tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post7081806077482158231..comments2024-03-28T13:10:04.655+00:00Comments on The Notion Club Papers - an Inklings blog: Was Charles Williams's accent deliberately adopted - 'Mockney' rather than Cockney?Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-28136851302965298052013-07-31T16:20:55.895+01:002013-07-31T16:20:55.895+01:00@Logothete - The difficulty is
1. Who was in a p...@Logothete - The difficulty is <br /><br />1. Who was in a position to know whether at some point in his youth, Williams adopted a regional accent? or<br /><br />2. Who could tell the difference between an affected and a genuine local accent? - in my experience most people are hopeless at recognizing accents, and certainly could not tell the difference between a fake and put-on accent.<br /><br />But I would reiterate that St Alban's grammar school would at that time have made it its business to eradicate local accents (that was very much part of what such schools were about - core business for them). English state grammar schools had elocution classes even in my father's day (1930s-40s), and these were continued after school at teaching college.<br /><br />So the *probability* is that if Charles Williams had a regional accent (which he did ) then this was either because he adopted it ('Mockney') or because he *actively* resisted its eradication during school and college.<br /><br />But, either way, CW had a 'cockney'-type accent essentially because he *wanted* one!<br /><br />I would think we can rule-out unselfconsciousness when it comes to CW!Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-71423582234585420502013-07-31T15:41:46.737+01:002013-07-31T15:41:46.737+01:00This was certainly not the impression of various p...This was certainly not the impression of various people who knew him, who thought 'Cockney' an inaccurate description, but were clear about his simply having a distinct 'local' accent - Dame Helen Gardner used to do a jolly imitation of it!<br /><br />I am not sure if many - or any - records survive. I heard a fine reading of the opening lines from his Thomas Cranmer of Canterbury play at the Wade Center which (at least the time) was taken to be read by Williams himself, though the late Humphrey Carpenter had his doubts.<br /><br />In his Arthurian Commonplace Book (now in the Bodleian Library) he is clearly concerned about the pronunciation of the names (such as 'Galahad').<br /><br />It would be interesting to know if he could 'do' more or less 'Received' voices: though there are few now alive who could say.<br /><br />My impression is that it was not 'affected', but not simply 'unconscious' either - my guess is that he could use intonations and bearing to effect, while in another sense he was basically unselfconscious about them. <br /><br />LogotheteAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-1696341558495164872013-07-03T20:00:04.375+01:002013-07-03T20:00:04.375+01:00"... an ugly man with a rather cockney voice...."... an ugly man with a rather cockney voice." Hehhehe - thanks for sharing. Actually if you read the next page or two of what you've linked it really makes Williams come off as rather a decent sort of person. It's a shame <a href="http://charltonteaching.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/can-love-be-bad-lessons-from-life-of.html" rel="nofollow">what happened</a> to him...Samson J.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2410716623228444076.post-46331058068691667552013-07-03T17:24:04.303+01:002013-07-03T17:24:04.303+01:00I wonder what E. L. Mascall would think about the ...I wonder what E. L. Mascall would think about the matter:<br /><br />http://books.google.com/books?id=z8KbGCyEz1IC&pg=PA2&lpg=PA2&dq=%22charles+williams%22+all+our+wow+paradise&source=bl&ots=TSU7hua03g&sig=kRajhw9eEAViJCtqUMxyWdBvzHA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vk_UUeeQHsf6yQHZsIHYDg&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22charles%20williams%22%20all%20our%20wow%20paradise&f=falseWurmbrandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17345523517796356674noreply@blogger.com