HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Precious Bane'' is a
historical romance Historical romance is a broad category of mass-market fiction focusing on romantic relationships in historical periods, which Walter Scott helped popularize in the early 19th century. Varieties Viking These books feature Vikings during the Da ...
by
Mary Webb Mary Gladys Webb (25 March 1881 – 8 October 1927) was an English Romance (literary fiction), romance novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and ...
, first published in 1924. It won the
Prix Femina The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine '' La Vie heureuse'' (today known as '' Femina''). The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury. They reward French-language works written ...
Vie Heureuse Prize in 1926.


Synopsis

The story is set in rural
Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
during the
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. It is narrated by the central character, Prue Sarn, whose life is blighted by having a
cleft lip and cleft palate A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The te ...
. Only the weaver, Kester Woodseaves, perceives the beauty of her character, but Prue cannot believe herself worthy of him. Her brother Gideon is overridingly ambitious to attain wealth and power, regardless of who suffers while he does so. Gideon is set to wed his sweetheart Jancis, but he incurs the wrath of her father, the cruel and scheming self-proclaimed wizard Beguildy. An act of vengeance by Beguildy makes Gideon reject Jancis and tragedy engulfs them both. Prue is wrongly accused of murder and set upon by a mob, but Kester defies them and carries Prue away to the happiness she believed she could never possess because of her deformity. The setting for the story has been attributed to the Meres of northern Shropshire, but is more likely to have been the area around
Bomere Pool Bomere Pool is a large mere lying between the villages of Bayston Hill and Condover in the county of Shropshire, England, 4.7 miles (7.5 kilometres) south of the county town of Shrewsbury. The pool is classified as a Site of Special Scientifi ...
which was closer to the author's own home at Spring Cottage on Lyth Hill. The travel writer
S. P. B. Mais Stuart Petre Brodie Mais (4 July 1885 – 21 April 1975), known publicly as S. P. B. Mais, was a British author, journalist and broadcaster. He was an author of travel books and guides, and had an informal style that made him popular with the gen ...
recorded being taken to the pool to see the location of “Sarn” in the 1930s. These locations remained very rural at the time the novel was written, and Mary Webb was herself very much part of local country life there in the 1920s. Webb uses the rural setting to isolate Prue Sarn and her fellow characters from the larger world; at one point Prue tells us, "four years went by, and though a deal happened out in the world, naught happened to us. The title of the story has a double meaning. It is taken from
John Milton John Milton (9 December 1608 – 8 November 1674) was an English poet and intellectual. His 1667 epic poem '' Paradise Lost'', written in blank verse and including over ten chapters, was written in a time of immense religious flux and political ...
's ''
Paradise Lost ''Paradise Lost'' is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse (poetry), verse. A second edition fo ...
'' (Book I, lines 690-692): :Let none admire :That riches grow in Hell; that Soyle may best :Deserve the precious bane. It refers to the love of money, which, as Prue records, blights love and destroys life. But the title also refers to Prue's deformity, which she comes to recognize as the source of her spiritual strength. In one of the most moving passages in the book, she relates: "...there came to me, I cannot tell whence, a most powerful sweetness that had never come to me afore... as if some creature made all of light had come on a sudden from a great way off, and nestled in my bosom.... Though it was so quiet, it was a great miracle, and it changed my life.... If I hadna had a hare-lip to frighten me away into my own lonesome soul, this would never have come to me.... Even while I was thinking this, out of nowhere suddenly came that lovely thing, and nestled in my heart, like a seed from the core of love."


