Leonora

The Regent

 You can purchase this book by emailing

You can purchase this book by emailing

www.leekbooks.co.uk

www.leekbooks.co.uk

CHURNET VALLEY

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Leek

ST13 5NW

01538 399033

The Price of Love

ISBN 978 1-904546-44-3

Available from Churnet Valley Books as above price £9.95

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 is a picture of traditional private behaviour and the inevitable march of public progress, whether in commerce, transport or entertainment.  In Rachel Fleckring, Bennett has created another of his strong sympathetic heroines, forced to stamp her authority upon a male dominated world.  We also meet the memorable and monstrous Thomas Batchgrew - cinema entrepreneur, local politician and all-round dubious character.  The redoubtable charwoman, Mrs Tams, is both cleaner and conscience.  The struggle for respectability and honesty is played out in kitchens, works offices, shops and, intriguingly, the cinema.  The introduction makes a strong case for the book's central critical importance as the first English novel to fully engage with cinema and film.

A New Publication 2007

A Man From The North

ISBN 978-1-904546-55-9

Available from Churnet Valley Books as above price £9.95

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 vivid and accurate picture of music-halls, restaurants, seaside resorts, lodging houses and the growth of the suburbs at the turn of the century.  He introduces the great themes of love and duty, pleasure and pain, life and death so important in his subsequent novels. From its depiction of a shop that will become famous in The Old Wives' Tale to the crowded and colourful scenes of London life, the novel takes on a central importance in setting the stage for Bennett's future masterpieces.  this is where it all begins.  Cover picture: The Man with the Glass of Wine, Modigliani.

All the above have a critical introduction by John Shapcott

Chairman of the Arnold Bennett Society

New Publication

Hot off the press

"The Old Wives' Tale"

A Centenary Edition

Paperback £10.95

Hardback (cloth, limited edition of 300) £16.95

Churnet Valley Books

1 King Street, Leek,

Staffordshire, ST13 5NW

01538 399033  www.leekbooks.co.uk

COPIES OF 2005 CONFERENCE PAPERS

PRINTED TO ORDER

Carol, at her usual address, Please email for details.

C.A.Gorton@btinternet.com

Cost £6 each plus £1 for postage

Please add £2 for outside EU

ALSO AVAILABLE

10th June 2006 CONFERENCE PAPERS

BENNETT AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

WRITE THE TOWN AND THE CITY

9th June 2007 CONFERENCE PAPERS

THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918 AND AFTER

BENNETT AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES

EDITORIAL

While this issue covers a wide range of topics, three of its articles focus on a single them, namely Bennett the traveller.  The articles are edited versions of some of the papers given at the 2005 Barlaston Weekend Seminar (more will follow in the Autumn issue). 

Travel is a key subject in AB's life and works. His youthful yearning to escape from what must have been an insalubriously industrial environment, and a spiritually and culturally stifling atmosphere, turned him into an obsessive traveller.  It also provided the spark which ignited his creative urge to transform his indelible, seemingly ugly Potteries memories, into what was to become the aesthetic achievement of the Five Town.  Our three contributors in this field take us (with AB) to Paris, the French Riviera, Holland, Denmark, Sicily Greece, Belgium and Cornwall.

EDITORIAL

An eventful summer has seen not only a third successful annual Arnold Bennett Conference (reported in this issue by Martin Laux) but also a reprinting of yet another (the third) out of print Bennett novel by Churnet Valley Books.  The Regent, first published in 1913, is a sequel to The Card and sub-titled "A Five Towns Story of Adventure in London".  However, if you thought (like many critics) the novel was merely a carefree romp, John Shapcott's twenty-six page introduction might make you change your opinion.

Apart from the Conference, the Society has been involved in other events reported in this issue.  Our Chairman ably compered North Staffordshire author Paul Breeze's appearance at the Staffordshire University Film Theatre in May.  And ABS Vice-Chairman Ray Johnson was, of course, the virtuoso performer in the New Victoria Theatre one-man Arnold Bennett show in June.

EDITORIAL

Another successful programme of Autumn activities has been overshadowed by some sad news.  Our popular and vivacious former Secretary Jean Potter died on 20 October after a brave struggle against a series of increasingly serious health problems.  Her husband John and one of her best friends pay tribute to her both as a person whose presence we shall all miss, and as a friend and servant of the Arnold Bennett Society.

Russell Feaver's report of this year's weekend AB Seminar at Barlaston gives us, as usual, an essentially personal view of an experience he obviously relishes.  Once again, the event was attended by a virtually full complement of twenty-nine participants.  As attendance for this weekend is not restricted to ABS members, it provides us with an excellent springboard for further recruitment.

EDITORIAL

Nearly three years ago the Newsletter began reprinting seven "Strange Stories of the Occult" written by Bennett under the pseudonym of Sarah Volatile for the magazine Woman. This issue concludes the series with the second part of "The Crystal-Gazers", which first appeared on 17 April 1895. 

The other two substantial items in the current Newsletter are spin-offs from the last Arnold Bennett Seminar Week-end at Barlaston, which was based on the them of "Love, Adultery and Manipulation".  Elizabeth Leslie focuses on one of the sunniest novels Bennett ever wrote, Helen with the High Hand, while Alan Pedley examines one of his darkest works, Whom God Hath Joined.

Eight years ago the Society published what has become almost every Member's vade mecum, Who's Who & Where's Where in AB's Five Towns, John Potter, who edited that handbook (still available from our Secretary), provides us with a "free" update in this issue.  Other regular features, including reports on the latest Society events, a review of some recently published AB-linked books, Quote..Unquote and Bennettiana complete the Spring fare.

EDITORIAL

Unless we are to believe John Abberley's claim (see the reference to John Wain in Bennettiana), no recording of Arnold Bennett's voice exists.  The explanation of this sad lacuna may have been provided by a strange event which took place in 1927. You will find this anecdote, among many others, in the transcript of a 1967 television programme devoted to our author, "Good Old Nocker".  Coverage of the AB Centenary events in the Potteries is also featured in our Bennettiana section thanks to John Abberley's Sentinel article.

The (fourth) 2007 Bennett Conference was at least as successful as its predecessors.  In addition to Martin Laux's report on that event, we have the satisfaction of receiving a measure of national recognition thanks to participant John Bird's positive reaction which appeared in The Big Issue (see Bennettiana).  One of the co-ordinators of that Conference, ABS Vice-President Ray Johnson, is also furthering the Bennett cause through an initiative which should culminate in the erection of a long-awaited Bennett statue in Burslem in 2008 (see Bennettiana).

In 1925 the well known French journalist, Frederic Lefevre, spent an hour interviewing Bennett for the benefit of the readers of his prestigious weekly literary review Les Nouvelles Litteraires.  Bennett's critically acclaimed novel Riceyman Steps had recently fully restored his high reputation.  I this translated version of the interview AB reveals a very impressive up-to-date knowledge of French writers, as well as throwing some interesting light on the credo regarding the creative process.

WHO'S WHO AND WHERE'S WHERE

IN THE FIVE TOWNS

This Index is the result of an exercise undertaken by various members of the Arnold Bennett Society, who have carried out the research necessary to its compilation. 

First published in October 1999, and reprinted in July 2005, a "must" for all AB enthusiasts who wish to delve into the origins of the characters and sites so vividly depicted in Bennett's Five Towns novels and short stories.

It is priced at £5.50 (£6.20 Europe, £7 Rest of the World), and you can get details on how to purchase it from C.A.Gorton@btinternet.com