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Varanasi keeps Modi on edge
March 7, 2017 March 11, 2017 DayAfter
For the past week, the sleepy, "mast-maula" Varanasi has pitchforked itself into envious limelight as the biggest and best in Indian politics camped here to woo voters as the city readied to go to the hustings in the last phase of the ongoing assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is the Lok Sabha MP from here, not only spent three days in the city but also ensured that each assembly segment, each section of society and each nerve of the voters was touched during his sojourn.
There are 40 seats in the seven districts of Poorvanchal (eastern Uttar Pradesh) — including eight in Varanasi district — at stake in the last of the seven-phase election on March 8.
The high stakes in Varanasi can be gauged by the fact that even in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, where he was relatively new to the Kashi landscape, Modi just came to fill in his nomination papers, which was followed by a much-televised roadshow, after permission to hold a rally was denied by the district administration.
Now that he is the Prime Minister, his spending so much time in the city has thrown up different interpretations and connotations.
While Modi himself said this was being done as he wanted to "connect and spend time with the electorate as a simple BJP karyakarta (worker), opposition outfits have claimed that it was sign of desperation as the party is aware it will face a rout in Varanasi. Modi held two road shows in Kashi and addressed a meeting of intellectuals where he invoked Sant Kabeerdas to slam the Rahul Gandhi-Akhilesh Yadav duo and addressed two public rallies.
Over a dozen central ministers have camped in the city for the last one week and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah took personal charge of the "war room". All major five-star hotels, boutique and budget hotels, guest houses and homestays in the city are choc-a-bloc with politicians, journalists and visitors from outside. All government accommodation was full with SP and Congress workers, who are toiling hard to ensure victory for the alliance candidates.
Sources in the saffron camp admit that the going was "not very smooth" in the city seats. The BJP faces a rebellion in Varanasi (South), where it denied a ticket to party veteran and seven-time legislator Shyamdev Narayan Chowdhary (Dada) and replaced him with Neelkanth Tiwari. Dada went into a sulk and refused to campaign for the candidates. He was, however, cajoled by Modi on Friday when he took him along for the darshan at Kashi Vishwanath temple and is learnt to have won him over.
Things are also tough in the Varanasi Cantt seat where the BJP has fielded Saurabh Srivastava, son of the incumbent MLA Jyotsna Srivastava. The BJP has never lost this seat since 1991. In Pindra, its candidate Avdhesh Singh is pitted against Congress's Ajay Rai and BSP's Babulal. BJP has reposed faith in Ravindra Jaiswal from Varanasi (North), who won by a slender margin of 2,000 votes in 2012. He now faces two rebel candidates — Sujit Singh Teeka and a well-known doctor, Ashok Singh — other than the opposition candidates.
BJP leaders appear confident after the successful road shows of the Prime Minister in which thousands turned up and the "maahaul" (mood) was set for a repeat of the 2014 polls, when Modi won against Ajay Rai of the Congress and Arvind Kejriwal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) by a huge margin.
With a sizable number of Muslim votes in the city and around, the BSP, Congress and SP are equally upbeat. "We have done enough work in Varanasi as elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh and we are sure that the people will vote for us," said Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav.
BSP supremo Mayawati, too, is clinging on to hope saying no amount of prayers and roadshows were going to help Modi notch up another win. For now, the mood of the Banaras voters is divided but not known. Only March 11 will tell which way the "mast-malang" people of Kashi have swung.
high stakes in Varanasi
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Repsol Honda Team's Casey Stoner rode a flawless race today as he romped to his sixth successive victory at his home track at this weekend's AirAsia Australian Grand Prix.
The Berry Sweet Lucas Oil Yamaha race team is excited to announce the signing of Tye Simmonds for the 2013 Motocross and Supercross seasons.
The Berry Sweet Lucas Oil Yamaha race team scored yet another top finish for 2012 at the hands of West Aussie speedster Connor Tierney.
The Berry Sweet Lucas Oil Yamaha race team is excited to announce the signing of Mitch Norris for the 2012 Supercross season.
Kenda's Paul Whibley maintains solid points lead in GNCC series.
Paul Whibley hasn't lost sight of the big picture, as he finished a strong second to gain valuable championship points in the GNCC series.
Lucas Oil Pro Stock Motorcylce Riders Head to Indy for NHRA's "Big GO"
INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 29) - One year ago, Lucas Oil Buell rider Hector Arana Jr. joined an exclusive list as a winner of the U.S. Nationals. Now, the 23-year-old would love to repeat in this weekend's 58th annual Mac Tools U.S. Nationals presented by Auto-Plus at Lucas Oil Raceway.
Craig Anderson who announced his retirement from professional motocross racing late last week with his final round of racing in the Australian motocross championships taking place in the weekend just gone, the 25th and 26th of August 2012.
Round nine of the Monster Energy Motocross Nationals hit Moree on the weekend and the track didn't fail to once again turn the series on its head. The round also heralded a return to form for the Berry Sweet Lucas Oil Yamaha race team.
Conclusion: If there was a category called "riding fun" the Sport Attack 2 would receive the maximum points in the dry test! Thanks to its seemingly record-breaking handling and its laser exact precision the Conti provides endless fun.
The Continental Sport Attack 2 Tyres score an impressive result in the annual Motorrad Magazine sport tyre test!


When LUPETTA sent me a selection of their products to try I knew I what I wanted to make. Having made a rather tasty wholemeal wreath recently, I had also spotted a Stromboli recipe on the Baking mad website. I changed the stuffing to suit my tastes and we used the Lupetta olive oil and balsamic vinegar as a dip for the bread too.
I started by making the bread. Here I used 500g of strong white flour, a packet of Allison's yeast, 2tsp salt, 1tsp caster sugar, 50ml of LUPETTA Olive oil and 300ml of warm water. I mixed this altogether. kneaded for 5 minutes and then left it to rise.
For the stuffing, I sliced some orange pepper and red onion and fried this in a pan to soften.
I rolled the bread into a rectangle and placed the peppers, onions, Lupetta semi dried cherry tomatoes, black olives and half fat mozzarella in the middle.
I then folded over the bread and cooked for around 30 mins at 200C.
I served the bread with a balsamic vinegar and olive oil dip and macaroni cheese.
I really enjoyed the products we received and LUPETTA have kindly offered one of my readers the chance to win a selection of their products too. Just complete the Gleam entry below. Good Luck!
The dried tomatoes on a pizza.
The Fusilli Bucati, I would love to try.
Would love to try the different types of pasta and make some new meals for my lot as they love pasta.
I would like to try your recipe for stuffed stromboli. Would also like to try the tomatoes with a fish dish.
Those pasta shapes look perfect for a creamy sauce, and maybe some roast peppers with the olive oil.
I would make a Carbonara.
The Fusilli Bucati, I would make a simple pasta sauce to pour over it.
I'd love to try the olive oil to drizzle over a nice summer salad, pasta or pizza yum!
The pasta, perfect with pesto and Parmesan.
The pasta which I'd have with pesto sauce - simple but very tasty.
I'd love to try the olive oil, and I would make the Stromboli dough that you made, but instead of filling it with vegetables as you did, I'd make a dessert variation with peaches, fresh black cherries and strawberries.
A pasta salad to celebrate the Spring sunshine !!
I'd use the sundried tomatoes and pasta. I'd heat some olive oil in a pan, add thinly sliced smoked ham cook for a few mins then add the chopped sundried tomatoes and some pine nuts and heat through. Serve over past - it's quick and delicious!
I would use the Fusilli Bucati pasta and make a big pasta bake for the kids tea! One of their favourites!
I would use the balsamic vinegar as a lovely dip.
The balsamic vinegar would be great. I love it on its own as a salad dressing. The better quality the vinegar the richer the dressing. Mmmmmm.
Think I'd make some home made pesto and sun dried tomatoes and have it with the fusilli pasta.
I love pasta sauces using different pasta added all sounds lovely big italian food fan so would love to experience all the products come up with interesting recipes to try all look so fab.
I would make Strozzapreti With Andouille, Peppers, and Tomatoes and I would love to try the Lupetta Strozzapreti and the semi dried cherry tomatoes, also the olive oil nom nom nom ty for the chance!
Hardly ever find anything Italian I do not like!!
Gellato. Oh yeah. Savoury Italian food isn't bad either. Never tried this brand.
The sun dried tomatoes, I'd put it in pasta sauce.
The Sun-Dried Cherry Tomatoes and i'd make a delicious toastie with those and mozzerella cheese!
I would use the pasta to invent a new pasta bake.
I like the gift box idea.
sun dried tomatoes for a home made pizza.
Those sun-dried cherry tomatoes look devine !
Ooh the EVOO to make a focaccia!
I'd like to try the sun dried tomatoes and try this bread recipe!
The pasta with the sun dried tomatoes... perfect!
i would make a caprese sandwich!
I like so pizza too home made is just so much better !
I'd like to use the balsamic vinegar and olive oil to make a salad dressing. But that stromboli looks amazing.
I would love to try the pasta and make one of my chicken pasta dishes.
I would love to use the sun dried tomatoes in a spag bol!
Love to try Stuffed Stromboli.
The sun dried tomatoes for sure.
The Fusilli- we are a family of pasta eaters!!!
Sun dried tomatoes as they'd go well on a pizza!
The Balsamic Vinegar, would make a dip with olive oil for my focaccia bread with rosemary.
i would like to try the sauces.
The balsamic vinegar to add to my homemade tomato sauce and the virgin olive oil for my hair!
I would probably make a delicious tuna pasta bake with the fusilli bucati.
Nice and simple. Pasta with tomatoes and fresh parmesan and basil.
I'd use the balsamic in all my dressings, drizzles and dips!
I'd like to try the fusilli bucati...it looks so curly! Perfect for a vegan pasta bake with sweetcorn, leeks and fake smoked bacon.
The Strozzapreti, not a variety I have had before and would love to try! I'd make a tomato sauce, so would use the tomatoes too!
Oo sun dried cherry tomatoes, they would make my work salads taste amazing!!
Balsamic vinegar with olive oil, yum!
The Balsamic Vinegar which I would mix with some Olive Oil and dip french bread into.


