I was aware of that meaning. But I hoped not to use the word 'progress' in a political way. Why should the left wing liberals exclusively be allowed to own that word?

Say if you were attempting to read a "tough" book, say Hodgson's Night Land as a notorious example, and I asked after a week, "Are you making any progress?" Now that wouldn't be so bad, would it?

Or if a scientist is making geological excavations, or doing laboratory research. Or if you started your own part-time business, or entered a study course. Progress is a vital part of life.

Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've been tempted to buy the complete short
> stories of de la Mare in two volumes, edited and
> published by Giles de la Mare, but I've been
> burning through my book budget rapidly of late. I
> have the first of the two volumes from the library
> and would say the print is at the smaller end of
> acceptable type size, but type size is getting to
> be more of a consideration these days. The
> stories (other than some unpublished or scattered
> ones) are available online, of course, but if I
> want the majority of the stories in books, I might
> go for the old Knopf editions, which have a nicer
> type size.
>
> (The "complete" stories doesn't include a third
> volume of stories for children.)

Here is the third volume: Short Stories for Children.

My Walter de la Mare collection is mainly in three other books: The Collected Tales of Walter de la Mare (1950, Knopf) which has the full version of "The Connoisseur", Strangers and Pilgrims (2007, Tartarus Press), and Eight Tales (1971, Arkham House). And a small book of poetry too.

None of my stuff was any knock on you, K. I just have always been bemused by the phenomenon of popular connotation because I tend to use words for what I take to be their primary *literal* meaning, and can sometimes get into trouble when the word I've used has connotations that cause a sort of backlash.

...which 9 times out of 10 I sneeringly laugh off... ;^)

Ta, ta, for now!

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 6 Jul 21 | 01:23PM by Sawfish.

Sawfish Wrote:

> I wonder if adopting public squat toilets, such as
> are found in India, can be considered
> progressive?

From progressive New York! --

[www.foxnews.com]

Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sawfish Wrote:
>
> > I wonder if adopting public squat toilets, such
> as
> > are found in India, can be considered
> > progressive?
>
> From progressive New York! --
>
> [www.foxnews.com]
> erity-of-laws-against-public-urination-drunkenness

Another giant step FORWARD!

I agree with Pangloss: we live in the best of all possible worlds...

--Sawfish

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The food at the new restaurant is awful, but at least the portions are large."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Martinus Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I seem to recall that HPL thought highly of de la
> Mare.


"The Return" was one of his favorites. I was mildly surprised to see "Willows" excluded from the list of de la Mare's ghostly tales, as its ending has haunted me, or perhaps confused me is more accurate. It is included in his third collection, ON THE EDGE. Most of the stories there were serialized and a bit longer than those in his first volume, THE RIDDLE & other stories. Now can anyone please explain to me the ending of "Willows", my favorite of his yarns?

jkh

I am guessing that one of the "short stories" in On the Edge, "At First Sight" (a very long novelette) bears similarity to his earlier novel, Memoirs of a Midget, a book once pointed out to me by a friend who has read Moby Dick 3 times. That way lies despair, as someone said. Regarding "Willows"...the characterization of the supposedly dead poet's mother is very fine, and the dream-like effect of the idealized setting on the protagonist is conveyed very effectively, but I was curious about how anyone else may have interpreted the ending. "The Vats", btw, is Machenesque.

jkh

Though several of de la Mare’s books are on my shelves, none of the story collections are. I thought about the recent pair of omnibuses edited by Giles de la Mare, but the print was a bit small for my aging eyes. I might have ordered copies anyway if the pages were in sewn signatures like Dover paperbacks were 50 years ago.

Here's a 1980s adaptation of "Seaton's Aunt" -- of some interest, but not really all that impressive. For some reason, the complete story is shown and then mostof it starts afterwards in the video. Knygatin, those are Swedish subtitles, right?

[www.youtube.com]

Dale Nelson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here's a 1980s adaptation of "Seaton's Aunt" -- of
> some interest, but not really all that impressive.
> For some reason, the complete story is shown and
> then mostof it starts afterwards in the video.
> Knygatin, those are Swedish subtitles, right?
>

Those are Norwegian subtitles. The two languages are quite close.

Did you ever take a beginner's course in Swedish?

No, though I would have been interested if it had been offered in school.

Kipling Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I was mildly surprised to see "Willows" excluded from
> the list of de la Mare's ghostly tales, as its
> ending has haunted me, or perhaps confused me is
> more accurate. It is included in his third
> collection, ON THE EDGE. Most of the stories there
> were serialized and a bit longer than those in his
> first volume, THE RIDDLE & other stories. Now can
> anyone please explain to me the ending of
> "Willows", my favorite of his yarns?
>

Intrigued by this, I read "Willows". A beautiful story! And here de la Mare uses prose to reveal something of the poet's most intimate condition. In outer structure somewhat similar to the much heralded "Seaton's Aunt", but I prefer "Willows". It has a pastoral setting, and a nice old house which I would like to visit; luckily I already have, and am invited again to visit it any time I like in the future, through de la Mare's infallible prose! "Willows" appears not to be officially categorized as a supernatural tale, and perhaps it isn't. But you never know for sure with the subtle de la Mare! At least this one has a mystical layer, I think.

Not sure which part of the ending you refer to, there a few accumulative turns. Generally I interpret it as that the poet never died, but went into hiding from an unappreciative and uncomprehending world. And at the very end Mr. Forbes keeps his promise to the poet's mother to remain discrete.

Another beautiful story by de la Mare is "The Green Room", ... a very subtle ghost story.