The CBB :: View topic - Books: The Exploits of the Chalet Girls

through

[^/[^Print]\]

The CBB -> Formal Discussions

#1: Books: The Exploits of the Chalet Girls Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 9:45 pm
—
There is a synopsis here. Published in 1933, this book could possibly be known as Thekla Joins Us.

Thekla is a new Prussian girl, related to Marie, who retains snobbish opinions and an arrogant attitude throughout. Marie is quite ashamed of her and loses her temper badly on one of the walks. There are many Prefect councils depicted in this book because Joey is headgirl - lots of them have to do with Thekla and how to solve her. There is a halfterm holiday at the Sonnalpe, where the girls put on a Tableaux show, and the book ends with a Christmas Play - this time a Pageant that parades manifestations of Christmas on stage.

So! What are your opinions on Exploits? Is it a strong book in itself or more of a link between its predecessor and its sequel? Do you have any sympathy for Thekla at all? Does Joey, as headgirl, deal with Thekla the right way? Did you enjoy the portrayals of the halfterm holiday, the Hallowe'en party and the Christmas pageant, or do you find these things repetitive even at this stage in the series? What about the ethics involved in Theka's 'taletelling' on the quintette - should they have cut her some slack, as they say?

Finally, this is the book where Evvy decides to liven things up in the science lab (ie she blows it up!) and where Thekla's frilly underthings are so very frilly that they catch fire as she leaps over candles at the staff party... Laughing

#2: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:02 am
—
As a CS book, I like this one - it's still at the stage when the pranks/events haven't all been done before, and when the school's still just about small enough for us to "know" most people.

From a historical viewpoint, I find it very interesting. Up until now, there's been virtually no mention of politics/current affairs/recent history, apart from the odd reference e.g. to Robin's mother suffering terribly during the War. And, although EBD very much stereotypes people by nationality, up until now there's been no criticism of any particular group apart from light-hearted things like the American girls using too much slang, the French girls being sentimental and the British girls being bad at needlework, or any hint of conflict between girls from different countries/regions.

With Thekla we're pretty much told that her difficult personality/behaviour is all due to her upper-class Prussian background/upbringing. We even get Madge saying that, whilst she likes all the Bavarians she's met (possibly a remark EBD might not've included a few years later in the lighty of how much Nazi Party activity was based in Munich and Nuremberg), all the Prussians she's met are very bitter about the First World War. We also get reference to Thekla's half-brother's involvement in the Young Germany movement.

I don't know exactly when in 1933 this was published, but unless it was very early on in the year older readers would (presumably) have known by then that Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany and that there'd been pro-Nazi rioting in Austria. EBD would've been writing it the year before, but even so she must've been aware that problems were brewing so presumably it wasn't a coincidence that she introduced a character like Thekla at this stage.

Politics aside, Thekla is one of the characters whom EBD doesn't seem to know what to do with: she's expelled and virtually never heard of again ... the first admission that the CS couldn't deal with everyone?

Sorry for the long waffle!

#3: Author: Sunglass, Location: Usually London

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 8:51 am
—
I agree with Alison H that Thekla is interesting socially and historically. We're told (by Marie?) that Thekla is from the Junker landed lesser nobility -- known, it seems, for its militarism and reactionary leanings, and hugely influential up till the end of the Weimar Republic in 1933 -- and definitely the wrong kind of aristocrat in her obvious disdain for Sophie Hamel, whose wealthy father owns a department store, whereas Marie Von Eschenau shows no 'land' vs 'trade' class consciousness.

I agree too that the kind of entirely hostile cultural stereotyping of Thekla is different to anything else we encounter - I think it culminates, not in Exploits but in Lintons, where she eats 'uncooked' (though smoked) bacon to general disgust, like someone on the wrong side of a taboo out of The Raw and the Cooked!

