Talk:Dornford Yates

message: I beg leave to take issue over the accusation of anti-Semitism (although, in the interests of avoiding an edit-war I shall decline to re-edit the article to remove them, as I am aware my edits would be reverted instanter).  Granted Yates' writings include unpleasant Jews.  They also include unpleasant members of several other races not least Germans and (in some cases) Americans.  It is, in several cases, arguable that what Yates is attacking are people who exhibit the traits attached at the period to members of the Jewish race (especially financial ruthlesness and commercial fraternity of an almost Masonic intensity) whether or not they actually are Jewish.  Equally I would argue that he sheds this trait as his writings progress, making it more and more clear that, accustomed as he was to an English mileu of the pre-Wars and inter-War years, he found certain aspects of modernity repellent not least the insistence by the Socialists of his era in Britain, on dismantling the past for the sake of the dismantling, and despite any injury that they might cause.
--Simon Cursitor 14:31, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: anti-Semitism

message: I have changed 'accomplice' to 'colleague' as a less judgmental assessment of Mansel and Chandos's relationship and mutual activities! I am a bit concerned about the language of this article in general: "sentimental romances", "spectacularly well-crafted", "unfortunate hysterical rant". More neutral language would be desirable. And could a citation please be given for "Snobbery with violence"? Robina Fox 19:42, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Here is the quotation from Forty Years On (1972) by Alan Bennett: "Sapper, Buchan, Dornford Yates, practitioners in that school of Snobbery with Violence that runs like a thread of good-class tweed through twentieth-century literature." Robina Fox 23:20, 26 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, even if some of the article is not quite neutral, Colin Watson has ensured that Yates will be forever linked with the phrase, 'Snobbery with violence' ( there is your reference). It is a part of the history of the author. 12.201.7.201 (talk) 14:30, 23 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title: Language

message: The text says he was a pupil to a solicitor, and was later called to the Bar. Solicitors are not members of the Bar -- to be called to the Bar, Mercer would have been a pupil to a barrister. --ukexpat 14:43, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: According to Smithers' biography, there was still a means for this to happen in the Edwardian era. RGCorris (talk) 12:20, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possible Factual Error 

message: The section on Yates' work which states that, 'They capture the self-confident social attitudes of the English upper middle classes of their time.' is a misreading of the 'Berry' books.  Firstly, the characters are of the upper classes, not upper-middle classes (and that is a very significant distinction in this context).  Also, they actually articulate the erosion of self-confidence and of course of actual wealth among the upper classes following the end of World War I.  This is especially evident in The House That Berry Built and As Berry and I Were Saying, the two least 'comic' of the series, but it does come through in even the most light-hearted Berry novels and stories too.  Indeed, that seems to be the point of the series.  They're an elegy for a way of life that was already disappearing as Yates wrote the stories.  Could this be reflected in the article? Jill Lenhart 19:08, 1 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misreading of Berry books? 

message: I think a useful way to expand the Dornford Yates page would be to provide more plot summaries for the novels/stories.  I see that someone has done this already for The House That Berry Built.  I could do about a dozen more, if people don't have any objections? Mind you, I've never added whole pages and made live links before in Wikipedia, so the technicalities might take me a while!  Jill Lenhart 18:11, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Please do !RGCorris (talk) 12:22, 17 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Plot Summaries 

message: The categorization of Yates's work into "Berry Books", "Chandos Books" and "Other Volumes" is based on the list that appeared in "B-Berry and I Look Back", the final work published in his lifetime, and presumably agreed with the author. Both "Gale Warning" and "Ne'er Do Well" are listed there as "Other Volumes" and the list in the article follows this categorisation. RGCorris (talk) 16:51, 14 August 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: Ok, if that was the way DY wanted it, that's the way it has to be. Don't want a lawsuit from beyond the grave (g). 73.223.117.255 (talk) 23:00, 14 August 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Categorisation of books 

message: ‘Cockade’ is a funny name. Did it mean something to him?
‘Sacradown’ is part of an old nursery rhyme, part of which is ‘see saw sacradown, which is the way to London Town?’. Don’t know if this has anything to do with the house name though. More research needed.2A00:23C7:E284:CF00:E836:EF0D:C684:7E42 (talk) 21:18, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: According to Smithers, page 176, it was called Cockade "...because it projected from the hill as does a hackle from a hat". The same writer, on page 206, quotes Elizabeth Mercer as saying that the Umtali house was named out of a nursery rhyme - "To and fro, up and down, that's the way to Sacradown." RGCorris (talk) 08:52, 6 June 2021 (UTC)
thread_title: Why the house names?

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thread_title:  External links modified