BleakChesneyWold

                               A  Classic Sensation Novel                                                      ' Lady Audley's Secret'  (first installments in 1861- completed in 1862) is both a Victorian 'bigamy' and 'sensation' novel. Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre'  ( 1847) is the prime example of the former, with poor Jane in church all set to become Mrs Rochester, only to discover that husband to be already has an insane wife shut up in the attic.  In 'Lady Audley's Secret'  and the next Braddon novel 'Aurora Floyd' (1864), it is in fact the leading female characters that have committed bigamy, both deceiving second husbands. Braddon accepted that these two books were ' bigamy novels' . EDWARDS As for a definition of 'sensation' novels, there seem to be several key themes. Firstly melodrama such as murder, attempted murder, arson, has to occur. There has to be a villain. There is a lingering over human despa

                                    A Press Release from The Byron Society  Something a little different .... Press Release submitted by the Byron Society on 26th February 2024 : National statue of the poet Lord Byron to be rescued from neglect 200 years after his death in Greece A planning application has been submitted to Westminster City Council to rescue one of London’s neglected and forgotten gems, the national Byron Memorial Statue, and relocate it from its current position on a traffic island on London's Park Lane to a publicly accessible, high profile location near Hyde Park’s Victoria Gate. The project forms part of the many activities around the world that will take place to commemorate the 200-year-anniversary of Lord Byron's death at Missonlonghi in Greece in April 2024.  The initiative is spearheaded by The Byron Society, a charitable membership organisation dedicated to the poet Lord Byron. The Grade II Listed 19th century statue was erected as a national memorial

                                            One of Hardy's Neglected Novels  The term 'Laodicean'  comes from the Book of Revelation, chapter 3, meaning 'lukewarm' and 'non committal' or even 'incapable of making a real commitment'. [ 14 ] And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; [ 15 ] I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. [ 16 ] So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth I can not trace any TV,radio, or stage adaptations. A screenplay  has been written with an audio version uploaded on to You Tube in seven parts, not sure if this was ever performed. This highlights the storyline's more comic elements.  Hardy was ill in bed when constructing working on the novel,dictating the text to his wife Emma. 'A Laodicean' was originally p

                                             The Charles Dickens connection  Acting obsessed him ( Dickens) . He supported actors experiencing financial hard times and even dreamed of great actor Macready as his desirable double. John Glavin.  The play referred to here was . 'The Frozen Deep'  written by Wilkie Collins in 1853 with a certain input from Charles Dickens:  Dickens also played one of the leading roles, that of Richard Wardour. Collins and Dickens had been literary associates and friends from 1851. Dickens expert, Michael Slater went as far as to describe this play as a "melodrama expressly written for Dickens and his amateurs." SLATER  And the play was based on true events: In 1845 Captain Sir  John Franklin of the Erebus accompanied by the Terror sailed from Greenhithe, Kent, to The Arctic in a bid to discover the north west passage through the icebergs and hazardous coast and islands off Greenland to reach the Pacific. The expedition ended in tragic

                                                    Novel by Mike Langridge  I had not really been convinced about the value of sequels and prequels written by modern novelists inspired by well known works by dead authors : But have to say that I enjoyed this book very much. Certainly some knowledge of the  plot of 'Tess of the 'd'Urbevilles' and perhaps a familiarity of Thomas Hardy's main novels, are a great help.  Starting with Angel Clare and Tess's sister Liza-Lu seeing the black flag raised marking the hanging of Tess for the killing of Alec D'Urbeville whose malign actions had contributed to Angel Clare abandoning Tess shortly after he had married her. Alec had at least financially supported Tess's family,and with his death. a crisis soon looms. Angel Clare, still feels contrite for his treatment of Tess, and for leaving her once she disclosed on their wedding night that she had previously had a child out of wedlock after being seduced by Alec.  A

   Death of Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria-Hungary  and Maria (Mary)  Vetsera                                       I remember as a nipper watching the  1976 series BBC  'Fall of Eagles' about the decline and collapse of the Imperial rulers of Germany, Austro-Hungary and Russia: Episode 4 concerned the Mayerling incident: On 30th January 1889, Crown Prince Rudolph ( born 21st August 1858) and his mistress Mary Vetsera  ( born 19th March 1871) were found dead at Mayerling, a hunting lodge near Vienna.              Rudolph was married to Princess Stephanie of Belgium, cousin once removed to Queen Victoria. He visited Britain at least twice. In 1878 his travels took him to Scotland and Ireland, besides England. Rudolph represented the Austrian-Hungarian dual monarchy at Queen  Victoria's Golden Jubilee of 1887, where he was made a Knight of The Order of the Garter. His death was particularly mourned by Bertie, the Prince of Wales and future Edward VII.  The bodies of the  cou