The English Governess at the Siamese Court

The English Governess at the Siamese Court PDF Author: Anna Leonowens
Publisher: Applewood Books
ISBN: 1429040149
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 374

Get Book Here

Book Description
Such was Chow Phya Sri Sury Wongse when I was first presented to him: a natural king among the dusky forms that surrounded him, the actual ruler of that semi- barbarous realm, and the prime contriver of its arbitrary policy. Black, but comely, robust, and vigorous, neck short and thick, nose large and nostrils wide, eyes inquisitive and penetrating, his was the massive brain proper to an intellect deliberate and systematic. Well found in the best idioms of his native tongue, he expressed strong, discriminative thoughts in words at once accurate and abundant. His only vanity was his English, with which he so interlarded his native speech, as often to impart the effect of levity to ideas that, in themselves, were grave, judicious, and impressive.

The English Governess at the Siamese Court

The English Governess at the Siamese Court PDF Author: Anna Leonowens
Publisher: Applewood Books
ISBN: 1429040149
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 374

Get Book Here

Book Description
Such was Chow Phya Sri Sury Wongse when I was first presented to him: a natural king among the dusky forms that surrounded him, the actual ruler of that semi- barbarous realm, and the prime contriver of its arbitrary policy. Black, but comely, robust, and vigorous, neck short and thick, nose large and nostrils wide, eyes inquisitive and penetrating, his was the massive brain proper to an intellect deliberate and systematic. Well found in the best idioms of his native tongue, he expressed strong, discriminative thoughts in words at once accurate and abundant. His only vanity was his English, with which he so interlarded his native speech, as often to impart the effect of levity to ideas that, in themselves, were grave, judicious, and impressive.

Anna and the King of Siam

Anna and the King of Siam PDF Author: Margaret Landon
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 150403855X
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 409

Get Book Here

Book Description
Based on the incredible true story of one woman’s journey to the exotic world of nineteenth-century Siam, the riveting novel that inspired The King and I. In 1862, recently widowed and with two small children to support, British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens agrees to serve as governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam (present-day Thailand), unaware that her years in the royal palace will change not only her own life, but also the future of a nation. Her relationship with King Mongkut, famously portrayed by Yul Brynner in the classic film The King and I, is complicated from the start, pitting two headstrong personalities against each other: While the king favors tradition, Anna embraces change. As governess, Anna often finds herself at cross-purposes, marveling at the foreign customs, fascinating people, and striking landscape of the kingdom and its harems, while simultaneously trying to influence her pupils—especially young Prince Chulalongkorn—with her Western ideals and values. Years later, as king, this very influence leads Chulalongkorn to abolish slavery in Siam and introduce democratic reform based on the ideas of freedom and human dignity he first learned from his beloved tutor. This captivating novel brilliantly combines in-depth research—author Margaret Landon drew from Siamese court records and Anna’s own writings—with richly imagined details to create a lush portrait of 1860s Siam. As a Rodgers & Hammerstein Broadway musical and an Academy Award–winning film, the story of Anna and the King of Siam has enchanted millions over the years. It is a gripping tale of cultural differences and shared humanity that invites readers into a vivid and sensory world populated by unforgettable characters.

Romance of the Harem

Romance of the Harem PDF Author: Anna Leonowens
Publisher: Applewood Books
ISBN: 1429040157
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 326

Get Book Here

Book Description
This Is A New Release Of The Original 1873 Edition.

Masked

Masked PDF Author: Alfred Habegger
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Pres
ISBN: 0299298337
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 561

