Showing posts with label written by Jerome K. Jerome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label written by Jerome K. Jerome. Show all posts

Friday, March 09, 2018

Diary of a Pilgrimage

I do not know how to express what I felt going thru this excellent narration that can be considered as a guide to the heart of a German town along with a priceless piece of English humour. Truly a literary wonder it brings forth the true artist in Jerome K Jerome whose use of playful exaggeration of the most normal events makes them appealingly enjoyable. A journey to a German town Oberammergau by two friends to watch the Passion Play could not have been made more interesting than what Jerome has done which also describes the Play and the actors in the simplest of ways devoid of any artificiality yet complete with every detail sketched with the true feelings of the fascinated beholder. Interspersed with his signature style of humour, Jerome has excelled himself than his more popular fiction. Centering on the heart rendering Passion Play, the travelogue that consists of train rides, boat rides is poetically perfect.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Three Men In A Boat

A hilarious novel by Jerome K. Jerome, aptly described by Anthony Armstrong as a comedy full of ‘calculated exaggerations’ in the introduction. This is possibly the most notable contribution of Jerome K. Jerome to English comedy. Actually intended to be a tourist’s guide of the Thames, the humour of the narrative got the best of it and what we received was a priceless piece of literature. It was quite a long time that I re-read the book but the fun seemed more and more fresh as the chapters commenced one by one.
Basically the story centers three friends, George, Harris and the author himself who, bored with their monotonous lifestyle, plans for a fortnight’s boating holiday on the Thames. What follows is a hilarious epic of fun, laughter and mirth that not only freshens the reader’s mind but brings to light the comical side of everyday happenings that remains hidden in the shadow of our apparently serious attitude to life. The beauty of this classical piece is that though set in the background of England, but the theme of the story has surpassed the boundaries of regions and has never gone beyond happenings that are actually quite ordinary and commonplace.The piece is blended with notes of some historical sites along the Thames and vivid description of nature at places adds to the richness of the text.