Browning Fever: A story of fandom, literary societies, and impenetrable verse

laphamsquarterly.org

17 pointslermontov2 comments

As a side note, many in Britain have heard of this Victorian man of letters because of two excellent films (1951, 1994) of Terence Rattigan's 1948 play The Browning Version, where one of his works serves as a McGuffin. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Browning_Version

Ah hadn't heard of these. Will check them out.

As to the article: good reading. I was always mildly curious why literary societies should grow around Robert Browning of all people. It's bewildering: America gripped by Browning fever? A children’s performance of Browning’s Pied Piper of Hamelin drawing more people than a baseball game...in TEXAS?! Truly the past is a foreign country.

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