A lively discussion among 11 or so people talking about political theory and disappointment as a theme in Middlemarch.
Did people in the time of Middlemarch speak as the characters speak?
Wide range of speech among the characters, the Garths (especially Mary) much more direct.
Slightly idealized version of what people say, that what people actually say is much more boring than how it would be expressed in literature.
Today, while watching movie, Belle, set sixty years earlier, was wondering how much our expectation of how people spoke in any earlier period is because we are dependent on written sources where even letter writers might be more careful of their grammar and more likely to avoid slang and contractions and such. Similarly with the slightly more formal styles of newspapers and play scripts compared to street and dinner table conversations.
ReplyDeleteReference librarian challenge: Are there books available discussing this?
Movie Review: Do see "Belle". Romance wrapped around serious issues in very human context and based on actual events. If you like period movies at all and do not need sex or violence in your films, this is worth it.