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12-16-2018, 12:42 AM | #16 |
cacoethes scribendi
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Bookpossum, by "quiet" I was referring to the fact that they didn't argue; both seemed as content in each others company as they could be given the discord between them.
stuartjmz, yes, I felt the contrived discord was indeed Shakespearean in nature. Perhaps it's true enough that only people that care so much about each other can produce such calamity from such minor infractions. Or, in other words, it's easier to forgive when you don't care. |
12-16-2018, 12:49 AM | #17 |
(he/him/his)
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If there were marriage counselors around then, think of how few books would have been written.
Like others, I first read this so far back in my past, it's all new to me. Except, of course, that it's such a part of our cultural heritage and common understanding that we see it popping up everywhere. For example, consider The Saint. (Which books, I might add, are aging rather better than the Pimpernel. But then, they are a good deal more modern. ) I did enjoy this, however, even when I found it a bit clunky in places. I mostly listened to it, though I did read some parts when I had the time. The narration by Wanda McCaddon was superb, I thought. |
12-16-2018, 04:24 AM | #18 | |
Wizard
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Some scenes, such as the meeting of the Pimpernel and his antagonist in the inn or the exciting concluding chase were memorable. Last edited by fantasyfan; 12-16-2018 at 04:35 AM. |
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12-16-2018, 05:21 AM | #19 |
Wizard
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This is my first read. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and didn't really feel it was 'clunky' in places like many here have said, but again, this is not a second read for me as with many. I enjoyed the book so much, I'm currently almost through with the second installment, The League of the Scarlett Pimpernel.
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12-16-2018, 05:50 AM | #20 | |
Nameless Being
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NOVELS The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905) I Will Repay (1906) The Elusive Pimpernel (1908) Eldorado (1913) Lord Tony’s Wife (1917) The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1922) Sir Percy Hits Back (1927) A Child of the Revolution (1932) The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1933) Sir Percy Leads the Band (1936) Mam’zelle Guillotine (1940) Short Story Collections The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1919) Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1929) Secondary Books concerning ancestors/descendants of the Scarlet Pimpernel The Laughing Cavalier (1913) The First Sir Percy (1920) Pimpernel and Rosemary (1924) |
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12-16-2018, 06:37 AM | #21 | ||
o saeclum infacetum
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There were little things too: Marguerite couldn't have been a friend of the Princess of Wales as the Prince of Wales hadn't yet married (I really think that one must have been an error that was never caught, as being a friend of the Princess of Wales would hardly have gone over well with the Prince), the Princesse de Lamballe wouldn't have been considered young, as she was in her 40s, and so on. But I admit all this is just rabbit holes; it doesn't matter to the story. What it seems Orczy got right as far as my knowledge extends was society. The clothing, the mores, the attitudes: it all seems pretty accurate. And thus the kissing of the steps which seems over the top to the modern reader fits in with the way an 18th century gentleman might express his passions. There was a lot of posturing and put-on emotion. One extraneous comment: those tiny hands of Marguerite's! Tiny hands have a very unpleasant association for the current reader, at least the American one. |
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12-16-2018, 06:48 AM | #22 |
Nameless Being
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12-16-2018, 04:00 PM | #23 | |
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The thing that I have the most trouble with is how Sir Percy manages to disguise himself so well especially based on Orczy's description of him at the beginning of chapter 6:
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Surely someone with those physical characteristics is always going to stand out from the crowd no matter how good the disguise. |
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12-16-2018, 06:52 PM | #24 | |
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12-16-2018, 07:02 PM | #25 |
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Perhaps this is to do with the rewrite of the end of the play. Whoever did that seems to have pushed her to one side when it came to the grand finale, so she finished up as the damsel in distress who had to be rescued by being carried to safety.
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12-16-2018, 07:54 PM | #26 |
Nameless Being
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This seems very plausible to me. It still happens today too, with empowered female characters suddenly and inexplicably becoming blancmanges who need a man. The possibility that it was the fault of the rewrite has pushed her female detective story, Lady Molly of Sotland Yard, up on my TBR list, to see if the eponymous heroine has more agency.
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12-16-2018, 10:38 PM | #27 | |
cacoethes scribendi
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Still, if we can accept that a pair of reading glasses are enough to turn Superman into Clarke Kent, I guess we can give Orczy a pass on this. On the plus side, the few disguises we are given in this book remain vaguely plausible: the old lady driving the cart was always seated, the elderly Jew was described as "He had the habitual stoop, those of his race affected in mock humility in past centuries". (We may question why Chauvelin did not remember his own advise, recited back to him just a few minutes earlier, to watch out for "if he be tall, or stoop as if he would disguise his height", but better not ) |
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12-16-2018, 10:46 PM | #28 |
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At lest a decade ago, an online article I read about the resurgence of anti-Semitism in France referred to this very part of the book in support of the article author's contention that the sentiment really was so deeply-ingrained as to make Chauvelin's behaviour credible
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12-16-2018, 11:13 PM | #29 | |
cacoethes scribendi
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In this scene it is the question of whether prejudice can hide him from the active search of not just Chauvelin but the soldiers with him. The additional factor is the unexpected boldness of the Pimpernel presenting himself again so quickly, but this must surely (if we wanted to treat this realistically) be offset by previous experience, such as... At the start of the book we have the guard, Bibot, fearing of disease but also fearing the guillotine given the recent experience of Grospierre. Knowing such tales, who is going to accept anyone at face value? But in each case we are given just enough reason to believe - for the sake of the story - that things would play out as given. That we can later see the flaws did not disturb the enjoyment of the tale - but only because the it is so apparent that the story is not taking itself that seriously; it doesn't so we don't. |
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12-16-2018, 11:39 PM | #30 | |||
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