Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Work in progress


My apologies for being still a bit absent here lately (as opposed to merely absent-minded, which is an ongoing condition).  Life is still a bit hectic chez Scott.  But I can't resist sharing one project that I'll be spending my free time on once I actually do have free time again.

As I've been poking around the past couple of months, coming across at least 150 more new authors for my list (which will put me well beyond 1,000 writers in all on my listas well as beyond the pale when it comes to my obsessiveness), I several times came across references to the above-pictured book.  My interest in girls' school stories and in girls' writers specifically has been on the increase of late, anyway (I'm just finishing up my first Gwendoline Courtney novel, as a matter of fact, which will be reviewed here whenever time allows), so my interest was already piqued.  But by the tenth time I came across a mention of the book, I decided it was high time I consulted it.  



Thanks to my better half's access to University of California libraries, it's now in my hands, waiting impatiently for a lull in my schedule.  Just thumbing through it, however, makes clear that there will be many, many more new additions to my Overwhelming List.  

Of course, I have already added the likes of Elinor Brent-Dyer, Dorita Fairlie Bruce, Josephine Elder, Joan Mary Wayne Brown (aka Mary Gervaise), and quite a few more to my list.

But then there are writers such as Margaret Locherbie-Cameron, Veronica Marlow, Norah Mylrea, Winifred Donald, Janet Grey, Constance Harvey, Winifred Norling, Jacqueline Blairman, and many, many more, who will be new additions to the list.  Perhaps a series of updates dedicated specifically to girls' school stories will have to result?

Overwhelming indeed.  But of course I can't wait...

Meanwhile, keep sending positive energy my way in the hope that I will restrain myself from strangling anyone (or crawling under my desk in a fetal position) as I and my co-workers continue to deal with move-related technical issues and adapt to our new "home," as it were.  It has been stressful, to say the least, but I quickly found a prominent location in my new space for my postcard of St. Paul's shrouded in smoke and surrounded by ruins following German bombing raids, and am using it to remind myself that my annoyances are trivial compared to what others have faced.  I imagine that, all things considered, the family pictured below would have preferred to deal with printer glitches and email snags than with their own more urgent problems!



Plus, I really have little to complain about, after Andy surprised me with office-warming flowers yesterday...



I'm off into the fray again now.  More substantive posts to follow soon.  I promise!

16 comments:

  1. Oh I would give my eye teeth to have a sight of that book. The price is way out of my reach - I do have the equivalent Encyclopaedia of Boys' School Stories which was really quite cheap - but that's not the one I want!

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    1. It really is quite mouth-watering, Cestina. If you were only my neighbor down the street, I would lend it to you for at least the next week until I have time to really look at it! I might have to check out the Boys' School volume as well--I imagine there are at least a few women who specialized in those as well, no?

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    2. Yes, a glance through the book reveals a fair number of women's names, though only Ethel Talbot sprang out at me as a name that I know well from GO literature. I only flipped through it just now though, I haven't really explored it thoroughly yet. I have a small collection of boys' school stories since the talk I give "Pull your Socks up Angela - the English Schoolgirl in Fact and Fiction" has occasionally had to be adapted for a male and female audience.
      If you have access to such a richness of libraries you might be interested in Dr Judith Humphrey's book: "The English Girls' School Story - Subversion and Challenge in a Traditional Conservative Literary Genre"

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    3. Amazon US has the boys' encyclopedia available for a mere $500... Whew! But it looks accessible from libraries as well, thankfully. The Humphreys book looks quite interesting too, thank you for the suggestion, and I should be able to track it down from a library. Would love to hear your talk as well, if there weren't that pesky ocean and most of a continent separating me from any place you're likely to give it!

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  2. How sweet & kind & thoughtful of Andy to send flowers!
    Am sending lots of positiveness your way, as well as inspiration on how to get more bookshelf space and more time to deal with more authors!

    del, just finished Christy's "Cat Among the Pigeons" and in the middle of Peters' "The Knocker on Death's Door," with Moyes' "Down Among the Dead Men" a-waiting...
    [curlsnskirls.wordpress.com]

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    1. Seeing the flowers on my desk have definitely helped me through the past couple of days, Del. And they were such a surprise, which always makes it more special.

      Hope you enjoyed the Christie, and hope you will enjoy the Moyes. I haven't read that Peters yet.

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    2. Yes, enjoyed the Christy no end, thanks! (Rhetorical: Why does BBC, etc., feel they have to change so much?) Peters was excellent; have requested more (library); now to Moyes...
      del

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  3. Amongst afficionados of girls' school stories, the Encyclopaedia is known simply as The Book. A revised edition is in the pipeline and may be more affordable for Cestina and others. I keep my copy permanently by my desk.

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    1. That is good news, thank you for sharing it. I'd love to have a copy of my own. Just glancing through The Book I keep getting lost in all the enticing new names. I'll have my work cut out for me adding them all to my list!

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    2. That is very good news indeed. When might it surface? Though I guess I will hear about it on the Chalet School Bulletin Board when it does :-)

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  4. Hi Scott

    Just had an email from a friend who follows your blog and thought I'd get in touch. I'm one half of the Sims and Clare who (mainly*) wrote The Book, and am thrilled that you're enjoying it. A second revised edition, to be published in two paperback volumes - thus, considerably cheaper - by Girls Gone By, will eventually (i.e. when we can get it finished!) be available, so don't despair.

    Have you read any Antonia Forest yet?

    *Some entries are written by other people (always named after the entry).

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    1. Hi, Sue. How exciting to hear from one of the authors of The Book! Thanks for posting a comment. I am having great trouble resisting the urge to lose myself in it for days... I'll certainly be looking forward to the GGB edition--I'm sure they'll be well done. Re Antonia Forest, I just finished Autumn Term about three weeks ago and had great fun with it. Next up are actually a few GGB titles, including a proper girls' school story by Evelyn Smith and hopefully my first Elsie Oxenham, so I am continuing to dive into the genre. Oh for more reading time!

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  5. Evelyn Smith is excellent - one of the best school story writers ever. Which Oxenham will you be starting with?

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    1. I have ordered but haven't yet received The Abbey Girls Go Back To School. I know it's not the first, but it is early and is, I believe, considered a good one? I hope so, anyway! Finding them in order within a limited budget looks like it could be a challenge, but if I get hooked, there may be no stopping me!

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    2. Scott: do you have a private email address I could use?

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    3. Yes, of course, Sue, feel free to email me at furrowed.middlebrow@gmail.com.

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