tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post9036442514953706685..comments2023-11-24T06:43:02.286+00:00Comments on Aspicientes in Jesum: Mapp and LuciaPastor in Montehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05949810648656544072noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-72415451770684689672011-12-03T00:39:36.308+00:002011-12-03T00:39:36.308+00:00The minute I started reading "Queen Lucia&quo...The minute I started reading "Queen Lucia" (many years ago), I envisioned Penelope Keith in the role!Jo Mendelsohnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16114466439909719722noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-5045082060869151852008-12-27T03:55:00.000+00:002008-12-27T03:55:00.000+00:00I've never read them. But now that you've mention...I've never read them. But now that you've mentioned them I will. They sound like such fun. I see there are freebies of the first two available <A HREF="http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/b#a812" REL="nofollow">here at Project Gutenberg</A>. so I'm going to download them.gemoftheoceanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05521207668262592414noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-11338778617265440292008-12-26T22:45:00.000+00:002008-12-26T22:45:00.000+00:00Only Benson's books work for me. I agree with OTSO...Only Benson's books work for me. <BR/><BR/>I agree with OTSOTA concerning the actors in the original TV adaptation. While there were some failures in the series, I enjoyed the characterizations of Lucia, Mapp and Georgie especially. <BR/><BR/>Growing up in Cheltenham (and a frequent visitor to Prinknash, to boot, although the books have nothing to do with me) I encountered the remnants of these same eccentricities in that town. My spinster piano teacher was one such character - a Miss Mapp, almost to a tee. Needless to say, she did not approve of "un po’ di musica". Also, I think "Riseholme" was based on nearby Broadway.<BR/><BR/>As Lucia might have said, Buon Natale, padre! <BR/><BR/>Au reservoir!PJAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02592149546038164628noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-42390875619311463862008-12-23T23:45:00.000+00:002008-12-23T23:45:00.000+00:00Geraldine McEwan was a perfect Lucia ; Prunella Sc...Geraldine McEwan was a perfect Lucia ; Prunella Scales an incomparable Mapp ; and in the TV version the casting of minor characters was inspired...The main problem was the cast was bigger and better than the tone of the production and direction. <BR/>The problem is that the books are like concertos - themes interact and harmonise and resurge in differing but redolent forms - perfect for a novel or film adaption ; but serialisation loses so much of the impetus....<BR/><BR/>..as for this new book - NOOO!!!<BR/>No innuendo : No Farce ; one does not unmask a mask - it's a comedy of manners ; the manners maketh the humour ! <BR/><BR/>When one considers that Belinda Lang and Nichola McCauliffe would be ideal for the roles - look how the radio versions simply fell apart...On the side of the angelshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05558623489507006790noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-6954694353437591732008-12-23T19:52:00.000+00:002008-12-23T19:52:00.000+00:00Fr Michael: I didn't add that I lent all the books...Fr Michael: I didn't add that I lent all the books, including the Holt ones, to a friend and he never returned one. It has taken me a while to replace them. Knowing that this is the usual reaction, I never lend them now.Pastor in Montehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05949810648656544072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-58407000377288343212008-12-23T18:33:00.000+00:002008-12-23T18:33:00.000+00:00I first satarted reading these while I had `flu in...I first satarted reading these while I had `flu in my forst year at seminary. I`m delighted you returned your copy of `Queen Lucia`. I never got mine back. For myself, I enjoyed Geraldine McEwan`s depiction very much and thought the programmes were beautifully made. I think your suggested cast, while wonderful, would be too old.Fr Michael Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15320336535138538635noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-46426971701674536822008-12-22T23:08:00.000+00:002008-12-22T23:08:00.000+00:00Sorry, it's me again.Pelerin makes a most fascinat...Sorry, it's me again.<BR/><BR/>Pelerin makes a most fascinating point in her comment. I have to admit I have not seen enough of the TV character "Hyacinth Bouquet" to make a judgement on what might have inspired the scriptwriters , but I wonder if the fine actress Patricia Routledge based her interpretation of this character at least in part on Mapp ? It is a most interesting thought.PeterHWrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08734936083886678494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-62396611838833508212008-12-22T19:36:00.000+00:002008-12-22T19:36:00.000+00:00Interesting to learn that monks enjoy reading crim...Interesting to learn that monks enjoy reading crime novels! Perhaps the 'Brother Cadfael' books are required reading in this genre?<BR/><BR/>Yes the Mapp and Lucia novels are delightful and very amusing - based in Rye I believe. I have only just discovered that E F Benson was the brother of Robert Hugh Benson - both sons of the Archbishop of Canterbury. I had not connected them before.<BR/><BR/>Many years ago I read 'Come Rack! Come Rope!' written by R H Benson and I have just found it again and intend to re read it. It is an amazingly vivid novel described as being 'solidly grounded on historical facts' about the struggles endured under Queen Elizabeth I to keep the Faith alive.