Author | R. D. Blackmore |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Genre | Fiction |
Published | 1869 |
Publisher | Sampson Low, Son, & Marston |
Media type | |
Text | Lorna Doone online |
Lorna Doone: A Romance of Exmoor is a novel by English author Richard Doddridge Blackmore, [1] published in 1869. It is a romance based on a group of historical characters and set in the late 17th century in Devon and Somerset, particularly around the East Lyn Valley area of Exmoor. In 2003, the novel was listed on the BBC's survey The Big Read. [2]
Blackmore experienced difficulty in finding a publisher, and the novel was first published anonymously in 1869, in a limited three-volume edition of just 500 copies, of which only 300 sold. The following year it was republished in an inexpensive one-volume edition and became a huge critical and financial success. It has never been out of print.
The book received acclaim from Blackmore's contemporary, Margaret Oliphant, and as well from later Victorian writers including Robert Louis Stevenson, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Thomas Hardy. George Gissing wrote in a letter to his brother Algernon that the novel was "quite admirable, approaching Scott as closely as anything since the latter". [3] A favourite among females, [4] it was also popular among male readers, and was chosen by male students at Yale in 1906 as their favourite novel. [5]
By his own account, Blackmore relied on a "phonologic" style for his characters' speech, emphasising their accents and word formation. [6] He expended great effort, in all of his novels, on his characters' dialogues and dialects, striving to recount realistically not only the ways, but also the tones and accents, in which thoughts and utterances were formed by the various sorts of people who lived on Exmoor in the 17th century.
Blackmore incorporated real events and places into the novel. The Great Winter described in chapters 41–45 was a real event. [7] He himself attended Blundell's School in Tiverton which serves as the setting for the opening chapters. One of the inspirations behind the plot is said to be [ citation needed ] the shooting of Mary Whiddon on her wedding day at the parish church of Chagford, Devon, in the 17th century. Unlike the heroine of the novel, she did not survive, but is commemorated in the church. Apparently, Blackmore invented the name "Lorna", possibly drawing on a Scottish source. [8]
According to the preface, the work is a romance and not a historical novel, because the author neither "dares, nor desires, to claim for it the dignity or cumber it with the difficulty of an historical novel." As such, it combines elements of traditional romance, of Sir Walter Scott's historical novel tradition, of the pastoral tradition, of traditional Victorian values, and of the contemporary sensation novel trend. Along with the historical aspects are folk traditions, such as the many legends based around both the Doones and Tom Faggus. The composer Puccini once considered using the story as the plot for an opera, but abandoned the idea. [9]
John Ridd is the son of a respectable farmer in the 17th century Exmoor, a region in North Devon and Somerset, England. A notorious Doone clan, once nobles and now outlaws, murdered John’s father. Battling his desire for revenge, John (in West Country dialect, pronounced "Jan") grows into a respectable farmer who cares well for his mother and sisters. He meets Lorna by accident and falls hopelessly in love . She turns out (apparently) to be the granddaughter of Sir Ensor, Lord of the Doones. Sir Ensor’s impetuous and now jealous heir Carver will let nothing thwart his plan to marry Lorna once he comes into his inheritance.
Sir Ensor dies, and Carver becomes Lord of the Doones. John helps Lorna escape to his family's farm. Since Lorna is a Doone the Ridds have mixed feelings towards her but still defend her against Carver's retaliatory attack. During a visit from the Counsellor, Carver's father and the wisest Doone, Lorna's necklace is stolen. Sir Ensor had told Lorna the necklace was her mother’s. A family friend soon discovers that the necklace belonged to a Lady Dugal, who was robbed and murdered by outlaws. Only her daughter survived.This reveals that Lorna is not a Doone after all, but heiress to a huge fortune. By law, but against her will, she must return to London as a ward in Chancery. Despite John and Lorna's love, their marriage is out of the question.
King Charles II dies, and the Duke of Monmouth, the late king's illegitimate son, challenges Charles's brother James for the throne. Hoping to reclaim their ancestral lands, the Doones abandon their plan to marry Lorna to Carver and claim her wealth, and side with Monmouth. Monmouth is defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor, and his associates are sought for treason. Although innocent, John Ridd is captured during the rebellion. An old friend takes John to London to clear John’s name. Reunited with Lorna, John thwarts an attack on her guardian, Earl Brandir. The king then pardons John and grants him a title.
The communities around Exmoor have tired of the Doones’ depredations. Knowing the Doones better than any other man, John leads the attack. All the Doone men are killed except the Counsellor and Carver, who escapes vowing revenge. When Earl Brandir dies, Lorna’s new guardian allows her to return to Exmoor and marry John. Carver bursts into their wedding, shoots Lorna and flees. In a blind rage, John pursues Carver. A struggle leaves Carver sinking in a mire and John so exhausted that he can only watch as Carver dies. John discovers that Lorna has survived, and after a period of anxious uncertainty they live happily ever after.
The narrator, John Ridd, says he was born on 29 November 1661; in Chapter 24, he mentions Queen Anne as the current monarch, so the time of narration is 1702–1714 making him 40–52 years old. Although he celebrates New Year's Day on 1 January, at that time in England the year in terms of A.D. "begins" Annunciation Style on 25 March, so 14 February 1676 would still be 1675 according to the old reckoning. Most of the dates below are given explicitly in the book.
List of chapters, with dates where mentioned:
The Monmouth Rebellion, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, the Revolt of the West or the West Country rebellion, was an attempt to depose James II, who in February 1685 succeeded his brother Charles II as king of England, Scotland and Ireland. A group of dissident Protestants led by James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, eldest illegitimate son of Charles II, opposed James largely due to his Catholicism.
Richard Doddridge Blackmore, known as R. D. Blackmore, was one of the most famous English novelists of the second half of the nineteenth century. He won acclaim for vivid descriptions and personification of the countryside, sharing with Thomas Hardy a Western England background and a strong sense of regional setting in his works.
Blundell's School is an independent co-educational boarding and day school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the time, and moved to its present site on the outskirts of the town in 1882.
Dunkery Beacon at the summit of Dunkery Hill is the highest point on Exmoor and in Somerset, England. It is also the highest point in southern England outside of Dartmoor.
Reginald Owen Morris, known professionally and by his friends by his initials, as R.O. Morris, was a British composer and teacher.
Simonsbath is a small village high on Exmoor in the English county of Somerset. It is the principal settlement in the Exmoor civil parish, which is the largest and most sparsely populated civil parish on Exmoor, covering nearly 32 square miles (83 km2) but with a population, at the time of the 2001 census, of 203 in 78 households, reducing to 156 at the 2011 census. The River Exe rises from a valley to the north, and the River Barle runs through the village and is crossed by a triple-arched medieval bridge that was extensively repaired after floods in 1952.
Lynmouth is a suburb of New Plymouth in the Taranaki Region of New Zealand. It is located to the west of the city centre.
Lorna Doone is a 1922 American silent drama film based upon Richard Doddridge Blackmore's 1869 novel of the same name. Directed by French director Maurice Tourneur in the United States, the film starred Madge Bellamy and John Bowers.
Lorna Doone is a British romance/drama television mini-series version of Richard Doddridge Blackmore's 1869 novel of the same name that aired on BBC One from 24 to 26 December 2000 in the UK and on A&E on 11 March 2001 in the U.S. The film won the Royal Television Society's Television Award for Best Visual Effects by Colin Gorry.
Clara Vaughan is a sensation novel by R. D. Blackmore, who was later to achieve lasting fame for another romantic novel, Lorna Doone. Clara Vaughan, his first novel, was written in 1853 and published anonymously in 1864. It remains in print.
The Valley of Rocks, sometimes called Valley of the Rocks, is a dry valley that runs parallel to the coast in north Devon, England, about 1 kilometre (0.6 mi) to the west of the village of Lynton. It is a popular tourist destination, noted for its herd of feral goats, and for its landscape and geology.
Lorna Doone is a 1934 British historical drama film directed by Basil Dean and starring Victoria Hopper, John Loder and Margaret Lockwood. It is based on the 1869 novel Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore. This was the third screen version of the novel, and the first with sound; a further cinema adaptation followed in 1951.
Lorna Doone is a 1990 British drama television film directed by Andrew Grieve and starring Polly Walker, Sean Bean and Clive Owen. It is based on the 1869 novel Lorna Doone by R.D. Blackmore set in the West Country during Monmouth's Rebellion. It was made by Thames Television and aired on ITV.
Lorna Doone is a 1951 American adventure film directed by Phil Karlson and starring Barbara Hale and Richard Greene. It is an adaptation of the 1869 novel Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore, set in the English West Country during the 17th century.
In literature regionalism refers to fiction or poetry that focuses on specific features, such as dialect, customs, history, and landscape, of a particular region. The setting is particularly important in regional literature and the "locale is likely to be rural and/or provincial."
Cradock Nowell: a tale of the New Forest is a three-volume novel by R. D. Blackmore published in 1866. Set in the New Forest and in London, it follows the fortunes of Cradock Nowell who is thrown out of his family home by his father following the suspicious death of Cradock's twin brother Clayton. It was Blackmore's second novel, and the novel he wrote prior to his most famous work Lorna Doone.
The Maid of Sker is a three-volume novel that was written by R. D. Blackmore and published in 1872. The novel is set in the late 18th century and is about an elderly fisherman who unravels the mysterious origins of a foundling child who is washed ashore on the coast of Glamorganshire, South Wales. It was published subsequent to Blackmore's Lorna Doone, although he had begun writing The Maid of Sker 25 years earlier. Blackmore considered The Maid of Sker to be his best novel.
Erema; or, my father's sin is a three-volume novel by R. D. Blackmore published in 1877. The novel is narrated by a teenage girl called Erema whose father escaped from England having been charged with a murder he did not commit. Erema has grown up in exile with her father, and the story begins in California in the 1850s.
Lorna Doone is a 1963 British TV adaptation of the 1869 romance novel Lorna Doone by R. D. Blackmore. It aired on the BBC and ran for 11 episodes of 30 minutes each.
Samuel Holroyd "Tim" Burton was a British school teacher, college lecturer and prolific author of English language textbooks and books about the west of England. He also produced fiction, assembled anthologies and wrote a biography of William Shakespeare.