The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion

Wk 2 (Oct 8 - 14): Chap XIII - XXIV

I woke up this morning to an inch of water on my carpet, the hot water heater started leaking sometime last night. Please feel free to start the discussion, I'll post questions as soon as I can but it might be late today or even tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.

Sorry again for the wait, there has been so much to do purging things that could not be salvaged (the water made its way into the storage areas) and of course cleaning. I'm almost finished but there is still a bit to be done. Not fun.
_______________________________________________________
Week 2: Chapters XIII - XXIV

This week we see some more the the characters we were introduced to in Week 1, some humorous antics (the closet-scene), and another side of Cherry altogether.

In chapter XIII Cherry writes that she gave permission for Betterton to visit her again because she might need him as she is "off for villains." In the next chapter, she writes, "If I can constitute a jealousy between them it will add to the animation of several scenes."

When Cherry learns from the poet's mother there is a plot between Betterton and the landlady, she scolds the woman saying "... you have destroyed half the interest of this intrigue against me by forewarning me of it." This is followed by the "closet-scene."

Later we see how Cherry blackmails the milliard in order to obtain a dress for the masquerade. She seems to do this with little to no qualms.

Finally, we see her "laudable intentions" with an "admirable plan" of common charity "to snatch them (William and Mary - the peasant's daughter who are to be married the following week) awhile from the dogged and headlong way they were setting about matrimony, and introduce them to a few of the sensibilities. She wants to set "up an incident or two between them; a week or a fortnight's torture, perhaps; and afterward enjoy the luxury of reuniting them.

What do you make of these situations? Do you think they speak to the kind of person Cherry is? If so, why? And, what do you think of her? If not, why? What do you think her goals are with these events and orchestrations?

Oh no! I hope you'll be able to get everything fixed without too much cost or damage.

Yikes, Gem, it’s amazing how much damage a little water can do! I’m so sorry you’re going through this.

I’m continuing to enjoy the book. The author has taken the trouble to come up with a wide variety of settings and incidents, reducing the one-note repetitiousness that could so easily take over a spoof like this. He is good at getting Cherry to reveal how her ideas are evolving without her being aware of it.

One thing the author isn’t so great at, in my opinion, is characterization. In part that’s a result of the epistolary form—Cherry’s limited lens doesn’t allow for much perceptiveness—but it frustrates me that people step onto the stage and they form no image in my mind. They are also rather inconsistent, especially Betterton. And in the latter part of this section, Grundy/Montmorenci just disappears, but I felt he should have been persistent enough to follow somehow when they hit the road.

It’s interesting that Cherry obviously has read a lot more widely than just gothic/romance fiction. When Stuart can trick her into it, she exchanges epigrams with the best of them. She is capable of reasoning, and it’s to be hoped that she applies that gift to herself eventually. We see brief glimpses of it, as when she sees her rape of the cottager’s garden through his eyes and feels guilty about it.

Have to say I’m loving Mr. Stuart. When he presses Cherry to be realistic and she resists, he immediately drops the subject and (to all appearances) goes along with her schemes. This keeps him in the running and gives her the time and space to get comfortable with him. He may carry complaisance a bit far, though—he mentioned her father’s disappearance maybe three times and then gave up asking, leaving the poor man trapped in the mental institution. Perhaps he has put the Bow Street Runners on the job but we don’t hear about it, of course. Surely he realizes he should be pushing Montmorenci for an answer.

Sorry to hear about your heater Gem! I hope the damage isn’t too bad.

I'm reading this alongside The Italian and it's very enlightening. When Cherry is willing to make friends with any girl whose name ends with a, she might be recalling how Mrs Radcliffe's heroine Ellena is befriended by Olivia. Her assumed dignity when confronting Betterton is exactly the manner of Ellena when facing down one of the villains. It is comical but it also gives me a new appreciation for the works being parodied.

It really is fun seeing so many of the books we've read together mentioned there!

That must be fun, Moppet, reading the two books in parallel!

Jane Austen also spoofed the cliches of the genre in some of the short stories she wrote as a child, collectively known as the Juvenilia. People might look for two especially, “Jack and Alice” and “Love and Freindship” (the latter not to be confused with the movie Love and Friendship, which is an adaptation of her early novella Lady Susan).

Yes it is fun! IIRC Jane Austen satirises the way heroines constantly faint, and Radcliffe is certainly guilty of that. :D