(no subject)

[skygiants]

I picked up Claud Cockburn's Bestseller: The Books Everyone Read, 1900-1939 at a BPL library sale recently. I was expecting a chatty pop-culture view of some reading trends in the early 20th century, ideally with some interesting social analysis underneath it, but I knew I was really in for a treat when I hit this passage, in which Claud Cockburn argues with a book reviewer who is himself arguing with a book that analyzes early detective fiction:

The writer is concerned to defend the character and reputation of the 'British Middle Classes in the Twenties and Thirties'. I am not here concerned to attack or defend them. If the writer feels that they were 'tolerant, kindly and humane', he is certainly right to say so. There are no absolute standards of tolerance, kindliness and humaneness. If someone else chooses to say that in view of the conditions which the British middle classes condoned or fostered during that period, it would require an abnormally broad interpretation of the terms tolerant, kindly and humane to permit them to qualify for the description, then there is evidence on his side too.

At around this point I actually bothered to look up Claud Cockburn and discovered that a.) he was an extremely prominent British writer for the Daily Worker and b.) George Orwell had torn him to shreds in Homage to Catalonia for various Stalinist propaganda during the Spanish Civil War, which, well. I of course am not qualified to weigh in on the various body counts of the various leftist infights of the 1930s, but be that as it may the guy can write and moreover he is having a simply wonderful time gleefully describing the nonsense plots of various popular potboilers (most of which I'd never heard of) and engaging in witty social criticism about what he their popularity suggests about the Vibe of the Times. I particularly enjoy the cottagecore discourse, which reads approximately the same from 1972 as it might today:

Paragot escapes from the 'illusion' of contemporary life on one hand and Bohemian vagabondage on the other to 'reality' and 'truth' of his farm. It would be oafish to enquire how, in his total ignorance of farming methods and technologies, he proposes to make a go of it.

Although I have no desire to read many of the books discussed -- I am more than happy to rely on Cockburn's scathing descriptions of the plot of When It Was Dark: The Story of a Great Conspiracy (in which an evil Jewish conspiracy destroys society by planting false evidence that Jesus was a fake) or The Sheik (The Sheik) -- I did actually come out with a short list of things that I'd quite like to read at some point or other. The Riddle of the Sands looks like an extremely fun little espionage thriller that for an extra point of interest also happens to have been written by a prominent Irish nationalist who was executed during the civil war; The Broad Highway is a Regency romance from 1910 about identical twin cousins that sounds like a hoot (Cockburn titled the chapter about this one 'Egads!'); and this description of Beau Geste made me laugh so hard that I really think I've got to read it:

In order to prove to the police and, ultimately, Sir Hector that the stone really has been stolen, and to divert attention from the innocent, [Beau Geste] makes a beautiful gesture. He writes a 'confession', disappears, and joins the French Foreign Legion. His twin brother Digby, known as 'Small Geste', struck by the nobility of Beau Geste's action, and feeling he cannot allow him to assume the whole weight of guilt, writes a confession, disappears, and joins the Foreign Legion. Their youngest brother, known naturally as 'Very Small Geste', is deeply moved by their actions. He feels that he, too, must take a share of the supposed guilt. He disappears, gets to Paris, finds the necessary recruiting office, and joins the Foreign Legion.

I also sort of feel like I've got to read Cockburn's memoirs now, if they're even half as entertaining as this it will be more than worth it.

Comments

[castiron]

BRB, joining the Foreign Legion.

[skygiants]

It's like the 'if all your friends jumped off a bridge -' hypothetical!

[sovay]

At around this point I actually bothered to look up Claud Cockburn

His daughter wrote the Hilary Tamar mysteries! I know him only at second hand.

The Riddle of the Sands is one of the taproots of the espionage thriller and I keep thinking I should re-read it, because all I can remember about it at this distance from college is that it involved a lot of sailing.

[skygiants]

HIS DAUGHTER WAS SARAH CAUDWELL??? holy shit!!! somehow I missed that in my biographical skimming, why is every fact I learn about her wilder than the last.

I have just been talking with my friend about The Riddle of the Sands and she says she thought it was very boring ajskd;fj but I'm still tempted to give it a try, for the taproot of the genre if nothing else.

