|
Some of the most hallowed names in English literature are linked with Dorset: Charles Dickens, Percy Shelley and above all, Thomas Hardy - a West Country bard if ever there was one. T. E Lawrence revised The Seven Pillars of Wisdom at his Dorset cottage, whilst children's guru Beatrix Potter wove Lyme Regis into her Little Pig Robinson tale. That said, the doings of the great scribes were not always deadly earnest. In February 1910, Virginia Woolf was involved in one of the most audacious hoaxes of the age when she and a band of chums ran rings around Her Majesty's Navy in Weymouth.
The so-called Dreadnought Hoax saw Woolf and friends dress up as African grandees in a bid to dupe the Royal Navy. With blackened faces and ravishing oriental robes, the six jokers passed themselves off as Abyssinian royals and were given a grand tour of HMS Dreadnought, where they bestowed bogus military honours on several members of the crew. On their return to London, the pranksters released a photograph to the Daily Mirror, much to the embarrassment of Her Majesty's Navy. Artist Duncan Grant was amongst the hoaxers, and the prank was one of the first events to draw attention to the Bloomsbury Group. 
Above: Thomas Hardy's cottage at Bockhampton, Dorset. The author was born at this house, which was built by his grandfather
As it goes, the literary trails of Dorset are many, taking in both children's literature and Romantic poetry. Bookworms will have a banquet of material if they're looking for an inspiring read for their travels. It would take a weighty tome to do justice to all of Dorset's leads, but here's a little potted guide to Dorset's literary legends.
Thomas Hardy
No other author has done so much for Dorset as Thomas Hardy (1840-1928). The creator of Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure and Far From The Madding Crowd was born and bred in Dorset, and he set most of his poems and novels in this part of the world. The cottage where he was born and lived until the age of 34 is today maintained by the National Trust. Local landmarks evoked by Hardy in his works are many, spanning well known towns such as Shaftesbury and obscure stretches of the countryside. Curiously enough, Roman Polanski's film version of Tess of the D'Urbervilles was shot in rural France, as the director was nervous of being extradited to America from British territory. However, John Schlesinger's classic 1967 version of Far From The Madding Crowd was filmed at various locations in Dorset and Wiltshire. Controversy reigned over Hardy's final resting place, with the Church calling for Westminster Abbey and Hardy's own family championing the Dorset village of Stinsford. A compromise was eventually reached, with the great man's body entombed at Westminster, and his heart laid to rest at Stinsford.
T.E Lawrence
Fabled adventurer and commander 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1888-1935) had a base in Dorset for twelve years until his life was cut short by a motor accident near Moreton. Lawrence, who had led an Arabian force in a revolt against the Ottoman Empire, fell for a spartan, isolated Dorset cottage during the 1920s. Dubbed 'Clouds Hill', distinguished guests included George Bernard Shaw and E.M. Forster. Lawrence, never wishing to become rooted, kept the place rudimentary, with little more than a sleeping bag for comfort. Like the Hardy Cottage, Clouds Hill is now run by the National Trust, and it houses a small museum.
John Fowles
John Fowles was a lifelong fan of Hardy and in The French Lieutenant's Woman(1969), he brought not only his idol's themes, but also his landscapes to life. Fowles had indeed moved from London to Dorset in 1966, and he would remain in the county until his death in 2005. The French Lieutenant's Woman tells the story of a scandalised woman in Lyme Regis, the town where Fowles eventually settled. A film version of The French Lieutenant's Woman was released in 1981 to great acclaim, with Jeremy Irons and Meryl Streep in the lead roles. Fowles loved Lyme Regis and got involved with the community. That said, he got fed up with outsiders coming to knock on his door: "I know I have a reputation as a cantankerous man of letters and I don't try and play it down," he told The Guardian newspaper. "A writer, more or less living on his own, will be persecuted by his readers. They want to see you and talk to you. And they don't realize that very often that gets on one's nerves."
John Meade Falkner
The smuggling novel Moonfleet (1898) has managed to cling on to its place in the pantheon of children's classics. Set in eighteenth centrury Dorset, Falkner's book tells the tale of John Trenchard, a young boy who gets embroiled in the exploits of a smuggling gang. It's all set in and around Dorset, with some gloriously evoked scenes of the seas.
| | | |