William T. Stead (1849–1912)
Author of Real Ghost Stories
About the Author
Image credit: Pach
Series
Works by William T. Stead
If Christ Came to Chicago: A Plea for the Union of All Who Love in the Service of All Who Suffer (1990) 18 copies
The Welsh Revival & The Story of The Welsh Revival: As Told by Eyewitnesses Together With a Sketch of Evan Roberts and… (2015) 6 copies
Hymns That Have Helped 3 copies
The Welsh Revival (Narrative of Facts - W. T. Stead, Source and Power - G. Campbell Morgan) (2012) 3 copies
AFTER DEATH: A Personal Narrative ( New and Enlarged Edition of "Letters from Julia" ) (1914) 2 copies
the key to communication 2 copies
Gemeenschap met het hiernamaals 2 copies
Review of Reviews (34:06) (234) 2 copies
Borderland Vol II 1 copy
Borderland Vol I 1 copy
Review of reviews (London) 1 copy
after death 1 copy
life eternal 1 copy
After Death; Or Letters from Julia. A Personal Narrative. A Work of Priceless Value to Spiritualists (2015) 1 copy
Stead's Guide: The Passion Play at Oberammergau 1930, the Complete English Text of the Play (1930) 1 copy
Events in British history 1 copy
Associated Works
The Last Will and Testament of Cecil John Rhodes: With Elucidatory Notes to Which Are Added Some Chapters Describing… (1902) — some editions — 6 copies
The Future of War in Its Technical, Economic, and Political Relations (1899) — some editions — 5 copies
LibriVox Short Ghost and Horror Collection 035 — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Stead, William Thomas
- Other names
- Stead, W. T.
Stead, Wm. T. - Birthdate
- 1849-07-05
- Date of death
- 1912-04-15
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Embleton, Northumberland, England
- Place of death
- At sea (following the wreck of the Titanic)
Members
Reviews
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 56
- Also by
- 4
- Members
- 178
- Popularity
- #120,889
- Rating
- 3.5
- Reviews
- 4
- ISBNs
- 51
A difficult volume to track down, no doubt owing to its more ephemeral nature as a magazine-published paperback, rather than a "proper" cloth-bound book, The Adventures of Reynard the Fox is quite fascinating. The style is something different from many of the other titles I considered for my masters dissertation, which examined three centuries of retellings of the Reynard story for children, in the Anglophone world. I wish I could have tracked down more of this kind of matter. Leaving that aside, this presents an interesting take on the Reynard story, from a moral perspective, arguing that this sort of thing - the bad guy winning - is true to life. The editor writes, in his foreword, that "the good people are not always triumphant, nor are the bad ones always punished," going on to maintain that if the animals had not behaved with weakness and selfishness, if they had not given way to their vanity, then "it would never have been in Reynard's power to lead them such a dance." This interpretation is quite interesting, when one considers the identity of the editor. William T. Stead - who, in an interesting historical footnote, perished when the Titanic sank in 1912 - was a journalist who often used his platform to argue for social reform, and it is tempting to think that his more cynical stance here, his position that sometimes the bad guys win, is the product of that work, and of his knowledge of the world. It is certainly a realistic position, and I found myself wondering, as I read, whether this perspective might not also represent a difference of experience and culture between the social classes. This sort of magazine-published pamphlet strikes me as something aimed more at working and lower middle-class children, as opposed to the beautifully-bound hardcover volumes no doubt intended for their more wealthy counterparts. Given that this is so, the difference in outlook makes sense, as working class children would have been far better acquainted with the essential unfairness of the world, than their upper-class peers.
As mentioned, this is a difficult little volume to track down, although I would recommend it (is it can be found) to those readers interested in children's Reynard retellings, or in late Victorian children's literature aimed at working class children.… (more)