Get Book Here

Book Description
A brave British widow goes to Siam and—by dint of her principled and indomitable character—inspires that despotic nation to abolish slavery and absolute rule: this appealing legend first took shape after the Civil War when Anna Leonowens came to America from Bangkok and succeeded in becoming a celebrity author and lecturer. Three decades after her death, in the 1940s and 1950s, the story would be transformed into a powerful Western myth by Margaret Landon’s best-selling book Anna and the King of Siam and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical The King and I. But who was Leonowens and why did her story take hold? Although it has been known for some time that she was of Anglo-Indian parentage and that her tales about the Siamese court are unreliable, not until now, with the publication of Masked, has there been a deeply researched account of her extraordinary life. Alfred Habegger, an award-winning biographer, draws on the archives of five continents and recent Thai-language scholarship to disclose the complex person behind the mask and the troubling facts behind the myth. He also ponders the curious fit between Leonowens’s compelling fabrications and the New World’s innocent dreams—in particular the dream that democracy can be spread through quick and easy interventions. Exploring the full historic complexity of what it once meant to pass as white, Masked pays close attention to Leonowens’s midlevel origins in British India, her education at a Bombay charity school for Eurasian children, her material and social milieu in Australia and Singapore, the stresses she endured in Bangkok as a working widow, the latent melancholy that often afflicted her, the problematic aspects of her self-invention, and the welcome she found in America, where a circle of elite New England abolitionists who knew nothing about Southeast Asia gave her their uncritical support. Her embellished story would again capture America’s imagination as World War II ended and a newly interventionist United States looked toward Asia. Best Books for General Audiences, selected by the American Association of School Librarians Best Regional Special Interest Boosk, selected by the Public Library Reviewers

Bombay Anna

Bombay Anna PDF Author: Susan Morgan
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520933990
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Get Book Here

Book Description
If you thought you knew the story of Anna in The King and I, think again. As this riveting biography shows, the real life of Anna Leonowens was far more fascinating than the beloved story of the Victorian governess who went to work for the King of Siam. To write this definitive account, Susan Morgan traveled around the globe and discovered new information that has eluded researchers for years. Anna was born a poor, mixed-race army brat in India, and what followed is an extraordinary nineteenth-century story of savvy self-invention, wild adventure, and far-reaching influence. At a time when most women stayed at home, Anna Leonowens traveled all over the world, witnessed some of the most fascinating events of the Age of Empire, and became a well-known travel writer, journalist, teacher, and lecturer. She remains the one and only foreigner to have spent significant time inside the royal harem of Siam. She emigrated to the United States, crossed all of Russia on her own just before the revolution, and moved to Canada, where she publicly defended the rights of women and the working class. The book also gives an engrossing account of how and why Anna became an icon of American culture in The King and I and its many adaptations.

Spirit Matters

Spirit Matters PDF Author: J. Jeffrey Franklin
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 1501715461
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287

Get Book Here

Book Description
Orthodox Christianity, scientific materialism, and alternative religions -- The evolution of occult spirituality in Victorian England and the representative case of Edward Bulwer-Lytton -- Anthony Trollope's religion : the orthodox/heterodox boundary -- The influences of Buddhism and comparative religion on Matthew Arnold's theology -- Interpenetration of religion and national politics in Great Britain and Sri Lanka : William Knighton's Forest life in Ceylon -- Identity, genre, and religion in Anna Leonowens' The English governess at the Siamese court -- Ancient Egyptian religion in late-Victorian England -- The economics of immortality : the demi-immortal Oriental, Enlightenment vitalism, and political economy in Bram Stoker's Dracula -- Conclusion : from Victorian occultism to new age spiritualities

Siamese Harem Life

Siamese Harem Life PDF Author: Anna Harriette Leonowens
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9780710306920
Category : Harems
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
The author is famous for her book "The English Governess of the Siamese Court," which later became the musical "The King and I," and for her biography entitled "Anna and the King of Siam," She gives here an account of her stay at the Siamese Court.

Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron: Noted During a Residence with His Lordship at Pisa, in the Years 1821 and 1822

Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron: Noted During a Residence with His Lordship at Pisa, in the Years 1821 and 1822 PDF Author: Thomas Medwin
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : British
Languages : en
Pages : 310

Get Book Here

Book Description


Anna and the King

Anna and the King PDF Author: Margaret Landon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : British
Languages : en
Pages : 250

Get Book Here

Book Description


The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China

The Straits of Malacca, Indo-China, and China PDF Author: John Thomson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : China
Languages : en
Pages : 874

Get Book Here

Book Description