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Quotable quotes from the writing journals
November 28, 2019 , 0
When the news is dominated by politics, and right royal revelations, we could probably all do with something to make us smile, so I thought I'd brighten your day with assorted wise or amusing quotes. It's a long time since I shared entertaining snippets from the literary journals, but, as 2019 draws to its end, it's probably timely to give you a resume of my favourites, all taken from the Society of Authors' official magazine: The Author, throughout 2018/19. Names in brackets are the people who submitted these gems.
A definition of stories
'… wonderful made-up people whose tangled stories are tattooed on woodpulp' (Richard Smyth)
Wry humour
A Wilde Wit competition asked for original quotes that sound like something Oscar Wilde might have said. The winner came up with the two top entries:
'I'm frequently misquoted – often accurately.'
'An insult from the right person can be as agreeable as any compliment.' (Andrew Taylor)
Dubious advantage
Ian McEwan's youngest son was obliged to read his father's 1997 novel, Enduring Love, for his A-level course. As part of his studies he had to submit an essay on the book. The author gave him a little private tutorial on it and told him the main points to consider. Unfortunately his English teacher disagreed fundamentally and the lad got nothing more than a C! Just goes to show how subjective reading is, huh? (Andrew Taylor)
Reporting on research into older people writing
'… to forget self in a worthwhile project is like a tonic. Being completely immersed in what you are doing, having the mind fully engaged, having a purpose in life, waking up with something to look forward to, and knowing you are still doing something useful to, and valued by, society – these things contribute massively to a happy, healthy and fulfilled old age.' (Robin Lloyd-Jones)
There's currently a move to encourage authors to abandon their too comfortable writing chair, but did you know the idea has an august pedigree?
Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Vladimir Nabokov and Soren Kierekegaard all worked standing up. (Alice Jolly)
Unsung wives
Leo Tolstoy's wife Sonya made eight fair copies of different versions of War and Peace, bore 13 children, and even worked on the manuscript in bed while recovering from puerperal fever, the childbirth infection that killed many women. Yet, how many folk laud her efforts? (Karen Christensen)
The place of books in our lives
'After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.' (Philip Pullman)
Reader appeal
Waterstones in Swansea tweeted a message in 2018 that went viral:
'Doors closed 15 minutes ago. As we do every evening, we've turned all the books upside down so the words don't fall out overnight. It may seem like a silly waste of time, but ask yourself this: when did you last see piles of words on a Waterstones' carpet? That's right – NEVER.' (Andrew Taylor)
It's a joy to read a publication written by people who really know how to write!
Alice Jolly, Andrew Taylor, Charles Dickens, Ernest Hemingway, Ian McEwan, Karen Christensen, Oscar Wilde, Philip Pullman, quotable quotes, Richard Smyth, Robin Lloyd-Jones, Society of Authors, Soren Kierkegaard, The Author, Vladimir Nabokov, Waterstone's, Winston Churchill
Mr Dickens and his Carol
July 4, 2019 , 0
You may well have seen reviews of a new book just published under the title, Edward Lloyd and His World: Popular Fiction, Politics and the Press in Victorian Britain. It tells the story of publisher Edward Lloyd, (1815-1890) who 'helped shape Victorian popular culture in ways that have left a legacy that lasts right up to today. He was a major pioneer of both popular fiction and journalism but has never received extended scholarly investigation until now.' But the book will most likely catch your attention because of its references to Charles Dickens. For he was one of the victims of the opportunist publishers, playwrights, journalists, who cashed in on other people's success by producing parodies of their novels. Dickens himself was outraged by these plagiarists but powerless to prevent them – this being the age before the Copyright Act of 1842.
It nicely resonated with me because I've just finished reading a lovely book on the same subject and era: Mr Dickens and his Carol by Samantha Silva, which might not be 'scholarly' but the basic premises are all there. Dickens losing popularity … his impotent rage at the charlatans who steal his ideas … his publishers needing a success .. money problems … a feckless father … a growing brood of children … Messrs Chapman and Hall suggesting a short Christmas story … 'hardly a book at all' … mayhap including a ghost or two? So, though her story is a work of fiction, Silva has built upon the work of Dickens' biographers as well as his own words, to create a playful but plausible and enjoyable re-imagining of how one of the best loved classics came into being. She herself recognises that Dickens aficiandos and scholars might well bristle at the liberties she takes, but she writes from a position of both admiration and affection for the man, keenly aware that a 'good biography tells us the truth about a person; a good story, the truth about ourselves.' Well said!
Silva's physical book has a beautiful look and feel – velvety smooth cover (hardback), the kind of volume you hold with reverential gentle hands and stroke with sensual pleasure. It's her debut work, published in 2017, but her writing is assured and the story beautifully realised, capturing the evergreen heart and style of Dickens' own tales.
It's described as a 'fan letter', even a 'love letter', to the 'Inimitable Boz', that says 'I know you were a flawed man who had a heart as big as the world. That you saw Christmas as a time to reconnect with our humanity and revel in even our smallest blessings. And that you lived with so much darkness, inside and out, but leant – urgently and frantically – always towards the light.'
As we know, Dickens' Christmas novel was heralded as a 'national benefit', a 'personal kindness' to everyone who reads it. Indeed Dickens is revered for his capacity to portray understanding and empathy for one's fellow-man, and to highlight the human capacity to rise above adversity and sorrow. 'Despite what is cold and dark in the world, perhaps it is a loving place after all.' Not only was he writing at a time and in a place where squalor, poverty, injustice, inhumanity, and disease prevailed, but he personally knew abandonment, poverty, disloyalty and hardship. As a small boy, when his father and the rest of the family were admitted to the debtors' prison, Charles was left to fend for himself. His father was feckless all his life and a perpetual drain on Charles' resources. We so often glean a romanticised view of the period in films and dramatic reconstructions, but the written word reminds us of the horrors and humiliations of his time.
And so in Mr Dickens and his Carol we follow Dickens as he tramps the gritty fog-filled streets in search of inspiration; as he rails against the constant racket of a busy household with six children and an extravagant wife and an endless stream of people demanding money. How he managed to write at all in such conditions escapes me! But here he is, filled with foreboding lest he be unable to afford toys for each of his children at Christmas, give his usual contributions to worthy charities, and stay out of the poorhouse. Nor is his fame assured and protected. Martin Chuzzlewit has flopped; acting troupes are plagiarising his work; his relatives trading his possessions for cash, his publishers tightening the screws.
Under intolerable pressure, temper, patience and good humour desert him. His wife leaves him just before Christmas taking the children to Scotland until he can be more reasonable. He takes refuge under a pseudonym in lowly accommodation, sleep and appetite and mental clarity all forfeit. Melancholy swallows him up.
'Like any man, he'd known a good share of knocks in his thirty-some years. Hard knocks at lesser doors, insistent rap-rap-raps on wind-bitten, rain-battered doors whose nails had lost all hope of holding. And with fame came gentler taps at better doors, pompous, pillared, and crowned thresholds in glazed indigo paint, like his own door two floors below, where the now-polite pounding was having no effect at all.
Because there are times in a man's life when no knock on any door will divert him from doing the thing at hand, in particular when that thing is a goose-feather pen flying across the page, spitting ink.'
So, there he is, finally, sleep deprived and physically drained, but re-energised, as he pours all his disappointment and anger and resentment and agony into his writing, creating and fleshing out Scrooge and Fezziwig and Cratchit and Marley. Haunted in his own mind, he revels in the introduction of fictitious ghosts as he reviews life, past, present and future, his own personal hauntress encouraging him to capitalise on experience: 'Let the spectre of your memory be the spark of your imagination.' And gradually, gradually, the all-consuming power of writing cures him of his jaded perspective, and he discovers that his mental museum is still 'where he left it, the corridors stacked high, shelves overflowing.'
Having recently finished writing my own latest novel I very much related to Dickens' relief when The Christmas Carol was finished.
'Dickens laid down his pen. There was a frisson in finishing, a great rush of feeling for the life of his characters, all the Crachits and Fezziwigs, Fred and his wife, and Scrooge most of all. He didn't want to say goodbye; he wanted to keep them close, where he might watch over them. But he knew that the end of his book was a beginning of their life without him, and he must let them be born into the world, and welcomed, as he felt sure they would be. Still how grateful he was to have known them at all.'
It's a heart-warming story, well told. And I can't resist sharing a few gems of Silva's writing:
John Dickens: 'his whole face was a ruin'
Marshalsea Debtors' Prison: 'a prison of perpetuity, a forever place of no release'
Dickens' mood: 'melancholy is the mother of invention'
Chapman and Hall, Charles Dickens, Christmas, Debtors' prison, Edward Lloyd, Edward lloyd and His World, Martin Chuzzlewit, Mr Dickens and his Carol, poverty, Samantha Silva, Victorian times
December 20, 2018 , 0
175 years ago yesterday Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol. Since then it's been reinvented time after time until it's become one of the most familiar and well-loved tales ever. In Dickens own day, the book changed the way people viewed the world, generating as it did, at once a feeling of love and of shame. Overnight charitable giving soared. And in the twenty-first century it remains a salutary reminder of the joy to be found in friendship, kindness and generosity.
The film, The Man who Invented Christmas, is based on the true story of how Dickens (played by Dan Stevens) wrote his masterpiece – you can click on the picture above to watch the official trailer. It beautifully captures the torture of writing, the agonising, the obsession, the exhilaration. Scrooge, Jacob Marley, Bob Cratchitt, Tiny Tim … they all come alive as they take shape in Charles's imagination and indeed become more important to him than his own flesh and blood, as his long suffering wife laments. It felt totally believable; I too know that affinity with the people of my imagination, the difficulty of living in the real world when you're totally immersed in the fictional one.
But what comes across powerfully in this dramatic representation is the sobering reality of Dickens' actual life, which I knew already from books like Charles Dickens: The Gas-light Boy, reviewed in this blog post last year. He's famous at a young age, yes, but constantly struggling to cope with the debts forced on him by his reckless and feckless father, a large and growing brood of children, and fickle publishers. Under enormous pressure to churn out book after book merely to stay afloat … thousands upon thousands of words written in dim light with a scratchy pen dipped in ink! Astonishing and humbling to view his genius against this context.
Here he is, weeks from Christmas, and struggling to find a viable idea for his work. The magical story-telling powers of a little orphan Irish girl trigger a thought … the name Scrooge brings Ebenezer into sharp relief … the vision of a happy ghost gives him one of the three spirits … the tears and entreaty of the Irish girl at the death of Tiny Tim spur him towards the perfect ending. The novella is completed with minutes to spare. And becomes his most famous and best-loved work.
