I went to YouTube this afternoon to see if there was any archive footage of Thomas Hardy reading his own poetry. He died only in 1928 so theoretically it was possible. I couldn't find any, but, beckoned here and there in the usual YouTube way, I dipped into a bit of Jeremy Irons reading ‘Afterwards' in his actorish, labouredly sensitive way - a sonority that had worked perfectly on the wistful voice-overs that were an integral part of the original TV series of Brideshead Revisited but didn't suit Hardy. Then I tried a bit of someone folksy reading a different short poem, and soon stopped. Then, unexpectedly, I reached this much more satisfying clip, hearing it for the first time in decades and laughing:
Novel writing in Dorchester...
ReplyDeletePriceless. Thanks for broadening my literary knowledge.
'...oh dear what a disappointing start...' Haven't listened to this in 20 years, but still know it word for word. Genius.
ReplyDeleteRambling Gambling Gordon
ReplyDeleteExcellent indeed. I remember the album well – that and the spendidly-titled Monty Python's Contractual Obligation Album.
Tempted after hearing this to ask of Michael Palin what Dennis Pennis once asked of Steve Martin: “When did you stop being funny?”
A discussion here, http://tthaforumarchives.info/archives/?p=1031 , of your original question. It seems that your quest was always doomed to failure. And, just in case you are searching for them, apparently no recordings are known of DH Lawrence or AE Housman http://www.writersservices.com/mag/05/Poetry%20Archive.htm
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, McHenry. Interesting stuff.
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