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Remembered Today:

Testament of Youth: BBC Films announces a new dramatisation


NigelS

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This looks like it will be great. T of Y is a riveting read that deserves all the notoriety it can get.

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I saw the story in today's Tottygraph, but couldn't be fagged to read it. I remember the TV dramatisation from a few years ago.

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I thought they did such a good job on the old series that I can't imagine a replacement. That actress was Vera to me! That said, I will certainly watch the new show.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/9228971/Veras-Testament-is-young-again.html

Today's Tottygraph article.

For myself, I might take a rain check on this one.

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http://www.telegraph...oung-again.html

Today's Tottygraph article.

I saw that too, but couldn't be fagged... :whistle: The author of the article , Mark Bostridge, as well as being author of Vera Brittain: A Life and a consultant for the new film has also had a letter published in which he gives that he's Brittain's 'Literary executor'; there's another letter from a reader who shares 'Rose of Picardy's' view on its predecessor. http://www.telegraph...-efficient.html (scroll down to Great Brittain)

NigelS

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I saw that too, but couldn't be fagged... :whistle: The author of the article , Mark Bostridge, as well as being author of Vera Brittain: A Life and a consultant for the new film has also had a letter published in which he gives that he's Brittain's 'Literary executor'; NigelS

So obviously has absolutely no interest in telling us what a splendid book this is, and what a wonderful film it's going to make!

(And I actually read this article :thumbsup: )

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Thanks for the update, everything had gone quiet about concerning 'Testament of Youth' -the movie, so interesting to know that it is still going ahead.

A great difference between the film and the TV series from 1979 ( which I rate very highly ) is that the film is going to have to recount 'Testament of Youth' in less time, and/ or make drastic cuts.

Moreover, a movie going audience will have different expectations to people who want a TV series to get involved with and to look forward to the next installment.

I have read a great deal of Vera Brittain's work and certainly would recomend 'Testament of Youth' : Vera Brittain's talent for social observation, and her own personal story are fascinating : Her struggle to get to university at a time when this was rare for a women, her nursing experiences-seeing the suffering of war, her own personal lossess, the fact that she was dangerously near a nervous breakdown after the Great War, but survived to become a journalist and lecturer ( though an unsuccessful novelist) is a captivating and moving tale. And Vera Brittain deserves respect along with all the VAD nurses who contributed so much.

But perhaps it would have been more interesting to make a film about another women's Great War experience. Especially as Rose has pointed out, there's already a superb TV dramatisation of this book. There is a danger that 'Testament of Youth' is being cited too quickly as the definitive account of women's Great War experience, and often held to be a 'typical' account of a woman VAD's nurse. But I will go and see this film when it's released.

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Latest news ------------- Lord Sir Julian Fellowes VC DFC MM MC etc has been commissioned to write an updated and slightly amended version of the original book.

Set on board both HMS Ferocious and a Zeppelin this is the heartwarming story of a young gal from a decent family and her descent into madness when having to chose one lover from a selection of public school chaps who vie for her affections whilst giving the Hun a damn good thrashing!. This ripping yarn deviates just a little from the original book by staging the climax on the Graf Zeppelin when the Hon Charles, Charley Charles and the fiendish Herr Von Stumpnagal fight a duel to the death as the airship plunges to ultimate destruction. Starring Mel Gibson and Kiera Knightly with advanced CGI effects and in 3D the original music is to be composed by Rick Wakeman and the dance sequences by Anne Widdecombe.

I can hardly wait!

Norman

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There is a danger that 'Testament of Youth' is being cited too quickly as the definitive account of women's Great War experience, and often held to be a 'typical' account of a woman VAD's nurse. But I will go and see this film when it's released.

Well said Michael - in total agreement.

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Even when I first read the book, I recognized that Vera was far from typical! I think she appealed to me more -on the page- due to this. I was young when I read it and she captures the feelings you have when you are young and don't fit into the prevailing expectations of your age. Like Michael, I have read much more by her and about her since then and it is clear that Vera (and Roland and her parents and most of her later family save Shirley and Winifred) was high maintenance and always living on the edge of her nerves.

