Immagine dell'autore.

B. C. Southam (1931–2010)

Autore di A Student's Guide to the Selected Poems of T.S. Eliot

28+ opere 506 membri 2 recensioni

Sull'Autore

Opere di B. C. Southam

Jane Austen and the Navy (2000) 32 copie
Jane Austen (1975) 6 copie

Opere correlate

Jane Austen in context (2005) — Collaboratore — 86 copie

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Nome canonico
Southam, B. C.
Nome legale
Southam, Brian Charles
Data di nascita
1931-09-15
Data di morte
2010-10-07
Sesso
male
Nazionalità
UK
Luogo di nascita
London, England, UK
Luogo di residenza
London, England, UK
Taunton, Somerset, England, UK
Istruzione
University of Oxford (Lincoln College)
Attività lavorative
publisher
author
Organizzazioni
Jane Austen Society

Utenti

Recensioni

Not bad, but could have been better if it was a little shorter. Jane’s “naval” books are Mansfield Park, in which the characters visit the naval base at Portsmouth, and Persuasion, which sees Anne Elliot first turning down (against her instincts) Captain Wentworth, then renewing their romance years latter, when Wentworth has become a successful frigate captain. One of Jane’s few known poems (there are about twenty) concerns a partially naval event, Home Popham’s expedition against Buenos Aires. And that’s it for her naval output. However, the Austen family had considerable naval ties; two of Jane’s brothers – Francis and Charles – were naval officers during the Napoleonic Wars, and both ended as admirals (Charles as a Rear Admiral at 73, in Burma during the Second Burmese War in 1843; Francis as Admiral of the Fleet at 91, in 1865). The bulk of the book is about the careers of Francis and Charles, and general observations of what naval service was like and how it might have affected Jane back home. After that, things seem a little padded. Author Brian Southam devotes a long chapter to the “Popham Poem”, only a few lines expressing Jane’s disapproval of Popham’s court martial. The account of Popham’s career is interesting enough – he was admiral in charge of the Cape of Good Hope station, but without orders decided to invade South America – but the connection to Jane is tenuous. Similarly, there’s a whole section about Charles Darwin and the Beagle; Darwin’s sisters offered a copy of Persuasion to Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle, which he politely declined, explaining he wouldn’t have time to read it; and in a letter the sisters compare Darwin’s description of FitzRoy to Captain Wentworth, but that’s the extent of the association.


If you’re a Janeite, there will be a few interesting details to pick up; equally so if you’re a fan of the Royal Navy, but there isn’t much new beyond that.
… (altro)
½
 
Segnalato
setnahkt | Dec 13, 2017 |
If you've ever wondered what the people who first read Austen thought of her, this is a lovely book. It includes reviews from authors like Sir Walter Scott and Charlotte Bronte, and snippets from Coleridge and Wordsworth as well as all the major contemporary responses in the Critical Review, British Critic, Quarterly REview, etc.
1 vota
Segnalato
Vacula | Jan 31, 2009 |

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Statistiche

Opere
28
Opere correlate
2
Utenti
506
Popolarità
#48,975
Voto
3.9
Recensioni
2
ISBN
56

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