Claire HarmanRezensionen

I came across All Sorts of Lives, Katherine Mansfield and the Art of Risking Everything, via Brona's review of Claire Tomlin's biography — both books published to coincide with the anniversary of the death of New Zealand's best-known author Katherine Mansfield in 1923.

I had already read a Kathleen Jones' wonderful biography Katherine Mansfield The Storyteller (2010), not to mention C.K. Stead's novelisation Mansfield, (2004), but I do like a literary analysis of an author's writing, as long as it's not so scholarly that I feel out of my depth. Or that I have to Make An Effort instead of just enjoying myself.

Well, I did have to Make a Bit of An Effort with Harman's book, because although I've read Mansfield's collections and her novella...

• In a German Pension (1911),


• The Garden Party (1922), and


• The Aloe (published posthumously in 1930),

... I hadn't read all the short stories that Harman explores and so I had to engage in the pleasurable task of finding them online and reading them.

Chapter One starts with How Pearl Button was Kidnapped (1912), and here it is — online at the Katherine Mansfield Society's site — if you want to read it too. It was first published under a nom-de-plume in the avant-garde monthly Rhythm which was edited by her husband-to-be John Middleton Murry but soon became a joint venture between them. Apparently, as well as editing, KM wrote quite a bit for this journal: poems, fiction and book reviews but these were not always under her name because they didn't want Rhythm to have 'too much' of her work in it.

Harman says that Pearl Button wasn't identified as one of KM's until it was included in a posthumous collection. (Unless I missed it, Harman doesn't say which one. It's in my 2007 Penguin Classics Collected Stories, which was first published by Constable in 1945, maybe that one?) It's not long — only about 1000 words —and it's a story which would seem less disquieting without that word 'kidnapped' in its title. Pearl, playing in her front garden, is beguiled into joining a couple of women who take her for a long walk, and then a ride in a cart down to the sea which she has never seen before. She has a lovely time. She is cuddled, and carried, and fed treats. Nobody gets cross when she spills food on her clothes, and she is made a fuss of because her new 'dark' friends are enchanted by her blonde curls. She is never frightened at all, and it is not until a crowd of little blue men arrive to take her back where she belongs, that the reader is made aware that there's been a hue-and-cry over her disappearance and that the little blue men knew exactly where to find her. As Harman says, the story relies heavily on withholding all sorts of information...

The location is exotic but not specified; the protagonist is guileless yet unreliable; the plot develops but isn't in any ordinary sense resolved. We are told the story entirely from the point of view of Pearl, a child of about three years old, who has been left to look after herself while her mother is busy working. (p.18)

Harman notes that this is an early work, of an unsubtle kind of simplicity and has the air of an experiment, or fragment of something bigger.

But the cleverness of the story, and the thing that Mansfield learned to exploit more effectively later, is in the manipulation of the point of view. In 'Pearl Button' she is using what is (now) called 'free indirect discourse' or a 'close third person' voice, that is, writing as if the narrator is passing on a character's experiences and thoughts, but not judging them. Or not appearing to judge them, for of course there's always space between the author and the narrator in which to plant doubts and ironies; that's what the space is for. (p.19)

The reader's doubt about Pearl's delightful day arises because of that word in the title.

From there, Harman goes on to explore the biographical origins of the themes of Otherness, belonging and an awakening sensuality that permeate Mansfield's fiction.

To read the rest of my review please visit https://anzlitlovers.com/2023/06/15/all-sorts-of-lives-2023-by-claire-harman/

PS: Alas, I didn’t get to finish this absorbing book because there are eight reserves on it at the library and they won’t let me renew it. When the enthusiasm dies down, I’ll borrow it again.

This life of Robert Louis Stevenson tries, somewhat successfully, to understand the complicated nature of the unsettled and problematic life he led.

I picked this up while cruising through my new subscriptions with the Free Library of Philadelphia, and Orange County Library Systems, wallowing in their audiobook choices, and trying to find something to listen to while waiting for Kill The Farm Boy to come my way.

I knew nothing about the book, save what I read in the summary. In a nutshell, it's something like a forensic examination of the Courvoisier trial in 1840, for the murder of Lord William Russel. Courvoisier was Russel's valet, and was accused of cutting his Lord's throat while he slept, a crime that was disturbingly close to the one committed in the newest prose sensation tearing through London, William Harrison Ainsworth’s Jack Sheppard. A book the accused cited as a contributing factor when he confessed.