I recommend this film to you: perfect viewing for the season. And I echo Tiny Tim's Christmas wish to you all: 'God bless us, everyone!'
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Charles Dickens: The Gas-Light Boy, Dan Stevens, The Man who Invented Christmas
Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Mary Elizabeth Braddon wrote about secrets and lies; walking a tightrope in domestic life when things are not what they seem. She was the queen of 'sensation fiction' in the 1800s and early 1900s – a species of writing that, according to the satirists of Punch, was conceived for the purpose of 'Harrowing the Mind, Making the Flesh Creep, Causing the Hair to Stand on End, Giving Shocks to the Nervous System, Destroying Conventional Moralities, and generally Unfitting the Public for the Prosaic Avocations of Life.'
Most famous for Lady Audley's Secret, Mary Braddon was in fact a prolific writer, often working on several pieces of writing simultaneously – magazine serialisations as well as books – much like her contemporary, Charles Dickens. Her work was 'perfectly attuned to the spirit of the years in which it flourished' but seems to have fallen into a vacuum these days – very few booksellers I've spoken to have even heard of her, and it's taken me years to track down more of her books in real bookshops. Then, just this month, I found two volumes in Wigtown in a newly opened bookshop, Well-Read Books, thanks to its knowledgeable owner, Ruth Anderson, QC.
The one I want to tell you about today is a slim volume, a composite of two of Braddon's novellas. In brief, The Lawyer's Secret tells of orphaned Ellinor Arden who is summonsed from Paris to London to hear her guardian read the will of her estranged uncle, Squire John Arden of Arden, a relation she never even met. She is amazed to learn that she's named as his sole beneficiary … on one condition: she must marry his adopted son, Henry Dalton. Long ago John Arden had loved Henry's mother, but she'd rejected him in favour of a younger humbler poorer man, a country surgeon. Henry was adopted by the Squire after the death of his parents, but brought up to stand on his own two feet, not to inherit the Arden fortune.
Against his own finer feelings, Ellinor's rather dashing guardian, lawyer Horace Margrave, urges her to comply with the stipulation, but we know from the outset he is in possession of some deep dark secret. Naive, romantic Ellinor is quickly disillusioned when her new husband denies her access to the money and curbs even her philanthropic intentions. She appeals to her ex-guardian, but he insists his role is finished now she has a husband to protect and advise her. Ellinor engineers her own escape back to Paris, and only discovers the truth when she is summonsed to the bedside of a dying man who refuses to divulge his name.
The descriptions are somewhat overwrought by our standards today, the dialogue stilted by Victorian convention, nevertheless the suspense lies in not knowing whom to trust, who to believe. (Ruth, I couldn't resist the legal allusions!!)
The second half of this little book is devoted to an even shorter novelette: The Mystery at Fernwood. After a brief six week acquaintance, Isabel Morley, orphan heiress of a wealthy Calcutta merchant, is engaged to be married to Mr Laurence Wendale, handsome, privileged, and vivacious son of ailing Mr Lewis Wendale, owner of the country mansion, Fernwood, ten miles from York. From page 2 we know that her life is heading for shipwreck; she tells us so herself. The 'why' creates the suspense.
Fernwood is a rather dreary isolated sprawling place, offering precious little diversion for a lively 19-year old girl, but Isabel is intrigued to find an invalid relation, 'Mr William', has been cared for in a suite of rooms in the west wing of the house for over twenty years. Laurence tells her he has never ever met William, and indeed shows remarkably little curiosity about the man, but his half-sister, Lucy Wendale, has been a devoted visitor. On the death of the invalid Lewis Wendale, knowing precious little of the family history, Isabel prepares to take over as mistress of Fernwood, enthused by her fiancé's energetic plans to bring the ancient building into the modern era. When she finds Laurence trapped in a locked room, she turns the key, and inadvertently releases the most blood-chilling events which change the lives of everyone completely.
I confess I suspected what lay behind the mystery from early on, but the horror was still real and the detail still shocked.
Braddon is indeed an accomplished writer, and I'm placing her books with great reverence amongst my collection of classics. I'll tell you about her full length novel, The Doctor's Wife, in a separate post.
Charles Dickens, Lady Audley's Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Punch magazine, suspense novels, The Doctor's Wife, The Lawyer's Secret, The Mystery of Fernwood, Victorian writers, Well-Read Books of Wigtown
An overlooked classic
January 25, 2018 , 0
My brain is throbbing with the intensity of creating characters and connecting plot lines for my current novel, so it's doubly important to build in relaxation to maintain sanity and have the space to engage with real life. A lady called Mary Elizabeth Braddon has helped me wind down this week. Heard of her? Nor me till now – to my great shame. And that in spite of numerous TV, radio and stage adaptations of her work apparently!
Because Ms Braddon (1835-1915) published over ninety books and became a household name in the Victorian era, hugely admired and respected by other famous authors like Wilkie Collins, Henry James, Charles Dickens, William Makepeace Thackeray.
And this particular book, Lady Audley's Secret, written when she was just 27 and a struggling actress, was the one that made her famous. It was serialised in the early 1860s at the same time as Dickens' Great Expectations. Braddon quickly became the 'Queen of the Sensational novel', and to this day this book remains a classic Victorian spine-tingler. And there it was, amongst my own collection of not-yet-read classics! A hidden gem, but so good that I instantly want to buy all her other writings!
The back cover blurb says:
Miss Lucy Grantham is a newcomer to the parish of Audley. She may be an impoverished governess, but she is also kind and ineffably beautiful. When Sir Michael Audley sets eyes upon her he finds himself in the grip of 'the terrible fever called love'. Their courtship raises eyebrows, but Sir Audley has set his heart on the sweet-natured girl, and before long they are married.
So, a light-hearted Georgette Heyer romance, huh?
No such thing. This is something much deeper and darker – shades of The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, maybe? It's a cleverly constructed mystery set in a grand country house and involving strange disappearances and duplicity on a grand scale. It's Sir Michael's nephew, Robert, who begins to suspect his new aunt is not all she seems to be, and his investigations lead him into a past full of inconsistencies, and very troubling secrets indeed, bigamy, blackmail, arson and murder among them.
Furthermore, below the surface, the tale is also an attack on the suppression of women in the Victorian era and the double standards set for the different classes as well as the different genders, with all their grave injustices and anomalies – hence perfectly timed. Lady Audley's Secret called into question not only the role of women and the legal, economic and societal dominance of men, but also the insulting (to us) assumption at the time that women were inherently mentally unstable because of their hormonal fluctuations and therefore uniquely liable to insanity; a belief cleverly captured in the ruthless and manipulative Lady Audley's own defence of insanity when exposed for the criminal she is: 'the hidden taint I had sucked in with my mother's milk.'
But the appeal of Lady Audley's Secret has far outlasted the Victorian craze for melodramas, and goes beyond feminist politics. Why? Well, Professor Robert Giddings believes 'the continuing fascination might be in the character of Lady Audley herself. Such a crafty, villainous woman is not portrayed in the traditions of the villainess, but as an irresistibly attractive, innocent-seeming Pre-Raphaelite beauty.' Her charm, her feathery mass of golden ringlets, her delicate features and her strange deep blue eyes, predispose us to like her; but the portrait Robert and his friend George Talboys see of her reveals the 'beautiful fiend' within.
The language is a little OTT and repetitious at times, the speeches run into several pages in places (including one by a dying man!), and I do dislike the frequent references in direct speech to what the characters thought, but for all that it's a riveting read. I galloped through the almost 500 pages effortlessly and will definitely seek out more of this amazing writer's work. And it's all there – the richly interesting characters; the careful backstories; the perfectly calibrated shocks; the interwoven connections – all the things I've been working at with my own writing. Seemingly effortlessly woven together. What a find!
Charles Dickens, Georgette Heyer, Henry James, insanity, Lady Audley's Secret, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Robert Giddings, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, Victorian morality, Wilkie Collins, William Thackeray
Oh Dickens! It's Christmas.
Chatsworth is a magnificent house at normal times; converted for Christmas it's truly spectacular. This year the theme was Oh Dickens! It's Christmas, with each room devoted to a different story or character – who could resist it?! – so we made the trip from Edinburgh especially to experience it … six and a half hours driving there; five back.
From the cut-out characters which greeted us on the way in, through the labyrinth of corridors and staircases,
to the stunning set pieces, the attention to detail and artistic flair was amazing. And what a setting! Priceless paintings gave way to garlands of baubles and foliage; glorious antiques stood cheek by jowl with fairy-lit Christmas trees.
And there, in the midst of all the fictional depictions of his works, in the real Cavendish family visitors book, Charles Dickens' actual signature highlighted!
Shop fronts, darkened alleys and famous quotes captured the authentic Dickens we know and love.
The imposing entrance was devoted to paper sculptures and there was a delicious irony in the midst of so much 'tinder' to find a real fire blazing in the hearth. Risk assessment? What risk assessment?!!
Cut out letters hung elegantly from floor to ceiling,
huge scrolling quotations festooned the pillars, really capturing the importance of words to the whole display.
Clad in Victorian dress, guides stood in the shadows, adding to the ambience but ever ready with information.
Oliver Twist's famous rogue, Fagin, prowling around beneath the towering edifice that formed sleeping quarters for his pack of mini pickpockets, enchanted the children with his 'conjuring' tricks, and the adults with his smart repartee.
And, as if the sight of the magnificent dining room set for a wedding banquet for Miss Havisham in Great Expectations were not enough,
the lady herself paced from end to end declaiming the treacherous Meriwether Compeyson and revealing her own sweet revenge with adopted daughter Estelle.
Little Miss Dorrit's dimly-lit room included one of the countless huge Christmas trees, this time bedecked in lace baubles, reels of thread and button garlands – Amy's valiant attempt to bring cheer into the debtors' prison.
Oh, I could go on and on, but you'll have got the general idea. Magnifique! Such proportions! Such vision! Such skill! Everything about the experience took my breath away. What an amazing literary inheritance we have. I'm so glad I went.
Charles Dickens, Chatsworth, Christmas
Charles Dickens: The Gas-Light Boy
July 13, 2017 , 0
Last week I shared with you something of Dickens' mastery of the written word. Seems appropriate in this week's post to follow it with a dip into a book I've just finished reading. It's the first of two volumes about the author's own early life: Charles Dickens: The Gas-Light Boy by Michael and Mollie Hardwick, published back in 1976.
Written very much in the style of Dickens himself, it takes the form of a rags-to-riches novel and is eminently readable. I particularly love the use of dialect to convey so much about class and education and place. Here's an exchange between the young Charles and an orphan servant girl:
She threw him a gap-toothed grin of admiration. 'You do talk nice, Master Charles. But it's all a lot of rot for all that, 'cos we need bread today. We can't feed the nippers on jam tomorrow, Master Charles.'
