Precious Bane
Encyclopedia
Precious Bane is a novel
by Mary Webb
, first published in 1924. It won the Prix Femina
Vie Heureuse Prize.
In 1957 it was made into a six part BBC
television drama series starring Patrick Troughton
and Daphne Slater
. Under its French title 'Sarn', it was produced as a television play by French Television ORTF in 1968, with Dominique Labourier
as Prue, Josep Maria Flotats
as Gedeon and Pierre Vaneck
as Kester; the director was Claude Santelli
. In 1989 it was again adapted for British television by the BBC, directed by Christopher Menaul
and starring Clive Owen
and Janet McTeer
.
. It is narrated by the central character, Prue Sarn, whose life is blighted by having a harelip. Only the weaver, Kester Woodseaves, perceives the beauty of her character, but Prue cannot believe herself worthy of him. Her brother Gideon is overridingly ambitious to attain wealth and power, regardless of who suffers while he does so. Gideon is set to wed his sweetheart Jancis, but he incurs the wrath of her father, the cruel and scheming self-proclaimed wizard Beguildy. An act of vengeance by Beguildy makes Gideon reject Jancis and tragedy overwhelms them both. Prue is wrongly accused of murder and set upon by a mob, but Kester defies them and carries Prue away to the happiness she believed she could never possess because of her harelip.
The title of the story is from John Milton
's Paradise Lost
:
It refers to the love of money, which, as Prue records, blights love and destroys life.
Copyright belongs to Shropshire County Library Service. The Library includes these conditions with the text:
The content of this file may be downloaded and used by individuals for private study but copyright is retained by Shropshire County Library and any others involved in its creation or production. No part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Mary Webb
Mary Webb
Mary Webb , was an English romantic novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people which she knew. Her novels have been successfully dramatized, most notably the film Gone to Earth in 1950 by Michael...
, first published in 1924. It won the Prix Femina
Prix Femina
The Prix Femina is a French literary prize created in 1904 by 22 writers for the magazine La Vie heureuse . The prize is decided each year by an exclusively female jury, although the authors of the winning works do not have to be women...
Vie Heureuse Prize.
In 1957 it was made into a six part BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
television drama series starring Patrick Troughton
Patrick Troughton
Patrick George Troughton was an English actor most widely known for his roles in fantasy, science fiction and horror films, particularly in his role as the second incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running British science-fiction television series Doctor Who, which he played from 1966 to 1969,...
and Daphne Slater
Daphne Slater
Daphne Slater is an English actress noted for Shakespearian and period films and wife of John Harrison actor, film and television director and producer...
. Under its French title 'Sarn', it was produced as a television play by French Television ORTF in 1968, with Dominique Labourier
Dominique Labourier
Dominique Labourier is a French actress. She starred as Julie in Jacques Rivette's film Celine and Julie Go Boating. She has appeared in over 40 films since 1968...
as Prue, Josep Maria Flotats
Josep Maria Flotats
Josep Maria Flotats i Picas is a Catalan actor and theatre director.Born in Barcelona, he started as an actor in Associació Dramàtica de Barcelona, and made his theatre debut in 1957 with Les maletes del senyor Bernet....
as Gedeon and Pierre Vaneck
Pierre Vaneck
-Biography:Son of a Belgian officer, Pierre Vaneck passed his youth to Antwerp before continuing at 17 years, of the studies of medicine in Paris. Then it followed studies of dramatic art with the courses Rene Simon and the Theater Academy, the class of Henri Rollan. It earned its living while...
as Kester; the director was Claude Santelli
Claude Santelli
Claude Santelli was a French film director and screenwriter. He directed 25 films between 1968 and 1996.-External links:...
. In 1989 it was again adapted for British television by the BBC, directed by Christopher Menaul
Christopher Menaul
Christopher Menaul is a British film, television director and television writer.Christopher Menaul left Cambridge with a First in History and quickly established anillustrious career as a multi award-winning TV and Feature film director...
and starring Clive Owen
Clive Owen
Clive Owen is an English actor, who has worked on television, stage and film. He first gained recognition in the United Kingdom for portraying the lead in the ITV series Chancer from 1990 to 1991...
and Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer
Janet McTeer, OBE is a British actress.-Life and career:McTeer was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom, the daughter of Jean and Alan McTeer...
.
Synopsis
The story is set in rural Shropshire shortly after the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. It is narrated by the central character, Prue Sarn, whose life is blighted by having a harelip. Only the weaver, Kester Woodseaves, perceives the beauty of her character, but Prue cannot believe herself worthy of him. Her brother Gideon is overridingly ambitious to attain wealth and power, regardless of who suffers while he does so. Gideon is set to wed his sweetheart Jancis, but he incurs the wrath of her father, the cruel and scheming self-proclaimed wizard Beguildy. An act of vengeance by Beguildy makes Gideon reject Jancis and tragedy overwhelms them both. Prue is wrongly accused of murder and set upon by a mob, but Kester defies them and carries Prue away to the happiness she believed she could never possess because of her harelip.
The title of the story is from John Milton
John Milton
John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell...
's Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse...
:
- Let none admire
- That riches grow in Hell; that Soyle may best
- Deserve the precious bane.
It refers to the love of money, which, as Prue records, blights love and destroys life.
External links
Download Precious Bane from:Copyright belongs to Shropshire County Library Service. The Library includes these conditions with the text:
The content of this file may be downloaded and used by individuals for private study but copyright is retained by Shropshire County Library and any others involved in its creation or production. No part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission from the publisher in writing.