Résumé
Résumé de Gryll Grange
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
For readers who love witty conversation, Jane Austen's manners or Dickens's humour with a scholar's edge. Lovers of Greek jokes, country dinners and courtship will enjoy its comedy of old customs and modern progress.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
Gryll Grange is the last novel of Thomas Love Peacock. It appeared in 1860 and 1861, first in a magazine and then as a book, when its author was in his seventies. Peacock had spent his working life at the East India Company, and he wrote his novels in the evenings. They are books of talk, in which odd and clever people sit at a table, drink, argue and sing. This one gathers its company in the English countryside, around a country house that gives the book its name.
The story is gentle. It follows a squire, a scholarly bachelor, a hearty clergyman, a young heiress and a lord with a head full of modern schemes. They meet, dine, quarrel pleasantly and fall into courtships. Under the comedy runs a serious question. Are steam, newspapers and improvement really making life better, or are people losing something older and sweeter? You get wit, songs, learned jokes and a warm picture of a way of life Peacock feared was passing. Let us begin with the house and the people who gather there.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A country house and its companyFree
- 2A scholar builds a life apart
- 3A clergyman who loves dinner and Greek
- 4A lord enchanted by modern science
- 5Progress against the good life
- 6Talk, song and the old comedy
Point clé 1 sur 6
A country house and its company
The book opens in a quiet part of the English countryside, far from the noise of London. At the centre stands Gryll Grange, the home of Squire Gryll. He is a kind, hospitable man who likes old customs and open doors. His house is where neighbours come to eat well, talk freely and keep the old festivals of the year.
The squire has a young relation of great charm and fortune, Morgana Gryll. She is the heiress, and she is clever, high spirited and much admired. Peacock gives her the name of a fairy, and the family is said to have a very old line. In the story, her suitors and her own mind are part of what holds the house together.
Around the squire gathers a small society of friends. There is the clergyman, Dr Opimian, a learned and jovial man who loves a good dinner. There is Mr Falconer, a scholar who lives apart in a tower. There is Lord Curryfin, an amiable nobleman who is eager for every new science. Each comes with an opinion and a habit, and the comedy comes from putting them together.
The setting matters as much as the people. This is a world of lanes, parks, village greens and long meals. Peacock paints it with clear affection, but he does not pretend it is cut off from the age. Railways, lecture halls and newspapers all press at its edges, and the characters must decide what they think of them.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Questions about Gryll Grange
What is Gryll Grange about?
It is a comic novel of country-house talk. A squire, a clergyman, a scholar and a young lord meet and argue about old customs and modern progress, while courtships develop among the younger guests.
Who wrote Gryll Grange and when?
Thomas Love Peacock wrote it. It first appeared in a magazine in 1860 and came out as a book in 1861. It was his last novel, written when he was in his seventies.
Who is Dr Opimian in Gryll Grange?
He is a country clergyman who loves good food, wine and Greek and Latin learning. He is the book's liveliest talker and defends old comforts against fashionable new ideas.
Is Gryll Grange hard to read?
No. The story is gentle and easy to follow, because it plays out as lively scenes at the table, like a play. Friends dine, sing, tease each other and fall into courtships, and each chapter is simply good company.
What is the main message of Gryll Grange?
Peacock suggests that a good life rests on friendship, food, music, learning and humour, and he doubts that loud claims of progress bring happiness. He also laughs at stubborn defenders of the old ways.