'I take your point, Orfling dear …'
Suddenly she flared up. 'Oh, drop it, Master Charles, drop it!'
He stared. 'What's the matter?'
'Nuffin.'
'Really, my dear Orfling …'
'If you must know, Master Charles,' she almost spat at him, 'it don't relish a person to be called Orfling all the time. Orfling, Orfling!' She threw up her hands and jumped down from the sacking.
It had never occurred to him. Perhaps the Chatham Orfling has felt so. 'I suppose not,' he said slowly, climbing down. 'I never thought about it.'
'Well, fink about it, then.'
'All right. What is your name?' There was no answer.
'What is it for, goodness sake? What shall I call you? Miss Crumbs? Henrietta Apple, Lady Bluenose? What?'
She jerked round to face him. 'If you must know – I don't 'ave a bloody name.'
'Exactly why we call you Orfling.'
She began to cry. 'I may be an Orfling but I got me rights to 'aving a proper name like uvver coves do.'
At the tender age of 12, Charles was pressured into taking a job much against his will – 'My education isn't finished. How will I succeed if I'm only half finished?' – knowing even at that age and stage that all he really wanted to do was write. For six or seven shillings a week he got a book-keeping job in a stinking rat-infested waterside blacking factory where he was bullied relentlessly and felt most terribly alone.
No detail of this traumatic twelfth year of his life was ever to vanish from the mind of Charles Dickens.
But by the time he reached his late teens, the family fortunes were temporarily reversed by the death of a rich relative. He was given another stab at school, and became proficient in shorthand, leading to his employment as a law clerk and successful reporter. All these opportunities, plus hard work, determination and ingenuity – qualities he recognised as the hallmarks of 'a true professional writer' – started to generate a decent income.
It was mixing with people across all strata of society that exposed Dickens to the reality of life in those times, giving him the extraordinary insights and empathy that we see in the rich authenticity of his characters. He knew at first hand what it felt like to live in penury, even in a debtors' prison, because of his feckless father's irresponsibility; but he also knew the comforts that came from success. He knew the pain of unfulfilled love, as well as the ups and downs of married life and fatherhood. Drawing heavily on his experiences, he produced lively articles and serialised stories; papers began to pay him, publishers to offer substantial advances.
Although he loved acting and the theatre, it was writing that turned him from a nobody into 'Somebody'. But despite his success and growing fame, working with publishers and illustrators was not without its own headaches, and the scene over the cover for Pickwick Papers will resonate with many an author still today. Chapman and Hall had seen fit to depict Mr Pickwick in a punt, dozing over a fishing line.
'Mr Pickwick does not go fishing,' declared his creator emphatically. 'it is most unlikely that he will ever go fishing. I believe, indeed, that he absolutely detests fishing.'
By now Chapman and Hall were thoroughly intimidated by their fiery young protégé. They exchanged a nervous glance before Hall ventured, 'I suppose he might go fishing – sometime – under protest. Might he not, Mr Dickens?'
'Out of the question, Mr Hall.'
Chapman cleared his throat. 'Look here, Dickens. I doubt if the readers will take Mr Pickwick up as a sort of religious matter, you know. They will be content enough to see him fishing in a good drawing on the cover and read of him doing something else in the text within.'
Hall backed him up. 'I daresay Mr Chapman is right, you know.'
Charles gave them an acid smile. 'I have no doubt that Mr Chapman is right. The point at issue, though, it seems to me, is something different. I believe my readers will expect my characters to have a consistency and a truth which will justify them in following their adventures with devoted application.'
Chapman sighed. 'It's a question, then, of whether the artist is to follow the writer, or the writer the artist.'
'The text comes first, Mr Chapman.'
'In this case the plates came first. The initial idea was Mr Seymour's, you know.'
'Pickwick is mine!' Charles cried passionately. 'I will not allow him to be misrepresented by anyone.'
Dear me, said Chapman's eye to Hall's, this fellow is a confounded maniac.
And when Charles met the artist himself sparks flew. Dickens tried to soften Mr Seymour up with a fragrant tankard of grog and lavish compliments but met only supercilious disdain.
'I have come, Mr Dickens, not to get your puerile advice on my career, but to give you a little advice about your own. It is this: a shorthand-writer may become a first class hack, but the best hack in the world will never, never be an artist.'
To which Dickens replies: '… let me tell you this, Mr Seymour: whether I am a shorthand-writer, a hack or an artist, I care not. I tell tales for money. But if you are to draw my tales, sir, you will draw them as I write them. Good night to you, sir.'
Rich considering who this particular 'shorthand writer' and 'hack' was, huh?
It came as no small shock to the self-dazzled Charles, still infatuated with his brain-child, to hear that on the night Seymour finished the new plate for The Dying Clown he had gone into the garden and blown his brains out.
His brother Fred tried to comfort him; Charles couldn't have known the man was ill, he assured him.
'He was ill!' Charles shouted. 'I am ill. Every artist, every writer is ill, Fred. The illness is loneliness, the impossibility of communicating with people other than those who live in our minds.'
And this obsession with his imaginary worlds became more and more pronounced as his fame grew. His internal companions took him over completely, his real wife was neglected. The early death of his teenage sister-in-law, Mary, for whom he felt real love, immortalised her in his mind: 'Mary would always be perfect, because she was dead.' But his devastating grief spawned even more intense writing, further enhancing his appeal.
At twenty-six, he was a celebrity. Fashionable hostesses vied with each other to entertain him, and he maintained the same debonair ease at the table of the terrifying aristocrat Lady Holland as at that of the beautiful Countess of Blessington, queen of the demi-monde society at Gore House. The actor in him came out strong on these occasions, enabling him to conceal his lack of formal education and social background. He knew nothing of art or literature in the widest sense. He had never had a lesson on which forks and knives to use at a banquet, but he was learning fast, and it would be a sharp eye indeed that detected him in making a mistake. Almost incredibly, he was elected a member of the exclusive sought-after Athenaeum Club, on the grounds of being an Eminent Person.
At twenty-six!
But his success was to be always over-shadowed by his father's irresponsibility and improvidence. John Dickens lurked 'in his shabby lodgings, spider-like, ready to creep out at any fortuitous moment to snatch a few guineas from his son's pockets'. He even sank to stealing scraps of his son's writing from his wastepaper basket or desk to sell to collectors, and to concocting a fraudulent scheme to obtain money from Charles' insurers. As a result it fell to Dickens Junior to carry the burden of supporting the entire family:
'… writing, ever writing, to support his 'petticoats', Catherine and Georgina, the ever-growing brood of children, the brothers who were turning out to have the streak of extravagant fecklessness in them which he would struggle so hard to discourage in his own sons, even his father-in-law, George Hogarth, now fallen on poor times. And, for another nine years after the flight from Alphington, there would be his chief pensioner, his father: ebullient, self-confident, shameless, treading the flowery path which his son had carved out for him, dipping into that son's pocket as cheerfully as the growing cuckoo grabs food from its harassed foster-parents.
It was some small revenge perhaps that John Dickens became the model for Mr Macawber in the book that was most autobiographical: David Copperfield. Charles was thirty-nine and a very famous figure indeed when his father eventually died.
'Whatever John Dickens had owed Charles throughout his life, it was fully repaid now, and would be, over and over again, in the sales of the book.'
Perfect poetic revenge, huh? But bought at a very high price.
biography, Charles Dickens, Charles Dickens: The Gas-Light Boy, David Copperfield, Michael and Mollie Hardwick, Pickwick Papers
Learning from a master
Shutterstock image
In my occasional musings about authors who break stylistic rules and get away with it, I haven't as yet mentioned our old friend Charles Dickens. We all know he's lauded and revered for all sorts of reasons, not least his perspicacious commentary of social issues, but only recently did I see an article about his narrative audacity. It was in The Author, and by Professor John Mullan of University College London, who's currently writing a book about the great man's novels. I found it so fascinating I thought I'd share some of his comments with you.
Professor Mullan maintains that it was Dickens' experimental approach to prose that set him apart from all previous novelists. The 'fizz of his sentences' redefined what constituted eloquent prose. He latched on to habits of spoken English normally scorned by writers – clichés, redundancies, common parlance, idiosyncrasies, exaggeration, repetition, lists – and used them to brilliant effect.
Specific examples best illustrate the point, I think.
First then, clichés. OK, all self-respecting writers are taught to wage war against clichés. And yet Dickens brought out 'the energy lying dormant within' them. Example? The famous opening of A Christmas Carol:
Marley was dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it: and Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change, for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
Two common phrases – 'to begin with' and 'dead as a door nail' are used very cleverly here. 'To begin with' tells us that this is the first fact to state, but it also alerts us to the fact that Marley will be coming back to life as the story progresses. Neat, huh?
'As dead as a door nail' …? Dickens explains:
Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.
Can't you just hear some famous thespian declaiming these lines as an aside and the audience appreciatively roaring with laughter? Dickens not only brings this popular adage to life but he plays to the doubts we may harbour ourselves about the finality of a death: certainly the 'common way of asserting that a life is extinguished will not be enough to stop this dead man returning.' (my emphasis)
Or another example of a cliché used for amusement as well as depiction: Mr Pecksniff the pious hypocrite in Martin Chuzzlewitt is telling the old man from whom he hopes to win a legacy, that he despises money.
It would be no description of Mr Pecksniff's gentleness of manner to adopt the common parlance, and say that he looked at this moment as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. He rather looked as if any quantity of butter might have been made out of him, by churning the milk of human kindness, as it spouted upwards from his heart.
Figurative absurdity that conveys so much about the man.
Another literary no-no: exaggeration. Generally speaking, less is more. In Dickens' hands, however, it arouses our sense of the ridiculous. Listen to this passage conveying Mr Dombey's exultation on the birth of a son, 'not quite noticing that his wife is near death', and his sense of self importance, in Dombey and Son.
The earth was made for Dombey and Son to trade in, and the sun and moon were made to give them light. Rivers and seas were formed to float their ships; rainbows gave them promise of fair weather; winds blew for or against their enterprises; stars and planets circled in their orbits, to preserve inviolate a system of which they were the centre … A.D. had no concern with Anno Domini, but stood for anno Dombeii – and Son.
You can feel the thud on the floorboards as the pompous fellow struts up and down, chest puffed out, self-satisfaction written all over his face, can't you?
Repetition is another no-no for writers normally, but Dickens uses it to great purpose – to convey obsession – in Our Mutual Friend.
