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Ronald Frame

Autor(a) de Havisham

25+ Works 400 Membros 25 Críticas

About the Author

Image credit: Ronald Frame, author of "Time in Carnbeg"

Obras por Ronald Frame

Havisham (2012) 230 exemplares
The Lantern Bearers (1743) 48 exemplares
Penelope's Hat (1989) 18 exemplares
Winter Journey (1984) 18 exemplares
Sandmouth People (1987) 13 exemplares
Bluette (1990) 12 exemplares
Unwritten Secrets (2010) 6 exemplares
Permanent Violet (2002) 5 exemplares
Underwood and After (1992) 5 exemplares
The Dreamer 4 exemplares
Paris With Privateers (1987) 4 exemplares
Time in Carnbeg (2004) 4 exemplares
The Sun on the Wall (1995) 3 exemplares

Associated Works

The Ballad of Peckham Rye (1960) — Introdução, algumas edições734 exemplares
Short Stories: The Thoroughly Modern Collection (2008) — Contribuidor — 5 exemplares
Introduction 8: Stories by New Writers (1983) — Contribuidor — 2 exemplares
Seven Deadly Sins: A Collection of New Fiction (1985) — Contribuidor — 1 exemplar

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Críticas

When you set yourself the task to write a prequel to a novel by an acknowledged genius, you set yourself up to fail. I read it with interest and some enjoyment, but was unconvinced. The trauma didn't seem sufficient , Ms.havisham didn't breathe. I'd still recommend it to Dickems fans, but only Asa pale imitation
 
Assinalado
cspiwak | 17 outras críticas | Mar 6, 2024 |
There was a delicate tracery of gold foil on the back of the dress. How strange that such a consummately made garment should be worn for this one day only. But, as every girl growing up understood, her wedding day was the most significant she would know: a woman's crowning glory.Catherine Havisham was born into privilege. Handsome, imperious, she is the daughter of a wealthy brewer, and lives in luxury in Satis House. But she is never far from the smell of hops and the arresting letters on the brewhouse wall - HAVISHAM. A reminder of all she owes to the family name and the family business.Sent by her father to stay with the Chadwycks, Catherine discovers literature, music and masquerades - elegant pastimes to remove the taint of new money. But for all her growing sophistication Catherine is anything but worldly, and when a charismatic stranger pays her attention, everything - her heart, her future, the very Havisham name - is vulnerable.It is a masterly tribute to one of Dickens's most celebrated and iconic characters

Auteur: Kathy Mathys

Hoe is Miss Havisham zo'n monsterlijke vrouw geworden? Ronald Frame schreef een prequel op Grote verwachtingen van Charles Dickens, met meer begrip voor een lijdende vrouw.

Het beroemdste personage van Charles Dickens is Oliver Twist, maar de kleine weesjongen is lang niet zo fascinerend als Miss Havisham. Dickens voerde haar op in Grote verwachtingen ( Great expectations ), het verhaal van de jonge Pip, die door Miss Havisham opgetrommeld wordt om te spelen met haar protegee Estella. Pip is onder de indruk van de kamers zo groot als zeegrotten, de kaarsen en de vergane glorie van Satis House, waar de wijzer van de klok voor eeuwig op tien over half negen staat. Dat is het uur waarop Miss Havisham te horen kreeg dat haar bruidegom de benen had genomen. De verbitterde Miss Havisham hield haar bruidsjurk aan en in de loop der jaren gingen haar bepoederde haren steeds meer op een rattennest lijken. Estella werd een pion in haar wraakoefening op mannen.

Dickens maakte van Havisham een schrikwekkende, groteske figuur die elk gevoel voor redelijkheid ontbeerde. Ook in Carol Ann Duffy's gedicht ‘Havisham' is zij de stinkende maagd die de rottende bruidstaart te lijf gaat met een mes. De Schotse schrijver Ronald Frame pakt het anders aan.

Zijn roman is een prequel in de psychologisch-realistische traditie: hoe is het zo ver kunnen komen met Miss Havisham? Haar moeder stierf bij haar geboorte in het kraambed en het meisje groeide op als dochter van een rijke bierbrouwer. Op zondag nam haar vader haar mee naar de dorpskathedraal, waar het kind huiverde bij de aanblik van verdorde oude vrijsters.

Aan Miss Havishams groeipijnen lijkt een einde te komen wanneer ze wordt opgenomen bij de Chadwycks, een welgestelde familie met flair en connecties. Daar krijgt ze voor het eerst lucht in de benen. Miss Havisham geniet de gebruikelijke opvoeding voor dames in die tijd: een streepje muziek, enkele regels poëzie, een danspasje. En dan geraakt de jongedame in de ban van meneer Compeyson, die haar achterna zit op een gemaskerd bal. Je voelt meteen dat dit de praatjesmaker is die Miss Havishams ondergang zal inluiden.

Feministische toets

Ergens drie vierde van het boek verschijnt Pip voor het eerst, de verteller en het hoofdpersonage van Grote verwachtingen . Bij Dickens zagen we Miss Havisham door zijn kinderogen – geen wonder dat ze meer weg had van een boze heks dan van een lijdende oude vrouw. Frame stelt Miss Havisham voor als een getalenteerde vrouw die van haar vader niet de kans kreeg om het bedrijf over te nemen. Een snelcursus voor toekomstige bruiden: verder reikte Miss Havishams groeipotentieel niet.