Exploits is one of the books I remember (I don't own it) for individual episodes rather than any main plot arc - I must have originally read it after whichever book (Lintons again?) that Mrs Jarley happens in, because I remember retrospectively fitting the boiling of the clock into place. I also remember (I must have been eight or ten) wondering exactly what kind of underwear Thekla would have been wearing to go up in such a blaze... What would a schoolgirl Prussian aristocrat have been wearing under her dress in 1933?

#4: Author: Caroline, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2007 11:53 am
—
Hmmm - I'd say that the anti-Prussian sentiment is present in the books from day one (well, OK, half way through School) in the person of Frau Berlin....

I really like Exploits. Considering the lack of a traditionally resolved main storyline (i.e. Thekla is *not* the ultimate heroine, and doesn't come close to making good, even though she isn't actually that bad in this book - that has to wait for the next title), I think it all hangs together very well. It's certainly a vast improvement on And Jo...

I like the advent of Thekla - it's always interesting to see the cosy status quo being challenged, and see how the established characters deal with a newcomer. I think Jo comes across better here than in her dealings with Stacie, for instance - which you would hope would be the case considering she (Jo) is nearly a year older now. And EBD portrays Marie's reactions very well - I can just feel her distress and mortification when Thekla is so rude to e.g. Frieda.

I actually like the half term stuff, although it does perhaps take up a little too many pages. And whilst I don't find the pageant especially exciting, I think EBD manages to convey very well the warm atmosphere of reunion when the Annexe girls come down to take part.

Overall: a hit.

#5: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2007 6:47 pm
—
This is one of my favourites to re-read. While the Thekla content is interesting, it isn't what I focus on when I think of Exploits. I tend to go more for the gorgeous family atmosphere that is in Die Rosen when the girls take their halfterm holiday up there, and the different costumes they make from Madge's household furnishings! And we get little insights all the time into old girls and what they are doing, for example we learn that Wanda sent Madge that tablecloth as a present from Vienna Very Happy

Re Thekla's underwear, the most interesting thing (apart from the frillyfrills) was that she smuggled it in! (didn't she?) Laughing

#6: Author: Mel, Location: UP NORTH

Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2007 6:24 pm
—
I always enjoy this one even if it is episodic, especially the long description of half-term at the Sonnalp. But the house which started as a 'pretty chalet' has become very grand, large enough to house all the girls, nurseries, a billiard room and sewing room. There are hints of life beyond school and San, for instance Madge looking for a bridge coat, Jem's fencing foils and all the precious things that the girls use in the tableaux: William and Mary chairs, Jem's grandmother's harp and tablecloths so fine that they could never be used!

#7: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 7:11 am
—

Róisín wrote:

Re Thekla's underwear, the most interesting thing (apart from the frillyfrills) was that she smuggled it in! (didn't she?) Laughing

*lol* Well, not into the school, although I suppose she sort of smuggled it into the Evening. This is the description in the hardback:

Quote:

Throughout the evening, Thekla had seemed to be enjoying herself. She had been quite civil, even to the Hamels, and they, being good-natured girls, had met her half-way. It is true she had begun badly, for she had had an argument with Matron over the dress she should wear. The domestic tyrant had caught Miss Thekla just about to put on a blue muslin frock over her frilliest underthings, and had promptly ordered her to remove them and get back into the sensible gym-knickers they were all to wear. She had refused to listen to a word, and had only gone when she had seen Thekla beginning to remove them. But Thekla was obstinate. Once Matron had gone, she had refastened her petticoat. She dare not do anything but put on her brown velvet frock, which was the ordinary wear of the girls in the evenings; but she argued that no one was likely to ask her what she was wearing underneath, Thekla had a passion for what Joey stigmatised as ‘fluffies,’ and there were far too few opportunities for wearing them at School. She was resolved not to let this one slip.

