Stoppard simplified the narrative line, I guess. It was fast paced. I was
unfair on Ford yesterday, but the way that the production highlighted views
on state welfare which are a decidedly 'hot issues' now made me very angry.
Uncool of me that but human. Stoppard I know was an admirer of Thatcher and
i believe has a good opinion of David Cameron. I remember a BBC production
of 'The Golden Bowl' years ago which I think was much better, although my
imperfect memory may be selective.
On 26 August 2012 00:58, Barry Alpert <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Thanks so much for your account, though can you comment on Tom Stoppard's
> "scripted adaptation"?
>
> Barry
>
> On Sat, 25 Aug 2012 19:01:49 +0100, David Bircumshaw <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >It was broadcast last night and although the acting and direction is very
> >forceful I couldn't help noticing the weakness of the conception of
> >Tietjens as a 'super-intellect' which is present in the book. Considering
> >the current attacks on social welfare, the book's ludicrous portrayal of
> >matters around the inception of state pensions is somewhat creepy. Even
> >Shakespeare's history plays are more reliable as history than this, and
> >Ford was writing of events within a few years of writing. Its handling of
> >suffragette issues is more sympathetic. I imagine its High Tory fantasy
> >view of the Edwardian gentleman would appeal to Carcanet.
> >Ford was an outstanding editor, an agreeable minor poet, a charming and
> >unreliable relater of memoirs and gossip, and an indifferent if persistent
> >novelist who has an undeserved posthumous reputation as a modernist
> >classic. This was 'Downton Abbey' for would-be intellectuals. Underneath
> >its Empire veneer lurked some very unrealistic views on welfare that
> >wouldn't be too strange to todays' conservatives.
> >
> >On 25 August 2012 18:16, Barry Alpert <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >> My "publisher" Carcanet alerts me to this possibility today via its
> >> E-letter. However, even though the likely broadcaster here within Wash
> DC
> >> (WETA, channel 26/1-4) has recently added an all-UK, mostly BBC channel
> to
> >> its cast of stations, Wuthering Heights will be streaming at 9PM EDT,
> not
> >> Parade's End. Alas. Any suggestions, though I imagine if the FMF
> >> adaptation has no major problems, it may eventually be made available
> for
> >> viewing by WETA-TV.
> >>
> >> Actually, now that I've checked the time in London, a 4PM stream of
> >> Parade's End would not be viewed by the local station here as a
> desirable
> >> time for their first broadcast of this work.
> >>
> >> I've published about Ford Madox Ford's legendary editing skills, loved
> >> Parades' End when I read it as a graduate student, and have collected
> his
> >> first editions for many years. His poetry problematic in an intriguing
> way,
> >> but I had repeated success teaching it within a course I taught
> regularly,
> >> Modern British Poetry.
> >>
> >> Barry
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >David Joseph Bircumshaw
> >**
> >Website and A Chide's Alphabet
> >http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
> >The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
> >Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
> >twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave
> >blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/
> >Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.com
>
--
David Joseph Bircumshaw
**
Website and A Chide's Alphabet
http://www.staplednapkin.org.uk
The Animal Subsides http://www.arrowheadpress.co.uk/books/animal.html
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/david.bircumshaw
twitter: http://twitter.com/bucketshave
blog: http://groggydays.blogspot.com/
Leicester Poetry Society: http://www.poetryleicester.com
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