Mr and Mrs Veneering were bran-new people in a bran-new house in a bran-new quarter of London. Everything about the Veneerings was spick and span new. All their furniture was new, all their friends were new, all their servants were new, their plate was new, their horses were new, their pictures were new, they themselves were new, they were as newly married as was lawfully compatible with their having a bran-new baby …
Don't you wish you'd thought of this?
Then there are lists. Mullan shares two superb examples from Dickens' pen. The first is Pip's disgust as he takes in the horror of having a convict's money paying for his gentlemanly expectations in Great Expectations.
In all his [Convict Magwich] ways of sitting and standing, and eating and drinking, – of brooding about in a high-shouldered reluctant style, – of taking out his great hornhandled jackknife and wiping it on his legs and cutting his food, – of lifting light glasses and cups to his lips, as if they were clumsy pannikins, – of chopping a wedge off his bread, and soaking up with it the last fragments of gravy round and round his plate, as if to make the most of an allowance, and then drying his finger-ends on it, and then swallowing it, – in these ways and a thousand other small nameless instances arising every minute in the day, there was Prisoner, Felon, Bondsman, plain as plain could be.
You can feel Pip's eyes absorbing these habits with dawning horror, can't you? All those small foibles amounting to a massive, eye-opening, most unwelcome realisation.
The second is also from Great Expectations (resonates with me particularly since I studied this book for O-level English lit back in the day). Pip is narrating his journey down the Thames estuary determined to intercept the packet boat to France so that his benefactor can escape.
For now the last of the fleet of ships was round the last low point we had headed; and the last green barge, straw-laden, with a brown sail, had followed; and some ballast-lighters, shaped like a child's first rude imitation of a boat, lay low in the mud; and the little squat shoal-lighthouse on open piles stood crippled in the mud on stilts and crutches; and slimy stakes stuck out of the mud, and slimy stones stuck out of the mud, and red landmarks and tidemarks stuck out of the mud, and an old landing stage and an old roofless building slipped into the mud, and all about us was stagnation and mud.
Not one of us lesser spotted authors, I suspect, would dare a sentence this long, this repetitious, and yet, it works beautifully in the hands of Charles Dickens, doesn't it?
I'm indebted to Professor Mullan for this illuminating new look into Dickens' cleverness. Maybe, after all, the rule book for writers needs revision …? No, rather, I suspect that only the true expert knows when and how to bend those rules to such spectacular effect. And how many of us will ever aspire to Dickens' giddy heights?
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Dombey and Son. Great Expectations, John Mullan. London, Martin Chuzzlewitt, Our Mutual Friend, rules of writing
Dickensian arguments
I imagine lots of authors dream of having their books turned into films. What better way to bring them to the attention of thousands? Get those sales figures sky rocketing. Reach a different kind of audience. Become famous. Get rich.
And yet adaptation is a topic that generates strong feelings in the other direction. Books are always deeper and somehow better … films rarely square with imagined characters … I'm always disappointed when I see the film; It never lives up to the book version … along those lines anyway.
I'd certainly fear the loss of essential elements in my own novels were Hollywood to come calling (less snorting on the back row). That's not to say it'd be a big 'No', but we all have a keen sense of the 'big idea' (as they say in the advertising world) behind our stories. We know our characters inside out, we've lived with them, inside them even, for years, and we want filmmakers to be true to them. But there are no guarantees.
http://www.hazelmchaffie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/My-Sisters-Keeper.mp4
Allow me to illustrate. Years ago I read Jodi Picoult's book, My Sister's Keeper, and enjoyed it. This time she was exploring my field of interest, raising awareness, doing superbly what I was trying to do in my own little corner. Then I saw the film and was terribly disappointed. The characters weren't at all as I knew them. In particular the lawyer, Campbell Alexander, to whom the main character, Anna, turns for help in suing her parents for rights to her own body. Campbell's a key figure in the book and we're in suspense throughout wondering … why does he have an assistance dog? What is his problem? Why does he give every person who inquires a different answer? But his humour, his ingenuity, his vibrancy, is completely missing in the film. So for me that didn't work.
However, for lots of people who only saw the film, it could well have been their first and only introduction to the challenges surrounding creating saviour siblings. That has to be good. Many will never know what literary pearls they're missing. Those who subsequently read the book, will only find their awareness enriched.
I would argue that books and films are different art forms, trying to do different things, reach different audiences. There's something special about immersing oneself in the written word, conjuring up scenes and characters in one's imagination, feeling the emotions as they slowly, slowly unravel on the page. But stand – or should that be sit? – back and watch the skill of actors who do the hard work, the interpretation, for you – watch the effect of the brooding silences, the shy glances, the touch of hands – in seconds they can convey a world of feeling hard to describe in pages of words. And we've seen that par excellence in the current dramatisation of War and Peace on BBC One on Sunday evenings at the moment.
http://www.hazelmchaffie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/War-Peace-Trailer-BBC-One.mp4
Now, I admit, I don't know what I'm missing by watching Andrew Davies' TV adaptation of Tolstoy's epic tale; I've never got around to tackling the tome itself. But I like to think it has now become more accessible to me. If Davies has been sufficiently true to the original I'd have a better sense of the story lines, the context, the many interwoven characters. Maybe one day ….? But of course they will now look like their film counterparts from the outset!
I have read Dickens and Austen and Trollope, those classics which are trotted out and reinvented time and again. They may be regular features on the school curriculum reading lists but I for one never tire of them. So I was delighted to see a brand new take on our old favourite, Dickens, currently showing on BBC One too: Dickensian.
http://www.hazelmchaffie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Dickensian-Trailer-Brand-New-Original-Drama-BBC-One.mp4
This is no rehash of the same story. It takes a bold leap and weaves together lots of his characters and story-lines. And sews them into a classic murky London setting with plenty of pea-soupers, dim lantern-light, Christmas snow and doubtful morals. Delicious.
So, for example, we all know Miss Havisham, jilted on her wedding day, forever wearing her bridal gown. In Dickensian we see a plausible back story; she's being wooed by an unscrupulous scoundrel. We know it'll all end badly, but we're fascinated to watch the seduction, the power the seducer also wields over her weak homosexual brother, her struggle to be a businesswoman in a man's world. She takes on extra dimensions in the process.
Other old favourites are exactly themselves as we know and love them. Sarah Gamp – a gin-swilling 'medical person', wheedling a tipple out of anyone who crosses her path. Ebenezer Scrooge – the quintessential miserly curmudgeon, but in this production, fleshed out, in action, antagonising all he comes into contact with. Bob Cratchit – absolutely true to the original with his huge heart and devotion to his family. Fagin, the Artful Dodger, Nancy, Bill Sikes, the motley band of child pick pockets – they're all there, scurrying around in the nether regions of Victorian London, relying on their wits and criminal loyalties to avoid the noose and the inspector's wrath. Mr and Mrs Bumble, Inspector Bucket, Jacob Marley … a cast of hundreds. Just like Dickens' stories.
It's compelling stuff. Some reviewers have questioned whether it's worthy of 20 episodes; apparently audiences have tailed off significantly. But for me it has rekindled my love of Dickens, made me want to start all over again reading the books! So I'm not one to scoff at film adaptations. Hollywood, if you're listening ….
Andrew Davies, Anthony Trollope, BBC One, Charles Dickens, films from books, Jane Austen, Jodi Picoult, Leo Tolstoy, My Sister's Keeper, saviour siblings, War and Peace
A dramatic start to 2012
January 5, 2012 , 0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x91rBzNKvlc
A friend sent me this – beautiful photography, excellent sentiments – and I thought I'd share it with you in this first post of 2012. It says what I'd like to say so much better than I could say it (spelling mistakes excepted). A wish for world peace, wisdom, courage, happiness; what more could we ask for? And the idea of that spotless tract of snow that will show every mark we make, fairly strengthens the resolve to do better, doesn't it?
As for me, well, it's back to work with a vengeance this week. One of my tasks has been preparing a resumé of the dramatic appeal of my books ready for an approach to filmmakers. And because my mind has been running along that track I've been acutely conscious of the number of films from books shown on TV over the festive period.
Dickens' Great Expectations made the biggest splash, of course, with its millions of viewers at prime time.
Now, I confess I studied Great Expectations at school for O-level English, but I'm hanged if I remembered much about it decades later. What I do know, though, is that seeing this adaptation was a hundred times more enjoyable – and I'm a self-confessed book addict. From the moment when Magwitch emerges from the eerie slime, to the point where Miss Havisham dons her bridal veil and sets fire to her lover's letters and herself, I was gripped. The only jarring bits for me were the good-looking stars. Surely Miss Havisham was more crumbly and wrinkled than Gillian Anderson made her; and Pip was certainly not as prettily perfect a screen idol as Douglas Booth – eclipsing Estelle, in fact. But I could easily overlook those anomalies, and concede that they together probably brought in far more viewers than ordinary everyday faces would have done.
Also on offer were repeats of the oldies – Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities, Dorian Gray, Little Women, Heidi, Mansfield Park, Emma, The Chronicles of Narnia … to name but a few on the main channels.
Now, usually I'm averse to watching a film of a book I've read. I like to retain the characters of my imagination unsullied by the interpretations of others. But I'm increasingly coming round to thinking that drama can bring these remote tales of bygone times to life for far more people. Some of whom will then go to the book with a headstart in understanding the rather dreary 19th century prose. Why, just today I saw a shelf full of paperback versions of Great Expectations – curiously labelled 'Vintage Dickens' – with scratchy black and white covers too, not even a photograph of the TV stars in the Christmas version! So there must be a market for the book now amongst the folk of 2012 who buy ready-made cakes and polyester clothes and giant plasma screen TVs. Besides which, you can download the classics on your Kindle absolutely free of charge.
So, all power to the elbow of those who labour to resurrect the classics for the 21st century, say I. Andrew Davies screenplay of Little Dorrit was for me a masterclass in bringing fusty prose to life. Davies, you'll remember, was the genius who created a Mr Darcy who cooled his ardour in the pond and emerged with his wet shirt and breeches clinging to his manly form in front of his lady love in Pride and Prejudice. A brilliant screenwriter.
One day I'm hoping to persuade some playwright and film director somewhere to do something similar for me! That's what's galvanising me this week. I used to worry about my stories being distorted, but Dickens has been dragged into accessibility and modern times by clever adaptation, so why not me?
2012, A Tale of Two Cities, Andrew Davies, Charles Dickens, CS Lewis, David Copperfield, Dorian Gray, Douglas Booth, Emma, Gillian Anderson, Great Expectations, Heidi, Jane Austen, Johanna Spyri, Little Dorrit, Little Women, Louisa Alcott, Mansfield Park, New Year, Nicholas Nickleby, Pride and Prejudice, resolutions, The Chronicles of Narnia