First of all, the narrator, Andy Secombe, was excellent; his accent was so very British, and though I have a Yank's tin ear for regional dialects, his variations of the many, many voices quoted in the book, accurate or not, made it easy to follow along and not get too bogged down or confused. There were a few times I wondered if he was having just a bit of fun with some of the 'characters'; it was subtle and arguable, and it might just be I've watched too many old BBC comedies, but it did not in any way hurt the tone of the narrative.

To call the book fascinating would be stretching the point, I think, but it was an interesting read, and a very topical reminder that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Our culture's current debate over 'do violent video games/music lyrics/movies corrupt our youth?' is merely the modern spin of the 1870's version of the same debate: 'do violent, sensationalist crime novels/theatre corrupt society?' I also couldn't help but think of the parallels between the phenomenon that was Jack Sheppard and the mad rush to get it on stage, and the 50 Shades insanity just a few years back. Neither book was lauded for its literary merit, merely it's scandalous and shocking content; both translated equally disastrously, though with the same raging popularity, to the stage/screen.

The author ends the book by pointing out the myriad of questions surrounding Courvoisier's guilt, in spite of the multitude of official confessions the man made. Those multiple confessions are part of the reason questions remain - no two confessions tell the same tale - and the forensic information gleaned from the reports and accounts do not fit with any of Courvoisier's versions of the events. In an age when the UK had public hangings and no appeal process, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no man would have confessed had he not been guilty; there were easier ways to commit suicide. Sometimes even shoddy investigations end up finding the culprit.

The single disappointment I had with the book also came at the end, when Harman is outlining possible motives; she hints at the possibility of a homosexual relationship between the Lord and his valet. I found this in and of itself to be sensationalist for a couple of reasons: Harman readily admits that Lord William Russel was by all accounts a happily married man before his wife died and that he continued to remember her fondly; Courvoisier was known in the past to have had one or two female relationships, though he was unattached at the time of the murder; and Courvoisier had only been under Lord William Russel's employ a very short period before the murder - 6 weeks if I'm remembering correctly. Given the prejudice and the laws of the time, a secret relationship was not impossible, but it was certainly improbable given the known facts. Maybe the author felt like any objective consideration of the case would be incomplete without raising the possibility, but to me it just came across as hearing hoofbeats and screaming Zebras.

To be fair, Harman probably devoted fewer words to the possibility than I just did, or at least not many more, so it's a tiny blip in an otherwise interesting peek into the past.

I started reading this before I really knew what squares I had on my card, and I don't have the Truly Terrifying square for which this would be a perfect fit, but I'll use it for my Free Space square.

Very interesting and detailed...96 out of 100 ...a couple of pages were dull and why can't they put a translation of French in books....we don't all know foreign languages ...

How did Charlotte Brontë create the character of Jane Eyre? Was ‘Villette’ really based on a doomed love affair in Brussels? How much of the real author is in these novels? If you have read Charlotte Brontë’s books, you will have asked yourself these questions. The biography ‘Charlotte Brontë: A Life’ by Claire Harman provides some fascinating answers.
This is the first biography of Brontë I have read and I wish I had read it sooner. Harman tells the enthralling story of the family whose losses, grief, hardship, isolation and disappointments populate the novels of the three sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne. It is impossible to write about Charlotte without writing about the family, and particularly about Emily, Anne and brother Branwell. Everyone knows the headline facts about the Brontës – Haworth parsonage, mother and siblings dying, Branwell’s addiction, and the imaginary kingdoms of Angria and Dondal in which the children lose themselves. But Harman makes the history accessible, telling the life of Charlotte in chronological order starting briefly with her father Patrick.
There are clear references to real life appearing in the novels and Harman casts light on the writing process of Charlotte and her sisters. For a novelist, this is required reading. Some of Charlotte’s experiences written about in letters appear directly in her novels, along with paragraphs lifted from journals and lines and passages lifted from works earlier abandoned. Harman extensively quotes Elizabeth Gaskell – who wrote the first biography of Charlotte Brontë published in 1857, based largely on Charlotte’ letters sent to her friend Ellen Nussey – and Charlotte’s correspondence with friends and her London publisher.
It is a tragic story but Harman is never over-sentimental. She is excellent at pairing characters, incidents and emotions in the novels with Charlotte’s real life.
A must read for any novelist who is a fan of the Brontë novels.
Read more of my book reviews at http://www.sandradanby.com/book-reviews-a-z/

Not for the faint of heart, this literary chronicle of Jane's ascent into the world verges on the point of being a heavy read. From Jane's earliest writing, the publication of four of her novels in her lifetime, to all of her books being out of print, to her popularity resurgence with the release of her biography, up to the twentieth century; this book covers her meteoric rise as one of the greatest female writers ever born. I'm not a true Janite, just a casual admirer so I didn't know a lot of what was in this book. I do know that she wasn't very popular in her lifetime (her books were all published anonymously) but I didn't know all the circumstances surrounding that. Claire does a good job bringing readers along through the decades as the cult of the "Divine Jane" grew and spread across the globe. Not a light read, but very enlightening!

