The Wry Romance of the Literary Rectory
by Deborah Alun-Jones
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Description
In this engaging book, Deborah Alun-Jones selects a range of authors from the seventeenth century to the twenty-first, for whom the rectory was either the childhood home that nurtured their creative talent or the place they chose to live as an adult and from which they drew inspiration. Each chapter explores the life of a writer during the time they lived at a particular rectory/ parsonage or vicarage and the effect it had on them.Tags
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Member Reviews
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is both light and engaging, whilst having some genuinely interesting facts about eight rectories and ten famous families. The theme holding it together is the effect of living in a rectory upon writers; the surfeit of families to buildings is caused by two of them living, at different eras, in the same property.
Most of the chapters are more concerned with the people than the architectural construct and it is in providing vignettes of the lives of the author and their families that Deborah Alun-Jones excels. One of the combinations explored is that of John Betjeman at The Old Rectory, Farnborough. I have, recently, read a biography of Betjeman and whilst, in just twenty-four, lavishly illustrated, show more pages, one could not expect the detail of a five hundred page book, this rending brought Betjeman to life.
The greatest compliment that I can pay to a book, such as this, is that it has made me keen to explore the lives of its subjects in greater detail. show less
Most of the chapters are more concerned with the people than the architectural construct and it is in providing vignettes of the lives of the author and their families that Deborah Alun-Jones excels. One of the combinations explored is that of John Betjeman at The Old Rectory, Farnborough. I have, recently, read a biography of Betjeman and whilst, in just twenty-four, lavishly illustrated, show more pages, one could not expect the detail of a five hundred page book, this rending brought Betjeman to life.
The greatest compliment that I can pay to a book, such as this, is that it has made me keen to explore the lives of its subjects in greater detail. show less
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Favorite Books Published in 2013
32 works; 10 members
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2 Works 49 Members
Classifications
- Genres
- Literature Studies and Criticism, Nonfiction, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 820.9 — Literature & rhetoric English & Old English literatures English and Old English (Anglo-Saxon) literatures History, description, critical appraisal of works in more than one form
- LCC
- PR109 .A46 — Language and Literature English English Literature
- BISAC
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- 37
- Popularity
- 777,193
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.08)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 1
- UPCs
- 1
