New month, new book

 Earlier this week, The Trollope Society held the final online book club meeting of the novel we'd been reading since the beginning of the year, The Vicar of Bullhampton.  I thoroughly enjoyed the book, which was completely new to me.  Anthony Trollope was an especially prolific writer, so even though I've read his works for many years, there are still many that I have yet to read.  Another such novel is Dr. Wortle's School, which is the next book in the yearlong book club reading list.  This one is a bit shorter, and will be covered in two bi-weekly meetings, as opposed to the six that covered Vicar of Bullhampton.  As I dive into one of Anthony Trollope's last novels, I gather it will cover what was in Victorian times an unpardonable sin:  a man and woman living together, unmarried.  Such a condition is now commonplace, but even still, we have other issues of intolerance and bigotry that are the modern day equivalents of "living in sin".  What lessons will Trollope offer for those who judge and those who are judged by an intolerant society?

Happy Birthday, Charlie!

 On this day, 213 years ago, Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England.  He would eventually become one of the greatest writers in the English language.  But before that, he had a difficult childhood.  He grew up under a spendthrift father who was perpetually in debt- at a time when that condition held great shame and often the threat of imprisonment.  Young Charles was sent to work in a factory at a very young age in order to support his family while his father was in a debtor's prison.  This had a profound effect on him.  Not only did it influence his writing, but Dickens also carried a lifelong desire to aid the poor and oppressed, even founding a shelter home for homeless women.  That's not to say, of course, that he was universally kind and benevolent.  He was a distant father to his many children, an unfaithful husband to his devoted wife, and a cantankerous client of his many publishers.  Yet, he managed to be a prolific and popular author of many novels that have a permanent place in the English literary pantheon.  And each year, his classic A Christmas Carol is read, performed, and shown as a movie (in countless iterations) to a degree hardly seen with any other piece of writing.  Thought his life ran a short 58 years, his lasting influence on the culture cannot be overstated.  So on this day, let us remember a true titan of the written word, Charles Dickens.

Happy Birthday Anthony!

 Today is the 209th birthday of one of my favorite authors, Anthony Trollope.  Yes, on April 24, 1815, Trollope was born in London.  A contemporary of Charles Dickens, he would never match Dickens' fame, but Trollope was a respected and popular author in his own right.  What's more amazing, he was a prolific writer while continually holding down a day job with the Royal Mail.  In fact, Anthony Trollope was responsible for the design of the familiar English pillar box postal collection container.  But mainly, he is known for his multitude of novels that examine class struggle, politics, and labor conditions of the Victorian age.  Among his many novels, my favorite is Doctor Thorne, which encompasses all these familiar themes, overlaid by warnings against the excesses of alcoholism. During a 2019 trip to London, I visited Trollope's grave in Kensal Green Cemetary, and there gave him my thanks for the many hours of enjoyment I've derived from his work.  Happy Birthday, Anthony!

Bah, Humbug

 I've previously mentioned the wonderful Dickens novel A Christmas Carol.  So great is the impact of this work on society that we've seen dozens of screen adaptations of the story over the decades.  I've seen most of them, and in my mind have long settled the question of the best of them:  the 1984 version, starring George C. Scott as Scrooge.  Compared to others, this is a very traditional treatment of the familiar story.  To those who've read the book, large passages of dialog will be familiar as traditional text.  The cinematography, casting, costumes, and sets are detailed and lavish in a traditional way.  This production has none of the gimmicks that others so often use to stand out in a crowded field of Carols.  But what it has is the superb acting of Mr. Scott; there has never been a better rendition of Dickens' character than his. I've always held this opinion of the movie, so I was pleasantly surprised to see an online article that reinforced my judgement.  Nice to have the affirmation.

Time Machine

 My day job as a research scientist, while very fulfilling, can often be repetitive, quiet, and solitary.  This lends itself to my heavy reliance on audio books to occupy my mind during the day's tasks.  Currently I am listening to The Duke's Children, by Anthony Trollope.  I am very partial to the English Victorian novelists, including Charles Dickens, Thomas Hardy, George Eliot, Trollope. Trollope was unique among them as he continued his day job while also being a prolific novelist: he was a senior official in the Royal Mail postal system.  In fact, he is responsible for the design of the characteristic English pillarbox mail collection box.  Therefore, many of his novels have characters writing letters which he describes in much more detail than any other author might.  As a postal enthusiast, I find this especially interesting.

The Duke's Children, by Anthony Trollope.  Folio Society edition.

My first venture into the tale of the Duke of Omnium was, however, not an audio book but a conventional paper one.  While I read the story, it struck me that though this was a common book, it was in a sense a time machine.  Somewhere in London two hundred years ago, a man sat at a table with a simple fountain pen, ink, and some paper.  With that and nothing more than his own creativity and imagination, he created the complex and elaborate world of the former Prime Minister of England and his family's dramas.  Copies of his writings were made by a then-painstaking printing process, and today are made by a more high-tech one.  As I read my book, I experienced in vivid detail the lifestyle of those who lived centuries ago.  Their speech, values, and daily activities were all brought forth to myself, living in the digital world of the 21st century.  Through a humble and simple book, a man's artistic skill and his contemporary lifestyle could be experienced by a modern reader.  Almost directly from his pen into my mind, 200 years later.  An astonishing achievement.

And if one is to read, why not do it with a little style?  The volume of this novel I read a few years ago was published by The Folio Society, a publisher who specializes in classics, printed and bound with extraordinary quality.  No cheap paperback, this.  My numbered, limited edition copy of Trollope's work was leatherbound, with handmade marbled endpapers and a high quality sewn binding.  It also was a complete version, restoring all the extensive text that Trollope grudgingly cut from his original manuscript in order to fit size requirements of his publishers at the time.  A companion text by a literary scholar is included, all contained in a hard slipcover.  As I say, if one reads, an elegant edition makes it all the more enjoyable.

While I enjoyed this novel the first time in its intended form, I now am re-reading (listening) to it via audio book.  This adds an additional layer of interpretation to the process, removing oneself slightly from direct commune with the author.  An audio book narrator can make or break the whole experience, but I have found one of the best.  When I obtain my audio books, my preference is for those read by Simon Vance.  He is simply the best.  A pleasant speaking voice, remarkable ability to give different voices to different characters' dialog, and an astonishing acting ability make him a leader in the field of audio book narration.