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Title details for The Old Wives' Tale by Arnold Bennett - Available

The Old Wives' Tale

by Arnold Bennett
ebook
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Regarded as one of Arnold Bennett's finest works, The Old Wives' Tale was first published in 1908. It tells the story of sisters Constance and Sophia Baines, both very different from one another, and follows their lives from youth into old age. Bennett's inspiration was an encounter in a Parisian restaurant: "an old woman came into the restaurant to dine. She was fat, shapeless, ugly, and grotesque. She had a ridiculous voice, and ridiculous gestures. It was easy to see that she lived alone, and that in the long lapse of years she had developed the kind of peculiarity which induces guffaws among the thoughtless." and "I reflected, concerning the grotesque diner: "This woman was once young, slim, perhaps beautiful; certainly free from these ridiculous mannerisms. Very probably she is unconscious of her singularities. Her case is a tragedy. One ought to be able to make a heartrending novel out of the history of a woman such as she." Every stout, ageing woman is not grotesque--far from it!--but there is an extreme pathos in the mere fact that every stout ageing woman was once a young girl with the unique charm of youth in her form and movements and in her mind. And the fact that the change from the young girl to the stout ageing woman is made up of an infinite number of infinitesimal changes, each unperceived by her, only intensifies the pathos."

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Series: Five Towns Publisher: Duke Classics

Kindle Book

  • Release date: February 20, 2012

OverDrive Read

  • ISBN: 9781620113417
  • Release date: February 20, 2012

EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9781620113417
  • File size: 731 KB
  • Release date: February 20, 2012

Open EPUB ebook

  • ISBN: 9781620113417
  • File size: 724 KB
  • Release date: February 20, 2012

Formats

Kindle Book
OverDrive Read
EPUB ebook
Open EPUB ebook

subjects

Classic Literature Fiction

Languages

English

Regarded as one of Arnold Bennett's finest works, The Old Wives' Tale was first published in 1908. It tells the story of sisters Constance and Sophia Baines, both very different from one another, and follows their lives from youth into old age. Bennett's inspiration was an encounter in a Parisian restaurant: "an old woman came into the restaurant to dine. She was fat, shapeless, ugly, and grotesque. She had a ridiculous voice, and ridiculous gestures. It was easy to see that she lived alone, and that in the long lapse of years she had developed the kind of peculiarity which induces guffaws among the thoughtless." and "I reflected, concerning the grotesque diner: "This woman was once young, slim, perhaps beautiful; certainly free from these ridiculous mannerisms. Very probably she is unconscious of her singularities. Her case is a tragedy. One ought to be able to make a heartrending novel out of the history of a woman such as she." Every stout, ageing woman is not grotesque--far from it!--but there is an extreme pathos in the mere fact that every stout ageing woman was once a young girl with the unique charm of youth in her form and movements and in her mind. And the fact that the change from the young girl to the stout ageing woman is made up of an infinite number of infinitesimal changes, each unperceived by her, only intensifies the pathos."

Expand title description text
Classic Literature Fiction
  • Details

    Publisher:
    Duke Classics

    Kindle Book
    Release date: February 20, 2012

    OverDrive Read
    ISBN: 9781620113417
    Release date: February 20, 2012

    EPUB ebook
    ISBN: 9781620113417
    File size: 731 KB
    Release date: February 20, 2012

    Open EPUB ebook
    ISBN: 9781620113417
    File size: 724 KB
    Release date: February 20, 2012

  • Creators
  • Formats
    Kindle Book
    OverDrive Read
    EPUB ebook
    Open EPUB ebook
  • Languages
    English
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