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Mézières-sur-Seine è un comune francese di 3.532 abitanti situato nel dipartimento degli Yvelines nella regione dell'Île-de-France.

Società

Evoluzione demografica

Note

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

Mezieres-sur-Seine

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Four in running for £450m highways contract
Four bidders are in the running for a £450 million highways contract with Gloucestershire County Council.
Contracts round-up
BAM Nuttall, Costain, Interserve and Tarmac are chasing a £2.8 million deal with the Highways Agency for improvements to junction 10 of the M42. A decision is imminent with Amey expected to oversee work for the Agency.
Shortlisted bidders for A9 design contracts revealed
Transport Scotland has announced the shortlisted companies being invited to bid for three large A9 design contracts.
NMC secures £3.5m of new contracts in Yorkshire
North Midland Construction (NMC) is working on a number of highways improvements in Yorkshire after securing new contracts that have a combined value in excess of £3.5 million.
Shortlist for Forth bridges operating contract announced
Three companies have reached the pre-qualification stage of the Forth bridges operating contract-tendering process.
Apprenticeship targets form part of transport and skills strategy
Targets for the creation of new apprenticeships will be written into contracts as the government sets out to deliver on its ambition for 30,000 apprenticeships in the road and rail sector by 2020.
56,000 construction professionals needed by 2020
More than 50,000 construction professionals, including 15,000 in the roads sector, are needed to deliver key infrastructure projects.
Through the bad times and the good
Neil Gibson, first vice president of council directors' body ADEPT gives his views on what makes successful partnerships between local authorities and suppliers.
Lincolnshire seeks bids for £762m highway maintenance work
Lincolnshire County Council is seeking contractors for highway maintenance work that could be worth £762m over 12 years.


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La prostitución en Kosovo es ilegal, y su ejercicio puede implicar incurrir en una pena de prisión de hasta sesenta días. El programa en Kosovo contra el VIH del Fondo Mundial estima unas 5.037 prostitutas en el país. Muchas mujeres recurren al ejercicio de la prostitución debido a la pobreza, y son estigmatizadas sexualmente por parte de sus familiares.

Hay informes de que la trata de personas con fines de explotación sexual se ha convertido en un nuevo negocio secundario del crimen organizado en Kosovo.

Historia reciente
Antes de la Guerra de Kosovo, la prostitución se limitaba a satisfacer las necesidades de los locales. Tras el alto el fuego, y debido a la presencia en el país de la Misión de Administración Provisional de las Naciones Unidas en Kosovo y de otras organizaciones internacionales, la demanda de prostitución se disparó. Además de las mujeres que se dedicaron voluntariamente a la prostitución, algunas fueron traficadas desde Moldavia, Bulgaria y Ucrania.

El jefe de la sede en Mitrovica del Centro de Prensa Internacional, Rade Negojevic, afirmó que Kosovo se convirtió en el burdel más grande del mundo tras la llegada de las fuerzas de paz internacionales.

En 2000, la administración de la MINUK creó una Unidad de Policía de Tráfico y Prostitución con la intención de combatir proxenetas, traficantes y crimen organizado. Las medidas contra la trata se incluyeron en el Código Penal Provisional de Kosovo cuando este se redactó. El Servicio de Policía del Estado informó en 2008 de que la prostitución se ejercía en 694 bares, cafeterías y clubes nocturnos de Kosovo.

Trata sexual
En su informe para 2019, la Oficina del Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos para supervisar y combatir la trata de personas clasifica a Kosovo como un país de "Nivel 2". Es decir, que su gobierno no cumple los estándares mínimos contra la trata de personas, según se recoge en la Ley estadounidense para la Protección de Víctimas de Trata del 2000, pero que está haciendo esfuerzos significativos por cumplirla.

Tras la guerra y la llegada de la MINUK a Kosovo, la directora de Amnistía Internacional en el Reino Unido, Kate Allen, declaró que "Mujeres y niñas de tan solo 11 años están siendo vendidas como esclavas sexuales en Kosovo y las fuerzas de paz internacionales no solo no logran detenerlo, sino que alimentan activamente este despreciable comercio pagando por el sexo de mujeres tratadas." En un informe de dicha organización de 2004, se explicita que las mujeres tratadas son vendidas a precios que oscilan entre los 50 y los 3.500 euros, siendo el personal de la MINUK el 20% de los compradores de sexo de las víctimas de trata y habiendo sido despedidos o repatriados 10 policías de dicha misión por crímenes relacionados con la trata a finales de 2003. Por esas fechas, se sospechaba que entre 22 y 27 soldados del KFOR habrían cometido crímenes relacionados con la trata desde el inicio de 2002 hasta mediados de 2003. La ONU y la OTAN negaron públicamente su relación con la trata en Kosovo.

Kosovo es principalmente un país de destino (pero también una fuente) de mujeres y niños sujetos a trata con fines de explotación sexual. La mayoría de las víctimas son tratadas internamente, siendo captadas a través de falsas promesas de matrimonio u ofertas de empleo en cafeterías, clubes nocturnos y restaurantes. La mayoría de las víctimas de trata sexual en Kosovo son niñas y adolescentes, aunque los grupos criminales también traen mujeres de Moldavia, Rumania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ucrania, Albania y otros países europeos (como Rusia) para forzarlas a ejercer a la prostitución. Mujeres, adolescentes y niñas son objeto de tráfico sexual en casas y apartamentos privados, clubes nocturnos y salas de masajes. Los adolescentes y los niños utilizados como bailarines y acompañantes son vulnerables al tráfico sexual. Los traficantes someten a ciudadanos de Kosovo que pertenecen a minorías a prostitución forzada por toda Europa. Las comunidades económicamente marginadas de romaníes, ashkali (gitanos albaneses) y egipcios son vulnerables y se utilizan para el tráfico y la trata sexual. La corrupción gubernamental crea un entorno que permite algunos delitos de trata. Varios agentes de policía, empleados del ministerio de trabajo y otros funcionarios del gobierno han sido acusados o condenados por delitos de trata.

El artículo 171 del código penal prohíbe todas las formas de trata y prescribe castigos de 5 a 12 años de prisión y una multa de hasta 500,000 euros. Cuando los delitos de trata sexual involucran a menores o un grupo de víctimas sometidas a trata sexual, las penas pasan a ser de 15 a 20 años de prisión, más el pago de una multa. El artículo 231 prohíbe la compra de servicios sexuales ofrecidos por una víctima de trata.

Véase también

 Prostitución en Albania
 Prostitución en Europa

Referencias

Prostitución
Prostitución por país
Sociedad de Kosovo
Derechos de las mujeres en Kosovo
Kosovo


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Southern Copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix contortrix)
Southern copperheads reach an adult length of 24 to 26 inches (60 to 66 cm). They have a pale brown to light tan body, often with a pinkish tint. Their yellow eyes have elliptical or cat-like pupils. Its body, covered with rough scales, is patterned with dark, hour glass-shaped cross bands, wider at their base and narrow across the back. Copperheads have heat-sensing "pits" located between the eyes and nostrils, hence the name "pit viper".
Copperheads feed on baby cottontails, swamp rabbits, rats, mice, birds, snakes, lizards, baby turtles, frogs, toads, and insects, especially grasshoppers and cicadas. They are preyed on by other snakes and raptors (birds of prey). Males reach sexual maturity within two years, females in three. Mating season is in the spring (February to early May), shortly after leaving winter dens; and fall (August to October) with fertilization delayed until following spring.
Copperheads, like other pit vipers, do not lay eggs. Instead the eggs are kept inside the female's body until the eggs are ready to "hatch." Incubation time is 105 to 110 days. The four to eight young, 7 to 10 inches (17 to 25 cm) long, weigh less than an ounce (28 g) at birth. Although duller in color, they look much like adults with yellowish tail-tips. (Tail-tips fade after third or fourth year.) Females provide no parental care after birth. One animal lived 23 years and 2 months in captivity, but in the wild, the average lifespan is probably 6 to 8 years.
Southern copperheads are diurnal (active during daylight hours) during early spring and late fall, at which time they will generally depend on the ability of their bodies to blend in with their environment to obtain prey and avoid enemies. They are nocturnal during the summer heat, actively hunting for prey during the cooler evening hours. Southern copperheads often eat one single meal every three weeks-even during their most active months. Copperheads sometimes nest with other snake species during hibernation.
Some people believe that the bite of a baby venomous snake is more powerful than that of an adult. Actually, there is no difference in the venom's potency, regardless of the age of the snake. Snake venom's most important function is to kill animals to be eaten. Defense is only a secondary function. Like all vipers, southern copperheads use the "heat seeking pits" behind their eyes to help locate their prey. Lying motionless on a bed of dead leaves, the pale-brown and chestnut-colored southern copperhead is all but invisible-a regular stealth viper! These are venomous snakes, but they are slow-movers, and depending on the season, they often share habitats with their prey.
Southern copperheads prefer mixed pasture and wooded lowlands, usually within a river bottom, where leaf litter, logs and branches provide places to hide. They are sometimes present in wooded suburbs, adapting to the presence of humans.
The copperhead is found in the eastern United States to the central and southern states, and in the eastern third of Texas.
The bite of a copperhead is seldom fatal because of its short fangs (1.2 to 7.2 mm in length) and small amount of venom. Taking some simple safety precautions, however, can keep you from harm. Be careful where you put your hands and feet-don't reach or step until you can see the bottom. Never step over a log without first seeing what is on the other side. If you must move a log, use a long stick or garden tool first to ensure snakes are neither under, on or around these favored habitats. Use a flashlight when moving about at night, even in your home yard. Animal burrows make excellent habitat for snakes-don't reach in without first checking. Wear protective clothing if working in areas where you suspect snakes nearby. Heavy footwear, snake proof trousers and/or leggings will help reduce your risk. Freeze when snakes are known to be nearby until you know where they are. Allow the snake to retreat. If you must move, back slowly and carefully away from the snake.


