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Necessary Evil: The Life of Jane Welsh Carlyle
618 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
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Currently reading
April 23, 2017This is such an interesting title,
so you only get as far as the cover and ALREADY
you have been seized by the ...throat !!?
What lies behind this choice?
Well, getting even darker, or just 'curioser and curioser',
it is the Husband, Thomas Carlyle HIMSELF,
who chose this phrase which,
when made a little more complete, reads thus:
"...a brave woman, and, on the
whole, a 'Necessary Evil' to a man."
Thomas Carlyle to his wife
on her forty-third birthday.
...on the whole, a Compliment...an admission of his OWN need;
an affectionate compliment between Equals
rather than a back-handed compliment, I feel.
A voice speaking honestly from a Life's experience.
She benefits him, and he is glad to tell her so as she will be grateful to receive it.
I first read of Jane Welsh Carlyle,( her husband I had long heard of,)
in the still excellent "The Faber Book of Diaries"(paperback, 1989), edited by Simon Brett.
She gets 9 of her diary entries from March through to December.
I was immediately taken by her quirky style and flow and her honesty of expression.
This book promises the same as it has plentiful quotations from her, her husband
and several friends and relatives.
MORE TO COME
so you only get as far as the cover and ALREADY
you have been seized by the ...throat !!?
What lies behind this choice?
Well, getting even darker, or just 'curioser and curioser',
it is the Husband, Thomas Carlyle HIMSELF,
who chose this phrase which,
when made a little more complete, reads thus:
"...a brave woman, and, on the
whole, a 'Necessary Evil' to a man."
Thomas Carlyle to his wife
on her forty-third birthday.
...on the whole, a Compliment...an admission of his OWN need;
an affectionate compliment between Equals
rather than a back-handed compliment, I feel.
A voice speaking honestly from a Life's experience.
She benefits him, and he is glad to tell her so as she will be grateful to receive it.
I first read of Jane Welsh Carlyle,( her husband I had long heard of,)
in the still excellent "The Faber Book of Diaries"(paperback, 1989), edited by Simon Brett.
She gets 9 of her diary entries from March through to December.
I was immediately taken by her quirky style and flow and her honesty of expression.
This book promises the same as it has plentiful quotations from her, her husband
and several friends and relatives.
MORE TO COME
Displaying 1 of 1 review