Hypathia Edition

Not really all that bad a book, as Amyas Leigh goes off privateering against the Spanish in the New World, seeks vengeance against the Spaniard who "corrupted" Amyas's true love Rose of Torridge, and finally becomes a raging Ahabian lunatic in a post-Armada battle until he is stricken blind, repents, and at last becomes domesticated like Rochester!

As for the nature descriptions, Westward Ho! definitely can't hold a candle to Kingsley's Hypatia, but the plot does have a rather childish excitement to it that in the jungle scenes somehow reminds me of Rider Haggard. It's also chock-full of anti-Catholicism as well as condescending treatment of Africans and Native Americans, which makes it understandable that it would have been subjected to "cancel culture" by the time of the early 20th Century.

Kingsley, ironically considering his strong anti-Catholicism, may be most noted today as a footnote to John Henry (Cardinal) Newman. It was Kingsley's intemperate magazine/journal foray of letter-writing versus Newman that led to Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua.

I also recall (though I don't have the source right at my fingertips) that, after reading Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Bronte, Kingsley remarked (sympathetically toward the sisters) something to the effect that, considering what a horrid upbringing they'd had, their crudeness was understandable.

Believe it or not, as a younger man and before his ministry in the Evangelical wing of the Church of England, Kingsley was drawn to Chartism. ( )

Action-packed and absolutely memorable! A difficult read but it becomes easier as you go. VERY very helpful ,historically speaking, and a book I am excited about.

726. Westward Ho! by Charles Kingsley (read 25 Mar 1963) As I recall this book I did not like it because it was anti-Catholic. ( )

Fiction