<BR/><BR/>I see that it bears the Imprimatur of Cardinal Griffin - whatever happened to the Imprimaturs I wonder?<BR/><BR/>Penelope Keith and 'Mrs Bouquet' as Mapp and Lucia? what a wonderful thought - I don't think age matters for these two characters. I wonder if the writer of Mrs Bouquet was influenced by the Mapp and Lucia books?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-42846524474088214962008-12-22T17:18:00.000+00:002008-12-22T17:18:00.000+00:00P.S.What The Hound says about monks' reading habit...P.S.<BR/><BR/>What The Hound says about monks' reading habits is most interesting.<BR/><BR/>I don't doubt they read plenty of Wodehouse. He wrote so much ! When Wodehouse created the world of Blandings Castle, he did so, I understand, mainly to inhabit it with his fictional characters. But in so doing, he created, in my opinion, an enchanted garden which will never stale. It can never grow old (because it never really existed).PeterHWrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08734936083886678494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-29448143673000935672008-12-22T16:57:00.000+00:002008-12-22T16:57:00.000+00:00Well, yes, I can't deny I myself have the DVD of t...Well, yes, I can't deny I myself have the DVD of the original TV adaptation of Brideshead, made in 1980 (?) In itself, it's quite brilliantly done, and there is some splendid acting. But what would Waugh have thought of it ? Does it really capture the true spirit of the book ?<BR/><BR/>I've not seen any other adaptations of Waugh's work, but I still think of him as a man who was a master of the written word. He knew how not to waste words. How do you dramatise that ? How do you dramatise the satire, the witticism, the [at times] almost savage humour, which in the books is all rather finely balanced ? It seems to me it really needs to be read.<BR/><BR/>(In this respect, it could be argued, and I am probably committing heresy, that Brideshead, the most easily dramatised of his works, was, despite its central theme, not very well written, perhaps even over written, compared with his earlier works.)<BR/><BR/>Waugh, I think, was a complex man, never quite at ease with himself, or with the world (perhaps both), and far too sensitive. At least some of this emerges in his writing, but I honestly don't think it can be dramatised.<BR/><BR/>I think Waugh himself would probably ask me not to be so analytical, and merely to enjoy his writing. I suppose he would be right.PeterHWrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08734936083886678494noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-45698055738287862922008-12-22T15:59:00.000+00:002008-12-22T15:59:00.000+00:00Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire have recently o...Prinknash Abbey in Gloucestershire have recently opened a coffee shop with a selection of secondhand books for sale, ( culled from their library when they moved from their modern monastery back to their medieval house). Among them are numerous well read Bensons, not just the Map and Lucia series, (and Tom Holt sequels), but autobiography, short stories and other works. <BR/><BR/>It's quite amusing to discover what monks read in their " spare time". In this case lots and lots of classic crime fiction, Michael Innes, Dorothy L. Sayers, Edmund Crispin and the like, Patrick O'Brien and Hornblower, and a great deal of Wodehouse, ( one titled " Pearls, Girls and Monty Bodkin" had the inscription " Please return to Fr. Sebastian").the houndhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06058635987536810157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-84630202230393863002008-12-22T15:53:00.000+00:002008-12-22T15:53:00.000+00:00Peter: yes, you're right of course, but I think th...Peter: yes, you're right of course, but I think that probably Penelope Keith is not in the first flush of youth either (and I beg her pardon, too). The important thing is that Lucia and Georgie should balance each other, and though the books describe them as being in their forties, in fact they behave much older (at least by our modern standards).<BR/>On the other hand, I thought that the TV dramatization of Brideshead was very good, and I even enjoyed Stephen Fry's Vile Bodies.Pastor in Montehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05949810648656544072noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807826652341078989.post-10798488178157525822008-12-22T15:13:00.000+00:002008-12-22T15:13:00.000+00:00What a delightful post. The Mapp and Lucia novel...What a delightful post. The Mapp and Lucia novels are some of my favourite reading, although not recently. I really must get round to reading them again.<BR/><BR/>Of the two characters, I think I have more sympathy with Lucia (who plays the piano with "merciless sincerity", if I remember correctly). Mapp I think I might find too formidable in real life. Together, in the hands of E. F. Benson, they are very funny indeed.<BR/><BR/>Dramatisation of novels is a touchy subject. You can successfully dramatise the work of some writers (Agatha Christie, D.L. Sayers), but not others (Evelyn Waugh). [I'm not sure about Greene or Maugham.] The original TV adaptation was made back in the 1980s, I think ? <BR/><BR/>I would entirely agree with Father's cast for a new dramatisation, although I wonder if John Cleese (and I beg his pardon) might not now be a liitle too old ?<BR/><BR/>Au reservoir <BR/><BR/>PHWPeterHWrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08734936083886678494noreply@blogger.com