Mer lättja

The Tramps 

Osmund Caine

för jag kunde bara inte motstå en bok som börjar så här:

”In the autumn month of September, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, wherein these presents bear date, two idle apprentices, exhausted by the long, hot summer, and the long, hot work it had brought with it, ran away from their employer.  They were bound to a highly meritorious lady (named Literature), of fair credit and repute, though, it must be acknowledged, not quite so highly esteemed in the City as she might be”.

Att både vara slav under ”fru Litteratur”, och att njuta av hennes sällskap närhelst, och varsomhelst, andan faller på, fick mig att avstå från alla ambitiösa planer jag redan gjort.

Jag som gillar Dickens (i moderata portioner), men inte har så mycket till övers för Collins, blev naturligtvis nyfiken på denna författarkombination, och hittar följande på nätet:

”A delightful meditation on the pleasures of bachelor bonding and an example of collaborative journalism at its best.

 In autumn 1857, Charles Dickens embarked on a sightseeing trip to Cumberland with his friend, the rising star of literature Wilkie Collins. Writing together, they reported their adventures for Dickens' periodical Household Words, producing a showcase of both long-cherished and entirely novel sides of these well-loved men of letters. Boasting two ghost stories from undisputed masters of the genre, it also uniquely demonstrates their glee in caricaturing themselves and one another—Collins assumes the identity of Thomas Idle (a born-and-bred idler) and Dickens that of Francis Goodchild (laboriously idle). Through their fictional counterparts, the men relentlessly satirize Dickens' maniacal energy and Collins' idleness. The result is an exuberant diary of a journey and a rare insight into one of literature's most famed and intriguing friendships.”

En bok som man mycket väl kan njuta i små portioner och varva med modernare litteratur.

”There were books, too, in this room; books on the table, books on the chimney-piece, books in an open press in the corner.  Fielding was there, and Smollett was there, and Steele and Addison were there, in dispersed volumes; and there were tales of those who go down to the sea in ships, for windy nights; and there was really a choice of good books for rainy days or fine.”