ISBN: 9781420947373

Three Men in a Boat, published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K. Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford. The book was initially intended to be a s… More...

Three Men in a Boat, published in 1889, is a humorous account by Jerome K. Jerome of a boating holiday on the Thames between Kingston and Oxford. The book was initially intended to be a serious travel guide, with accounts of local history along the route, but the humorous elements took over to the point where the serious and somewhat sentimental passages seem a distraction to the comic novel. One of the most praised things about Three Men in a Boat is how undated it appears to modern readers - the jokes seem fresh and witty even today. The three men are based on Jerome himself (the narrator J.) and two real-life friends, George Wingrave (who went on to become a senior manager in Barclays Bank) and Carl Hentschel (the founder of a London printing business, called Harris in the book), with whom he often took boating trips. The dog, Montmorency, is entirely fictional but, as Jerome admits, developed out of that area of inner consciousness which, in all Englishmen, contains an element of the dog. The trip is a typical boating holiday of the time in a Thames camping skiff. This was just after commercial boat traffic on the Upper Thames had died out, replaced by the 1880s craze for boating as a leisure activity. As with Three Men in a Boat, Three Men on the Bummel seems thoroughly modern in tone and style of humor. Jerome K. Jerome is particularly fond of comical exaggeration of the sort that would seem totally natural on a television sitcom today. After a mistake involving somebody else's bicycle, and a run-in with the authorities, he summarizes My going scot free is regarded in police circles there to this day as a grave miscarriage of justice. Portions read much like Douglas Adams (I wish no one to read this book under a misapprehension. There will be no useful information in this book.) and others like John Cleese in Fawlty Towers (a discussion of an English shopkeeper frustrated when the protagonists, as a prank, pretend not to be able to speak English). The material near the start of the book about the friends and their wives is all quite funny, and thoroughly modern in the way the women effortlessly outsmart the men. The discussions of stereotypical German behavior are remarkable mostly for how little such stereotypes have changed. Germans were, 120 years ago and today, thought to be officious and compulsive in following rules. Fans of old bicycle books will find much here to like, with description of the hazards of amateur bike-tuning, and lies in bike advertisements, and the observation that uphills always seem to last longer than downhills. Digital Content>E-books>Fiction>Fiction>Fiction, Digireads.com Publishing Digital >16<

ISBN: 9781420947373

'Other works may excel this in depth of thought and knowledge of human nature: other books may rival it in originality and size; but, for hopeless and incurable vivacity, nothing yet disc… More...

'Other works may excel this in depth of thought and knowledge of human nature: other books may rival it in originality and size; but, for hopeless and incurable vivacity, nothing yet discovered can surpass it.' (Jerome, Preface to Three Men in a Boat). Three Men in a Boat describes a comic expedition by middle-class Victorians up the Thames to Oxford. It provides brilliant snap-shots of London's playground in the late 1880s, where the fashionable steam-launches of river swells encounter the hired skiffs of city clerks. The medley of social vignettes, farcical incidents, descriptions of river fashions, and reflections on the Thames's history, is interspersed with humorous anecdotes told by a natural raconteur. Three Men on the Bummel records a similar escapade, a break from the claustrophobia of suburban life some ten years later; their cycling tour in the Black Forest, at the height of the new bicycling craze, affords Jerome the opportunity for a light-hearted scrutiny of German social customs at a time of increasing general interest in a country that he loved. This account of middle-aged Englishmen abroad is spiced with typical Jeromian humour. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more. Digital Content>E-books>Fiction>Fiction>Fiction, Digireads.com Publishing Digital >16<

ISBN: 9781420947373

Conceived as a fairly serious guide to amateur boating on the Thames in 1889, Jerome K. Jerome's best-known novel ended up as a hilarious account of the misadventures of three friends and… More...

Conceived as a fairly serious guide to amateur boating on the Thames in 1889, Jerome K. Jerome's best-known novel ended up as a hilarious account of the misadventures of three friends and a dog as they attempt to relax and enjoy themselves amid unreliable weather forecasts, imaginary illnesses, repellent cooking, and an unopenable can of pineapple chunks.Three Men in a Boat was a terrific success for its author, and a surprisingly accurate portrayal of the age. George, Harris, and J., the narrator, were entertaining representatives of the new middle class, seeking to escape the dreary world of offices and desks during weekend trips out into the countryside. Jerome's heroes proved so popular that he brought them back for an equally picaresque bicycle tour of Germany, an adventure recorded in Three Men on the Bummel. The new Introduction by Jeremy Lewis describes the social context of the two books and the remarkable life of their author.Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) was an actor, teacher, and journalist before turning to writing books. After the success of Three Men in a Boat, Jerome and some friends founded The Idler, a magazine that ran pieces by Robert Louis Stevenson and Mark Twain. Jerome published an autobiography in 1926.Jeremy Lewis worked as the Deputy Editor of London Magazine until 1994 and is now the Commissioning Editor for the Oldie. Digital Content>E-books>Fiction>Fiction>Fiction, Digireads.com Publishing Digital >16<

2013, ISBN: 9781420947373

eBooks, eBook Download (EPUB), [PU: Neeland Media LLC], Neeland Media LLC, 2013

2013, ISBN: 9781420947373

eBook Download (EPUB), eBooks, [PU: Neeland Media LLC]