The Readers Review: Literature from 1714 to 1910 discussion
Through Welsh Doorways
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Through Welsh Doorways - Week 2
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I enjoyed these stories more than the first set, especially “An Oriel in Eden,” with the two middle-aged people muddling along trying to figure out married life.They all share a quite lovely sense of what it is to be a man—tolerating and covering for their wives’ oddities, stepping outside of societal expectations to be kind. Nontoxic masculinity!
Mod
They all share a quite lovely sens..."
Good point, none of the men got angry and mistreated their wives, even when they were the butt of a joke.
The following are my synopses of this week’s three stories which, for the most part, I will incorporate in my review when I finish. Thus, I don’t really discuss the endings, although I may indirectly.I agree with Abigail that “An Oriel in Eden” was the best of the three, due to it’s portrayal of Ariel with his positive masculine traits.
TIT FOR TAT
This was a cutesy relationship story about a long-wed couple living in Twthill, Gladys Jones and Deacon Adam Jones. Their normal marital bliss gets tested when the Deacon prohibits Gladys from going to an event she desires to go to. It’s how Gladys chose to react to this edict that is the climax for the story.
This is a lightly humorous, semi-charming story that tries a bit hard to be both real and cutesy. However, in trying to set this tone in this story, I felt that Marks’ writing was sometimes too simple and too treacly, mainly in the introductory descriptions setting the stage for the story. Here's an example:
No good was coming to her because she had lightened the heavy quiet of Twthill in various ways; because she had talked with the slate pigeons and clipped the wicked tail of the privet pigeon; because she twinkled over the candytuft, bright and beautiful enough for a dozen Joseph’s coats, or rang the Canterbury bells when nobody was looking, or pulled the bees off the honeysuckle, or fed the tiny sparrows and sandpipers and rooks as if they were gees or tickled the toad under the holly-bush til he swelled with joy.
Another example:
And that stream, purr, purr, purr, purr, purr, all day long, just as if the cats couldn’t attend to that sort of noise better. And those heavy-looking ugly-coloured foxglove bells that grew on the sunny side of the stone wall, and rustled “Tinkle-tinkle, tinkle-tinkle” in a way that Gladys has sometime thought that the mysterious swishing of dry leaves or the scampering of the Little Folk.
I like good descriptive writing, such as Hardy and Zola, but some of Mark’s descriptions seem, to use the literary term, too “goopy.” But, despite some descriptions that I thought missed the ‘mark,’ I thought that overall it was a decent story. Now, when I look at myself in the bathroom mirror before I go out, I check my back too.
I rate it as 3.0 stars.
AN ORIEL IN EDEN
This story is about a late-in-life newly married couple (I too like the number of married couples involved). 45 year-old Ariel Jenkins and 40 year old Janny Jenkins. Ariel is a respected shopkeeper and amateur poet in the town of Glaswyn. Janny is new to town and seeks to justify her position as the matron of a house that is called “the most important in Glaswyn.” How the Janny justified herself is the story dynamic, but it is the warmth and affection shown between the newlyweds, especially Ariel’s disposition, that make the story an effectively endearing one.
I rate it as 3.7 stars
THE CHILD
This story has a bit of fable atmosphere to it too. The story takes place in the mountainside cottage of brothers Owen and Tom and their presumably sister Jane. As they sit for dinner, a stranger appears at their door, with a tale of woe involving his young daughter at home. The story involves dreams of hidden, buried gold, the brothers being mischievous, and characters positive personal growth. It has a charm even with the slightly mystical element.
I rate it as 3.3 stars.
Mod
In the 1st story a character is named "Gladys"In the 2nd story the town is named "Glaswyn"
In the same time period I was reading these stories, I read a P.G. Wodehouse "Jeeves" short story called "The Spot of Art" where the girl Bertie was pining for was named "Gwladys" which struck me as being an appropriate spelling for a Gladys from Glaswyn.
Mod
In the 2nd story the town is named "Glaswyn"
In the same time period I was reading these stories, I read a P.G. Wodehouse "Jeeves" short story called..."
The Welsh spelling is often Gwladys - the w has an "oo" sound, but in this case, it would be elided over, so more of a schwa sound, if heard at all.
The first two stories are largely humorous, where the 3rd about the child is serious, with some magical realism. But that one also defends the needs of human beings against the expectations of the established religion. The church silver is of more use to save a child's life than to adorn the building. (This must have been a bit more "high church" than some, as some chapels were deliberately plain.)
In the first story, I enjoyed the juxtaposition of the typical quiet morning and the sudden clamor of the circus passing. It turned out that in the scandalous act of skipping church, Gladys was the only one in the village to see the circus (which she found disappointing after all.)
What are your thoughts on these stories?