I'm typically all-in for historical true crime, but I found this outing somewhat sub-par. The synopsis talks about a crime being inspired by a book in Victorian London, but the two weren't actually linked until the last fifty pages or so. It's neither bad, nor terribly good, unfortunately. Just average.

Claire Harman's Jane's fame. How Jane Austen conquered the world isn't a biography about Jane Austen but reading it will help you a long way. Instead, it is a description of Jane Austen's road to fame. Readers who already know a lot about Jane Austen will not likely learn much new, and yet Jane's fame. How Jane Austen conquered the world is just the kind of book that Jane Austen fans would most like to read.

There is a lot of biographical detail about Jane Austen in the book but that is not the main focus. It could even be said that Jane Austen is not the main topic of the book, although her name appears on every page. Actually, the title says it all, very accurately. This is a non-fiction book that tells us how Jane Austen has become one of the most famous writers in the world, today.

Writing a book is no longer a way of achieving lasting fame. In fact, many novelists are forgotten, soon after they have published their last book, which is often a few years before their death, and most novelists are forgotten within two decades after their death. However, contemporary novelists are all aware of the fame they could achieve, and are generally careful about their manuscripts and correspondance. However, it hasn't always been like that.

The novel as a genre has only existed for about 300 years, and initially, most writers were men. When women started writing, they often published their novels under a pseudonym, hiding the fact of female authorship. Jane Austen wrote her novels well over 200 years ago. At that time there were professional writers, but few writers who could live of their pen, and writers earnings were based on selling stories to newspapers and publishers. It would still take a hundred years for proper laws and the protection of copyright to develop, and American publishers belonged to the fiercest rogue publishers.

To her family members, Jane Austen was their eccentric aunt, scribbling away and publishing a few novels in her lifetime. The family did not think highly of her writings and after Jane's death they threw most of her personal papers away, keeping only a few as memorabilia. They did not believe anyone would be interested in Jane Austen after she had passed away. Thus, a lot of material, especially letters were lost, and initially little was undertaken to record life details. The idea that any novelist, let alone Jane Austen could reach world renown was almost unthinkable at that time. However, the Nineteenth century saw a boom in the production of literary writing and is described as the age of the birth of the leisurely reader. Prior, reading was a pastime for the wealthy, but through serialized novels in newspapers, a much wider audience gained access to literature, and throughout the 19th century interest in Austen's books, her collected works and eventually her authorship increased.

Jane Austen had perhaps a most unfortunate start with a family so disdainful and so neglectful, but eventually, as biographical interest in her person grew, short biographies were recorded and compiled, and attempts were made to collect, and preserve her manuscripts. Harman's book describes all angles of the gradually developing, and increasingly intense interest in Jane Austen. The book traces the preservation of all remaining manuscripts and memorabilia, such as objects and furniture from the household of the Austens. It describes the publication history of all works of Jane Austen, and all biographies and related works written on Jane Austen. Finally, it admits to the Jane Austen mania, of which the book itself is a manifestation, as interest in Jane Austen and her work is now to great, that Jane Austen has fans all over the world.

Jane's fame. How Jane Austen conquered the world is very well written, but it's subject matter is still rather specialized and academic.

On the early morning hours of May 6, 1840, Lord William Russell was brutally murdered by having his throat cut to the point that his head was almost decapitated. His coins, rings, money, and some silverware were taken. In the course of the investigation by the police, they will find that his valet Francois Courvoisier, a native Swiss who had come over to make a living in service, would be the main suspect. The missing items would be found where only the valet had access to. And no one came in from the back door and the front door was locked.

But what makes this case so interesting is that people blamed a book that was turned into a hit play for what happened. The book was called Jack Sheppard and it was written by William Ainsworth who was friends with Charles Dickens who both wrote books in the genre of the Newgate Prison style where it celebrates criminals and the life only to have them pay for their crimes in the end. Dickens book that was written in this style was Oliver Twist. The middle and lower classes loved these books and with books being cheaper to produce and lending libraries being available more people were reading more books.

