KEV67

I was looking around Exeter Cathedral this afternoon, reading the memorial stones. I was reminded of Clarissa. They language was similar. They expressed themselves very well in the 18th Century. I cannot remember the exact expressions, but they were often applauded for their exemplary behaviour and high Christian standards. They often died young. For example, there was a young mother who died aged 19 rescuing her baby from a fire. There was another young woman who died in her mid 20s after suffering from a vague illness for five years. There were quite a few military and naval men, as well as a lot of churchmen.

The book was published in 1667, which was a few years after the Restoration of Charles II. Things must have become a bit more relaxed, religiously. I would not have thought it was safe to write fiction on sacred books.

I do already have a direct debit with St Mungo's, which is a homeless charity. Jesus always liked the down-and-outs more than anyone else, especially those who seemed too proud of themselves for doing the right things, in his leveller logic.

This is what I am always worried about. I do not really understand how so many churches keep going when the pubs keep closing. I was worried about being collared by the Life Spring church on the way out and forced to sign up to a hefty direct debit, because I am very weak willed, but actually they seemed alright. They sent around some collection bags and you could pay what you wanted by smart phone or by putting some cash in an envelope. They were promoting an outing, but they said if you cannot pay, pay what you can. I am more worried about the Salvation Army. I suspect if you join up you will be required to stump up cash for their hostel for homeless unemployables, and excursions for the deprived youth from the immigrant community.

George Orwell and G.K. Chesterton both wrote essays on Dickens. They both preferred David Copperfield's first wife, Dora, to his second. I was reminded of that because G.K. Chesterton really did have a problem writing women. George Gissing wrote an essay on Dickens too. I do not know what he thought about about Dora Spenlow. Since Gissing's first wife was an alcoholic prostitute, and his second wife was a termagant who was put away in an asylum, I expect he thought David was expecting the moon on a stick.

I went to St Mary's church on Castle Street. The vicar had a go at re-wilding this time. He said the weeds take over when re-wilding is allowed to happen. I expect Farmer Giles was in agreement. John the pub historian caught me on leaving to warn me a certain place of refreshment was temporarily closed, but I already knew. He said he was going for an operation on Tuesday. I hope he will be alright.

Thanks Anna, I went to the Life Spring church this morning. This is a new church that opened up at the bottom of the road where the snooker hall used to be. I went in. I was surprised to see a big screen with strips of decorative lights hanging off it. There were flags from many nations standing up in two places. On the stage there was a band with a white singer/guitarist, a rather attractive Burmese looking woman in a yellow dress playing a guitar. There were two black backing singers, and a black keyboardist and rhythm section. I later learned the singer was Uncle John. They played for about 45 minutes. Then this chap called James got on the stage. He was sort of like a compere, whatever the religious term for that is. Two women were invited up. The first one said that she saw a bin lorry during the week and had the thought that Sunday was the day to get rid of your sinful trash. Another woman got up to say that the rash on her arm was getting better since she came to church last week. Also she had patched things up with her partner. Then Pastor Lev or maybe Nev got up to tell his sermon. The main theme was not to be a loner. He compared the Evil One to a lion, and a loner as being like a wildebeest that had strayed too far from the herd. Then he mentioned some examples that might weaken your faith. The first two were pornography and drinking alcohol. I felt slightly nervous, but I do not accept that drinking is a sin. The next example was love of money. I am not too bad on that. I think I was still considering whether drinking was a sin because I cannot remember what the fourth example was, but the fifth was anti-authoritarianism. He told us to embrace, shake hands or fist-bump six other people. I fist-bumped the African woman next to me, but the others did not seem over keen to fist-bump me. I was not too bothered because I was worried about getting collared. TBF they were not that bad. I think they were genuine.

