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Illyria Books
The Card
The Card
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A long-neglected masterpiece, Arnold Bennett's whimsical satire went through over 34 reprints and was filmed in 1922, and again thirty years later starring Alec Guinness as the irrepressible E.H. Machin, known to his very practical washer-woman mother as 'Denry' since she would save "a certain amount of time every day by addressing her son...(this way)...instead of Edward Henry."
Bennett's novel, written in 1911, forms part of a loosely-linked body of work set in the Staffordshire Six Towns' Potteries area of England, now amalgamated as the city of Stoke-on-Trent. In his fiction the author renames the area as The Five Towns, and Bursley, the setting of the novel, is based on the actual Six Towns' town of Burslem.
The novel begins "Edward Henry Machin first saw the smoke...(of the potteries)...on the 27th May 1867", the actual date of Bennett's own birth, and follows Denry's improbable rise to success, wealth and love. The word 'card' is a slightly archaic use of a description for a man who goes through life in a good-natured manner, but with a singular focus on 'Number One', yet finds his achievements amiably, to nobodies loss, and so is highly popular.
This raises the question of how 'The Card' reads to the modern ear and the answer is: surprising well. Bennett writes, by turn, ironically and satirically, yet deliveres the laugh-lines in a manner which often approaches modern "California snarky". But sometimes Bennett writes pure comedy: the wreck of the Hjalmar off the Welsh coast of Llandudno, and its aftermath involving a group of non-English speaking Norwegian fisherman, an event that leaves Denry both a hero and a thousand pounds in profit, is hilariously portrayed.
It's no surprise 'The Card' was filmed twice , since the structure of the narrative lends itself to well-defined comedic film-scenes. Bennett's style is derived from that adopted by Victorian authors who serialized their work for newspapers (Charles Dickens being the most notable). Bennett used this most noticeably in his early novel 'The Grand Babylon Hotel'. Each chapter ends with its own cliff-hanger or denouement. Bennett also breaks his chapters into sections. This results in 'The Card' being a light read. It's 77,000 words in length (roughly the size of an author's 'first-book' today) but it has an airy feel to it and a reader is comfortable that the work can cater for any time constraint: read a section, read a chapter, read it on the beach, read in on the loo!
The story of Bennett's hero is concluded in 'The Regent', when Denry Machin goes to London to build a theater in London's West End.
Bennett's novel, written in 1911, forms part of a loosely-linked body of work set in the Staffordshire Six Towns' Potteries area of England, now amalgamated as the city of Stoke-on-Trent. In his fiction the author renames the area as The Five Towns, and Bursley, the setting of the novel, is based on the actual Six Towns' town of Burslem.
The novel begins "Edward Henry Machin first saw the smoke...(of the potteries)...on the 27th May 1867", the actual date of Bennett's own birth, and follows Denry's improbable rise to success, wealth and love. The word 'card' is a slightly archaic use of a description for a man who goes through life in a good-natured manner, but with a singular focus on 'Number One', yet finds his achievements amiably, to nobodies loss, and so is highly popular.
This raises the question of how 'The Card' reads to the modern ear and the answer is: surprising well. Bennett writes, by turn, ironically and satirically, yet deliveres the laugh-lines in a manner which often approaches modern "California snarky". But sometimes Bennett writes pure comedy: the wreck of the Hjalmar off the Welsh coast of Llandudno, and its aftermath involving a group of non-English speaking Norwegian fisherman, an event that leaves Denry both a hero and a thousand pounds in profit, is hilariously portrayed.
It's no surprise 'The Card' was filmed twice , since the structure of the narrative lends itself to well-defined comedic film-scenes. Bennett's style is derived from that adopted by Victorian authors who serialized their work for newspapers (Charles Dickens being the most notable). Bennett used this most noticeably in his early novel 'The Grand Babylon Hotel'. Each chapter ends with its own cliff-hanger or denouement. Bennett also breaks his chapters into sections. This results in 'The Card' being a light read. It's 77,000 words in length (roughly the size of an author's 'first-book' today) but it has an airy feel to it and a reader is comfortable that the work can cater for any time constraint: read a section, read a chapter, read it on the beach, read in on the loo!
The story of Bennett's hero is concluded in 'The Regent', when Denry Machin goes to London to build a theater in London's West End.
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