But with the death of Lord Russell and the attempt on Queen Victoria's life by Edward Oxford people were seeing these books and the plays they were based on as dangerous and were demanding that they be stopped. They believed that these things caused people to go astray. And it didn't help that young juveniles claimed that they were wanting to be Jack Sheppard. Even Courviseier would claim to be influenced by the book in one of his many confessions.

This is what Edgar Allen Poe had to say about the Jack Sheppard book: "His marvels have a nakedness which repels. Nothing he relates seems either probable or possible or of the slightest interest. His hero impresses us as the merest chimera, with whom we have no earthly concern, and when he makes his final escape and comes to the gallows, we would feel a very sensible relief, but for the impracticality of hanging up Mr. Ainsworth in his stead."

Also the book contained songs and one of the songs "Nix My Dolly, Pals, Fake Away" goes like this: "In a box of the stone jug [Newgate Prison cell] I was born,/ Of a hempen widow [widow of a hanged man] the kid forelorn,/ Fake away! [Carry on thieving!]/ And my noble father, as I've heard say,/ Was a famous merchant of capers gay [Dancing-Master, i.e. hanging on the scaffold],/ Nix my dolly, pals, fake away, [Never mind, pals, carry on thieving]/ Nix my dolly, pals, fake away." If you go to this address you can hear the tune it was placed to on a music box: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOnLyRB10vg.

This was an interesting book that shows how things haven't really changed as today people blame mass shooting on violent video games and violent movies when they are no more to blame then Jack Sheppard was to blame for the death of Lord Russell or the attempt on Queen Victoria's life. But with the attention, the case gave these Newgate Prison books they soon stopped being published. Will that happen to the movies and video games? I somehow doubt it. We have changed as people and evolved and believe in the first amendment. This book ushered in the Victorian era, a very prudish era in England where they placed fig leaves over the naked body parts. I give this book four out of five stars.

English literature changed drastically in the 19th Century. It went from stories of high class ladies to stories of crime and criminals. And, that change affected, or supposedly affected, the culture as well. Lord William Russell, an elderly gentleman, was murdered in his bed with his head almost severed from his body. The crime shocks London and as it is investigated, the newly hired butler in the household is arrested. At the same time, William Harrison Ainsworth has written a very popular novel, Jack Sheppard, which tells of the life of a cheerful and sly criminal who manages to escape the law at every turn. Songs are sung and plays are written about this character. Everyone is soon fascinated with crime and criminals.

Francois Courvoisier, an immigrant from Switzerland, is the butler who was arrested. He gives several accounts as to why he did the act, but lastly says that it was seeing a play about Jack Sheppard that caused him to do this terrible act.

Ainsworth is the author of Jack Russell, but others literary names such as Dickens and Thackery appear in the story. An interesting look at the life and times and cultural beliefs of 19th Century London.

A very well-done look at the evolution of Jane Austen's reputation with readers and critics over time.

If you want a nice brief non-fiction set in Victorian London, with a gruesome murder, an appearance or two by Charles Dickens, and a discussion of the trashy "popular" literature of the time, grab this one! I really liked it and it made me want to reread Oliver Twist (though it wasn't the book that possibly inspired a murder).

Early one morning in London a footman answered the door to a panicked maid. Her master, Lord William Russell, had been murdered in a sensational way and this led to a hunt for the killer involving the newly formed Scotland Yard. When a man was arrested it seemed that the case was over and done but the latest fashion was for true-life crime and the when the perpetrator was revealed to have an obsession with a popular crime novel and play then the media went into a frenzy.
Although the murder of Lord William Russell is almost forgotten now it does shed a light on the involvement of the media in crime reporting and sensationalist fictionalised accounts. To the early Victorians the fact that the murder was a foreigner was one thing, that is was a servant meant that the aristocracy slept a little less easy in their beds. This is an entertaining read.

Nothing startlingly new here but interesting all the same. If you know a lot about Jane Austen, you probably won't learn a ton. I was happy to see that the author enjoyed "Miss Austen Regrets" as much as I did.

Unlike some biographies I've read (er, attempted to read) of Bronte's contemporaries, this didn't make me want to immediately stop reading anything written by the subject. Yes, she seems like she was a fairly complicated person (her opinions on anyone not British-yikes!-but probably not unusual) and not always a joy to live with, but those complications just make her so fascinating. And sympathetic. I'm not enough of a Bronte scholar/fan to know how well-researched/thought out this biography is, but I enjoyed it thoroughly.

