BBC's best British novels

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Phogg

As an example; do you not realize how hard and relentlessly the united academia worked to keep Robert Service in his place during his lifetime??

Or it could just be that his writing isn't as much to the public's taste as you think it should be? Personally, I find that a more likely explanation than some kind of massive academic conspiracy.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Bilbo1967

Or it could just be that his writing isn't as much to the public's taste as you think it should be? Personally, I find that a more likely explanation than some kind of massive academic conspiracy.

If Phogg is referring to Robert Service the historian, he is most famous for having written a biography of Leon Trotsky which got absolutely slated by the academic community for being riddled with factual errors, and for falling prey to later propaganda of the Stalinist era which aimed to discredit Trotsky. A German historian led a campaign in academia to try to prevent the book from being published by an academic publisher in Germany because it was so worthless as an academic work.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If Phogg is referring to Robert Service the historian, he is most famous for having written a biography of Leon Trotsky which got absolutely slated by the academic community for being riddled with factual errors, and for falling prey to later propaganda of the Stalinist era which aimed to discredit Trotsky. A German historian led a campaign in academia to try to prevent the book from being published by an academic publisher in Germany because it was so worthless as an academic work.

I refer to the poet.
Much appreciated by academia for his Paris literati parties, yet generally derided by that same academia for the mass appeal of his poetry.
Rare talent often sparks envy.

[Rizla]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It said "book critics". Why do you think that a book critic equates to an academic?

Perhaps "academic" is not the best title, though I'm pretty sure it's accurate, but hard to prove without going through the full list of names and googling them, which I'm sure would prove the vast majority are academics. Possibly there is a better title for them. But anyone with an iota of common-sense knows where the vast majority of book-critics come from and how they got their position. This list should be titled "Non-British Book-Critics Best British Novels."

Perhaps books in the top 100 would prove more entertaining.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Phogg

I refer to the poet.
Much appreciated by academia for his Paris literati parties, yet generally derided by that same academia for the mass appeal of his poetry.
Rare talent often sparks envy.

Thanks for clarifying. I wrongly thought you meant the historian because you mentioned academia uniting against him, which is exactly what happened in his case.

[pdurrant]

Ah, Robert W Service.

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee."

Great stuff for reading aloud.

[doubleshuffle]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Ah, Robert W Service.

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee."

Great stuff for reading aloud.

Oh, that one. I've got a CD where Johnny Cash reads that. Very funny, highly entertaining.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

Oh, that one. I've got a CD where Johnny Cash reads that. Very funny, highly entertaining.

For entertainment value read "The Baldness Of Chewed Ear."

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Phogg

For entertainment value read "The Baldness Of Chewed Ear."

I have, and will always have, a soft spot for dangerous Dan McGrew, in The Shooting of Dan McGrew. If for no other reason than the scene with--well, I suppose one must call her Miss Marple--the divine Margaret Rutherford in Murder Most Foul. A delight to watch. Particularly as played against Ron Moody. Delicious. (Also featuring, of course, for Brit mystery trivia fans, the lovely Francesca Annis, who would go on to star in Tommy & Tuppence, in the 80's, [if a bit long in the tooth for the part, still beautiful] and James Bolam, a stalwart of New Tricks, before he left the cast.)

But...wasn't Service Canadian, or am I losing the plot, so to speak?

Hitch

[HarryT]

Apparently he was a British bank clerk who subsequently emigrated to Canada.

[badgoodDeb]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Ah, Robert W Service.

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee."

Great stuff for reading aloud.

You're starting to interest me. What is the title of this piece, please, so I can look for it? Unless it is "The Baldness of Sam McGee" as just mentioned??

[HarryT]

See:

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174348

[badgoodDeb]

Thanks - that's a fun read!

[Phogg]

The Baldness Of Chewed Ear

Another of Service's poems, The Shooting Of Dan McGrew is widely considered to be the basic template for the early American western movies.
Robert Service appeared as himself in the film "The Spoilers" with John Wayne, Marlene Dietrich, and Randolph Scott.

[CRussel]

I confess -- only six of them, and most of those in my youth. And I'm certainly surprised by some of the inclusions/exclusions. But interesting, none the less.