 |
| Clockwise from top left: A youngish Arnold Bennett; a cover for The Old Wives' Tale; an older Bennett; another cover for The Old Wives' Tale. |
Arnold Bennett is a significant influence on my literary thought. I read Margaret Drabble's biography of Bennett years ago and I highly recommend it, especially if you're a post-modern romantic like myself. Bennett's novel "These Twain," which I read more than a decade ago, was great, and I'm looking forward to reading "Clayhanger." I'm reading that trilogy out of order but, honestly I can manage it. "Riceyman Steps" was a profound book for me back in 2004, I can't tell you.
The Old Wives' Tale, when I read it many years ago, was a new style for me to get used to; and it wasn't the same for his later novels. However, the portions of the book dealing with the Siege of Paris were intense. I think I had just recently read Henri Barbusse's "Under Fire", so the two together gave me a horrendous picture of the stupidity of the French military and the indescribable daily horrors of World War I, which I was to read more about vis-a-vis Martin Gilbert and John Keegan and others.
Hence my inclusion of the following images about the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71:
 |
| Two French children killed during the Prussian bombardment of Paris. |
 |
| A Paris street scene showing the sale of rats, because food was so scarce during the Siege. |
 |
| French battery station. |
 |
| Painting of a soup kitchen in a Paris neighborhood during the Siege. It was a common occurrence. |
From page 207-208 of the book: "...I thought about Sarah's day with Mme. Cendre and likened it to a book by Arnold Bennett called The Old Wives Tale: where Mme. Cendre could easily have been the character Sophia Baines, who leaves England and elopes to Paris at the horror of her parents. She is deserted by her husband, buys a boarding house, and struggles to stay alive during the Franco-Prussian War."