I have always been intrigued by the Bronte sisters, curious of their lives and how they came to write some of my favorite books. Although sometimes when you look into the lives of creative people you admire they can really disappoint you. Not so with the Brontes! I only wish they could have had so much more happiness and recognition. Claire Harman's biography is the best type of biography, one that reads like a novel and, in my case, kept me listening and wanting to know more. I feel like I should write Miss Harman a fan letter I enjoyed her book so much. I want to re-read Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and read anything else they wrote! I want to visit places they lived and walked and drive my friends and family crazy with facts and stories about them! Maybe I should slow down with the exclamation points...
Unfortunately I can't remember the narrator of the audio books name, but she was wonderful! She had a lovely smooth voice and strived to give different cadences and voices when she was reading letters or quoting people, without sounding silly. I will definitely need to own a hardback copy as well as the audio book, I'm hoping there are photos and drawings inside!

Nothing startlingly new here but interesting all the same. If you know a lot about Jane Austen, you probably won't learn a ton. I was happy to see that the author enjoyed "Miss Austen Regrets" as much as I did.

I have the audiobook edition. This is an excellent biography of Charlotte Bronte, covering both her life and works, with some emphasis on her thwarted relationship with her Belgian teacher and employer. The audiobook is voiced with grace and clarity. Hesitant to tackle doorstop biographies of the Bronte sisters, I was delighted with the more focused approach in Harman's lucid volume. I highly recommend it.

I enjoyed this though in some sense I'd be hard pressed to say what it actually was about. Partly a history of the growing fame of Jane Austen and partly the story of the various attempts by her family to control her legacy. Both are interesting stories but I wasn't completely sure which one the author wanted to tell. For a Jane Austen fan but not a diehard, it was perhaps more than I needed but still a worthwhile read.

Loved this book. Harman does a wonderful job telling the story of Bronte's life, which is also the story of her family- her siblings and her father. Her growth as a writer, her growing fame and her drift towards marriage were really interesting to read about. Harman brings Bronte to life, warts and all, especially her selfishness when it came to her relationships and the vivid fictional worlds she created with her siblings. I felt like I learned so much about Bronte and the world she lived in. Wonderful rewarding read.

Claire Harman’s biography of Charlotte Bronte, entitled Charlotte Bronte: A Fiery Heart, leaves an impression on the reader. After finishing the book, I felt like I’d learned things I didn’t previously know about the reknowned British author, but more importantly, I feel almost as though I knew her—her life’s events and the times she lived in became familiar to me, as I read. I also came to understand Charlotte Bronte’s motives as a writer and where her work originated.

It’s Harman’s deft interpretation of research and accessible writing style that lend her work this clarity. Relevant detail and enlightening storytelling also make for stimulating reading. For me, this biography illuminated Charlotte Bronte and showed her in a new light. It’s only fair to note that this image includes facets that are less than desirable, such as her immature love for her mentor, Monsieur Heger; extreme stubborness, illustrated in her quest to see her first novel, The Professor, published after it had already been rejected twice, and the unforgettable mental picture of a petite, heavy-browed spinster with missing teeth. I am glad to know all these things about Charlotte, as well as all the good. I appreciate Claire Harman’s commitment to presenting a well-rounded portrait, based in reality, that leaves Ms. Bronte’s status as a literary icon intact.

An excellent biography of Charlotte Bronte that shows her in a completely different light from what has before been revealed. Charlotte's own unrequited love may well have inspired the telling of Jane Eyre.

It is obvious that an incredible amount of research went into this book. At times, the scholarly detail is overwhelming, but the compelling tragedy of the Bronte family's lives (and deaths) kept me reading. Because I didn't know much about Charlotte Bronte's life, everything was new. The novels written by Charlotte and her sisters Emily and Anne with their themes of repressed desires, isolation and loneliness come straight from their experiences. Even though the sisters had good middle-class educations, their only options for income were as governesses or teachers. A career as an author was considered impossible for a woman. We've come a long way since the early 1800s.

The narrator, Corrie James, does an excellent job with the audio book version of Claire Harman's biography, Charlotte Bronte: A Fiery Heart. This biography is based on letters unavailable to previous biographers. While this turned out not to be my cup of tea, this is well researched and narrated and should find a wide audience among Bronte fans and those interested in the lives of women in Victorian times. (I received a copy of this audio book through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.)