All of this makes her prose in "Testament" colorful and memorable ( to me, at least!), but she would wear me out within hours in real life. I imagine that she would lecture you on a dime! However, a feature film with the limited time might obscure this as Michael Bully states and might make a casual viewer feel that her ultra emotional response to events was typical. She is fascinating to me and I am interested to see the new take. Still not sure that they can improve on the series; they did an amazing job there.

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Dear Rose, please do not fret as Lord Sir Julian will treat the story with the respect it deserves and following his great success with Downton2 and the reimagining(?) of Titanic we can look forward to a moving and accurate portrayal as always happens when such books are lucky enough to be brought to the big screen

Regards

Norman

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Norman

Maybe you'd take your latest fantasy to Skindles, and leave others to attempt a serious discussion. Unless you've got anything relevant to add, which I doubt.

Sue

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I've never read Testament of Youth (or anything else by Vera Brittain), but I didn't particularly like the TV series.

Is it cynical to wonder whether her rediscovery in the 70's and 80's was not unconnected to her daughter's fame (or notoriety, depending on which side of any political fences you might sit)?

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Steve, I don't remember how influential Shirley Williams was in promoting Vera Brittain, but I'd suggest that one reason for the rediscovery was that in the 1970s there was a great deal of interest in women's writing and some active feminist publishing houses. I found her literature as a teenager and my own copy of ToY is a 1978 Virago one.

I endorse Michael's astute comment on the risk of the "definitive" women's experience of war.

Gwyn

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I am not sure if I would have 'liked' Vera in person . And certainly not have agreed with her stance on the Second World War.

My personal favourite is 'Chronicle of Youth' , Vera's diary which ends in 1917, and not intended for publication. Less self conscious.

It has been said that 'Testament of Youth' is very much about the 1930's , started in 1929 and published in 1933.

Regards

Michael Bully

.

All of this makes her prose in "Testament" colorful and memorable ( to me, at least!), but she would wear me out within hours in real life. I imagine that she would lecture you on a dime! However, a feature film with the limited time might obscure this as Michael Bully states and might make a casual viewer feel that her ultra emotional response to events was typical. She is fascinating to me and I am interested to see the new take. Still not sure that they can improve on the series; they did an amazing job there.

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I've often wondered if she used some of her life events during the Great War as a cover for her own perceived inadequacies. Did she really believe that her relationship with Roland would have lasted after the war if he'd survived, or was her anguish over his death an expression of what she thought was expected of her at the time? And was her mother's illness in 1918 used as a convenient excuse for her to leave the dangers of enemy bombing in France without the fear of being seen by others as 'running away'? Sometimes I see her as perhaps less than honest in her public display of emotion.

Sue

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Norman

Maybe you'd take your latest fantasy to Skindles, and leave others to attempt a serious discussion. Unless you've got anything relevant to add, which I doubt.

Sue

:thumbsup:

Roger

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Sue, I think Bostridge suggests that Roland's feelings may have already been cooling just before his death and that the hectic atmosphere of the courtship papered a romantic film over their conflicts. They were very similar and strong-minded and probably would have had difficulties if Roland had survived. Her son says the same thing in his book, but he is very like Vera and his viewpoint on much is jaundiced. When I was young, I totally bought into the romanticism and loved the poems Roland wrote to her. I guess we can only guess what could or would have been. I do think it would have been difficult to live with someone who had such heavy emotional investment in such a tragic time in their past. It did affect her marriage, I think.

Your observation about her return from the front when her mother became ill is interesting. i do believe that the whole period was an enormous physical and emotional drain on Vera. She wasn't a strong person or I guess I should say a stoic person. I can sympathize a little with that myself. Her parents were dramatic people too, as I said. It almost seems like Winifred served as a calming and balancing force for her. I wonder if she would have moderated her pacifist opinions about WWII if Winifrred had lived through that war.

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Well I think that it is generally accepted that Roland and Vera's relationship would probably not have last much longer had Roland survived another year or two. They were physically together for seventeen days in total broken up by long periods of absence.

