tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post8517665246988935521..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Dorriting around the MarshalseaDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-12281908025684291982010-01-11T23:46:10.556+00:002010-01-11T23:46:10.556+00:00Actually it was a DVD we watched - I like the tota...Actually it was a DVD we watched - I like the total immersion rather than the half hour chunks (and New Year was the only time when we could manage it, in two sessions). I believe this Dorrit was first aired in 2008.<br /><br />It wasn't just his heroines Hardy punished - think of poor Jude and Michael Henchard. Pessimistic indeed, but there's always great beauty. <br /><br />Haven't seen the BBC Tess, only the film with Nastassia Kinski many years ago. Am now looking forward to the Cranford special, which we missed at Xmas. The original series is perhaps the best 'classic serial' ever in terms of creative adaptation (and Carl Davis's music). <br /><br />I thought I'd had enough of these crinoline and bonnet dramas, but the humanity and the acting seem to triumph these days.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-71881513195741989742010-01-11T21:58:00.442+00:002010-01-11T21:58:00.442+00:00We had Little Dorrit on our Public Broadcasting ea...We had Little Dorrit on our Public Broadcasting earlier than you, in the fall. Neither Fritz nor I had read the novel, but we liked the BBC production, particularly the chance to see Tom Courtney in action again. <br /><br />We certainly preferred Dorrit as a piece of material to Tess of the d'Urbervilles which preceded it. I had not read Tess and have decided not to, given the almost sadistic way Hardy sends her on a relentlessly downward trajectory ending on the gallows. I understand perfectly his point in the whole exercise but it finally became unbearable to watch and the night it ended, we moved almost silently to bed in a bit of a depression. <br /><br />Of course, people say the exact thing about Puccini stacking the deck against so many of his heroines until the only possibility is either their death, or suicide.Willhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14279473113628377106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-69455232931145149302010-01-11T20:16:43.761+00:002010-01-11T20:16:43.761+00:00Well, I would otherwise have deferred to your much...Well, I would otherwise have deferred to your much more detailed knowledge - but in this case, with the merest superficial knowledge gleaned from that marvellous show, I knew I was right.<br /><br />This statue would indeed have been holding a skull, but the skull has gone.<br /><br />Delighted you picked up on the Martinu - his time continues, with all those splended BBCSO concerts in the offing. It would be well worth your while travelling to one or two if you can. The excitement in the hall seems to be growing...<br /><br />I don't think the Brilliant box is available any more. Anyway, the new artwork on the BIS set is rather becoming, if not as quirky as his cartoons which used to grace the original issues.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-265406114267344732010-01-11T16:40:36.773+00:002010-01-11T16:40:36.773+00:00from Catherine Nixon
Yes David, apologies and heap...from Catherine Nixon<br />Yes David, apologies and heaps of humility, mea maxima culpa - the polychrome statue IS that of Francis Borgia, not Xavier as I thought; even us Oxbridge snoots are wrong some of the time. I contacted a Jesuit friend who remarked that Borgia is usually depicted holding a skull, whereas Xavier is always depicted holding a cross- hence my mistake. Borgia was Aragonese, unlike Loyola and Xavier who were both Basque, and known to be bald, like Ignatius - Xavier is always depicted with a full head of thick black Basque hair - another way of telling the difference. I was right in stating that Jesuit churches across the world will usually have statues of Loyola and Xavier to the left and right of the altar, respectively.<br />I bought the Martinu version which you recommended in your Building a Library, and very illuminating it is too. Readers of your blog might like to know that BIS is doing a "6 for 4" edition of the Jarvi Bamberg SO recordings whereby all six symphonies are sold, properly cased etc., for the price of four, £30 instead of £45, <br />which is the one I bought for myself(I don't like the BRILLIANT edition, with those funny envelopes for the CDs and no decent liner notes). <br />Readers, go for the BIS!<br />Catherine Nixon, Clare College, Cambridge.Catherine Nixonnoreply@blogger.com