Well, I have finished Dorothy Richardson’s “Pilgrimage” sequence and right on time, too. The 13 volumes have taken me 13 months to read, and I could not have done it without having the other lovely bloggers and LibraryThing Virago Group members to see me through.
I’m going to do the competition bit first to allow people to go in for it without seeing any review spoilers – I will put a big heading before it and my MEDAL after it so you can zip down to the bottom of the post to comment.
See, I’m not going to read these again. It was good and interesting to read them, but I’m not planning on re-reading. And they’re both quite hard to find and not that valuable as such, so I’d like to GIVE my set of four (my original one, two I had from fellow Viragoite Kerry and one I bought in Macclesfield), as pictured, the first one a bit rough of spine, to someone who wants to read them.
All you have to do is add a comment saying you would like to win them. If you’re not in the UK I will post them surface mail. I will leave the comp open until the end of the year and send them out in the new year.
If you would like to win a full set of “Pilgrimage” in the original Virago Green edition, please post a comment to say so.
Good luck! *** edited to add, this competition has now been won by Dee, who will be receiving her books soon ***
Dorothy Richardson – “March Moonlight”
(28 March 2015, Macclesfield)
The last volume, at last. It’s a short one, and you know why? Because it’s bloody unfinished. Now, I do not like unfinished books. I don’t read them. I didn’t realise this was unfinished until I started reading a book I bought recently on Richardson and it mentioned this fact. I do feel a bit cheated, I have to say. Worse … I couldn’t tell!
OK, the positives. In much of this book, we’re in the Oberland again, in a guest house with a lot of other guests I’m pretty sure we haven’t met before, including the fascinating Jean, who she can have long silences with as well as interesting chat. Unfortunately, Jean has some shady business going on with one of the chaps (a bishop?) and really upsets Miriam. Or Dorothy.
As well as shifting between the first and third person, Miriam finds herself being addressed as “Dick” or “Dickie”. Miriam Henderson or … Dorothy Richardson. I’m guessing this was heavily unrevised, possibly at Richardson’s death, and it’s a real shame, because you keep getting jerked out of any engagement with the narrative when these oddities arise.
Not much really happens, not much really progresses. I was much cheered by mention of a tall young woman who’s off with the CMS, trained at Woodbrooke – the Church Missionary Archives are still at the University of Birmingham and Woodbrooke is a Quaker Study Centre, so that was lovely to see there and pulled the book closer to me just when it needed to be. There is quite a bit about writing, which I know will please Jane, and this rather illuminating quote:
“If you can describe people as well as you describe scenes, you should be able to write a novel.” But it is just that stopping, by the author, to describe people, that spoils so many novels?
Ignoring the content for a moment, that stray question mark or “it is” instead of “is it” seems to back up that lack of revision.
There are the usual comments on marriage, and Miriam seems to have come to a point where she’s accepted she’s on her own and will go through life writing, using her small amount of money to sustain her. And that’s it.
Well, I’m glad I have read this through: it’s a seminal work of modernism and it’s important to the works of other 20th century writers. It wasn’t easy but it was interesting, and it was lovely having a group of people to discuss it with along the way. And it’s done.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 06, 2016 @ 18:38:17
I haven’t read this – but well done!!!!
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Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2016 @ 10:25:24
I expected you not to – I’ll look forward to your comments when you reach the end and earn your medal, too!
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Sarah
Dec 06, 2016 @ 19:10:22
Well done! I am really close to the end now too, but keep having to go back and reread bits as I find myself without a clue what’s gong on unless I concentrate hard. What a lovely gesture to pass the books on. Despite the frequent infuriating moments, the pilgrimage has been well worth the journey! 🙂
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Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2016 @ 10:24:53
Yes, that’s how I feel about it, too. I’ll be glad to save someone the trouble of tracking them all down, and I had two of them from another reader, so it seems the right thing to do!
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GrantS
Dec 07, 2016 @ 07:07:14
Hi Liz: I have been following with interest the group read on LT but have not been able to find copies of any of the books myself. Of Dorothy Richardson’s works I have only read the short story collection published as a VMC (which I found in my local library) and would love to win copies of “Pilgrimage”. Regards, Grant.
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Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2016 @ 07:22:25
Hello Grant, nice to see you over here (you can find all my reviews on here using the search) and I’ll put you in the draw!
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Dee
Dec 07, 2016 @ 07:55:51
Hi Liz. I would love to follow in the footsteps of LT Virago friends and read (or attempt) the whole of Pilgrimage!
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Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2016 @ 10:22:15
Hello, Dee! I’ll put you in the draw!
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Rebecca Foster
Dec 07, 2016 @ 13:22:43
Wow, to get to the last of 13 volumes and find the story is unfinished! I would be beyond frustrated. I don’t think I want to read the whole series, but I will get Backwater out from the university library in the new year.
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Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2016 @ 15:36:43
I know, gutted is the word, to be honest. I hope you enjoy your dip into the Richardson waters, I’ll look forward to hearing how you get on!
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Cathy746books
Dec 07, 2016 @ 15:07:48
Congrats on finishing!
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Liz Dexter
Dec 07, 2016 @ 15:37:11
Thank you! Fewer challenges next year!!
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heavenali
Dec 08, 2016 @ 21:49:53
well done on finishing. I am not entering your competition because I am steering clear of big challenges next year.
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Liz Dexter
Dec 14, 2016 @ 08:20:00
And that’s completely fair enough – me, too!
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Ste J
Dec 13, 2016 @ 12:14:09
I would love to win them, I have been following your progress whilst avoiding spoilers where I can and they seem like a fascinating read. I need to start one of the Virago books I picked up but finding them after unpacking will be the first challenge!
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Liz Dexter
Dec 14, 2016 @ 08:20:20
Excellent – I’ll put your name in the pot!
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A Year in First Lines | Adventures in reading, writing and working from home
Dec 21, 2016 @ 10:00:25
Peggy McLean
Jan 05, 2017 @ 04:38:00
Well, of COURSE, I’d love to win the full set of *Pilgrimage*! I own a copy of the first one (which I could put on the duplicate thread at LT’s VMC home), but I haven’t read it in case I loved it and would fret since I couldn’t follow it with #2.
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Liz Dexter
Jan 05, 2017 @ 08:55:42
Oh, Peggy, I’m so sorry, this was open until the end of 2016, and it’s now been drawn (I should have made that clear in an edited version of the post and am going to edit it now). However, all is not necessarily lost, as it was won by our own Dee from the LibraryThing group, so maybe you can arrange for her to pass them on to you as she reads them?
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