[sovay]

HIS DAUGHTER WAS SARAH CAUDWELL??? holy shit!!! somehow I missed that in my biographical skimming, why is every fact I learn about her wilder than the last.

I don't know, but it seems in character!

I have just been talking with my friend about The Riddle of the Sands and she says she thought it was very boring ajskd;fj but I'm still tempted to give it a try, for the taproot of the genre if nothing else.

I will look forward to your report. I do also remember that it involved a nefarious German plot, but I can't remember how it relates to all the sailing.

[aella_irene]

Sally Bowles was based on his wife Jean Ross, who apparently spent the rest of her life very annoyed that people assumed it was an accurate biography, as it did nothing for her attempts to rise in the Communist Party.

[skygiants]

'Sally Bowles was based on her mom' was the one fact I DID know about Sarah Caudwell but somehow I had missed the entire other side of her heritage!

[kore]

LOL this is why I should read the comments first! I didn't know she was his daughter til just now.

[vass]

His daughter wrote the Hilary Tamar mysteries!

!!!!!

[mrissa]

WHAT.

WHAT.

OMG WHAT.

Well then.

[aamcnamara]

well THAT explains--something, I'm sure, though I don't know exactly what!

[pedanther]

There's an upcoming substack book club for The Riddle of the Sands, if you're interested, although it looks like it's not going to start for a while yet: https://lettersfromcarruthers.substack.com/about

[sovay]

There's an upcoming substack book club for The Riddle of the Sands, if you're interested, although it looks like it's not going to start for a while yet

I'm so glad someone is doing that! Thank you for letting me know.

[davidgillon]

The Riddle of the Sands looks like an extremely fun little espionage thriller that for an extra point of interest also happens to have been written by a prominent Irish nationalist who was executed by the British government;

Childers was actually executed by the Irish!

While undoubtedly an early spy thriller, Riddle of the Sands was also an example of a whole sub-genre of invasion literature that appeared between the 1890s and the outbreak of WWI.

I've not read Beau Geste, but I did read the related Beau Sabreur as a child, to the best of my recall, typical of its time is probably a fair assessment - noble colonial powers, fiendish natives, etc.

[skygiants]

Yes, I've just edited! I got distracted by the amount of time the Wikipedia entry spends describing Churchill ranting about him.

Speaking of Wikipedia, re: Beau Sabreur: The New York Times complained about the "preposterous plot and inconceivable characters" which sounds about right!

[sovay]

I've not read Beau Geste, but I did read the related Beau Sabreur as a child

I read Beau Geste in seventh grade, specifically in Home Economics. (n.b. I was not supposed to be reading in Home Economics, but I had already been taught by my parents how to sew and cook at the relevant levels and also I would read through almost any class unless it really interested me or I got caught.) I remember the fantastically creepy opening image which the rest of the story has to explain and have never really remembered much of the rest of the story.

[kore]

Riddle of the Sands is very fun! I read it in a detective novel class -- it's been called the first modern thriller, which, IDK, but it's full of sailing and adventure. It was also made into a film in I think the early 80s starring Michael York (paging sovay). I know this because I had a crush on Michael York that was neon green and the size of Rhode Island after seeing Logan's Run, and I saw a bunch of his other movies. I don't remember either book or movie in much detail, sadly.

-- He was apparently Sarah Caudwell (Sarah Cockburn)'s father! I had no idea. He also wrote Beat the Devil, the basis for the movie, which I've seen many times -- I've never read the book.

[sovay]

It was also made into a film in I think the early 80s starring Michael York (paging sovay).

Sold!

(Hey, Jenny Agutter, Simon MacCorkindale, and Alan Badel are in it, too.)

[skygiants]

I think my first intro to Michael York was in the Cabaret film, which does wrap around quite nicely to the various other points of discussion in this particular post via Sarah Caudwell and her mother the model for Sally Bowles!

[kore]

Hah, yes! ....I am afraid the first time I saw Cabaret I was mostly drooling over Michael York (and wishing I could dance like Liza Minelli).