If you drive often on the highways in San Antonio and the surrounding areas, you have probably shared the road with a tractor-trailer or two. These large commercial vehicles are necessary for transporting goods to and from Texas, but they can also pose serious risks to other drivers.
At Gamez Law Firm, we have a long history of helping our fellow community members recover from terrible truck accidents. We know that the weeks, months and even years after an accident can be very difficult. We will be by your side to help you through it.
A tractor-trailer accident can happen for any number of reasons. A driver may lose control while texting and driving. Inadequate maintenance could cause a tire blowout or brake failure. Improperly secured cargo could lead to a multi-vehicle accident.
As your team of lawyers, part of our job is to help determine exactly what happened in an accident. We invest the time and resources necessary to get an accurate picture of what happened, so we can help you secure the compensation you need.
Unlike typical car accidents, commercial vehicle accidents can include many parties who may be at fault. While the truck driver is the most obvious, the trucking company may also have contributed to the accident in some way.
We have decades of experience helping semitrailer accident victims determine who was at fault. We will consider all possibilities as we work tirelessly to build a strong case on your behalf.
We have been serving the San Antonio area for more than 40 years. We are passionate about helping others in our community through the difficult aftermath of a truck accident. We can meet you at our office, in your home, at the hospital or anywhere else that is convenient for you.
To meet with one of our attorneys, call us at 210-951-2024 or request an appointment online. Se habla español.


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Indian coal market shaken up
By Tim Buckley
Another doubling of coal tax in India shows momentum in global electricity sector transformation
The Jharia coal mine in Jharkhand, India
A big clue as to how serious India is about its energy transformation policy is in a doubling this week of its national tax on coal.
The increase, to Rs400 per metric ton (US$6/t) is the third time the coal tax—introduced in 2010—has been doubled, and it applies to all domestic and imported coal. Given that domestic Indian coal sells for an average US$20/t, this coal tax has just become very material—equal to 30 per cent of the wholesale price, before transportation costs are penciled in.
One of the excellent features of Energy Minister Piyush Goyal's electricity transformation push has been the government's ability to rapidly scale up deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency. It has done so by focusing on leveling the energy market playing field without relying on new subsidies, either for thermal or renewable energy. Further, the Indian government has made major progress in its phase-out of fossil-fuel subsidies, of which the most important step has been a reduction of subsidies for imported oil, a shift that has accompanied the international collapse of oil prices. India's energy strategy is entirely consistent with the analysis of the International Energy Agency, which has long stressed that one of the key prerequisites for a successful transition to a less carbon-intensive economy is the elimination of fossil-fuel subsidies. With the double of the coal tax, solar, wind and hydro electricity are all already now immediately competitive in the Indian electricity market against unsubsidized new imported coal-fired power generation.
Given all the external costs of coal mining and coal-fired power generation in terms of water, coal ash, air and particulate pollution, this tax increase— which affects all thermal and lignite coal used in India—will help further level that playing field for non-polluting renewables.
This increase highlights yet again how the COP21 Paris Agreement continues to have far-reaching global ramifications. Accelerating research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency, phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies and progressively putting an explicit price on carbon pollution were all key objectives agreed upon at the conference.
AS GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKETS INCREASINGLY FACTOR IN THESE POLICY AIMS, IT'S NOW A QUESTION OF WHEN NOT IF, the risk profile of fossil-fuel energy investments will continue to increase.
Conversely, the deflationary cost of renewable energy grows more and more evident, and the crossover point is now within sight in an increasing number of global markets (India, China, Chile, Brazil, the U.S.). Capital flight from stranded assets across the fossil fuel sector is accelerating (Shares of Peabody Energy, the largest private-sector coal miner in the world, are now down 99.7 per cent over the .past five years), and will underpin the further technology-driven transformation of energy markets.
Indeed, the headwinds for fossil fuels are increasingly evident. They include those increasing coal taxes in India (and Korea, where the levy increased to US$21/t in 2015 from US$15/t in 2014); moves being made to a national emissions-trading scheme like those being undertaken in China and Korea' tightening emissions requirements on coal-fired power generation in the U.S. and India; greater regulation of mine waste disposal ponds in Brazil and the U.S ; and greater scrutiny of coal mine rehabilitation subsidies and coal company leasing schemes in the U.S.
This is an era of increasing global fiscal budget constraints, and the trend toward greater industry internalization of fossil-fuel pollution costs and the reduction in fossil fuel subsidies is gaining unstoppable momentum.
IEEFA sees the global electricity sector transformation gathering speed. One result: the deep structural decline in seaborne thermal coal markets. The 11.6 per cent year-over-year decline in Chinese coal imports in January, the 28.6 per cent year-over year- decline in January 2016 coal imports into India and the 13.2 per cent year-over-year decline in coal imports into Japan in January all suggests acceleration of this trend.
Not to be overlooked: The 31 per cent year-over-year decline in U.S. coal production in January, which suggests that the second largest coal market in the world is likewise transforming faster than almost any forecast.
Tim Buckley is IEEFA's director of Energy Finance Studies, Autralasia. This article was originally published by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis


Our new topic for Spring 2 is A River Runs Through It. We will be learning all about the geography of rivers – how they are formed, why they are important, what creatures live in them, and more. In March we will visit Deptford Creek to take part in a real river walk – prepare to get wet!
Our English will link to the Rivers topic too. We will study the book River Story by Meredith Hooper, winner of the English Association's Non-Fiction Award, a beautifully illustrated account of a river's journey (although don't worry – we will finish reading the fabulous Cosmic too). We will start by writing free verse poetry about the journey of a river, and later will write our own autobiographies to tell the journey of our lives so far.
Our Maths learning will focus on fractions, decimals and percentages. Don't forget how important it is to learn your times tables facts – this is vital in all areas of Maths and can really slow you down if you don't know them! Remember to practise regularly at home on Times Tables Rock Stars. All children have their own login details which were sent home at the beginning of the term. Please ask your teacher if you need these details again.
In Art, we will be studying the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai. Most famous for his woodblock print The Great Wave off Kanagawa, Hokusai also produced prints of various other natural scenes including waterfalls, flowers and birds. We will be looking closely at the use of texture in his work and creating our own waterfall pictures.
Our new Science topic is Properties and Changes of Materials. We are bursting with ideas for hands-on investigations exploring dissolving, filtering, evaporating, melting, burning and even creating new materials. We hope you are ready to bring your best scientific thinking for these challenges!
In outdoor PE we will continue to work on our hockey skills: dribbling, passing, tackling, aiming and shooting. In indoor PE we will be looking at Multiskills with our main focus being agility and coordination. We will also be running the daily mile!
Our PSHE lessons will be focusing on puberty and its affects on the body.
In French we will be learning more about hobbies, sports, months of the year and revision of number 0-50. In RE this half term we will continue learning about Buddhism. And last but not least, we will be blogging about various aspects of our learning using Edublogs as part of the Computing curriculum.
Welcome back! We hope you had a lovely Christmas holiday and are ready for all the new learning in the Spring Term. Our topic for this half term is Space: The Final Frontier. We will be exploring day and night, how shadows change, and how ideas about our solar system have developed over time. What do you know about space? Perhaps you could come into school with some facts you can share with the class!
Our class text is Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce. This humorous adventure is seen through the eyes of twelve year old Liam Digby, a 'gifted and talented' child whose physical appearance ages him beyond his years. Follow Liam and his friend Florida Kirby on this humorous, action packed adventure exploring the ups and downs of being a parent and the consequences of a 'little white lie'. We will be writing persuasive texts and playscripts this half term.
We will be perfecting our multiplication and division skills in Maths, and exploring different methods for these operations. We will then apply this learning in area, perimeter, fractions, decimals and percentages.
Our Geography learning will be looking at weather and climate zones, including comparing our home town of London with the Gobi Desert (linked with English – Cosmic) time zones (linked with science – Earth and Space). Our RE learning will be about understanding Buddhist worship and beliefs, and in Computing we will use Edublogs to blog about our learning across the curriculum – so watch this space for links.
In French this term we will be learning to talk about our likes and dislikes, clothing, modes of transport and numbers up to 31.
J'aime découvrir de nouvelles choses!
Welcome back! We hope you are ready for the rest of the autumn term! We have an exciting half term with lots of learning! Our topic for this half term is Arabian Nights. We will be exploring Early Islam civilisation and examining how and why it developed into such a major world power.
What do you know about Islam? Perhaps you could come into school with some facts you can share with the class!
Our class text is Arabian Nights by Wafa Tarnowska. The book holds eight stories from A Thousand and One Nights, including Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. The book is framed around the stories told by Shahrazade to Shahriyar.
In Science we will be continuing our investigation into forces, including air and water resistance, pulleys, gears and levers. Find some everyday objects in your home or classroom which use gears, pulleys or levers. You might be surprised.
In art, we will be exploring Islamic art and the geometric designs which are a common feature. We will also be using our computing skills to create our designs.
We will be moving on to statistics, perimeter and area in our maths. Reasoning and problem solving will help us along our way!
This term, we will be learning to introduce ourselves and talk about our interests.
For indoor PE, Dominic's and Stephanie's classes will be doing Leadership. Nora's class will be doing Dance with an external coach. All classes will be doing netball for outdoor PE.
KIT REQUIRED: Indoor PE – shorts or leggings, T-shirt. Outdoor PE – jogging bottoms, T-shirt, long-sleeved top (in colder weather), trainers or plimsolls.
As the children are not allowed to wear jewellery during PE, we would ask that they do not wear jewellery to school on those days. Please ensure all long hair is tied back for health and safety reasons. We will assume that the children are able to join in PE activities unless we have a letter to the contrary.
Your child should be completing their homework each week. It is sent out either on Thursday or Friday, and should be returned by the following Tuesday. This work is planned to secure and develop your child's knowledge and understanding, and is therefore extremely important.
We hope you have had a wonderful holiday and are well rested and looking forward to what we are sure will be a fantastic year! We are beginning with an exciting topic of Crime and Punishment. This is a focus on a theme of British history to extend children's knowledge beyond 1066. We will be learning how crime and punishment has evolved throughout the years. How do you think crime and punishment might have changed over the centuries?
Our class text is The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes. The story tells of the highwayman's visit to see the beautiful Bess at the old inn, and of the terrible fate they both meet with a mysterious ending.
We will be exploring the powerful language used and the scenes that it evokes. We will also be using Charles Keeping's illustrations as inspiration for our own art.
Perhaps you can find out about highwaymen and where they used to roam.
In maths we will be deepening our understanding of place value, looking at number sequences and exploring a range of written and mental methods of calculation.
In science, we will be investigating the forces around us. We will be taking a very 'hands on' approach to science as we explore and learn about forces in the world around us. We will explore gravity, air and water resistance, friction and a range of mechanisms that allow a small force to have a great effect.
In Computing we will be revisiting e-safety and cyber-bullying, looking at how to keep safe on the Internet. We will also be focusing on how to use search engines effectively. We will be designing and building balloon buggies for our Design and Technology project, considering the effects of friction and how energy is transferred. In French Year 5 will be finding out about the shops on the French high street and learning their different names. We will also be using, asking for, and giving, directions. In RE we will explore Christianity and its history in Britain as well as learning about Jesus' disciples and friends.


