Precious Bane (Virago Modern Classics)

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Darkly delightful.. full of wit, invention and charm. Outdoor theatre doesn’t come better than this. The Guardian I’m descended from farmers on both sides of my family, and although I’ve never experienced the toil of that life, it always resonates when I read about it. I find the lifestyle incredibly inspiring, making me want to throw down my book, roll up my sleeves, and get to work. Books: Principal works include The Golden Arrow (1916), Gone To Earth (1917), The House In Dormer Forest (1920), and Precious Bane (1924).

Precious Bane : Mary Webb : Free Download, Borrow, and Precious Bane : Mary Webb : Free Download, Borrow, and

Why, no,' I says. 'It be like the blue country a traveller sees at dawn, and he dunna know if it'll be a kind country with farms sending up a trail of smoke in the sunset, and a meal for the asking, or if it'll be a wild, savage moor where he'll starve to death with cold afore morning.' Prue sees the landscape as “like a book” waiting to be read; “a riddle with no answer”. To what extent does the glory of landscape depend on its mystery? Are we less enchanted by the landscape now that we know more about it?Her writing in general was reviewed as notable for poetic descriptions of nature. Another aspect throughout her work was a close and fatalistic view on human psychology. [12] Stanley Baldwin suggested that the strength of Precious Bane lies in “the fusion of elements of nature and man”. Do you agree? What was the effect, for you, of Mary Webb’s representation of the natural world? She had an extraordinary eye for detail which she developed during her long walks in the landscape. She would sit for hours deep in thought observing and absorbing her environment, developing the themes for her work. The title of the story has a double meaning. It is taken from John Milton's Paradise Lost (Book I, lines 690-692): There are numerous townspeople we come to know and there is the mother of Prue and Gideon, who only wants to be respected and some rest from her endless labors. And then there is the weaver, Kester Woodseaves, who besots the women who see him, and for whom Prue longs, despite knowing no such man would ever accept a “hare-shotten” woman.

Precious Bane | Victorian England, Rural Life, Nature Precious Bane | Victorian England, Rural Life, Nature

Her passionate love of nature resonates with us even more in the 21st century, when climate change, pollution and threats to wildlife overshadow our daily lives. Mary would have been an eco warrior, of that we can be sure." However the passing of time seems to have led to a new appreciation of its merits as the online movie database IMDb gives it a respectable score of 6.9 out of 10. Mary Webb

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A compelling story of passion, with an enduring air of enchantment throughout, Precious Bane is a novel that haunts us with its beauty and its timeless truths about our deepest hopes. Set in Shropshire in the 1800s, it is alive with the many moods of Nature, benevolent and violent and the many moods -- equally benevolent and violent -- of the people making lives there. This is Prue Sarn's love story, though she never expected to have one because of her disfigurement, a hare-shotten lip. She falls in love with the weaver, Kester Woodseaves, as do all women who see him, because he is a fine figure of a man. What none of them see at first is that he has a good heart, and is a kind man; he sees beyond the surface to what lies underneath. It is also the story of her brother, Gideon Sarn, who also has a love story, but lets his love of money and ambition and revenge ruin everything for him. Daughters and Lovers: The Life and Writing of Mary Webb by Michèle Aina Barale (1986). Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press I give this book six stars. I wanted to begin it again the second I finished it. I would never have heard of this book were it not for Goodreads. Thanks Goodreads friends!! This is truly a miracle of a book. I'd unhesitatingly recommend this novel to any reader who appreciates well-written serious fiction, in the real meaning of the term. And I give Webb high marks for having the guts to create a heroine with a birth defect, who isn't lessened or defined by it. (But is Prue really doomed to lifelong spinsterhood because of it? Is there ANY guy at all in 19th-century Shropshire with two good eyes and even half a brain? Well ...I'm not telling; you'll just have to read the book. :-)

Precious Bane by Mary Webb | Goodreads Precious Bane by Mary Webb | Goodreads

Imagine the English language as a man who had passed through life's many stages, from infancy to adulthood. This novel may then be considered to have been written in English when the language was still a young boy of thirteen. Adding a lot to its quaint charm is the novel's simple, rustic setting, as if saying that when the language was young, so was the world then.The prose is what makes this book special. The prose fits the story to a T. Life in the countryside of 1800s Shropshire, England, is what is drawn. There is a heavy use of dialect. The story is told as it should be told—the dialect, the idioms, and manner of speech all blend together. They create a whole that feels genuine. The atmosphere of the time and place is captured. Old traditions and beliefs, nature, the mystical and the supernatural are the essence of the story. Reading this, you immerse yourself in another world. Nature is glorious, while at the same time spirits haunt and fairies flit in and out. None of this is fantastical, but simply an integral part of how life was perceived. In The Book of Strange New Things, a Christian minister, Peter, is employed by a mysterious corporation to travel to a distant planet. Here, he is to preach the gospel to the native alien inhabitants. His wife, Beatrice, remains at home in an increasingly difficult world. Separated by distance, but more significantly by the difficulties of the written communication to which they are limited, the two struggle to maintain their intimacy. The novel was written while Faber was caring for his own wife, Eva, during her final months; he has described it as “like a goodbye to her”. Cavaliero, Glen (1977). The Rural Tradition in the English Novel 1900 - 1939. Towata, New Jersey: Rowman and Littlefield. p. 144. ISBN 0-87471-952-6. The Old Shropshire dialect was very difficult for me, I must admit. I stumbled through for a while, but eventually the bumpy ride smoothed out as I adjusted to it, and in the end I found the dialect gave a richness and authenticity to the text.

Precious Bane | Pentabus Precious Bane | Pentabus

Liz said: "I didn’t really discover Mary Webb until a friend loaned me a copy of Precious Bane. That was it – totally hooked and hell-bent on reading everything she wrote, and then the biographies. The stand-out biography is without doubt The Flower of Light by Dr Gladys Mary Coles and a must-read for all Mary Webb devotees. Prue Sarn is an unlikely heroine, born with a facial disfiguration which the Fates have dictated will deny her love. But Prue has strength far beyond her handicap, and this woman, suspected of witchcraft by her fellow townspeople, rises above them all through an all-encompassing sweetness of spirit. Mary became very self-conscious as a result, avoiding social gatherings and wearing large hats and scarves to disguise her condition," says Liz. The famous writer in later life.

The tale may be analyzed on different levels. There are many quotes from the Bible. I am sure a religious interpretation is possible too.