The Vicar of Wakefield-Reading Schedule

[Frances, Moderator]

Reading schedule to be posted shortly!

[Frances, Moderator]

As promised, here is the reading schedule. As Brian pointed out in another thread, this is in fact a very short book (in my ignorance I just took it for granted that an 18th c novel would be lengthy!) so I have acted on his suggestion and will add Goldsmith's play She Stoops to Conquer on as a final week if there is any interest in reading this as well.

Week 1: May 4-10: Chapters 1-10.
Week 2: May 11-17: Chapters 11-19.
Week 3: May 18-24: Chapters 20-27.
Week 4: May 25-31: Chapters 28-32.
Week 5: June 1-7: She Stoops to Conquer.

[Robin P, Moderator]

Just yesterday I saw a mention of a new historical romance and as I read the plot summary, I thought " That's She Stoops to Conquer"!

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

I've seen the play, She Stoops to Conquer. It was an enjoyable experience.

[Amy]

I remember studying ‘She Stoops’ in college. I received a minor in dramatic literature (one class short of a double major) in 1986.
The title of the play is about all I recall of Mr Goldsmith. We learned about Samuel Johnson in the same class. We read plays of a particular literary movement, but I cannot remember what that was. I think I still have that thick blue tome; I’m anxious to investigate. Perhaps someone here will clue me in, before I locate the textbook. lol My efforts to discover it online have proved fruitless.

I have just finished listening to Vicar (Version 2) courtesy of LibriVox & flawlessly read by Martin Clifton.

Forgive me for the long introduction here.
I became unable to work several years ago; so my career was halted midlife due to Trigeminal Neuralgia.
As I spend most of my days alone, I don’t have much social interaction so please excuse my long missive.

PS The wonderful thing about a book club such as this one is that others have the privilege of omitting comments, with no worry of offending any contributors they find too loquacious.

Thank you all for allowing me to participate.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

It's a pleasure to have you in our group, Amy.
I had the opportunity to see She Stoops to Conquer on stage a number of years ago. It was very funny.
Was the drama category called a comedy of manners?

[Bill]

“The Peers will condemn him, certainly! Then he will be conveyed in a prison-van, like a convict, and will be shut up in Mont Saint-Michel, where the Government lets people die! Austen had gone mad! Steuben had killed himself! In order to transfer Barbès into a dungeon, they had dragged him by the legs and by the hair. They trampled on his body, and his head rebounded along the staircase at every step they took. What abominable treatment! The wretches!”

I expect most readers will be confused and bored by references to forgotten revolutionaries from the 1830s. Actually I think that’s part of the joke, that Frederic’s circle are so agitated about minor incidents and personages totally obscure thirty years later. It’d be like a novel set in the ‘60s where the characters keep on obsessing with Kent State and Eldridge Cleaver and the like.