Woman's Club Work and Programs Part 22

BOOKS TO CONSULT--J. W. Cross: Life of George Eliot. Oscar Browning: Life of George Eliot. Mathilde Blind: George Eliot. C. S. Olcott: George Eliot: Scenes and People in Her Novels, ill.u.s.trated from photographs.

Also essays by Sir Leslie Stephen, E. H. A. Scherer, E. Dowden, R. H.

Hutton, and Henry James.

No program on George Eliot would be complete without a brief presentation of her poetry. A scene may be read from the Spanish Gipsy, a selection from How Lisa Loved the King, and the whole of the beautiful short poem, Oh May I Join the Choir Invisible. A description of her grave in Highgate Cemetery in London, and its inscription, may conclude.

IX--ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON

1. _Story of His Life_--Childhood and Edinburgh University. Travels on the Continent. Trip to America. First writing for publication. Story of his books. Samoa. Reading of pa.s.sages from his letters.

2. _Short Stories_--His fantastic imagination. Style and how he cultivated it. Readings from the New Arabian Nights. a.n.a.lysis of Dr.

Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

3. _Essays and Sketches_--Variety of subject and versatility of treatment. Readings from Crabbed Age and Youth, John Knox and Women, and In the South Seas.

4. _Scotch Adventures_--a.n.a.lysis and description of The Master of Ballantrae, Kidnapped, David Balfour, Weir of Hermiston. Reading from Kidnapped.

5. _Varied Romances_--Treasure Island, Prince Otto, The Black Arrow, The Wrecker, The Ebb Tide. Note the great variety of material. Reading from Treasure Island.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--Graham Balfour: Life of Robert Louis Stevenson. A. H.

j.a.pp: Robert Louis Stevenson. John Kelman: The Faith of Robert Louis Stevenson. Isobel Osbourne Strong: Robert Louis Stevenson.

A program on Stevenson should certainly mention his poems. Read from his A Child's Garden of Verse. Notice also his prayers, which have had large circulation and use in the religious world. There might be a paper on the varied appreciation of Stevenson by his biographers, noting especially Henley. Show pictures of Stevenson, and especially of the bas-relief of him made by Saint-Gaudens for St. Giles's Cathedral in Edinburgh.

X--GEORGE MEREDITH

1. _The Man_--Story of his life and remarkable friends.h.i.+ps.

Peculiarities. His style and satire. Compare his prose with Browning's verse. Were they purposely obscure? Why is Meredith not more popular?

His later days. Compare him with d.i.c.kens and Thackeray.

2. _Richard Feverel, and Beauchamp's Career_--a.n.a.lysis of the plots and description of the chief characters. Have these books a moral? Discuss the novel as a teacher of morals. Readings.

3. _The Egoist_--a.n.a.lysis of the plot and description of the chief character, Sir Willoughby Patterne. Is his refined and unconscious selfishness a common occurrence? Discuss the proper limits of egotism.

Quotation of clever sayings.

4. _Diana of the Crossways, One of Our Conquerors, The Shaving of s.h.a.gpat_--Description in detail of these books, and their purposes. If possible, indicate any characters supposed to be from life.

BOOKS TO CONSULT--E. J. Bailey: The Novels of George Meredith. Mrs.

M. D. Henderson: George Meredith, Novelist, Poet, Reformer. R. Le Gallienne: George Meredith, Some Characteristics. J. W. Beach: The Comic Spirit on George Meredith.

Have a brief paper on George Meredith as a poet and the various estimates of his poetry by literary critics; read from some of the best-known poems. Indicate Meredith's relation to the Feminist Movement.

Look up in the magazines published at the time of his death something about his ma.n.u.scripts and how he disposed of them.

CHAPTER XV

ENGLISH NOVELISTS OF TO-DAY

INTRODUCTION

There is at the present day a more than usually interesting group of writers in England. Their personality is delightful, and their point of view is eminently modern, full of the spirit of the times. The material for study must be gleaned largely from magazine articles, and by looking over the files of such publications as the _Review of Reviews_, the _Literary Digest_, the _Outlook_, and the _Bookman_, there will be found sketches of the lives and work of all those given here. In addition the New International Encyclopaedia has biographical sketches, and Poole's Index and other reference books at a public library will direct to more material.

All programs on these authors should be arranged in four parts: first, the life of the author, as full as may be, with sketches of his experiences, his home circle, his friends, his methods of work; second, a criticism of his writing, his style, his mannerisms, the general trend of his ideas, and some mention of his place among writers; third, readings from several of his books; and fourth, a discussion of his characters by the club members.

