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Foreword Arnold Bennett's contributions to the history of cinema have been overlooked and undervalued, according to John Shapcott's persuasive and informative introduction to the scenario of Punch and Judy, which is published here and made available to the reading public for the first time. E A Dupont's 1929 film of Bennett's original screenplay Piccadilly has recently been digitally restored, and the opportunity to see it on screen in London's Chinatown convinced me that Shapcott was right to suggest that I and earlier critics and biographers had unfairly neglected this aspect of his work. It is of considerable artistic and great sociological interest. It also shows us the Arnold Bennett who was ever ready to take on the new, the Modernist Bennett who enjoyed the challenge of the future. Margaret Drabble 2011 ISBN 97804546832 Available from CHURNET VALLEY BOOKS 1 King Street, Leek, Staffordshire.
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Lord Dover & Other Lost Stories INTRODUCTION When editing Arnold Bennett's Uncollected Short Stories 1892-1932 (2010) I included in my 'Introduction' the cautionary note that '(i)t would be premature to claim that this collection is the definitive complete uncollected short' (p.7). Such hesitancy was to prove well founded. Within days of publication I was receiving possible leads for new uncollected stories, all of which were diligently followed-up. The most substantial, and frankly intriguing, lead came from Alan John, an enthusiast for the short story form in general. He had carried out an extensive search of various newspaper archives online to find previously overlooked stories. To find out more about this intriguing book, you purchase a copy from CHURNET VALLEY BOOKS 1 King Street, Leek, Staffordshire ISBN 9781904546818
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Arnold Bennett Society - Charity Registration 1140053
A Centenary edition of The Card
Is now available from Churnet Valley Books
Critical introduction by John Shapcott, Honorary Research Fellow at Keele University and former Chairman of the Arnold Bennett Society.
The Card is Arnold Bennett's most popular novel and its hero, Denry Machin, has become one of fiction's most memorable characters.
Denry's story has universal appeal. It tells of the unlikely rise of its hero from a poor working class single parent family to become the admired and loved Mayor of Bursley. Denry's cheeky chappy exploits are often questionable but his motives are always well-intended.
Whether it is looking to celebrities for business endorsements, escaping disastrous romantic entanglements or saving the local football team, Denry inhabits a world that remains instantly recognisable today. Yet beneath all Bennett's sophisticated slapstick comedy there runs a deep vein of social commentary.
This Centenary edition reproduces the original text. It is also lavishly illustrated with scenes from the famous 1952 film starring Alec Guinness, Glynis Johns and Petula Clark.
| LEONORA In Leonora Bennett depicts the emotional fortunes of his beautiful heroine as she is forced to come to terms with the selfish and deceitful behaviour of her husband. Bennett does this against a vividly realised backdrop of the economic and social life of a Potteries town in the late nineteenth century.
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THE REGENT This is a funny and affectionate story of traditional community values pitted against the glamour of London sophistication. Bennett paints a vivid picture of two cultures in collision as Denry moves from the riotous world of the Potteries music hall to the intrigue of London's Edwardian theatres.
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The Card |
The Regent |
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ISBN 1-904546-37-4 |
ISBN 978-1-904546788-8 |
ISBN 1-904546-43-9 |
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THE PRICE OF LOVE ISBN 1-904546-44-7 |
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This is Arnold Bennett's penultimate Five Towns novel and
is a vivid and dramatic portrayal of provincial society about to change for
ever with the outbreak of World War 1. It |
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A Man From The North ISBN 978-1-904546-55-9 |
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With the publication of his first novel,
A Man From the North, in 1898, Arnold Bennett announced his arrival
as a major figure on the literary scene. Drawing upon his own early
experience of life in the Potteries and as a clerk in London, Bennett
delights in taking the reader on a journey from the social limitations and
religious restrictions of provincial life to the worldly pleasures and
sexual temptations of the city. Bennett paints a vivi
The Old Wives' Tale ISBN 978-1-904546-56-6
The novel
paints a colourful picture of Victorian and Edwardian life in a provincial
Staffordshire
town. Constance Baines watches and laments the changes that see her
hometown lose its identity in the face of economic changes. Her
younger sister, Sophia, elopes to
The Pretty Lady ISBN 1904546689
The book became a bestseller in 1918, despite calls for it to
be banned for undermining public morality with its daring portrayal of a
French prostitute operating at the heart of the establishment. More
disturbing to the modern reader than the sexual revelations are Bennett's
The introduction makes the case for the novel as a masterpiece of symbolic realism, unlocking hidden social, political and psychological realities. From the shady sexual exchanges of the music-hall to the hypocrisies of high-society, Bennett exposes the hidden civilian truths behind the line of battle.
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