I Remember

by J.J. Bell

"So much had been written, was being written, and would be written about Great Victorians, that, a while ago, I fell to wondering whether it were possible to write something about Little Victorians—meaning, in the main, ordinairy middle-class people of my own period.
On consideration it seemed best to confine the tale almost uniformly to the little everyday doings and happenings, rather than to let it venture into the supreme joys and profound sorrows of the people and the important events of the period, because, when all is said, it is the lesser things that characterise our months and years, whatever may be the things that make a day or a week different from all other days or weeks. It was necessary, too, to confine the tale to the 'Seventies and 'Eighties."

—J.J. Bell in the foreword of the book (1932)

276 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

John Joy Bell known professionally as J.J. Bell, was a journalist and author. Born in Hillhead, Glasgow, Bell was schooled at Kelvinside Academy and Morrison's Academy. He attended the University of Glasgow, where he studied chemistry. After taking up journalism, Bell worked for the Glasgow Evening Times, and as sub-editor of the Scots Pictorial. His articles depicted the life of working-class Glaswegians, and were often written in the vernacular.

Reviews

[Moira Macfarlane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Twee jaar terug gaf mijn vader me dit boek mee naar huis. Het boek was van zijn vader geweest en héél interessant voor mij om te lezen (aldus mijn vader op enigszins dwingende toon ;-)), omdat het liet zien hoe het leven van mijn overgrootvader er ongeveer uitzag die in genoemde periode ook in Hillhead, Glasgow woonde...
I remember werd geschreven in 1932 door J.J. Bell, waarin hij terugblikt in de tijd en herinneringen ophaalt en uitgebreid verhaalt over het leven van Little Victorians, the middle class people in Glasgow. Hij heeft het dan vooral over de zeventiger en tachtiger jaren van de 19e eeuw.
Ik had niet verwacht hier zo enorm van te genieten, het was dan ook enorm beeldend geschreven en vol met details die hier juist zo enorm verrijkend waren om een werkelijke voorstelling te maken van alle kleine en gewone dagelijkse dingen in die tijd. Echt heel gaaf om te lezen en super interessant!

Het boek is ingedeeld in hoofdstukken die een situatie of dag uit het leven in die tijd beschrijven en omdat het zich verhoudt tot de tijd waarin Bell het boek schrijft (1932) krijg je zijdelings ook daar weer een beeld van. Onderwerpen die bijv. langskomen zijn: een werkdag van de vader (inclusief in detail hoe hij zich kleedt, hoe de passagiers in de tram erbij zitten, de krant etc.), a carpet dance, reading, summer holidays, doctor and druggist, entertainments, Christmas, het leven thuis etc. etc.

'When I look back, as far as ever I can, into the 'Seventies, I see a red lamp. It stands above the garden gate next door. In winter time it provides the evening's event. A man, bearing a pole with a small flame in its tip, comes at a leisurely yet purposeful pace along the street. He pauses under the red lamp, thrusts upward his pole, now a magic wand, and, lo, a great jewel glows in the dusk! Already there are other jewels, yellow amethysts, but it is for the creation of the ruby that the little boy at the window has waited and watched.
The house next door belonged to a doctor. All doctor's houses in the district had red lamps. [...] The lamps were signs by day, as well as by night. There were no telephones, and if the trouble were sudden and urgent, and you, as messenger, were unfamiliar with the district, one of your first thoughts would be of a red lamp. [...]'