COMPLETE War Impressions by Mortimer and Dorothy Menpes-annise

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » June 3rd, 2023, 10:32 am

Section 8:

18.56-19.00, mid-page p 111
His house at Rondebosch is called Groote Schuur...
https://forvo.com/search/groote%20schuur/

19.56-20.00, bottom p 111
[Rhodes] Now, I planned my garden at Groote Schuur…

I don’t think your pronunciation is awful or anything and if you want it could probably stand, especially if the move is slow going – particularly as these are both being ‘voiced’ by Englishmen (like having to overlook the pronunciation to get the rhyme in English in the short verse!), not characters from Couperus. I’ve given pages and time stamps because you’d made a rough note of it, so if you do want to alter it, here are the references!

I've sent you a message. And now I'll shut up for today, so you're not overwhelmed!

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » June 4th, 2023, 7:28 pm

Chapter 7 ready for spot PL, and Chapter 10 ready for PL!

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/warimpressions_10_menpes.mp3 - 23:44

I will correct Groote Schuur as got the first bit right, but not the second. I realised I'd made a mistake when I looked it up on YouTube, which I find the best guide to local pronunciations, if you can find them. There are plenty for Groote Schuur because it is where the first heart transplant was performed. Point of trivia: There is an island in West Australia called Groote Eylandt, which I recently heard pronounced as 'Groot Island'. As it was on the news, I guess it is the correct local pronunciation.

I remember reading Olive Schreiner's 'Story of an African Farm' years ago and loving it! If I am right, she was put in a concentration camp by the British during one of the Boer Wars?

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » June 6th, 2023, 6:07 am

Chapters 11 & 12 ready for PL!

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/warimpressions_11_menpes.mp3 - 17:30
https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/warimpressions_12_menpes.mp3 - 16:36

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » June 6th, 2023, 6:48 am

Section 7 is spot PL OK. For section 9:

2.14-2.18, mid-page p 120
...told me that the Duke [heard judge] never by any chance knew who had won…
It says he also judged the events so the meaning is much the same, but it’s a tad clearer with the title.

32.00-32.06, pp 136-137, repetition
...and incapacity to appreciate the tragedy [the tragedy] of the times…

And I see you've been busy, so I'll get back to my job!

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » June 6th, 2023, 1:46 pm

Part 10 is PL OK!

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » June 6th, 2023, 3:39 pm

Thanks! Chapter 9 is ready for spot PL!

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » June 7th, 2023, 3:19 am

Part 11 is PL OK. When he says he wanted to avoid the ugly side of the war, what exactly was he thinking that war entails? He's certainly painting the 'heroic' stuff, but, it seemed such a strange thing to say after having had a go at the people lounging around Cape Town.

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » June 7th, 2023, 5:51 am

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/warimpressions_13_menpes.mp3 - 19:24 - Ready for PL!

Newgatenovelist wrote: ↑June 7th, 2023, 3:19 am Part 11 is PL OK. When he says he wanted to avoid the ugly side of the war, what exactly was he thinking that war entails? He's certainly painting the 'heroic' stuff, but, it seemed such a strange thing to say after having had a go at the people lounging around Cape Town.

He is becoming an unreliable narrator, isn't he? It seems that his strong point was criticising others and that he himself was among those he is most critical of!

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » June 7th, 2023, 9:43 am

9 is spot PL OK!

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » June 8th, 2023, 12:23 pm

Section 12 is PL OK. He gave Rhodes advice, now he knows how to be a better chaplain than the chaplains...this is AMAZING. I don't mean that to be snarky, I mean it's clearly life as he sees it, but what I wouldn't give for a fraction of his self-confidence!

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » June 9th, 2023, 4:53 am

And Chapter 14, ready for PL! The next chapter will be a while coming - it is very long.

https://librivox.org/uploads/annise/warimpressions_14_menpes.mp3 - 26:41

Having recorded this book, my view of Menpes has been totally turned upside down - he gets worse the longer it goes on! I think we might see a different side of him if I get round to recording his book on Venice. I hope so!

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » June 9th, 2023, 11:04 am

Possible note for section 13:

0.35-0.38, omission, top half para p 172
...soldiers, [doctors,] nurses, clergymen…
Up to you, since your setup is in transit. The doctors come up later in this chapter, and in a previous one I think he’d already mentioned medical men in general as having been bitten by the collecting bug.

eggs4ears wrote: ↑June 9th, 2023, 4:53 am Having recorded this book, my view of Menpes has been totally turned upside down - he gets worse the longer it goes on! I think we might see a different side of him if I get round to recording his book on Venice. I hope so!

It's odd, but the whole point about blind spots is that they are blind spots. I'm not going to say 'booooo, he was horrible!' when he clearly was just a chronicler of his experiences who recorded some of his own blind spots at the same time. It means he's human, even if I'm not sure I'm desperate to invite him round for tea.

eggs4ears · Post by **eggs4ears** » June 9th, 2023, 11:00 pm

Chapters 6, 8, 13 all ready for spot PL, which brings us up to date. I used a different microphone for the corrections to 6 and 8. I think it is noticeable on 6, but not very important in the grand scheme of things!

I think I probably would invite Menpes to tea, though perhaps not on a regular basis. Despite his faults, he is entertaining, but I'd be careful to stay off the topic of watercolours (as you'll see in Ch. 14).

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » June 10th, 2023, 1:58 pm

6, 8, 13 are spot PL OK. How many microphones do you have? That's not a reflection on the pickups in these sections - it's a free-to-access audiobook of something that wouldn't be financially viable to do commercially - but more of a general question. If they can afford it, everybody has their weakness or amasses several of something that bewilders other people who would never spend their money on <whatever it is>, but in turn have their own preferred acquisitions. I don't know if mics are yours.

I don't know if this one will appeal as much, but the free DNB entry for the 9th (her birthday) was Anne Thackeray Ritchie. She was an author as well as the daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray and the sister of Leslie Stephen's first wife (hence a connection to Woolf, I'm not just spamming you). I will admit to being a tad unsure about a couple of things in this bio, but, you know, it's still a free bio. It also makes an interesting sequel to what we were chatting about, with fiction bleeding into biography. It's quite a balancing act, writing a bio of someone who was interesting in their own right but comes from one or more famous families, without letting those relations overshadow the main biographical subject.
https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-35761

Newgatenovelist · Post by **Newgatenovelist** » June 11th, 2023, 7:51 am

Part 14 is PL OK. Soldiers never swear?