tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3917612005522287441.post1053127831815096279..comments2023-12-18T23:20:31.042-06:00Comments on Scriblerus Club: A Forgotten Renaissance Man: A.E.W. Mason PrisonerNumber6http://www.blogger.com/profile/03156430802462353459noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3917612005522287441.post-3336683692922685272019-06-18T16:48:45.977-05:002019-06-18T16:48:45.977-05:00I understand how approaching a subject like this c...I understand how approaching a subject like this can be intimidating. For me, the curiosity seems to outweigh any misgivings. <br /><br />Part of the reason for this is R.L. Green is a pretty good helper in this. He seems to be capable of taking an amazing load of info and literary material, and compressing it all into a digestible format that's easy to understand. It seems to be a gift a lot of older authors had. Part of the reason is pretty self-explanatory. There was not internet back then, so that makes Green and a lot of his fellow critics analog readers to their core. This means that they were able rely on the memories of the texts they consumed back then in a way that is probably more difficult for a contemporary audience.<br /><br />I'm sure there's something worth digging into in that subject alone. However, for now, I seem focused on the picture Green paints of a whole literary era. It goes without saying I plan to revisit other aspects of this subject somewhere down the line, if the time seems right. I don't know if I'd have gotten this far if Green weren't such a good summarizer, though.<br /><br />ChrisCPrisonerNumber6https://www.blogger.com/profile/03156430802462353459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3917612005522287441.post-42924699759860465992019-06-18T14:38:55.030-05:002019-06-18T14:38:55.030-05:00A fascinating overview. I really don't know an...A fascinating overview. I really don't know anything about this guy - well, I do now thanks to your blog - but I'm intrigued. <br /><br />Outside of Dickens (for whom a seminar in college left me with ongoing affection) and HG Wells and some scattered stuff here and there by Kipling, I really don't know much in the way of Victorian fiction. I agree, though, that it is a fascinating topic and with an abundance of nooks and crannies. I did try reading Edward Bulwer-Lyton a few years back, after some LXG reference, but I couldn't get too into it. In theory I'd love to read all of that stuff.<br /><br />Jules Verne first, for me, but someday!<br /><br />I actually might pick up this biography. Like Bryant says up there, the trek up this particular mountain range seems somewhat out of grasp, but something like a biography of a figure of the era and an overview of his work can do the trick when a full-on expedition with sherpas and gear and Blofeld on your trail is unwieldy.B McMolohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02706178983936146307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3917612005522287441.post-8071898290504990252019-06-06T11:33:40.641-05:002019-06-06T11:33:40.641-05:00(2,3) I think it's just a combination of luck ...(2,3) I think it's just a combination of luck coupled with the conviction that whenever a certain author mentions or cites the name of another book, or it's author either in an interview, essay, or what have you, it tends to mean something important, more often than not.<br /><br />Sometimes, yes, it can be a signal of the kind of works that have influenced this or that writer in their career, other times it can just be a recommendation of other talents out there.<br /><br />In the case of this Mason biography, it all comes about from reading or seeing the name Roger Lancelyn Green's name come up here and there in certain books or articles about Tolkien. After enough time passes, I begin to think something along the lines of "I wonder if there's something important about that guy". So I wiki his name, and see he was something of an actual critic who specialized in Victorian Fantasy. So I pick up a couple of his books, and I discover that one of them "Andrew Lang: a Critical Study" was a master's thesis overseen by Tolkien himself.<br /><br />I run across little bits of textual evidence, tucked away in them margins of some of these books, and it makes the semi-natural thought occur "Huh, I wonder if this Green guy could help shed some light on authors like the one who wrote "LOTR", and maybe a few others.<br /><br />Because of stuff like that, I've found myself lately being drawn to examine a lot of the other people Green brings up. Right now I got a whole box full of bios of names like J.M. Barrie, Robert Stevenson, you know, "the usual gang of idiots".<br /><br />In that sense, it's perhaps just pure luck born of enthusiasm, though I have to say it does help gain a perspective on where the books of today have come from. I also can't help wonder if maybe putting at least some info on this old forgotten text might help gain them some recognition. Or, who knows, maybe someone out there with more talent than me can use them as spark for their own works.<br /><br />Hey, who knows, a guy can dream.<br /><br />ChrisC PrisonerNumber6https://www.blogger.com/profile/03156430802462353459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3917612005522287441.post-65939625103011852922019-06-05T19:22:43.114-05:002019-06-05T19:22:43.114-05:00(1) "There's a been a sort of ongoing de...(1) "There's a been a sort of ongoing debate about how much personal factors and experiences go into the making of our favorite books." -- What an odd debate. It is literally impossible to divorce oneself from oneself when doing anything, so by definition the creation of a work of art is going to be heavily influenced by one's own life and experiences. Even if one is consciously reacting against that, the best one can do is turn art into an altered reflection of one's life. Arguing otherwise strikes me as being like arguing the Earth is flat -- sure, you can do that, but why would you?<br /><br />(2) I've got zero familiarity with Mason. I had at least heard of "The Four Feathers," but only via the Heath Ledger movie ... which I never even saw! So in terms of my own personal exposure, that's pretty dang obscure. It's better than many of Mason's contemporaries have managed, though.<br /><br />(3) Sorry I don;t have more to say specifically here. This is a topic well worth visiting, but my own knowledge of the era and its writers is slim to the point of near invisibility. What I'm reminded of is the thought that I, granted something like immortality, might well never grow bored with existence, because how could I when there are entire eras of literature to be explored? I have no doubt Mason is worth reading; I have no doubt this biography of him is worth reading. I have no doubt there were dozens of his contemporaries who'd be worth reading, and I have no doubt that, given time to do it, it would be enlightening and entertaining to line up every single author of the era in chronological order and then march my way through them one book at a time, mastering the entirety of it.<br /><br />And that's just one single era; a pebble from a mountain.<br /><br />Given time to do it, I'd explore that entire mountain.Bryant Burnettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01189356171455609865noreply@blogger.com