In place of one of these topics, some clubs may prefer a paper showing the change in the author's methods and style, based on a comparison of his earlier and later writings.

I--THOMAS HARDY

Thomas Hardy was born in Dorsets.h.i.+re in 1840, and educated to be an architect. It was as a rebuilder of old churches that he became an antiquarian and then a student of rural types, since his work took him to country districts. His own county lives in his books under the name of Wess.e.x, and the people he draws are taken from life. He has a sympathetic touch in dealing with their problems and peculiarities which comes from close contact and genuine affection.

His first novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, was followed by a second which won him popularity, Far from the Madding Crowd. This appeared anonymously as a serial, and at the time was attributed to George Eliot, because she was thought to be the only living author capable of writing it. The Return of the Native is perhaps his most characteristic book, although in Jude the Obscure he shows a merciless character a.n.a.lysis.

But in Tess of the D'Urbervilles he reaches the height of his power. It is a story of tragedy, expressing the doctrine that man must reap what he has sown. Read several chapters from Tess and discuss the story.

Hardy's short stories also are well known and a collection called Wess.e.x Tales will be found excellent for selections for club reading. The Three Strangers is generally considered his best story. Notice the descriptions of scenery, the characteristics of the country people and their personalities. Does Hardy show a lack of humor? Is he a fatalist?

II--MAURICE HEWLETT

Maurice Hewlett was born in London in 1866, educated there, and admitted to the bar. It was in the midst of city life that he wrote his first novel, The Forest Lovers, which he has never excelled in beauty and charm. It is an exquisite, simple picture of life in the Middle Ages, with a lovely romance running through it. Critics tell us that of all his contemporaries he has best interpreted medieval thought and sentiment.

Later he wrote other novels of the same period, notably Richard Yea-and-Nay, sometimes called an epic story, full of pa.s.sion, war and poetry. It was with this book that fame came to Hewlett.

In The Queen's Quair we have a study of Mary, Queen of Scots, her court and the tragedy of her life. The Stooping Lady is laid in the Eighteenth Century, but the author shows the same peculiarity, that of making any time vividly real and preserving the atmosphere. This novel is full of imagination, yet terse and clear. Hewlett has also written some short stories of a delightful sort--Little Novels of Italy and The Madonna of the Peach Tree, quite unlike his longer books.

It is interesting to note that into all his writings the one idea is woven so skilfully as to be almost imperceptible--of the progress of the soul, either upward or downward. This key unlocks many of the puzzling pa.s.sages, especially in Richard Yea-and-Nay. Clubs can follow out this suggestion in reading his books.

Read from the novels mentioned; note the strength of Jehan and the subtlety of Mary. Read also from his three delightful out-of-door stories of to-day, Half-Way House, Open Country, and Rest Harrow.

Compare the descriptions of scenery in England, Scotland, France and Italy.

III--MRS. HUMPHRY WARD

Mrs. Humphry Ward, born of English parents in Tasmania in 1851, lived in Oxford and was educated in the Lake Country. The granddaughter of Thomas Arnold of Rugby, and the niece of Matthew Arnold, she inherited a strong moral sense which was increased by the atmosphere of her home, and grew up feeling that life was full of ethical problems. She married an Oxford tutor, moved to London, wrote reviews, translated Amiel's Journal into English, and then in 1888 wrote her first novel, Robert Elsmere, a brilliant presentation of the religious difficulties of a young clergyman, leading to his abandonment of orthodoxy. It attracted so much attention that Gladstone thought it worth his while to review it and combat its views.

She wrote later The History of David Grieve, contrasting the spiritual development of a brother and a sister. This is called her most vital book. Marcella, her most powerful book, deals with the problem of socialism in England. Then came Sir George Tressady, Eleanor, Lady Rose's Daughter, Fenwick's Career, and others. Her later books, if more finished, lack the strength of her earlier.

Mrs. Ward has often been compared with George Eliot; clubs will find it interesting to note resemblances and differences and compare heroines and plots. Which of the two best concealed the moral purpose both used as the theme of their books? Read from several of Mrs. Ward's earlier volumes and also some selections from George Eliot's Adam Bede and Romola. Discuss the sense of humor shown by the two authors.

IV--HALL CAINE

Hall Caine, though of Manx descent, was born in Ches.h.i.+re in 1853, but he has always seemed less of an Englishman than a Manxman. His stories all have the atmosphere of the little Isle of Man, and his plots are laid there. Yet he lived in London as architect, journalist, novelist, and dramatist. There is much that is interesting about his life, especially the year that he spent with Rossetti.