Reading 1001 discussion

Rating: 3 Stars
Read: December 2016

Much as with The Unfortunate Traveller that came out around the same time, this book is also credited as possibly being one of the first novels. Like TUT, it is written in Old English. It is a much easier book to read, however, since it is written in simpler language. Nashe thew in a lot of big words (that did not flow well) to impress hi readers, while Deloney wrote in a more conversational tone. Deloney also refrained from using unnecessary violence in his story. Although there was a murder, details were not described in full detail. This is in contrast to Nashe's graphic descriptions of rape and torture.

The story is about clothiers back in Henry I's time. Thomas of Reading was a clothier. The book had romance, mystery, and a lot of humor. Overall, I think it was a more successful novel than that of Nashe.

'Thomas of Reading' was first published in the 1590s but is set nearly 500 years earlier, around 1106, when Henry and Robert, the two surviving sons of William the Conqueror, were rivals for the kingdom of England and the duchy of Normandy.

The language is Early Modern English (not Old English!). Deloney was a contemporary of Shakespeare, but Deloney's style is much more straightforward. The free editions found online are mostly reproductions of 17th- or 18th-century printings, so they have Ss that look like Fs and interchangeable Us & Vs and Is & Js, but if you can get used to that (or find an edition with modern spelling) I don't think it would be difficult for most readers.

It's a short and lively story involving murder, gruesome punishments, and a young lady of the nobility reduced to poverty. Thomas Cole of Reading is a cloth merchant who falls victim to a scurrilous innkeeper, but the background is England’s rise to wealth from the wool trade, with the Norman king Henry I and his English subjects arriving at mutual respect 45 years after the conquest. There's also a love story involving Henry’s brother Robert (ignoring the fact that he was actually a 55-year-old widower at this time). All of this is packed into about 75 pages. Not surprisingly, it was wildly popular in its day.