, for example, almost the entire collection of Angela Brazil. She wrote schoolgirl books which were as bad as Elinor Brent-Dyer's books. Enid Blyton's Malory Towers and St. Claire's were way superior to the tripe that these two turned out.
However, Project Gutenberg collection is huge and difficult to browse in entirety. There is a wonderful blog called Redeeming Qualities that I read to get pointers about which books might be worth reading. It is thanks to this blog that I have read the delightful Patricia Brent-Spinster and Melting of Molly and other lovely books-books that make you laugh and feel wonderful and sunshiny (Not the blazing heat of May but the gentle sunshine of February).
Today while I was waiting for my student to edit her paper I decided to read Patty Fairfield books by Carolyn Wells. There are 17 books in this series and I started with the first one- Patty Fairfield. As plots go there is none. Patty is a 14 year old girl who lives with her father in Virginia. She has 4 aunts living up North and her father sends her to visit each one of them for a 3 month period. At the end of the year her father plans to sell his business and move back North. Patty visits each of the aunt in turn and learns about proportion in life. The first aunt is all about money and does not care about anything. The second aunt is all about literary life while the third aunt is all harum-scarum so that nothing gets done properly. The fourth aunt is, however, all about correct proportions and so Patty learns at the end of the year that in life one should have a sense of proportion. The book is sort of like Goldilocks and three bears. It was a fun read, something that drove the boredom away. My student has not still edited the paper so maybe I will dip into the other books in the series.
One thing that stood out when I read the book and then thought about all the other girls books I have read written at the turn of last century was the emphasis that these books placed on the idea of womanhood. The girls were sent to school and there was emphasis on sports but the idea was that the girl should grow up to be healthy and well-versed in all the household activities. Even if she earned her living like Anne of Green Gables does, at the end of it she has to get married and have a family and take care of them. So the school in a sense is the training ground for the girl to acquire all these traits. In fact it is a theme that recurs even in Enid Blyton. Miss Grayling, the headmistress of Malory Towers, tells this to the girls on the day they join the school.
It is very fascinating to read it in today's time. I wonder what I would have done.
However, Project Gutenberg collection is huge and difficult to browse in entirety. There is a wonderful blog called Redeeming Qualities that I read to get pointers about which books might be worth reading. It is thanks to this blog that I have read the delightful Patricia Brent-Spinster and Melting of Molly and other lovely books-books that make you laugh and feel wonderful and sunshiny (Not the blazing heat of May but the gentle sunshine of February).
Today while I was waiting for my student to edit her paper I decided to read Patty Fairfield books by Carolyn Wells. There are 17 books in this series and I started with the first one- Patty Fairfield. As plots go there is none. Patty is a 14 year old girl who lives with her father in Virginia. She has 4 aunts living up North and her father sends her to visit each one of them for a 3 month period. At the end of the year her father plans to sell his business and move back North. Patty visits each of the aunt in turn and learns about proportion in life. The first aunt is all about money and does not care about anything. The second aunt is all about literary life while the third aunt is all harum-scarum so that nothing gets done properly. The fourth aunt is, however, all about correct proportions and so Patty learns at the end of the year that in life one should have a sense of proportion. The book is sort of like Goldilocks and three bears. It was a fun read, something that drove the boredom away. My student has not still edited the paper so maybe I will dip into the other books in the series.
One thing that stood out when I read the book and then thought about all the other girls books I have read written at the turn of last century was the emphasis that these books placed on the idea of womanhood. The girls were sent to school and there was emphasis on sports but the idea was that the girl should grow up to be healthy and well-versed in all the household activities. Even if she earned her living like Anne of Green Gables does, at the end of it she has to get married and have a family and take care of them. So the school in a sense is the training ground for the girl to acquire all these traits. In fact it is a theme that recurs even in Enid Blyton. Miss Grayling, the headmistress of Malory Towers, tells this to the girls on the day they join the school.
It is very fascinating to read it in today's time. I wonder what I would have done.
No comments:
Post a Comment