Joseph Farrell (3)
Author of Sicily: A Cultural History
For other authors named Joseph Farrell, see the disambiguation page.
About the Author
Joseph Farrell is Professor of Italian at the University of Strathclyde. He is author of a biography of Dario Fo and has translated several Italian playwrights in addition to various novels.
Works by Joseph Farrell
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The author of this lively bio about Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) discovered his adventure stories as I did, in childhood:
Huh? Boys’ writer?? I loved Treasure Island!
Whatever about any of that, feminists will be pleased to see that Farrell gives RLS’s much maligned wife Fanny a fair go. She was an American and a divorcee and you only need to know about Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson in the 20th century to know that those were two fatal ticks against any woman of the 19th century in Britain. And #OMGShockHorror! she was ten years older than him. So, yes, she had a hard time from some unforgiving quarters while RLS was alive, and she got a predictably bad press when the bios were written after his death.
But the fact is that RLS was smitten....
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/08/09/robert-louis-stevenson-in-samoa-by-joseph-fa... show less
Growing up in Scotland for my generation meant growing up with Robert Louis Stevenson. It was not that we were all avid readers, although many of us were, but the B.B.C. did adaptations of his fiction on radio and T.V., and a series of “classic comics” circulated and were keenly read and swopped. Treasure Island and Kidnapped were part of our lives, in the sameshow more
way, I suppose, as social media is for today’s younger generation. At least that was the case for boys. I was surprised when working on this book to be told by female friends that he was regarded as a boys’ writer, not someone for them. (p.13)
Huh? Boys’ writer?? I loved Treasure Island!
Whatever about any of that, feminists will be pleased to see that Farrell gives RLS’s much maligned wife Fanny a fair go. She was an American and a divorcee and you only need to know about Edward VIII and Mrs Simpson in the 20th century to know that those were two fatal ticks against any woman of the 19th century in Britain. And #OMGShockHorror! she was ten years older than him. So, yes, she had a hard time from some unforgiving quarters while RLS was alive, and she got a predictably bad press when the bios were written after his death.
But the fact is that RLS was smitten....
To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2017/08/09/robert-louis-stevenson-in-samoa-by-joseph-fa... show less
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