Main characters

The critic G. K. Chesterton wrote that the characters in this novel "live a hard life; they probably on occasion live a hungry life; they are quite capable in some circumstances of living a gross or ferocious life. But they do, in a very deep sense, live a full life." *Prue Sarn – The narrator of the novel is in her teens when we first meet her. She is loving towards her mother, obedient to her demanding brother. The natural world of Shropshire offers her some consolation to the back-breaking work on the farm, and the fact that she can read and work with numbers is a source of pride and solace. Her "hare-shotten" lip is her own bane, and she bears it at times with dignity, at other times with deep feelings of shame. The English poet and critic
Glen Cavaliero Glen Tilburn Cavaliero (7 June 1927 – 28 October 2019) was an English poet and critic. Life Glen Cavaliero was born of mixed Italian and north country English descent, and was educated at Tonbridge School in Kent. He studied Modern History at M ...
writes that "...Prue is spirited and stoical, with a vein of humor and no self-pity: her hare-lip is a source of wonder to her as much as heartbreak." *Gideon Sarn – A few years older than Prue, he inherited both his father's farm and cruel temperament. He is Prue's opposite number, taking no delight in nature, and showing little affection for his aging mother. Above all else he is motivated by money, and relentlessly works the farm, and Prue, to get ahead. His single-minded determination to become rich is symbolized in part by his decision to put most of his fields in wheat (called corn in the book in accordance with British usage), the crop that was at the time the most lucrative. *Beguildy - Owner of a neighboring farm, a man more committed to his wizardry and spells than to his fields and crops. A poor or more likely lazy farmer, he is often gone for days at a time, working charms and spells believed to heal the sick and injured in the community. He teaches Prue to read, write and work with numbers, but shows little care for his wife and daughter. *Jancis Beguildy - The wizard's daughter and Gideon Sarn's intended wife, plump, blonde with a lush, pleasing mouth always forming a lovely "oh." *Missis Beguildy - Beguildy's wife who fears her husband and yet doesn't hesitate to collude with Gideon and Jancis in their plans to be together. She is crafty in her methods to get her husband out of the house for days at a time, and she is sharp in her observations of the people in the community. *Kester Woodseaves - He is a skilled itinerant weaver, making his living by traveling through Shropshire, weaving in the homes and farms. He is intelligent and compassionate - he prevents a bull baiting from taking place on a market day in town, but pays dearly for his efforts. He is a discerning judge of character, quickly recognizing Prue's qualities despite her deformed lip.


Adaptations

In 1957 the book was made into a six-part
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
television drama series starring
Patrick Troughton Patrick George Troughton (; 25 March 1920 – 28 March 1987) was an English actor who was classically trained for the stage but became known for his roles in television and film. His work included appearances in several fantasy, science fiction ...
and
Daphne Slater Daphne Helen Slater (3 March 1928 – 4 October 2012) was an English actress noted for Shakespearean and period films. Biography She was born in London and educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, when it was in Acton, before attendin ...
. Under its French title ''Sarn'', it was produced as a television play by French Television ORTF in 1968, with
Dominique Labourier Dominique Labourier (born 29 April 1943) is a French actress. Born in Reims, France, she is best known outside France for starring as Julie in Jacques Rivette's film '' Celine and Julie Go Boating'' (''Céline et Julie vont en bateau'', 1974). ...
as Prue, Josep Maria Flotats as Gedeon and
Pierre Vaneck Pierre Vaneck (born Pierre Auguste Van Hecke; 15 April 1931 – 31 January 2010) was a French actor. During his career, he won a Molière Award in 1988 and received a César Award nomination in 2009. Biography Son of a Belgian army officer, ...
as Kester; the director was
Claude Santelli Claude Santelli (17 June 1923 – 14 December 2001) was a French film director and screenwriter. He directed 25 films between 1968 and 1996. Selected filmography * ''Histoire vraie ''Histoire vraie'' is a 1973 French film directed by ...
. In 1989 it was again adapted for British television by the BBC, directed by
Christopher Menaul Christopher Menaul (born 25 July 1944) is a British film, television director and television writer. Since the late 1970s, Menaul has amassed credits in episodic television and by directing television films. Filmography Film *'' Feast of July' ...
and starring
Clive Owen Clive Owen (born 3 October 1964) is an English actor. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for playing the lead role in the ITV series '' Chancer'' from 1990 to 1991. He received critical acclaim for his work in the film '' Close ...
and
Janet McTeer Janet McTeer (born 5 August 1961"Ms Janet McTeer, OBE"
. ''Derbrett's P ...
.


References


External links

* * {{librivox book , title=Precious Bane, author=Webb 1924 British novels Novels set in Shropshire Novels set in the 19th century British historical novels British novels adapted into television shows Novels by Mary Webb Jonathan Cape books