Great Literary Friendships
Published on 18. February 2022
Book
Hardback
216 pages
978-1-85124-582-6 (ISBN)
Description
Close friendships are a heart-warming feature of many of our best-loved works of fiction. From Jane Eyre and Helen Burns' poignant schoolgirl relationship to Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn's adventures on the Mississippi, fictional friends have supported, guided, comforted, nursed and at times betrayed the heroes and heroines of our popular and influential plays and novels.
This book explores twenty-four literary friendships and, together with character studies and publication history, describes how each key relationship influences character, determines plot, promotes or disguises romance, preserves a reputation, sometimes results in betrayal, or underlines the theme of each literary work. It shows how authors from William Shakespeare to Elena Ferrante have by turns celebrated, lamented or transformed friendships throughout the ages, and how some friends - Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Holmes and Watson or even Bridget Jones and pals - have taken on creative lives beyond the bounds of their original narrative.
Including a broad scope of literature spanning a period of 400 years from writers as diverse as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Evelyn Waugh, John Steinbeck and Alice Walker, this book is the ideal gift for your literature-loving friend.
This book explores twenty-four literary friendships and, together with character studies and publication history, describes how each key relationship influences character, determines plot, promotes or disguises romance, preserves a reputation, sometimes results in betrayal, or underlines the theme of each literary work. It shows how authors from William Shakespeare to Elena Ferrante have by turns celebrated, lamented or transformed friendships throughout the ages, and how some friends - Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, Holmes and Watson or even Bridget Jones and pals - have taken on creative lives beyond the bounds of their original narrative.
Including a broad scope of literature spanning a period of 400 years from writers as diverse as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Evelyn Waugh, John Steinbeck and Alice Walker, this book is the ideal gift for your literature-loving friend.
Reviews / Votes
'A few pages in you feel you are in the company of a sprightly, charming, well-read friend . . . a masterful story-teller, her short essays on pivotal friendships feel like entering sunlight from thick fog, you'll see and hear what you never noticed on first reading.' * Country Life Magazine * 'I think this book is the perfect gift for any friends who love to read. It explores 24 literary friendships, is succinct, elegantly written and is a testament to the power of human friendship.' -- Susannah Fullerton * Great Literary Friendships *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
With ribbon marker(s)
Dimensions
Height: 207 mm
Width: 134 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85124-582-6 (9781851245826)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Janet Phillips is an editor at Bodleian Library Publishing.
Content
Contents
Introduction
Childhood
Soulmates: Jane and Helen - Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847)
Liberty and Conformity: Tom and Huck; Huck and Jim - Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
Bosom Pals: Anne and Diana - L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)
Competitive Companions: Pooh and Piglet - A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)
Mad Bad Girls: Meena and Anita - Meera Syal, Anita and Me (1996)
Housemates: Harry, Ron and Hermione - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter series (1997-2007)
Students and Apprentices
Prince and Philosopher: Hamlet and Horatio - William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600)
Career Advice: Pip and Herbert - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1861)
A Bystander's Elegy: Charles and Sebastian - Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited (1945)
Creme de la Creme: Sandy, Jenny, Eunice, Mary, Monica, Rose and Miss Brodie - Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)
Campus Collusion: Richard, Bunny, Henry, Francis, Camilla and Charles - Donna Tartt, The Secret History (1992)
Heart to Heart
Inseparable: Rosalind and Celia - William Shakespeare, As You Like It (1599)
Reserve and Recklessness: Jane and Emma - Jane Austen, Emma (1815)
Light and Shade: Lucy and Maggie - George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860)
Three Cheers for the Singletons: Bridget, Shazzer, Jude and Tom - Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary (1996)
Adventure
Bickering and Bonhomie: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605)
Partners in Crime: Holmes and Watson - Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes series (1887-1903)
Host and Guest: Ratty and Mole - Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (1908)
Heroes of Middle-earth: Frodo and Sam - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (1954)
Hard Times
Loneliest in the World: George and Lennie - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men (1937)
Kinship: Okonkwo and Obierika - Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958)
Amazon Sisters: Miss Celie, Shug and Sofia - Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982)
Undercover Allies: Moira and Offred - Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
For Better, For Worse: Lina and Elena - Elena Ferrante, The Neapolitan Novels (2011-2014)
Notes
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Index
Introduction
Childhood
Soulmates: Jane and Helen - Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre (1847)
Liberty and Conformity: Tom and Huck; Huck and Jim - Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)
Bosom Pals: Anne and Diana - L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)
Competitive Companions: Pooh and Piglet - A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh (1926)
Mad Bad Girls: Meena and Anita - Meera Syal, Anita and Me (1996)
Housemates: Harry, Ron and Hermione - J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter series (1997-2007)
Students and Apprentices
Prince and Philosopher: Hamlet and Horatio - William Shakespeare, Hamlet (1600)
Career Advice: Pip and Herbert - Charles Dickens, Great Expectations (1861)
A Bystander's Elegy: Charles and Sebastian - Evelyn Waugh, Brideshead Revisited (1945)
Creme de la Creme: Sandy, Jenny, Eunice, Mary, Monica, Rose and Miss Brodie - Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)
Campus Collusion: Richard, Bunny, Henry, Francis, Camilla and Charles - Donna Tartt, The Secret History (1992)
Heart to Heart
Inseparable: Rosalind and Celia - William Shakespeare, As You Like It (1599)
Reserve and Recklessness: Jane and Emma - Jane Austen, Emma (1815)
Light and Shade: Lucy and Maggie - George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss (1860)
Three Cheers for the Singletons: Bridget, Shazzer, Jude and Tom - Helen Fielding, Bridget Jones's Diary (1996)
Adventure
Bickering and Bonhomie: Don Quixote and Sancho Panza - Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605)
Partners in Crime: Holmes and Watson - Arthur Conan Doyle: Sherlock Holmes series (1887-1903)
Host and Guest: Ratty and Mole - Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows (1908)
Heroes of Middle-earth: Frodo and Sam - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (1954)
Hard Times
Loneliest in the World: George and Lennie - John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men (1937)
Kinship: Okonkwo and Obierika - Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart (1958)
Amazon Sisters: Miss Celie, Shug and Sofia - Alice Walker, The Color Purple (1982)
Undercover Allies: Moira and Offred - Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
For Better, For Worse: Lina and Elena - Elena Ferrante, The Neapolitan Novels (2011-2014)
Notes
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Index