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English Vocabulary


Old book and old fashioned english

saintaignan
User since 2010
Posts: 3

2 Oct. 2010

I'm an old books collector and enjoy to read classical english.
Dickens, George Eliot, Antony Trollop are some of my favourite author. Some of less famous ones as Flora Thomson or Mary Russel Mitford are also fascinating writters.
Are you interested in discussing their subjects, their characters but also their style and their vocabulary ?

11 comments

  • User since 2010
    Posts: 4

    3 Oct. 2010

    It's really good to find someone who is interested in English literature.Do you know "the old man and the sea"'s story?
  • User since 2009
    Posts: 613

    5 Oct. 2010

    Hi,
    I like english litterature too and I have read books by Charles Dickens when I was younger. George Eliot, I just know his name. Antony Trollop, I had never heard of him. I am going to look at (english) wikipedia ! As I am still working, I just read a few pages of an english, american or indian author every evening. If you present to us books by Dickens, Eliot or Trollop, I will read the topic and answer if I am able to do it !
  • User since 2010
    Posts: 19

    6 Oct. 2010



    I'm an old books collector
    «I am a collector of old books..» You are saying that you are old..
    and enjoy to read classical english.
    «and enjoy reading English..»
    Some of less famous ones as
    «Some less famous ones such as..»
    their subjects, their characters but also their style and their vocabulary
    «their subjects, their characters, their style as well as their vocabulry..»
  • User since 2010
    Posts: 19

    6 Oct. 2010

    Do you know "the old man and the sea"'s story?
    Do you know the story, "The Old Man and the Sea"?
  • User since 2010
    Posts: 19

    6 Oct. 2010

    I like english litterature too and I have read books by Charles Dickens when I was younger.
    «I like English literature, too. I read books by Charles Dickens when I was young.»
    George Eliot, I just know his name. Antony Trollop, I had never heard of him.
    «I only know George Eliot by name. I have never heard of Anthony Trollop.»
    As I am still working, I just read a few pages of an english, american or indian author every evening.
    «I work during the day, so I read a few pages of an English, American or Indian author every evening.»
    If you present to us books
    «If you present books to us..» (Actually, 'suggest' may be the better verb here in place of 'present'.)
    and answer if I am able to do it !
    «and answer if I am able.»
  • User since 2010
    Posts: 2

    12 Dec. 2010

    hi I also like this story . especially, I can learn more about many good moral lessons from this story

    From Kalthoum Abdeljaouad:
    It's really good to find someone who is interested in English literature.Do you know "the old man and the sea"'s story?

     
  • User since 2008
    Posts: 499

    14 Dec. 2010

    I love old literature - and I am a sucker for the 19th century. Once, I read Dickens 'David Copperfield', a wonderful, heart-wrenching 'coming-of-age story' (as it it would be called nowadays)y about a deprived, poor child. I read it one decade ago, and cannot remember the details off the cuff - but I know that reading such writers adducts you to a completely different world. And, not to do Dickens wrong, he had a wonderful sense of humor, which come to the forth even in his saddest narrations.


    Especially the English society of the 19th century has a certain attraction for us. Mainly due to novelists like Dickens, we have a romantic notion about that period, succinctly put as 'poor people where the good people, rich people weree ruthless, greedy people with a heart of stone.' That's a very simplified account about what can be considered the essence of such narrations is. And it is historically intelligible: The English society of the 19th century was a liberal one, but not a democratic one. The economy was liberal, but the common people didn't have a say in political decisions. And the downstream consequences was a sweeping impoverishment of large parts of society, and, since there was no democratic process, a selfishness even amongst the deprived people. And writers like Dickens offered a valve for the depressing situation. Still today, we tend to associate a romantic notion about that period, espoused by narrations like 'David Copperfield' and 'Oliver Twist'. Of course, this is predominantly only a hypothesis.


    It's an interesting thought. Historically, there has always been a coherence between what kind of literature was successful and sought after at a specific time and the circumstance the society where in. Personally, I consider Charles Dickens predominantly a writer for the heart. Surely, he is also a good sketcher of human characters. Another writer of the 19th century, who is a master of psychologically analysis and depiction was the Russian novelist Dostojewski. The 19th century has brought about stellar literature.
  • User since 2010
    Posts: 1

    15 Dec. 2010

    From Whacky:
    I love old literature - and I am a sucker for the 19th century. Once, I read Dickens 'David Copperfield', a wonderful, heart-wrenching 'coming-of-age story' (as it it would be called nowadays)y about a deprived, poor child. I read it one decade ago, and cannot remember the details off the cuff - but I know that reading such writers adducts you to a completely different world. And, not to do Dickens wrong, he had a wonderful sense of humor, which come to the forth even in his saddest narrations.


    Especially the English society of the 19th century has a certain attraction for us. Mainly due to novelists like Dickens, we have a romantic notion about that period, succinctly put as 'poor people where the good people, rich people weree ruthless, greedy people with a heart of stone.' That's a very simplified account about what can be considered the essence of such narrations is. And it is historically intelligible: The English society of the 19th century was a liberal one, but not a democratic one. The economy was liberal, but the common people didn't have a say in political decisions. And the downstream consequences was a sweeping impoverishment of large parts of society, and, since there was no democratic process, a selfishness even amongst the deprived people. And writers like Dickens offered a valve for the depressing situation. Still today, we tend to associate a romantic notion about that period, espoused by narrations like 'David Copperfield' and 'Oliver Twist'. Of course, this is predominantly only a hypothesis.


    It's an interesting thought. Historically, there has always been a coherence between what kind of literature was successful and sought after at a specific time and the circumstance the society where in. Personally, I consider Charles Dickens predominantly a writer for the heart. Surely, he is also a good sketcher of human characters. Another writer of the 19th century, who is a master of psychologically analysis and depiction was the Russian novelist Dostojewski. The 19th century has brought about stellar literature.

     
  • User since 2008
    Posts: 499

    16 Dec. 2010

    From Yen Nguyen Thi Ngoc:

     
    What the point here of coyping my whole verbal diarrhoe? Please forgive if I didn't bother checking whether you corrected my comment or not.
    By the way, speaking of old English literature: I think 'Moby Dick' is a great, largely underestimated piece of literature, a gem, a masterpiece. I tried to read it, but the archaic language is difficult to read, I may admit - but I think it's worth scrambling through - once I manage to gather the guts and perseverance - and the time.

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