Pemberleyman: Obligation & Obsession
I am a 70 year old Yorkshireman; poorly educated, but yet with an unaccountable devotion to our language, and of a genuine wish; within my pitiful deficiencies and the limitation expressed in our current, more colloquial vernacular, to explore the infinity of linguistic possibilities our ancestors, who, whilst yet constrained by the limits of their existence, would seem to have probed more successfully.  Also, I am a resultant product of the ‘submerged three quarters’*, and thus the dubious recipient of a distinct and consequent lack of academic credentials… and certainly no qualification to be listed here… indeed folks no degrees whatsoever.  For me, working life began at the age of five and ten and hence matriculation; and notwithstanding a father who, having wished only the best for us by exposing us to Music and Literature, became a problematic goal. In terms of Literature, the genesis of my partiality is somewhat obscure; but, I do recall being enthralled by an early BBC Shakespearian television miniseries, ‘An Age of Kings’ and hence transformed by the spellbinding effects of our exquisite English language.  This is not to disparage other languages, of which, lamentably I admit; as most Englishmen are obliged to do, I know remarkably little… and although Balzac and Tolstoy no doubt passionately evoke a patriotic devotion within their own countries, I must yet wonder if such devotions could extend to a variant of language as that to be heard and subsequently revered within the opening scenes of ‘Richard the Third’… and then; with much the same yearning, hunger for and absorb each television episode of ‘The Wire’… and, in so doing, marvel at one languages’ capacity (albeit in isolation) almost to evolve before our ears and eyes.  *Secondary Modern School System, UK   1944-1970    Objective End Product:-  Factory fodder in times of Peace & Cannon fodder in times of War For comments please visit my Website www.rstrandauthor.com