#8: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 1:22 pm
—
To say that her underwear caught fire makes it sound rather improbable, given our modern interpretation of the word. However, what really caught was the frilly petticoat that we're told is too long for the velveteen. It was only kept from "showing" at the beginning of the evening by jury-rigging that didn't hold during the dancing/candle jumping. I don't know how long the velveteens were, but certainly below the knee? Anyhow, the scenario doesn't really seem that unlikely.

I really sympathize with Thekla -- and Joey's application of apple-bobbing water -- on this one, given that I ran for the kitchen sink instead of rolling around on the floor the day the birthday cake caught my hair on fire. I still don't trust the rolling method, deep inside, despite all that Girl Scout training, Embarassed

and why risk it if water's available? It's not as though it were an oil fire, where smothering it really is the only way.

#9: Author: Rosalin, Location: Swansea

Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2007 2:51 pm
—
I do enjoy this one. Thekla is different from the run of the mill problem new girl and so is more interesting. The fact that she is Marie's cousin is interesting because we get to see more of Marie's character. The interactions between the two of them are believable and I do feel I get where Thekla is coming from even if I don't sympathise.

The description of half term at Die Rosen is really lovely, although I have trouble with the idea that they could manage all those costumes and scenery from one house in the time available. I like the description of the Halloween party too, and I really want to play some of those games.

#10: Author: NineLivesBurra, Location: York, North Yorks

Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2007 1:14 pm
—
I like this book but it isn't one of my favourites. It is rather episodic and to me it seems more like a collection of short stories with Thekla as a connecting character.

However, the half-term always remains in my thoughts as one of the best half-term activities.

#11: Author: Loryat,

Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2007 5:36 pm
—
I think it's interesting that so early in the series EBD created a charcter past reformation - is Thekla perhaps symbolic of a changed attitude on EBD's part to Germany, in light of Nazi-ism?

Also that Thekla is one of the few snobby characters whose snobbery doesn't arise from not really being of the 'gentle' class. When you think about it the vast majority of snobby characters are from families on the make (the prime example is Joan Baker, but you've also got Vera Smithers and the girl in Bride) and it's refreshing to see someone upper class be snobby for once.

I like this book, though due to its lack of any real plotline, it's not one of my favourites.

#12: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:34 pm
—

Loryat wrote:

I think it's interesting that so early in the series EBD created a charcter past reformation - is Thekla perhaps symbolic of a changed attitude on EBD's part to Germany, in light of Nazi-ism?

The problem with looking at Thekla in light of what was to come in Germany is that EBD had no idea what was going to happen because it hadn't happened yet. Germany at that time was full of parties that many people thought were made up of anti-social elements - the National Socialists were by no means the most extreme, despite Hitler's declarations in Mein Kampf (which almost nobody read anyway). It is what the Nazis became once they eliminated their political rivals, which was after 1933, when Exploits was published, that makes us see them as such a danger now.

The other point about bringing in such an unreformable character as Thekla so early is also not so surprising if you consider that EBD could not know that the Chalet School series would be so successful. She had to bring in characters early that would grab people's attention and make them want to keep reading. After Grizel leaves the series, there are no really bad characters for the year-and-a-bit until Thekla arrives. Whether we like to read about them or not, it's always the bad girls who are the really interesting ones...

#13: Author: Lesley, Location: Allhallows, Kent

Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:17 am
—
Thekla's attitude was all from the First WW wasn't it? Her father had been a senior officer in the Kaiser's regime and she had been brought up with those attitudes - Nazism was only barely mentioned as the reason she had been sent to the CS - her brother had picked up some undesirable elements from the south of Germany. As KB says, I don't think EBD considered Nazism in making the character of Thekla.

Interesting that you consider Grizel a bad character - she had done some bad things when younger but she had reformed by her last year (trip to see the Falls withstanding) and Cornelia was a thoroughly nasty character when she first appeared. Joyce Linton was another.

The CBB -> Formal Discussions

output generated using printer-friendly topic mod. All times are GMT

Page 1 of 1