Thanks Anna, I went to the Life Spring church this morning. This is a new church that opened up at the bottom of the road where the snooker hall used to be. I went in. I was surprised to see a big screen with strips of decorative lights hanging off it. There were flags from many nations standing up in two places. On the stage there was a band with a white singer/guitarist, a rather attractive Burmese looking woman in a yellow dress playing a guitar. There were two black backing singers, and a black keyboardist and rhythm section. I later learned the singer was Uncle John. They played for about 45 minutes. Then this chap called James got on the stage. He was sort of like a compere, whatever the religious term for that is. Two women were invited up. The first one said that she saw a bin lorry during the week and had the thought that Sunday was the day to get rid of your mental trash. Another woman got up to say that her rash was getting better since she came to church last week. Then Pastor Lev or maybe Nev got up to tell his sermon. The main theme was not to be a loner. He compared the Evil One to a lion, and a loner as being like a wildebeest that had strayed too far from the herd. Then he mentioned some examples that might weaken your faith. The first two were pornography and drinking alcohol. I felt slightly nervous, but I am not sure drinking is actually a sin. The next example was love of money. I am not too bad on that. I think I was still considering whether drinking was a sin because I cannot remember what the fourth example was, but the fifth was anti-authoritanism. He told us to embrace, shake hands or fist-bump six other people. I fist-bumped the African woman next to me, but the others did not seem over keen to fist-bump me, so I made a quick exit. TBF the service had lasted nearly two hours.

I thought I found one in Far From the Madding Crowd. Gabriel Oak's ewes lamb in winter time. However, I was informed, on another literary forum, by a shepherd, that there is a breed of sheep called the Dorset Horn that lambs the year round.

I read a book by David Lodge. I think it was called Thinks. Towards the end there was a character who had been in his previous book, Nice Work. However, at the end of Nice Work she had formed a business partnership with the other main character. I cannot remember what it was that made me wonder about it, maybe because she did not seem particularly well off, but I wondered whether their company had gone bust. I heard David Lodge on the radio mention that he had forgotten about the business and no one had picked up on it. Derek Robinson wrote a story about Royal Flying Corps airmen called Hornet's Sting. In one chapter a pilot has to crash land in German held territory. He kills some German guards and steals a uniform then tries to make his way back to allied lines. On the way, somehow without having to speak to anyone, he ends up on the German front fighting the British. He had gone potty by then. British soldiers find him in a fox hole and rescue him as a hero, but he would be wearing a German uniform. Maybe I misread it. Surely they would shoot him. I thought I found a plothole in a Jack Reacher book once, but I cannot remember what it was.

He had a problem with young, pretty women when he was a younger writer. He got better at them as he grew older. I think he was always good at older women. A lot of older actresses should be grateful to Dickens, because he wrote good parts for them. Miss Haversham and Estella from Great Expectations were great characters. There was a female vlogger I used to follow on YouTube whose favourite book was Our Mutual Friend, largely because of the characters Lizzie Hexham and Jenny Wren, both young women. Esther Summerson in Bleak House shows he could do women all right. Lucie Manette in Tale of Two Cities was not very interesting, but Mme Defarge was a great villainess. In Oliver Twist, the main heroine in volume 2 was so boring I cannot be bothered to look up her name, but Nancy was quite good.

I think he wrote David Copperfield long before he separated from his wife, Catherine Hogarth. If David Copperfield was Charles Dickens you have to wonder whether Dora Spenlow was Catherine Hogarth. Dora Spenlow knows her limitations; she knows David is a big brain, but she still thinks deeply. David told her she was encouraging the servants to be dishonest by being lax with the household accounts. That stung, she thought about it, and came to the conclusion he was being unfair. That was correct, but the way she mentioned it to David after he had been away for some time told him she had been thinking about it. David is away trying to resolve several knotty problems. Dora is at home thinking about things. I cannot remember exactly how it went, but there was another instance when Betsy Trotwood, David's aunt, told Dora how David had walked from London to Canterbury. Dora made some weak joke, and then made plain she was joking, just in case anyone did not realise and was offended. Despite David trying to be nice, Dora comes to understand David is dissatisfied with her. It is painful to read, particularly as she is a perfectly pleasant person.