But as for 'running away' in France in 1918? I am not so sure. Vera did admit to fear, such as when sailing to Malta in 1916 facing the risk of German mines or torpedoes, But I think that ultimately Vera felt that she should be nursing, as a tribute to Roland, and the others that she had lost.

Regards, Michael Bully

I've often wondered if she used some of her life events during the Great War as a cover for her own perceived inadequacies. Did she really believe that her relationship with Roland would have lasted after the war if he'd survived, or was her anguish over his death an expression of what she thought was expected of her at the time? And was her mother's illness in 1918 used as a convenient excuse for her to leave the dangers of enemy bombing in France without the fear of being seen by others as 'running away'? Sometimes I see her as perhaps less than honest in her public display of emotion.

Sue

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I agree it's generally accepted by others that her relationship with Roland Leighton might not have endured, but was this ever mentioned by her? Did she still believe in 1933 that it was the great romance of her life, and if she did, then perhaps it's unfair to doubt her now. If she didn't, then was it just more convenient for her story to imply continued sorrow at the loss of not only Roland, but of what he represented - true happiness in her life. So much of Testament of Youth revolves around her personal loss, particularly that of Leighton, which in itself has raised him to a level of renown unlikely in most other circumstances. Although I don't doubt the honesty of her emotions during wartime, I can never quite accept that these few characters have found such an elevated position in Great War history due to one woman's story written long after the war.

Sue

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Yes but 'Testament of Youth' was not an objective piece of writing, Vera had her agenda : Broadly, to stress how women's experience were in danger of being marginalised when the accounts of Great War were being written, to express her feelings how the sacrifices her generation made needed to be articulated, and to ensure that those closest to her who were killed were going to remembered, and of course to raise her concerns that a further large scale European war could break out again.

It must have been very hard for her husband George Catlin to have existed in the shadow of Roland Leighton, but I imagine that this was not an uncommon experience for men at the time, feeling that they were the second choice as it were.

Don Farr's book 'None That Go Return- Leighton, Brittain and Friends, and the Lost Generation 1914-1918' tries hard to disentangle the lives of Roland Leighton, Edward Brittain, Victor Richardson and Geoffrey Thurlow from the way they are portrayed in 'Testament of Youth'. Essential companion reading for anyone interested in Vera Brittain.

Regards, Michael Bully

I agree it's generally accepted by others that her relationship with Roland Leighton might not have endured, but was this ever mentioned by her? Did she still believe in 1933 that it was the great romance of her life, and if she did, then perhaps it's unfair to doubt her now. If she didn't, then was it just more convenient for her story to imply continued sorrow at the loss of not only Roland, but of what he represented - true happiness in her life. So much of Testament of Youth revolves around her personal loss, particularly that of Leighton, which in itself has raised him to a level of renown unlikely in most other circumstances. Although I don't doubt the honesty of her emotions during wartime, I can never quite accept that these few characters have found such an elevated position in Great War history due to one woman's story written long after the war.

Sue

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I usually steer well clear of VB threads, as I'm a very superficial reader, and have to admit to disliking her (there, hang me if you will!). But as an 'average' reader, I tend to think that it is taken by many as an objective account and a factual history, and the majority of readers take it at face value without reading round or beyond it. When transferred to film or TV, that slant becomes even stronger. VBs experiences are now seen as that of the 'typical' VAD ...

Of course, if looking for the typical VAD, there's so little to compare it with - it would be a real struggle to find something else to use as a strong foundation. And I think that takes us back to post 8 :)

Sue

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Yes Gwyn, I think that there is a danger in that lazier writers, when wanting a quote from a woman, just reaching for 'Testament of Youth' because it is reasonably accessible. Objectively why is Vera Brittain's perspective more important than say (Margaret) Storm Jameson's ? But Storm Jameson's 'In From The North' takes a bit more effort to locate !

Regards, Michael Bully

Steve, I don't remember how influential Shirley Williams was in promoting Vera Brittain, but I'd suggest that one reason for the rediscovery was that in the 1970s there was a great deal of interest in women's writing and some active feminist publishing houses. I found her literature as a teenager and my own copy of ToY is a 1978 Virago one.

I endorse Michael's astute comment on the risk of the "definitive" women's experience of war.

Gwyn

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