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Dodo Trilogy #1-3
Dodo: An Omnibus
Dodo / Dodo the Second / Dodo Wonders
532 pages
First published January 1, 1893
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About the author
E.F. Benson
1,029 books354 followersEdward Frederic "E. F." Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist and short story writer.
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
E. F. Benson was the younger brother of A.C. Benson, who wrote the words to "Land of Hope and Glory", Robert Hugh Benson, author of several novels and Roman Catholic apologetic works, and Margaret Benson, an author and amateur Egyptologist.
Benson died during 1940 of throat cancer at the University College Hospital, London. He is buried in the cemetery at Rye, East Sussex.
Last paragraph from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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August 13, 2016The frivolous queen of society was a popular figure in literature during the 1880s and 1890s. Dodo isn't quite as amazingly clever as Anthony Hope's Dolly, nor is the writing as effortlessly elegant as in The Dolly Dialogues, but there is no doubt that the two women share similar origins--and society's interest in same.
Dodo marries for money and position and pays for it emotionally, a theme Benson came back to again and again in his work, but later on he relents and lets her marry for love.
The later Dodo stories, though they take place after World War one, are so consciously 'modern' that the longing for the simpler and more gracious old days is even more emphatic than in Lord of the Rings; this is in every sense a silver fork novel, with its unrepentant worship of the empyrean of civilization as defined by good birth and old money.
Dodo marries for money and position and pays for it emotionally, a theme Benson came back to again and again in his work, but later on he relents and lets her marry for love.
The later Dodo stories, though they take place after World War one, are so consciously 'modern' that the longing for the simpler and more gracious old days is even more emphatic than in Lord of the Rings; this is in every sense a silver fork novel, with its unrepentant worship of the empyrean of civilization as defined by good birth and old money.
July 13, 2022
11/7/22 - finished the first book in the Trilogy: Dodo
Dodo was Benson’s first novel (1893) - a scandalous success which launched him on his career, although forgotten today (as is much of his prolific output, with the exception of the Mapp & Lucia novels).
Dodo is a silver fork novel, with the titular heroine recognisably a portrait of a contemporary society ‘it’ girl, Margot Asquith. This, and the novel’s deeply worldly tone, and themes including marital breakdown and adultery, must have been doubly shocking and titillating to its late Victorian audience given the author was the son of the reigning Archbishop of Canterbury.
Publicly Benson denied basing his heroine on Asquith, but privately his family forced him to apologise to her. Whilst no doubt annoying her, the scandal probably did her social profile no harm - she later married the Prime Minister. The press actually started calling her Dodo - and Benson’s friends, including Bosie Douglas, started calling the author himself ‘Dodo’ too.
The story is similar in some respects to Oscar Wilde’s early comedies, although uneven & darker. Benson shines in the lighter social comedy sections when he can get away from the main plot. Reviewers today say Dodo’s verbal shtick has dated, but there is no way her character could ever have been read as positive - she is a morally empty, selfish society chatterbox and part of the novel’s weird affect is that Benson himself is so fascinated by her. There’s no authorial judgement at all.
The adulterous triangle situation is reminiscent of Henry James - Benson’s mother sent her son’s manuscript to her friend Henry James for his advice. James’s advice was clearly not pleasing to the young Benson, as he later dissed James’s novels in a press interview after Dodo became a best seller (James’s novels, whilst critical successes, never had much commercial success). However, famously Benson later moved into James’s old house in Rye.
I wasn’t expecting much from this, but as a first effort it’s pretty good. He was clearly a gifted prose stylist from the start. Benson wisely moved away from melodrama in his later work, and lighter social comedy is his chief claim to fame today.
Dodo was Benson’s first novel (1893) - a scandalous success which launched him on his career, although forgotten today (as is much of his prolific output, with the exception of the Mapp & Lucia novels).
Dodo is a silver fork novel, with the titular heroine recognisably a portrait of a contemporary society ‘it’ girl, Margot Asquith. This, and the novel’s deeply worldly tone, and themes including marital breakdown and adultery, must have been doubly shocking and titillating to its late Victorian audience given the author was the son of the reigning Archbishop of Canterbury.
Publicly Benson denied basing his heroine on Asquith, but privately his family forced him to apologise to her. Whilst no doubt annoying her, the scandal probably did her social profile no harm - she later married the Prime Minister. The press actually started calling her Dodo - and Benson’s friends, including Bosie Douglas, started calling the author himself ‘Dodo’ too.
The story is similar in some respects to Oscar Wilde’s early comedies, although uneven & darker. Benson shines in the lighter social comedy sections when he can get away from the main plot. Reviewers today say Dodo’s verbal shtick has dated, but there is no way her character could ever have been read as positive - she is a morally empty, selfish society chatterbox and part of the novel’s weird affect is that Benson himself is so fascinated by her. There’s no authorial judgement at all.
The adulterous triangle situation is reminiscent of Henry James - Benson’s mother sent her son’s manuscript to her friend Henry James for his advice. James’s advice was clearly not pleasing to the young Benson, as he later dissed James’s novels in a press interview after Dodo became a best seller (James’s novels, whilst critical successes, never had much commercial success). However, famously Benson later moved into James’s old house in Rye.
I wasn’t expecting much from this, but as a first effort it’s pretty good. He was clearly a gifted prose stylist from the start. Benson wisely moved away from melodrama in his later work, and lighter social comedy is his chief claim to fame today.
March 28, 2015
Since I enjoyed Benson's Lucia books, I thought I'd give the three Dodo books a try. But while Lucia was the target of Benson's satire, he's really taken with the Victorian beauty who marries for wealth and social position, only to regret it. (There's also her daughter Nadine, who is convinced that she cannot love, until suddenly she can.) He mentions on most pages that Dodo had abundant vitality, energy, wit, but for all he shows you, she's just a chattering bore. He also indulges in poetic descriptions of English scenery that go on at great length. The last book--Dodo Wonders--which moves into World War I has a bit more appeal.
October 28, 2008
I enjoyed this at the time, and think I'll enjoy it even more now that I've got some context for proto-Edwardian literature. (What *is* the right term for 1890s literature? It doesn't really seem Victorian in its concerns, even late Victorian, but of course Victoria was still alive....)
August 7, 2015
This was a total bore. I had started to read it many times before this. Always stopped but forced myself to finish it this time. There was not one character of any interest and not one page was worth reading.
December 2, 2013
LOVED IT!
May 11, 2014
Dodo doesn't have the same spark as Mapp & Lucia, but it was a pleasant read. I may start the sequel, but there will be a few books between.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews