Author | E. F. Benson |
---|---|
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
Genre | Comic novel |
Publisher | Hodder & Stoughton |
Publication date | 1935 |
Preceded by | Mapp and Lucia |
Followed by | Trouble for Lucia |
Lucia's Progress (published in the US as The Worshipful Lucia) is a 1935 comic novel written by E.F. Benson. It is the fifth of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. It continues the story from the 1931 novel Mapp and Lucia , which brought Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas and Georgie Pillson from Queen Lucia (1920) and Lucia in London (1927) together with Miss Elizabeth Mapp and her neighbours from Miss Mapp (1922).
In this novel, Mapp and Lucia continue their efforts to control social life in the quaint seaside town of Tilling. Lucia and Mapp both enter the world of high finance, and run for seats on the Borough Council. Major incidents include Lucia's excavation for Roman ruins in the garden of Mallards, Mapp's suggestion that she may be pregnant, and Lucia and Georgie's sexless marriage. [1]
The town of Tilling was famously inspired by Rye, East Sussex, where E.F. Benson lived, and incidents involving his neighbours sometimes found their way into his comic novels. In E.F. Benson Remembered, and the World of Tilling, Cynthia and Tony Reavell point out one correspondence involving a Rye resident, writer Radclyffe Hall: "We learn that Radclyffe Hall was greatly excited when she was having extensive alterations done to her house, The Black Boy, in the High Street in 1930, to find a number of ancient objects emerging from the excavations. The same thing happens to Lucia in Lucia's Progress, published in 1935." [2]
In Frivolity Unbound, Robert F. Kiernan notes that sexual repression is a key theme in the novel, with Lucia and Georgie's marriage dependent on the fact that neither have any appetite for affectionate caresses, and Mapp's pregnancy charade. He writes, "What is one to make of the preoccupation with incidental pastimes in Tilling except that everyone is as desperate as Mapp to fill nature's void?" [3]
A contemporary review in the Vancouver Sun found the novel insubstantial but charming, [4] while the Sydney Morning Herald wrote, "Mr. Benson has undoubtedly given us no book more charged with 'mirth that after no repenting draws.'" [5]
Lucia's Progress is the fifth book in what became known as the series of Mapp and Lucia novels. The series is continued in Trouble for Lucia , published in 1939.
In the 1985 television adaptation Mapp and Lucia , Lucia's Progress is used as the basis for the first three episodes of the second series; the final two episodes of the series are based on the sixth book ( Trouble for Lucia ).
Edward Frederic Benson was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, historian and short story writer.
Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall was an English poet and author, best known for the novel The Well of Loneliness, a groundbreaking work in lesbian literature. In adulthood, Hall often went by the name John, rather than Marguerite.
Rye is a town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederation, it was at the head of an embayment of the English Channel, and almost entirely surrounded by the sea.
Mapp and Lucia is a collective name for a series of novels by E. F. Benson and also the name of two British television adaptations based on those novels.
Steven James Pemberton is a British actor, comedian, director and writer. He is best known as a member of The League of Gentlemen with Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss, and Jeremy Dyson. Pemberton and Shearsmith also co-wrote and starred in the black comedy Psychoville and the anthology series Inside No. 9. His other notable television credits include Doctor Who, Benidorm, Blackpool, Shameless, Whitechapel, Happy Valley and Mapp and Lucia.
Lamb House is a Grade II* listed 18th-century house situated in Rye, East Sussex, England, and in the ownership of the National Trust.
Tilling is a fictional coastal town, based on Rye, East Sussex, in the Mapp and Lucia novels of Edward Frederic Benson (1867–1940).
Riseholme is a fictional Elizabethan village in the Cotswolds in the "Lucia" novels of Edward Frederic Benson (1867–1940). It is thought to have been based on Broadway, Worcestershire.
Mary Anderson was an American theatre actress.
Lucinda Gane was a British actress, known for her role as the absent-minded science teacher Miss Terri Mooney in the children's television serial Grange Hill, a role she played from 1980 to 1983. In 1985–1986 she played Georgie Pillson's trusty housemaid Foljambe in two series of Mapp and Lucia, adapted by London Weekend Television from the novels of E. F. Benson. She also appeared in Thomas and Sarah, a spin-off from Upstairs, Downstairs, playing Emily Rudge.
Mapp and Lucia is a British drama television series that was first broadcast on BBC One from 29 to 31 December 2014. The three-part series, adapted by Steve Pemberton and directed by Diarmuid Lawrence, is based on E. F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia collection of novels. The series features an ensemble cast, with Miranda Richardson and Anna Chancellor playing the eponymous characters Elizabeth Mapp and Emmeline 'Lucia' Lucas. It is set in the Sussex coastal town of Tilling, based very closely on Rye, East Sussex, where it was filmed and where Benson lived. Although attracting modest viewing figures, the series received positive reviews from critics.
Mapp and Lucia is a British television series, set in the fictional Sussex coastal town of Tilling and based on three 1930s novels by E. F. Benson, beginning with Mapp and Lucia. It was produced by London Weekend Television, filmed in Rye and neighbouring Winchelsea in the 1980s, and starred Prunella Scales as Mapp, Geraldine McEwan as Lucia, Nigel Hawthorne as Georgie, and Denis Lill as Major Benjy. The script was by Gerald Savory. There were ten episodes, broadcast on Channel 4 in 1985 and 1986. These have been repeated over the years, and a new BBC adaptation, Mapp and Lucia, aired in 2014.
Queen Lucia is a 1920 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the first of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. This book introduces Emmeline Lucas, known as Lucia to her friends, the social queen of the fictional Elizabethan village of Riseholme, as well as her husband Philip ("Peppino") Lucas, her best friend Georgie Pillson and her friendly rival, Daisy Quantock.
Miss Mapp is a 1922 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the second of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. This book introduces Miss Mapp, the social tyrant of the fictional coastal town of Tilling, and the cast of Tillingites, including Diva Plaistow, Major Benji Flint, Mr. and Mrs. Wyse, and Quaint Irene. Tilling was inspired by the town of Rye, where Benson lived at Lamb House, with his own commanding view of the High Street inspiring Mapp's domain, Mallards.
Lucia in London is a 1927 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the third of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. The second Lucia novel, it is a sequel to 1920's Queen Lucia. In this novel, Lucia leaves her small town of Riseholme and moves to London, where she attacks the city's social life with the same eager ferocity.
Mapp and Lucia is a 1931 comic novel written by E. F. Benson. It is the fourth of six novels in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities. It brings together two sets of characters from three previous Benson novels: Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas, Georgie Pillson and Daisy Quantock from Queen Lucia (1920) and Lucia in London (1927), and Miss Elizabeth Mapp and her neighbours from Miss Mapp (1922).
The Blotting Book is a 1908 mystery crime novel by the British writer E.F. Benson, later better known as the author of the Mapp and Lucia series. It was one of only two ventures he made into the genre during his prolific career along with The Luck of the Vails (1901). It takes place in Brighton and the nearby South Downs.
The Luck of the Vails is a 1901 mystery crime novel by the British writer E.F. Benson, later better known as the author of the Mapp and Lucia series. It was one of only two ventures he made into the genre during his prolific career along with The Blotting Book (1908). In his autobiography Benson numbered it as one of only four of his novels he was satisfied with.
Paying Guests is a 1929 comedy novel by the British writer E.F. Benson, best known as the author of the Mapp and Lucia series. The story takes place at Wentworth, a boarding house in the fictional resort town of Bolton Spa. It focuses on the eccentric collection of summer residents, mostly there to try and recover their health, overseen by the domineering former Indian Army Colonel Chase. It has been described as "The coming together of character and situation in Paying Guests creates a comic masterpiece, worthy to stand alongside the Mapp and Lucia books".
Trouble for Lucia is a 1939 comic novel written by E.F. Benson. It is the sixth and final novel in the popular Mapp and Lucia series, about idle women in the 1920s and their struggle for social dominance over their small communities.