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Loading... The Real Mrs. Miniver (2001)by Ysenda Maxtone-Graham
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. World War 2 A wonderful read, written by the granddaughter of the creator of "Mrs. Miniver", who lifted many a spirit with her portraits of daily life in an upper middle class household. As the film version of Mrs. Miniver was rather far removed from the fiction created by Joyce Maxtone Graham (alias Jan Struther), so Joyce's "real life" was very different from that of her light-hearted, happily married heroine. This book is a fascinating portrait of the woman herself. Highly recommended. I haven’t seen the film nor have I read the book on which it was based. In October 1939, a collection of articles from the London’s The Times saw the light after two years of publication and faithful following from the newspaper’s readers. Joyce Maxtone Graham, née Joyce Anstruther, alias Jan Struther, was the writer and creator of Mrs Miniver, a very proper and endearing British woman, mother of two sons and daughter, married to a perfect husband. Joyce Maxtone Graham had started early a literary career having contributed short pieces and poems to Punch, among other British publications, and being also the author of inspiring hymns. The newspaper articles, the book collection and then the wildly free adaptation to film received general public attention during the late 30’s and early 40’s in the UK and North America. The MGM film, starring Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon, distributed worldwide, was hugely successful and become an effective propaganda tool for the war effort during the Second World War. Winston Churchill is reported to have said that it did more for the Allied cause than a flotilla of battleships. Jan Struther herself contributed with several tours of acclaimed lectures in the United States to the promotion of the film and, indirectly, to edge the Americans from an isolationist position to participation in the war. This, let’s say, is what might be called the official, formal story behind both character and her creator. Interesting as it is, it turned out that behind it or perhaps better, alongside it, a lesser known parallel reality, concealed for many years by the writer, evolved with plenty of passion, pain and adventure. Jan Struther’s grand-daughter, Ysenda Maxtone Graham, published in 2001 a book of recollections called The Real Mrs Miniver on the life of her famous grandmother. And the real Mrs Miniver is a fascinating story indeed. Slightly Foxed Ltd has now reissued the book in a limited edition of 2000 copies (No. 21 of the series Slightly Foxed Editions); the book is both a joy to read and handle in its small, hardback format. I won’t be including any spoilers here. Only a recommendation to read all about the intense Jan Struther (who died as Joyce Placzek). Her grand-daughter does a marvelous job telling a story of love and human character. I have the film on order. no reviews | add a review
Belongs to Publisher SeriesSlightly Foxed Editions (No. 21) Awards
The film Mrs Miniver, starring Greer Garson, was a wartime classic. It took America by storm and won five Oscars. It was a war film, though with a difference in that it was not the handsome RAF pilot but his bride who was killed. Even now it is a classic weepie; in 1942, even isolationist Americans were stunned. Winston Churchill said Mrs Miniver would do more for the Allied cause that a flotilla of battleships. The book Mrs Miniver had likewise been a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic and its author, Jan Struther found it hard to persuade people that she herself was not its heroine. I felt like a ventriloquist, she later said, whose dummy had struck up an independent conversation with the audience. In the book the Minivers were happily married, but in real life Jan had drifted out of love with her conventional husband Tony and had fallen for an erudite Jewish refugee in the flight to the United States. For the whole war this had to be concealed, while Tony was a prisoner-of-war and guilt drove Jan around America as an unofficial ambassador. Only in 1948 could she marry her refugee, and five years later she died prematurely. The way in which Jan Struther's life unfolded is a microcosm of what the war could do to people. No library descriptions found.
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)828.91209Literature English & Old English literatures English miscellaneous writings English miscellaneous writings 1900- English miscellaneous writings 1900-1999 English miscellaneous writings 1900-1945 Individual authorsLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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