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Чжуанское письмо, или Sawndip  — логографическое письмо, производное от китайских иероглифов, используемое для записи чжуанского языка (распространён в Гуанси, Китай). На путунхуа оно называется гу чжуанцзы () или фанкуай чжуанцзы (). Слово sawndip (𭨡𮄫) — чжуанское, оно означает «незрелые знаки». Китайские иероглифы по-чжуански называются sawgun (чжуанск.: 𭨡倱; букв. «ханьское письмо», saw — «письмо», «книга», gun — хань, когнат знака 漢).

История

Неизвестно, сколько времени используется чжуанское письмо. Несколько «разговорных знаков» () из Гуанси были записаны в две книги времён империи Сун: «За хребтами. Вместо ответов» Чжоу Цюйфэя () и «Гуйхай в описаниях попечителя гор и вод» () Фань Чэнда. Некоторые исследователи относят эти записи к временам империи Тан, приводя надпись со стелы 689 года постройки, названную , хотя надпись выполнена на китайском, она содержит несколько нестандартных иероглифов. То, что чжуанское прочтение заимствованных иероглифов часто совпадает со среднекитайским, предполагает ранние сроки, однако это может быть объяснено заимствованием из . Напротив, учёные, изучающие родственное письмо языка буи, считают, что чжуанская письменность появилась лишь вместе с китайскими чиновниками в начале империи Цин.

Письменность чжуанского языка использовалась веками, в основном, шаманами и певцами, для записи стихов, сказок, мифов, песен, текстов пьес, медицинских предписаний, генеалогических сведений и договоров. После революции 1949 года чжуанским письмом даже записывалась коммунистическая агитация. После введения в 1957 году стандартного чжуанского языка с письменностью латиницей, грамотность среди чжуаноговорящих увеличилась. Тем не менее, чжуанские диалекты сильно отличаются друг от друга, как фонетически, так и лексически, а чжуанская латиница основана на уминском диалекте, из-за чего некоторые чжуаноговорящие предпочитают пользоваться старым иероглифическим письмом.

Спустя пять лет после начала работ в 1989 был выпущен Словарь чжуанского письма «Sawndip Sawdenj» (). В него включено более 10 000 иероглифов, на 2007 год это был первый и единственный словарь чжуанского письма, а в 2008 году анонсировали создание «Большого словаря старочжуанских знаков», 《中华古壮字大字典》.

Характеристики

Чжуанское письмо состоит из китайских иероглифов, похожих на ханьцзы знаков, и прочих символов. Некоторые иероглифы имеют больше дюжины вариантов.

Согласно Чжан Юаньшэн (), некитайские знаки составляют около 20 % чжуанских текстов, хотя имеются тексты почти исключительно из китайских иероглифов.

Чжуанские иероглифы разделяют на большее число типов, чем китайские:
 символы, которые не похожи на китайские, а заимствованы из латиницы и, возможно, бирманского алфавита:
 «трость» (dwngx) пишется как ; такого знака среди ханьцзы нет;
 «бабочка» (mbaj) пишется как , это пиктограмма;
 «задняя сторона» (aemq) пишется как ;
 нестандартные иероглифы, составленные по идеографическому принципу:
 «ручьи» (mboq) записывается «呇», это комбинация знаков «水» (вода) и «口» (рот);
 нестандартные ханьцзы-подобные иероглифы, составленные по фоносемантическому принципу:
 «гора» (bya) записывается «岜», этот знак состоит из идеограммы 山 «гора» и фонетика 巴 ба;
 «человек» (vunz) пишется как «伝», этот знак состоит из идеограммы 亻 «человек» и фонетика 云 юнь;
 китайские иероглифы, заимствованные исключительно по причине схожего произношения:
 «иметь» (miz, когнат китайского 有) записывается знаком 眉, в путунхуа он произносится как méi;
 нестандартные ханьцзы-подобные иероглифы, созданные чжуанами для объяснения существующих знаков китайского письма (указательные);
 ханьцзы, означающие заимствования или родственные китайские слова:
 «чашка» (boi) записывается знаком «盃», это вариант ханьцзы 杯 bēi, по-китайски «чашка»;
 китайские иероглифы, заимствованные только по значению:
 «утварь, инструмент» (aen) пишется знаком , это вариантный китайский иероглиф от 器, которому присвоили чжуанское чтение;
 знаки, созданные из двух ханьцзы, где одна часть означает инициаль, а вторая — рифму.

Некоторые логограммы чжуанов используются в китайском для обозначения географических объектов Гуанси, например,  (чжуанск. bya; гора) или  (ndoeng; лес); их включают в китайские словари.

Региональные вариации
Диалекты чжуанского языка очень отличаются друг от друга, поэтому при записи чжуанским письмом в них используются разные знаки. Однако учёные не пришли к единому мнению относительно региональной распространённости тех или иных знаков.

Пример
Первая статья Всеобщей декларации прав человека.

 Латинская транскрипция (орфография 1982 года): «Boux boux ma daengz lajmbwn couh miz cwyouz, cinhyenz caeuq genzli bouxboux bingzdaengj. Gyoengq vunz miz lijsing caeuq liengzsim, wngdang daih gyoengq de lumj beixnuengx ityiengh.»
 Латинская транскрипция (орфография 1957 года): «Bouч bouч ma dəŋƨ laзƃɯn couƅ miƨ cɯyouƨ, cinƅyenƨ cəuƽ genƨli bouчbouч biŋƨdəŋз. Gyɵŋƽ vunƨ miƨ liзsiŋ cəuƽ lieŋƨsim, ɯŋdaŋ daiƅ gyɵngƽ de lumз beiчnueŋч ityieŋƅ.»
 Русский: «Все люди рождаются свободными и равными в своем достоинстве и правах. Они наделены разумом и совестью и должны поступать в отношении друг друга в духе братства».

Примечания

Литература

 Liáng Tíngwàng 梁庭望 (ed.): Gǔ Zhuàngzì wénxiàn xuǎnzhù 古壮字文献选注 (Tiānjīn gǔjí chūbǎnshè 天津古籍出版社 1992).
 Lín Yì 林亦: Tán lìyòng gǔ Zhuàngzì yánjiū Guǎngxī Yuèyǔ fāngyán 谈利用古壮字研究广西粤语方言. In: Mínzú yǔwén 民族语文 2004.3:16-26.
 Gǔ Zhuàngzì zìdiǎn 古壮字字典 Sawndip Sawdenj (Nanning, Guǎngxī mínzú chūbǎnshè 广西民族出版社 1989). ISBN ISBN 7536306148 / 9787536306141. Dictionary of Old Zhuang characters; contains 4,900 entries and more than 10,000 characters.
 Holm, David (2008). «The Old Zhuang script», in Diller, Anthony (ed.) The Tai-Kadai languages, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-7007-1457-5, pp. 415-428.
 覃暁航:「方塊壮字経久不絶却難成通行文字的原因」『広西民族研究』,2008年3期。

Ссылки

 Данные по чжуанчкой письменности под GPL
 Изображение и информация по чжуанскому письму
 Чжуанский язык и алфавит, Omniglot
 壮族的语言文字 (Чжуанский язык), 5 февраля 2007, Guangxi Tourist News.

Иероглифические письменности


Gene has over 14 years Full Time Real Estate experience at Lake of the Ozarks. As Team Leader, Gene oversees every real estate transaction with The Stanfield Group. Gene keeps up to date with the Lake of the Ozarks real estate trends and legal issues that effect the real estate industry through continued education and daily experience in the field. Gene brings the latest technology to the forefront to provide our Buyers and Sellers World Class 21st Century Service . He is also one of the few agents at the Lake who has the CDPE designation and can help distressed home owners through the Short Sale process of their property and avoid foreclosure. Gene has the Accredited Buyers Representative designation (ABR), Graduate of the Realtor Institute (GRI), Certified Distressed Property Expert designation (CDPE) and the e-PRO designation. Gene and his wife reside at the Lake and have two sons and one daughter who attend Camdenton Elementary.


Ludovít has lost his son to a ruthless neo-nazi attack. But, due to a failing in the Slovak legislation, the attackers are soon released and Ludovít is faced with an absurd instance of injustice. He struggles with the apathetic police force, the opportunistic judge, but also with the fact that he was never really close to his own son. The more he blames himself for his son's death, the more his relationship with his wife Zuzana and younger daughter Janka falls apart, and the more he tries to influence the investigation.
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