No, it was remarkably singable. It was a Unitarian hymn. Unfortunately I cannot find it on YouTube. Maybe Unitarian hymns are better than Methodist hymns. It is the Church of England (Continuing) who have the unsingable hymns.

I watched the 1935 film adaption of David Copperfield, the one with W.C. Fields as Mr MiCawber. It was alright. It was a fairly straightforward adaption, well cast, but it is a book with many strands and it is difficult to pack it all in. David Copperfield is not my favourite book by Charles Dickens. However, in that book my favourite character and storyline was Dora Spenlow, who was *SPOILER ALERT* David's first wife. What I liked about that storyline was that David would be irritated with her for not being very good with the housekeeping. He would talk to her about it. Then he would go off to deal with all his business. The next time he'd speak, it was obvious that Dora had been thinking a lot on what David had said to her, sometimes in a heart breaking way. I cannot think of this done in any other book.

I went to the Unitarian meeting in the evening. I did not read the email properly, so I did not realise we were supposed to bring a wildflower along. The theme of the session was wildflowers, and also this Czech guy, Norbert Casek, or something like that. It did put me in mind of that Radio 4 programme, Something Understood. I did like the hymn we sang, which I think was called Universal Spirit. We sang to a recording. After a while, Something Understood gave way to Gardeners' Question Time, and I itched to get away. My education never extended to wildflowers. I used to read names like Ragwort, and Speedwell and think of the rabbits in Watership Down. I never knew what the flowers looked like. We were invited to take away a flower different to the one we brought, or in my case, did not bring. I took back a Purple Toadflax. That seemed somewhat Watership Downish. I was perturbed to learn there was more than one sort of Toadflax. A couple of hours later I went to St Mary's Church of England (Continuing). The Old Testament reading was about when David slew the Philistine giant with his sling and cut off his head. I did not remember that before slaying the giant, he had slain a bear and a lion. David was pretty handy I gather. The New Testament reading was about Jesus's sermon in which he told his followers not to worry about tomorrow, and to consider the lilies in the field. This does not seem like great financial advice. Jesus never had a high opinion of money. This is a problem, because many Christians do, which they have to if they have a families, or if they worry about their old age.

Another thing I wondered about was the names. I don't know about Gertrude and Hamlet, but Claudius, Polonius, Laertes and Ophelia sound Roman rather than Danish. Rosencratz and Gildernstern sound Dutch. I thought Danes at the time had names like Harald Bloodaxe and Sweyn Forkbeard.

Right, I read it. I read the Arden Shakespeare edition, including the introduction. Three things puzzled me most: When Hamlet killed Polonius, wasn't that, like, an extremely crazy thing to do? I know life was cheap back then, but killing someone before finding out who they are and what they are doing seems beyond criminally reckless. I was a puzzled that the rest of the scene was about Hamlet banging on about his feelings, rather than focusing on the enormity of what he had just done. How old was Hamlet? I thought he must be a teenager, maybe eighteen. He talks about having known Yorrick, who, according to the grave digger, had been dead 23 years. That makes Hamlet about thirty. Apparently there is another version of the play in which Yorrick had been dead about a dozen years, which makes Hamlet about nineteen. If Hamlet is about thirty, why didn't he become king instead of Uncle Claudius? Gertrude would have been around fifty. To be blunt, why wouldn't Uncle Claudius marry a younger, prettier woman who could bear him children? The monarchy used to pass down the matrilineal line among the Picts. Did it pass down the matrilineal line among the Danes? Among the Anglo-Saxons the kings were selected by the Witan, who would usually select the old King's heir as the new king, but not necessarily. Hamlet would be around the right age at thirty and apparently quite popular with the subjects so why would a witan elect Uncle Claudius to be king instead of Hamlet. Is the play Hamlet really so fascinating? There are endless productions of the plays; endless scholarly essays and books. Is it as good as all that?

