research question.

[intrikate88]

Does anybody know where I can find some good research material about what a girls' boarding school in England would be like in the 1940s? I've been looking up school websites but for some reason they're short on good gritty history. rthstewart or be_themoon , have you come across anything?

Somebody is probably going to mention Enid Blyton, who I haven't read before but probably should.

In my (really long-term) ongoing (sort of) series of post-Narnia character studies of each of the Pevensies, it seems like the most recent Narnia movie is prompting a ghost of inspiration towards writing a Lucy story.  This is not to say that the movie was exactly inspiring; this is more my way of saying on precisely what fronts I disagree with the director's thematic vision of Narnia. (Apart from a thesis of a rant that's probably forthcoming after andi_horton  and I go see it together.) (andi_horton : We are doing that, right? I think I need this requires collaborative opinionating. )

Comments

[rthstewart.livejournal.com]

Nope. I've not had to go there, and so haven't, except in the most general of ways. I assume that there are roommates and prefects and Heads and that, unlike what I read in one fic, the teachers are not necessarily nuns and the girls are learning something other than stitchery. I assume mandatory chapel and choir, French, penmanship, literature, maths, and probably some science. So you saw the film? Obviously, Lucy is most preoccupied with being pretty and Susan is off to the British Consul for tea with a naval officer whose name could not possibly be Ian Fleming.

I think the real challenge is what is happening/done as a result of the war and it may be that those changes are more dramatic for the boys than the girls. I recently learned that most boys' schools had an officer training corps intended to find likely candidates while still in school.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Yes, I saw the film. Arghleblarghle. I'm hardly a purist; I know the challenges of adaptation and how novel to film adaptations are an art form themself, and I have extensively written papers on the fact. HOWEVER. It is a real achievement for a film to be so extensively worked over that I disagree with the interpretation of every scene. Also, the word 'undragoned' never happened and that is a shame.

Frankly, I just would have cut at least three lords/stops from the plot, tbh.

Anyway, my disgruntlement aside, I'm just looking for basic environmental info, I think, the sort that anyone just know if they read the boarding school genre of fiction, probably. Stuff like who sleeps where and what the pecking order is, what the schedule is like, what food they eat, how much freedom they have, if everywhere has the same school terms with the same term names and what are those term names (this is quite important structurally to my idea)? It's probably not all like St Trinians, though Lucy at that school is an amusing thought. I expect that because of the war there is a bit more freedom, with fewer teachers and older girls working outside the school, probably.

[lnbw.livejournal.com]

It's not quite what you're looking for, but Madeleine L'Engle's And Both Were Young has a good feel for the boarding school atmosphere; it takes place in Switzerland, not England, unfortunately, and in the late '40s. No more than a couple years post-war, since the consequences thereof are a frequent topic of conversation/driver of plot. (Annnd when I look it up on Wikipedia I see that it was originally published in 1949.)

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Hmm! I don't think I've read that one, or if I did it was a very very long time ago, when I read all the other fiction that took place in boarding schools that weren't magical in nature. I'll check it out.

[andi-horton.livejournal.com]

I have a book about girls away at school but it was written before 1914; I bought it so I could write The Maps Game a bit better the third time around. You are welcome to riffle through it when you are here, though, and see if anything is useable. It is very funny, though I think not in a way it was meant to be.

We can go see VDT if you want! But it won't be the same, because I was waiting for you and now it is all ruined and not what it could have been because you didn't wait for me . . . it's like a horrible, horrible parody of all those warning lectures they gave us in youth group, isn't it?

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Well, I shall give that a look, then, and see if it helps. I dunno. This is such a meandery one-shot of an idea it seems silly to do in-depth research, but otherwise it probably won't work right. Sigh.

Oh, no, sweetie, seeing it for your first time and my second will still have us sitting there awkwardly and going "Hmm, I thought it was going to be a bit... more, or something, than that" just like our mutual first times would have been. Also you know I need companionship for movie watching since I have more commentary than MST3K, and Derek isn't quite as expansive a sounding board as you are.

[andi-horton.livejournal.com]

If it's only for a one shot I can probably just dredge up all my Naughtiest Girl books and let you skim through those. I am sure that Being Away at School was much worse than Enid Blyton would lead any of us to believe, but she certainly gives a reasonable approximation of the set up, if that is what you are after. Meals and sleeping arrangements, and all that.

What research is it you were looking for, exactly? What is it you intend to wreak upon the world?

I guess we can still watch it together. We need some sort of antidote for our traditional holiday viewing-and-snarking-upon of Twilight, after all . . . and don't worry, I am totally not going to make some joke about your first time being with your brother . . . except I sort of just did . . . oh, I am petty, but feel better.

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

An approximation sounds like about what I am after. I can't say for sure until I start writing I guess... I have vague ideas about Lucy as being very connected to the natural side of Narnia and how that works out when she's stuck in a boarding school after Dawn Treader, with themes sort of divided by school terms. We'll see how that goes.

You DO realize we are two Twilight snarkings behind, right? We'll have to catch up.

And as for that joke, I take back my remark about all your comments amusing me. Go fu- I mean, you spend wayyy too much time around 12-year-olds. :P

[andi-horton.livejournal.com]

I like themed school terms. We shall see what we can scrounge up.

Yeah I tried to watch one of them without you, the one where he goes to sparkle publically or something, and I couldn't do it. I need my half-drunk sister, her helpless captive and my Partner in Sark all lined up beside me in order to survive.

Hey, now, I still OWE you after that camel joke two years ago. You have to give me that one, at least.

[andi-horton.livejournal.com]

. . . . hahaha typo made of win, do you appreciate that? I want to say I did it on purpose but it was a complete accident . . .

[intrikate88.livejournal.com]

Well *I* thought that was on purpose.

Ooh, if we're watching at the house we can do the Twilight drinking game!

[andi-horton.livejournal.com]

Claire and Jordan are on board with the idea of coming to VDT with us, so that could be fun . . . I gotta tell you though, if we want them to watch Twilight too, I think we're going to have to get Jordan pretty drunk before the fact.