Classics East Lynne by Ellen Wood

[poohbear_nc]

Yeah, the punishments just kept piling on.

[Bookpossum]

An English "fallen woman" clearly deserved no mercy from the author or anyone else. Even Anna Karenina had some happiness with Vronsky before everything went pear-shaped.

[Bookpossum]

Are people ready to discuss this book, or are we not going to do so?

[poohbear_nc]

I'm ready!

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I'm ready!

Same!

Much like with Dickens, I tried to take this in stride knowing that it was serialized. I feel like serialized (and often paid by the word) just does not stand up to doing a long sitting of multiple sections at a time.

[poohbear_nc]

It was interesting that once Isabel had bolted, Wood dropped her story line -- not portraying any happiness or enjoyment of living in sin. Readers encounter her once again after her punishments have begun - loss of love/affection, poor health, refusal of marriage, etc. I may be wrong, but I don't recall one happy scene between Isabel and Levison after the 'elopement.'

And, the cross imagery I mentioned in an earlier post has a crashing re-entrance once Isabel returns to East Lynne.

[Bookpossum]

You are right: she was regretting her decision almost as soon as she set foot in the coach. I suppose that until her cousin came along and gave her an allowance, she had absolutely no means of support and so had to stay with Levison, no matter how she felt about him and how he treated her.

The pitiless nature of the storyline reflects the attitude of English society at the time, and of course for a long time after that.

[poohbear_nc]

Indeed - Isabel couldn't be shown enjoying her sinful choice at all - after the uneasy carriage ride out of town, we next experience Isabel in her full squalor and misery.

[fantasyfan]

Well, I’m finally getting into the novel. I’ve never seen any of the film adaptations and have only a vague notion of the plot, so it will be a new experience for me.
LibriVox do have an audio version.

[fantasyfan]

I’m well into the novel now and find it strangely compelling even though many of the characters are socially stereotyped and the overt moralising can be a bit annoying. For instance, Chapter 33, The Yearning of a broken heart is, I found, quite moving—even if it is doubtful that individuals at home indulged in religio-philosophic discussions about the nature of suffering. It seems to ring true nonetheless.
I mentioned the LibriVox recording. In fact, there is a much better one by Rachel Atkins. If one downloads the free Kindle edition the Atkins reading is available at a quite low price (€2.99 here). Perhaps the reason I am enjoying the book is owing in large part to her excellent performance.

[fantasyfan]

Originally Posted by Bookpossum

You are right: she was regretting her decision almost as soon as she set foot in the coach. I suppose that until her cousin came along and gave her an allowance, she had absolutely no means of support and so had to stay with Levison, no matter how she felt about him and how he treated her.

The pitiless nature of the storyline reflects the attitude of English society at the time, and of course for a long time after that.

i think that says it all. I particularly found the double death scenes way over the top--but considering the enormous success of this novel it must be what the Victorians craved.

[Bookpossum]

Indeed. No doubt Dickens did so well because of his deathbeds and sentimentality. However, he was in a different league as a writer compared with Ellen Wood.