Started reading Paradise Lost by John Milton. I knew the style was lyrical, but it is even more different than I expected. It appears to be a 288 page poem all written in iambic pentameter.

What, modern authors? literary fiction authors? writers of thrillers or science fiction? My favourite author overall was George MacDonald Fraser, but he is fading into the mist. I expect Bernard Cornwell is still popular. He wrote all the Sharpe books. Terry Pratchet was very popular with my friends when I was young. So was Douglas Adams. Tom Sharpe was very popular when I was young. I dare say he appealed to men more than women. I expect Lee Child still appeals to a lot of blokes. Maybe Robert Harris. JRR Tolkein is still popular. It is difficult to think of any authors literary fiction that particularly appeals to British men. Possibly George Orwell still. I am not even sure about Martin Amis, for all his fame, was particularly popular. I have a friend who reads Peter May and Ian Rankin, who are both Scottish detective fiction writers. Iain Banks/ Iain M. Banks was popular. He wrote literary fiction and science fiction, but has been dead awhile and I don't suppose he is as popular as he was.

I thought the scene in which Hamlet kills Polonius would go more like this: Gertrude: Oh God, you've stabbed Polonius. Stage direction: Gertrude opens door to the corridor. Gertrude: Guards, summon the King's physician, not all off you. Gertrude: Oh Christ, I think he's dead. What are we going to do with you, Hamlet? How do you think the king is going to react when he hears about this? Ah, there you are, Osric. Inform the king that the Queen requests his presence in her private chamber. Hamlet has just slain Polonius. To be fair she does say 'Oh what a rash and bloody deed is this!' and then hears him out while he goes off on one. Maybe she could not have done more, considering the state of mind Hamlet was in. When I read it first it seemed like they were having a discussion of feelings while Polonius was bleeding away on the floor.

Messalina was a slapper, but I doubt she was as bad as Livia and Agrippina.

I finished reading Hamlet. I thought it was better than the others. I am reading the introduction currently. It said about 400 academic articles a year are published about Hamlet. The bit that bothered me most about that play was when Hamlet ran Polonius through with his sword. Polonius was hiding behind some sort of curtain. Wasn't that a bit sort of rash and reckless of Hamlet? He did not know who was behind the curtain, but the chances are it would have been a servant. You don't just stab a servant, even if he is hiding in the queen's bedroom. You find out who he is, what he's doing there, and then have him flogged (unless you think he was an assassin, in which case you have him hung, drawn and quartered). I have not seen this insight touched upon in the introduction yet. So far it has mainly been whether Hamlet was about Shakespeare's son and father, the precise dating of the play, whether Gertrude represented Queen Elizabeth I, whether the play was foretelling the end of the Tudor dynasty, what the Communists thought about it, what the feminists thought about it, what Freud and the psychoanalysts thought about it.

There was Livia, Emperor Augustus's wife, in I Claudius by Robert Graves. She was evil. There were a number of villainesses in those books.

There were often villainesses in Raymond Chandler books. Often it was the beautiful woman who hired him in the first place. Think white gloves, think cigarette holder. This was not actually very original of Chandler because the her prototype was Brigid O' Shaughnessy in the Maltese Falcon by Dashiel Hammet, unless he pinched the idea from someone. I am guessing Brigid O' Shaughnessy was of Irish extraction, although that was not germane to the plot.

I agree the names in Russian novels can be confusing. Dostoevsky is not quite so confusing as Tolstoy in that regard. Nevertheless, everyone has at least three names and often a nickname as well. I do not know if nickname is the right word. Alexei is often called Alyosha, but maybe that is an alternative form, like Harry is for Henry, and Molly is for Mary. I seem to remember there was a lot of cabbage pie in the book. It even inspired me to bake one, but it did not come out very well, because I rolled the pastry too thick. There was the famous bit in which Ivan describes what would have happened if Jesus had come back to earth in Spain, but during the time of Spanish Inquisition. Ivan has a big brain, but he is a cold fish.