The Field of the Cloth of Gold - Book Group Discussion Thread
10 watchers
Nov 2017
9:58pm, 29 Nov 2017
32,081 posts
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McGoohan
(To the prev point - I have no knowledge of Saints of any kind.)
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Nov 2017
6:15am, 30 Nov 2017
97,446 posts
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GregP
Happy St. Andrews’ day by the way. (Columbers - my ‘new’ church is an All Saints, which after 50-odd years of St Giles with an occasional foray to a cathedral in part dedicated to St Cedd rather feels like cheating). |
Nov 2017
10:15am, 30 Nov 2017
14,247 posts
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Columba
Ah, McG - so sad you didn't find him funny. While I turned pages and pages without a smile, every now and then I burst out laughing. Greg - mine is "Our Lady of Ransom and the Holy Souls", - bit of a mouthful. |
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Nov 2017
10:24am, 30 Nov 2017
32,085 posts
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McGoohan
That sounds like a job for Jack Reacher, all 15' 10" of him. "Nobody kidnaps Our Lady for ransom. Nobody." Have you any examples, Columba? I am genuinely bemused but intrigued by what could make anyone laugh in Magnus Mills. Terry Pratchett makes me laugh, but he has a nice line in jokes. I don't see any funnies anywhere here. |
Nov 2017
10:30am, 30 Nov 2017
4,171 posts
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Serendippily
I think I laughed when they started to polish the bath. I didn’t necessarily read it as consumerist as I imagined all shiny it was a thing of beauty and it appealed to my sense of the ridiculous. I have been asked to admire shiny taps in my time
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Nov 2017
10:35am, 30 Nov 2017
14,249 posts
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Columba
For example, in The Scheme for Full Employment, four of the characters settle down for a game of cards to while away a long afternoon. I was expecting it to be poker (or similar). Turns out to be Happy Families. But this is not stated, you discover it incidentally, and the understatement contributes to the humour.
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Nov 2017
10:39am, 30 Nov 2017
14,250 posts
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Columba
Incongruity. That's probably the word I'm looking for. Some of them are very black. The Restraint of Beasts, for example, and All Quiet on the Orient Express. |
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Nov 2017
10:41am, 30 Nov 2017
14,251 posts
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Columba
Seren - yes, that too. He does see the ridiculous in what people accept as Ordinary Life.
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Nov 2017
10:42am, 30 Nov 2017
32,088 posts
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McGoohan
I think I see what you mean. I suppose that ties in with the gold bath - it becomes a status symbol and a source of dispute and pride etc - though no-one ever uses it for its intended purpose.
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Nov 2017
10:48am, 30 Nov 2017
4,173 posts
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Serendippily
Yes but it’s not necessarily “a point” about society etc although you can read it as such. It’s just visually ridiculous. And somewhere I think I have a vision of all those muddy Glastonbury’s where to be clean was like a spiritual experience. So I’ve added my own layer 
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