I have to admit that, despite being a Bedfordshire resident, I have never read Bunyan, Bedford seems to distant! VB ‘Testament of Youth’ I read in my teens and loved it, revisited it in my 30s and never finished it. I have now added both of these books to my wish list! Thank you!
I've walked the Bedfordshire bit of the Icknield Way, which was so beautiful. I think it will be worth going back and walking some Bunyan paths. I wonder if it's changed very much since Brittain walked there?
There's a long distance John Bunyan Trail (86 miles) which links up places associated with his life and The Pilgrim's Progress: https://www.lbramblers.org.uk/jbt.php
I don't know if it's of interest but there is a John Bunyan Trail which takes in key locations associated with Bunyan and The Pilgrim's Progress - see https://www.lbramblers.org.uk/jbt.php
Fascinating. I'm much more au fait with Brittain than I am with Bunyan, so a great read.
>>>In many ways then, this book is as much about the period of Vera Brittain’s life as it is about John Bunyan’s, which makes it of interest twice over to modern historians.
This is so true. I love reading old history books for this very reason.
This is a great discovery for me! I have read a lot of VB’s work, which I’m afraid left me less of a fan than I was at the start (Winifred Holtby is a much nicer person, and a better writer, imo). But here’s a book by the tiresome VB which has until now passed under my radar (entirely my fault, obvs), and which fits *perfectly* into one of my projects: radical religion in Bedford. By which I refer to Bunyan, the Panacea Society and The Revolution in Tanners Lane (as per “Mark Rutherford’s” autofiction). I must get me a copy! Thank you!
I actually came to Vera Brittain via Winifred Holtby - which I always thought was an eccentric way round given their relative profiles - and I agree with your assessment!
Radical religion in Bedford is such a great topic - I keep meaning to read some Mark Rutherford.
To be clear, my “project” is little more than an excuse to visit Bedford a few times (and drink coffee in a lovely Italian café there), to explore extraordinary corners of religious belief and practice, and to read a fascinating motley collection of books about variously strange people who lived there at one time or other. I have no plans to write about it, not at the moment anyway.
I read this and before I saw this thread thought of something that @SusanHoyle once said to me about the mass ownership of Pilgrim's Progress. What was it Susan? And know how with you I am on the relative merits of VB and WH.
I do bang on about how it is said that in the nineteenth century most literate households would have at least a copy of Pilgrim’s Progress and an almanac, and (presumably) a Bible. PP was routinely read in schools well into the last century—I read it in primary school in the fifties, for example—but my children certainly did not, and as for the grandchildren, it’s defo a nho. A pity: weird as it is, it’s seminal in English literature—and American. I was in my late sixties when, re-reading *Little Women* for the umpteenth time, I realized that LMA prefaces every chapter with a quote from PP.
It's interesting that PP has always been 'of the people' - cheap mass market editions were available very quickly and it's only comparatively recently that its popularity has waned. Compare with something like Paradise Lost which is of a similar period and dealing with biblical subject matters but which belonged to a more elite readership.
I studied PP in my first year of secondary school in the fifties in RE [Religious Education} class. I remember drawing a picture map of Christian's journey and acting out scenes such as Vanity Fair. It took quite a hold on my imagination and I have always remembered the figure of Help, standing at the edge of the Slough of Despond with an outstretched hand which Christian takes quite a while to see! I really relate to that.
I always thought that we studied PP because the school was founded for the daughters of missionaries, but from what you say it was just following a general trend.
I have to admit that, despite being a Bedfordshire resident, I have never read Bunyan, Bedford seems to distant! VB ‘Testament of Youth’ I read in my teens and loved it, revisited it in my 30s and never finished it. I have now added both of these books to my wish list! Thank you!
I find Bunyan the author quite hard work, although I have slogged my way through Pilgrim's Progress, his life is fascinating though.
I've walked the Bedfordshire bit of the Icknield Way, which was so beautiful. I think it will be worth going back and walking some Bunyan paths. I wonder if it's changed very much since Brittain walked there?
There's a long distance John Bunyan Trail (86 miles) which links up places associated with his life and The Pilgrim's Progress: https://www.lbramblers.org.uk/jbt.php
Also need to get this one, for my project on great writers who walked - once I finish writing up last week's V Woolf walk around London...
I don't know if it's of interest but there is a John Bunyan Trail which takes in key locations associated with Bunyan and The Pilgrim's Progress - see https://www.lbramblers.org.uk/jbt.php
Thanks I'll take a look. Any Bunyan walk would need to include the original Slough of Despond - which I ve an idea is now a wetland nature reserve
Fascinating. I'm much more au fait with Brittain than I am with Bunyan, so a great read.
>>>In many ways then, this book is as much about the period of Vera Brittain’s life as it is about John Bunyan’s, which makes it of interest twice over to modern historians.
This is so true. I love reading old history books for this very reason.
Glad you enjoyed it!
This is a great discovery for me! I have read a lot of VB’s work, which I’m afraid left me less of a fan than I was at the start (Winifred Holtby is a much nicer person, and a better writer, imo). But here’s a book by the tiresome VB which has until now passed under my radar (entirely my fault, obvs), and which fits *perfectly* into one of my projects: radical religion in Bedford. By which I refer to Bunyan, the Panacea Society and The Revolution in Tanners Lane (as per “Mark Rutherford’s” autofiction). I must get me a copy! Thank you!
I actually came to Vera Brittain via Winifred Holtby - which I always thought was an eccentric way round given their relative profiles - and I agree with your assessment!
Radical religion in Bedford is such a great topic - I keep meaning to read some Mark Rutherford.
To be clear, my “project” is little more than an excuse to visit Bedford a few times (and drink coffee in a lovely Italian café there), to explore extraordinary corners of religious belief and practice, and to read a fascinating motley collection of books about variously strange people who lived there at one time or other. I have no plans to write about it, not at the moment anyway.
I read this and before I saw this thread thought of something that @SusanHoyle once said to me about the mass ownership of Pilgrim's Progress. What was it Susan? And know how with you I am on the relative merits of VB and WH.
I do bang on about how it is said that in the nineteenth century most literate households would have at least a copy of Pilgrim’s Progress and an almanac, and (presumably) a Bible. PP was routinely read in schools well into the last century—I read it in primary school in the fifties, for example—but my children certainly did not, and as for the grandchildren, it’s defo a nho. A pity: weird as it is, it’s seminal in English literature—and American. I was in my late sixties when, re-reading *Little Women* for the umpteenth time, I realized that LMA prefaces every chapter with a quote from PP.
It's interesting that PP has always been 'of the people' - cheap mass market editions were available very quickly and it's only comparatively recently that its popularity has waned. Compare with something like Paradise Lost which is of a similar period and dealing with biblical subject matters but which belonged to a more elite readership.
I studied PP in my first year of secondary school in the fifties in RE [Religious Education} class. I remember drawing a picture map of Christian's journey and acting out scenes such as Vanity Fair. It took quite a hold on my imagination and I have always remembered the figure of Help, standing at the edge of the Slough of Despond with an outstretched hand which Christian takes quite a while to see! I really relate to that.
I always thought that we studied PP because the school was founded for the daughters of missionaries, but from what you say it was just following a general trend.
Sounds good to me! Have you discovered The Eagle Bookshop? - it has a good local interest section which is always worth a browse.
Noted. Thank you again.