Toch is Frames hoofdpersonage geen volslagen onschuldig slachtoffer. Het laatste deel van de roman vertelt het bekende Dickensverhaal waarin Miss Havisham qua wreedheid niet onderdoet voor de man die haar leven vernielde.

Frames stijl is helder, soms poëtisch. Deze geslaagde prequel staat vol verwijzingen naar literaire personages voor wie het slecht afliep in de liefde. Na dit boek kun je Miss Havishams gedrag beter begrijpen. Of de betovering die van haar uitgaat intact blijft, zal afhangen van hoe je in dit leesavontuur stapt.

Als lezer doe je er goed aan niet al te zeer vast te houden aan Dickens' Havisham, het mythische monster. Frame probeert Dickens niet te kopiëren qua toon of stijl – een slimme beslissing – en zijn Havisham is braver, gewoner, minder sprookjesachtig. Ze is een naïef schepsel, helemaal in de ban van Het lijden van de jonge Werther . De oudere Miss Havisham is bovenal een gedupeerde vrouw.

film: GREAT EXPECTATIONS (Helena Bonham Carter)

fragment: http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/0571288286/ref=olp_product_details/276-0086944-2...
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
Baukis | 17 outras críticas | Oct 16, 2022 |
I often have misgivings about "spinoffs." I bitterly resented Leavitt's "Calvin," who lifted Bill Watterson's resplendent brat and his philosophical stuffed tiger, and plopped him into an angst-ridden teen novel where Calvin is diagnosed as schizophrenic. Blecch. Then again, Lloyd Jones's "Mr Pip," built off Dickens's "Great Expectations," worked better than I had expected, and Peter Carey's "Jack Maggs" was a triumph. So I gave this one a shot. Frame creates a fuller back story for the pathetic Miss Havisham of "Great Expectations" (fertile ground, this novel, no?), wearing out her days - or rather, the same day, over and over and over - half-dressed in her wedding finery in commemoration of the day she is jilted at the altar by a scoundrel. She is bright, she is sharp, she is thorny in character, wealthy but from "trade," not true artistocracy. She does not, however, suspect that the noble family she is sent to live with to put the final social polish on her is simply being paid by her father. So she is always on the outside, looking in, and so tumbles hard for the sweet-talking rake Compeyson, another tolerated outsider. Once he has dumped her, after having insinuated himself into the family business, the workers become sullen, resistant to taking orders from a woman, and it's all downhill from there. Her Estella is meant to punish men for their treatment of women, but also to punish the innocent, society, and everyone else who has thwarted and disappointed her. And - of course - she learns her folly too late. Faithful in spirit to the original, Frame creates a believable, difficult history for this woman. The subplot of a maidservant she was fond of when they were children ending up married to Compeyson seems a bit pointless. But for a confirmed Dickens fan like me, this was worth the read.

The novel was written in 2012, narrated in first person from inside Catherine Havisham's mind. Written by a man. It did occur to me as I read that in 2017, this might raise questions or even ire. How dare he write a woman's thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensibilities (up to and including sexual arousal)? Do we allow such things these days? Is it gender appropriation? But... but... how can a 21st century writer write a 19th century novel? I don't have answers and the questions trouble me. I guess it is a sign of the times that they even occurred to me...
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
JulieStielstra | 17 outras críticas | May 17, 2021 |
In this book, Frame allows one of the greatest characters in English literature to tell her story. Miss Havisham, from Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, is the crazy old lady who, after being abandoned at the altar, closes up her house, leaves the wedding feast to rot on the table and wears her wedding gown for the rest of her life.
In Frame's story, we learn about Catherine Havisham's youth as the motherless daughter of a wealthy brewer. Catherine loves her father and is proud of the family name, but she has no peers. Lonely, she chooses Sally, the daughter of a servant, as her best friend. In her way, Catherine loves Sally, but they have an odd relationship. Catherine confides in Sally, but she never treats Sally as an equal, and Sally never confides in Catherine. Mr. Havisham, wanting his daughter to rise socially, sends Catherine to live with the aristocratic Chadwycks. From the Widow Chadwyck and her children, Catherine is meant to learn the manners, the dialect, and the ways of the gentry. They study the classics and arrange themselves in tableaux. However, the lessons she learns from the Chadwycks cause her to be romantically naïve and overly dramatic—setting her on the road to becoming the character we know she must become.
Through his extraordinary writing, Frame gives the narrative to Miss Havisham, but does not make her sympathetic. The reader never feels close to her. Even as she tells the story, Catherine keeps us at a distance. Readers familiar with Great Expectations know the tragedy that will befall Miss Havisham. We cringe at her bad choices, wrong assumptions, and spiteful schemes, but realize that no other way lies before her. Frame clearly shows how a naïve brewer's daughter became the horrible Miss Havisham.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
elizabethcfelt | 17 outras críticas | May 15, 2017 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
25
Also by
6
Membros
400
Popularidade
#60,685
Avaliação
½ 3.4
Críticas
25
ISBN
52
Línguas
2

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