Pointed Roofs by Dorothy M. RichardsonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Pilgrimage - Pointed Roofs
How I came to Dorothy M. Richardson was funny…. The title of her for volume set on Pilgrimage pointed this was an author who wanted to share her life story. But that was not the point, having read John Bunyan allegorical “The Pilgrims Progress” I hoped that the two were somehow connected……
I had seen Dorothy highly recommended for her art and form in the subtle way she wrote her life story. No doubt, there is so much that can be said about the work she did in her writing. I will just gloss over a few highlights in “Pointed roofs” that are worth mentioning. There is so much to say about form and art but I will restrict myself to what I think necessary.
In a very short span of time different cultures had been exemplified in how they are and or perceived. The book written in third person exemplifies this great act without necessarily showing any bias. At the time of writing, Britain was at war with Germany and it is sort of a paradox ow Dorothy warms up to the German culture. That also explains why such a seminal work on stream of consciousness stays unrecognized.
Different cultures…English being superior….. but the Germans are so full of themselves…they only speak German when you go to Germany… For English, “The are no rules for English pronunciation but what is usual at the University of Oxford is decisive for cultured people.” I know I have learnt that German men despise women, also Germans have polite attentiveness. In comparison the English are more refined than the Germans, however it is silly to make comparisons as “comparisons are odious”. The Swiss are democratic, with ambition.
Music…and classical music for that matter….plus playing different instruments…..the technique…. Require that you have an ear for quality. You also learnt in German not to be ashamed of “playing with expression”
Religion – We see Miriam at pains having a conversation with God through a Clergyman. I thought this was a direct attack on Catholic.. the sarcasm employed when describing the Clergy “He would be kind an would pray and smile – and she would be told to listen to sermons in the right spirit” I also notice the approach to attending service and listening to the sermon giving a caveat “The service might be lovely, if you did not listen to the words….” The preacher man was described as “went on and on from unsound premises until you brain was sick..droning on and on…as often as not you could pick out the logical fallacy if you took the trouble” Now at this juncture I want to point out another form taken by the author; the problem is not the preaching, seeing as Bible reading was a regular activity at the house. The problem here being the preacher being on “unsound premises” meaning they did not know their stuff…
It seems preachers who are preferred are the ones who would give intellectual lectures like Mr Brough quoting Milton here and there... and ultimately preferring a quiet homily as rather nice.
Another aspect of form emerges, and that is silence. It is as if silence is king when approaching God and also at home and with yourself. For some strange reason when reading you could almost feel as if Miriam subscribed to the Quakers. Silence is a major theme in her writing preferring to always be in solitude to think clearer. Silence is not the absence of noise, it is the absence of language.
Lots of stream of consciousness going on in this Pilgrimage. The descriptions of things like onions at a doctor’s house being "savory and pungent"
Classic Bible Analogy “We are in the hollow of his hand”
Did I notice they were big on tea, writing letters, reading books (poems), reading the Bible, music and no one liked “The wet blanket”
There are some philosophical discussions that go on in the book and one particular one is that of Apollyon(I remembered that analogy of winning while defeated)...., second one is that of Darwin “There were people of distinguished minds who thought Darwin was true...”
Nowadays people do not read books. It is definite that people in the past were keen about books. What happened to us in the 21st Century? Tv happened.
A classic to me!
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