tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post6285915071253412421..comments2024-03-22T19:13:05.266-04:00Comments on The Dusty Bookcase: A Dog's Life and Then SomeBrian Busbyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-78704749511442059262019-10-22T18:42:46.863-04:002019-10-22T18:42:46.863-04:00I think it says something that I got through The W...I think it says something that I got through <i>The Woman Who Did</i> in one sitting, but read <i>Beautiful Joe</i> a chapter at a time. It was often put aside for several days. Took me three months to get through. Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-10305293745924341072019-10-22T18:38:45.358-04:002019-10-22T18:38:45.358-04:00Roger, perhaps not coincidentally, Black Beauty is...Roger, perhaps not coincidentally, <i>Black Beauty</i> is said to be referenced in <i>Beautiful Joe</i>:<br /><br />"I have seen my mistress laughing and crying over a little book that she says is a story of a horse's life, and sometimes she puts the book down close to my nose to let me see the pictures."<br /><br />Those Fairchild children certainly are a tough lot, much like those in <i>Christie Redfern's Troubles</i> (1866), which I just reviewed for <i>Canadian Notes & Queries</i>. The Redfern children suffer more from the hand of fate than the hand of father. As they age they become increasingly pious. Upbringing? Or is it just because their creator, novelist Margaret Murray Robertson, was a clergyman's daughter?Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-57362537196281907602019-10-18T12:59:15.319-04:002019-10-18T12:59:15.319-04:00I couldn't have gotten past the first instance...I couldn't have gotten past the first instances of cruelty to the animals. Maybe I just care too much, but the only good thing I see in your review is that Jenkins gets beaten to a pulp.Rick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07978136287154214297noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-36904408778628294882019-10-16T16:37:20.022-04:002019-10-16T16:37:20.022-04:00Apparently, the Broadview edition compares the ver...Apparently, the Broadview edition compares the version I read - which was pretty horrific - with the even more violent original.<br /><br />One hopes.<br /><br />Whitman published a "Modern Abridged Edition" in 1955. I've just ordered a copy. The only other Whitman book I own is a novel featuring the Monkees. I'm thinking this version of <i>Beautiful Joe</i> will be just as fun.Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-12424944724731826552019-10-16T16:24:37.536-04:002019-10-16T16:24:37.536-04:00Wonderful! How did I miss your review? I ask becau...Wonderful! How did I miss your review? I ask because you use an image that comes from <a href="http://studiovignette.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">my wife's Studio Vignette blog</a>. Had we ever had any contact at that time or is this yet another remarkable coincidence?<br /><br />Your last sentence is spot on: "For a myriad of reasons—content, style, publication history, and social context—it deserves its place as a classic of Canadian children’s literature."<br /><br />I don't mean to suggest that it shouldn't be read, rather that it be done with a good stiff drink at hand. Brian Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04120341319506205062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-50761270082084658612019-10-16T15:22:06.647-04:002019-10-16T15:22:06.647-04:00This makes Black Beauty - probably the model for a...This makes Black Beauty - probably the model for animal autobiographies - look restrained!<br /><br />"I don't have the fortitude of an nineteenth-century child."<br />Nineteenth century children, even - or especiaaly - nineteenth century middle-class children had to be tough. <br />Here's George Orwell's description of The Fairchild Family: " its chief feature is the fearful visitations from Heaven which fall upon the children whenever they misbehave themselves. If they swing in the swing without leave they fall out and break several teeth: if they forget to say their prayers they fall into the trough of pig-swill; the theft of a few damsons is punished by an attack of pneumonia and narrow escape from death. On one occasion Mr Fairchild catches his children quarrelling. After the usual flogging, he takes them for a long walk to see the rotting body of a murderer hanging on a gibbet—the result, as he points out, of a quarrel between two brothers.<br /><br />A curious and interesting feature of the book is that the Fairchild children, reared upon these stern principles, seem to be rather exceptionally untrustworthy. As soon as their parents’ backs are turned they invariably misbehave themselves, which suggests that flogging and bread and water are not a very satisfactory treatment after all. It is worth recording, by the way, that the author, Mrs Sherwood, brought up several children, and at any rate they did not actually die under her ministrations."Roger Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11012987757094423896noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-61390908074600916152019-10-16T13:23:28.782-04:002019-10-16T13:23:28.782-04:00I bought a copy of this for Joe, my partner, ages ...I bought a copy of this for Joe, my partner, ages ago because 1. he used to collect kids' books about dogs and 2. because of the title. Neither of us ever read it. I think because of the Preface (which I vaguely recall reading aloud to him) neither of us wanted to encounter the scenes you quote above. He'll be interested to read this post.J F Norrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06473487417479127354noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-73141136833692493872019-10-16T10:04:12.847-04:002019-10-16T10:04:12.847-04:00Also, Broadview has a new critical edition out tha...Also, Broadview has a new critical edition out that has an excellent intro discussing the various (sanitized) editions. <br /><br />https://broadviewpress.com/product/beautiful-joe/#tab-descriptionKaryn Huenemannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17875963597787793441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6747768554703669866.post-7231517817913230942019-10-16T10:02:39.919-04:002019-10-16T10:02:39.919-04:00Here’s my review. More generic and blurb-like than...Here’s my review. More generic and blurb-like than yours by far, although I do agree with your position! (And to be honest, I really enjoyed neither Beautiful Joe nor Black Beauty.)<br /><br />https://ceww.wordpress.com/2012/08/07/beautiful-joe-1893-by-marshall-saunders/<br />Karyn Huenemannhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17875963597787793441noreply@blogger.com