[estrevan]

What I remember from Riddle of the Sands, the sailing having fallen out of my memory, is the very Edwardian-masculine way the narrator and his friend negotiate sharing a small boat without ever acknowledging that what they’re doing is emotional labour. So if that’s something you’d enjoy then I’d say give it a try. There is a lot of sailing and a rather perfunctory Nefarious German Plot but it’s better writing than that suggests

[skygiants]

I admit that the comedy factor of 'trapped on a boat trip with a friend who did not REALLY explain the purpose of said boat trip' is a large part of what is compelling me to try the Riddle of the Sands to begin with!

[philomytha]

What a fantastic theme for a book, I love looking at popular fiction of the past - and yeah, I have gleaned (possibly from DLS?) that retiring to the countryside to live the Simple Life and keep chickens was popular in the 20s and 30s right up until people discovered how cold and muddy and full of shovelling shit the whole business is....

I already have The Riddle of the Sands on my TBR pile on my Kindle, I might have to add Beau Geste as well because that sounds ridiculous in the best possible way.

[skygiants]

Definitely sounds plausible that this is something upon which DLS might have Commented -- I'm trying to remember if Cockburn also shouts out Cold Comfort Farm as an antithesis to this trend or if I saw it mentioned in something else recently and have just been thinking about it.

[larryhammer]

Others have covered The Riddle of the Sands -- Beau Geste is indeed ridiculously silly, and while it has aged not quite as badly as many of its contemporaries, badly enough that I never bothered with the other two in the trilogy, despite having them on hand.

[skygiants]

I am definitely gaining the sense that Beau Geste is very silly, which honestly is not dissuading me from reading it for the comedy value. Nobody has yet come in to tell me anything about The Broad Highway, though!

[lirazel]

Okay, this sounds like so much fun! I will have to see if I can hunt it down!

[skygiants]

STRONG recommend, I have already tortured everyone around me by making them listen to me read out passages at various points.

[antisoppist]

There was a TV mini-series of Beau Geste in the UK in 1982. It made an impression on young me. It had Jonathon Morris in it and Benedict Taylor. Wikipedia says it was (like many other things) filmed in a sandpit in Dorset.

Riddle of the Sands is good!

[skygiants]

But was Very Small Geste indeed significantly smaller than the two other Gestes?

[flemmings]

Not-so-small-as-Very-Small-Geste-but-not-as-big-as-Small-Geste-Medium-Geste. Crivens-- I hope these are translations of major, minor, and minimus?

[skygiants]

I've been saying that I hope there are also a slew of variously intermediate Gestes, otherwise if I were Beau Geste I'd be a bit annoyed that all my brothers immediately trotted off to the Foreign Legion after me and left no one to help out the parents!

[sixbeforelunch]

This sounds amazing. It's going on the to-read list.

[skygiants]

I found it deeply entertaining and deeply educational both!

[chestnut_pod]

I confess I shall probably not read this, but I do so enjoy your review of it. So long, I'm off for the Foreign Legion!

[skygiants]

Based on the commentary everyone else seems to have heard of Beau Geste already but I'm absolutely delighted to have 'Very Small Geste' added to my mental lexicon ... I never realized how much I needed it until now!

[radiantfracture]

Now I must acquire this book.

[skygiants]

Couldn't recommend it more highly!

[osprey_archer]

Paragot had the foresight to supply himself with a competent and adoring peasant wife, who presumably will be doing all the farmwork! Undoubtedly Blanquette will make a go of it.

I chime in with the chorus of people fascinated to learn that Sarah Caudwell was Claud Cockburn's daughter. Haven't even read the Hilary Tamar mysteries but this still delights me!

[skygiants]

Oh man, I wish I'd known you hadn't read them in time to remedy that while you were visiting!! Next time ...

[kore]

I think you would LOVE them, they're fantatsic.

[plinythemammaler]

I was OBSSESSED by Beau Geste as an 8 year old! I had a tiny homemade kepi and would march and do "bayonet drill" in the garden with a rucksack full of stones as my Frencb Foreign Legion. VERY unclear if this is a recommendation for the book or not as an adult however???

[skygiants]

asjd;kfljkds well it's certainly not going to make me LESS likely to read it, and either way I am absolutely delighted to know this important bit of Pliny Lore!!

[bloodygranuaile]

This Cockburn dude sounds like A Character in all of the best ways!

[skygiants]

I am absolutely reading the autobiography at some point, I feel like I must know more about this man.