British

  • The Inimitable P.G. Wodehouse

    P G Wodehouse was a prolific writer, with nearly all of his stories set among British aristocracy and/or in the proverbial ‘polite society’ of 1920s and 30s Britain. Knowingly or not, he somewhat reflected the naïve obliviousness of a few of his characters in his real life. After moving to France and being captured by… Continue reading

  • Movie Mondays: Gritty Brits

    As Sinéad O’Connor sang in the ’90s, “England’s not the mythical land of Madame George and roses,” but the seductive pull of Downton Abbey and its celebration of wealth and landed gentry may have given us rose-colored glasses about merry old England. These films remind us that the United Kingdom is diverse, gritty and much more interesting than… Continue reading

  • London Calling: a Reading List.

    “London itself perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play & a story & a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets… To walk alone in London is the greatest rest.”   ~ Virginia Woolf, Diary, March 28, 1930. So you say your tickets to the London Olympics got lost the… Continue reading

  • Beyond Tea & Crumpets: Gritty Brits on DVD

    Think of British TV mystery and you may conjure up images of teacup wielding dowager sleuths, peering through the foxgloves at some suspicious goings on about the Village green. Lord Peter Wimsey and Miss Marple. Arsenic and tweed. But there’s a whole other side to British Crime – a tough contemporary side where hardened detectives battle it… Continue reading

  • Inspired by Darcy: Characterizations of Jane Austen’s proudest hero

    Have you noticed how many novels are based on or inspired by classics, especially novels by Jane Austen? First there are the retellings of stories, like Emma and the Vampires, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, or Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, in which an author takes the original classic and adds exciting paranormal characters.… Continue reading

  • Everything and the Kitchen Sink: Social Realism in post-war Britain

    The rain falls hard on a humdrum town This town has dragged you down And everybody’s got to live their life And God knows I’ve got to live mine… So goes the opening verse of The Smiths‘ classic song, “William, It Was Really Nothing,” a brilliant pastiche of British post-war, kitchen sink dramas. The Manchester… Continue reading