Still thinking about A C Underwood's implied reader...

I have now read seven chapters of this book.  One thing that has struck me is how each chapter seems to be, roughly, here's a description of what happened, now here're are some examples of the fine Baptist fellows involved.  As I ended each chapter I've wondered why it's presented like this.  What kind of reader needs to hear how Mr X came of common stock, was largely uneducated but taught himself Hebrew, Latin and Greek by the time he was seven, married advantageously and lived happily ever after in the service of the Baptist cause?  Yes, I have merged several characters, but I keep getting the feeling that I'm reading the exploits of Biggles or Dan Dare or Roy Rogers (hence the post title, borrowed from the Elton John song 'Roy Rodgers').  I seem to recall reading somewhere recently that The Eagle and  Boy's Own were orginally published by some church or parachurch organisation, and included stories of Biblical heroes designed to inspire disicpleship in boys.  The little pen portraits and tales of spiritual daring-do feel as if it would take little to transform them into strip cartoons or radio adventure serials - especially the delightful bit I found on page 186 about William Gadsby, "How he came to baptize a sometime Fellow of Worcester College, Oxford, will be told in our next chapter.'  I can almost hear the radio announcer saying 'tune in again next week for the next exciting installment of William Gadsby special agent.'

Assuming that this is a fair (i.e. justified) reading of the book so far, what does it say about the implied reader?  It seems to that the reader is male, and young; it also seems to suggest that he perhaps needs heroes or role models.  Perhaps the privations of war mean that his education was cut short or in some measure inadequate; no matter there were plenty of similarly uneducated young men who were called into God's work.  Perhaps he has grown up with a diet of radio or film heroes, maybe he did read the exploits of Dan Dare of whoever; well here are real life heroes whose exploits are just as exciting.  Perhaps he wonders if he is really up to his calling; here are men fulfilling theirs.

In a totally mischivous moment, I imagined Underwood handing out to his students posters of the 75/76 Baptist worthies (here) to pin up on their bedroom walls rather than Hollywood pinups, so that these great and good men might become their heroes. 

Bonnie Tyler (yup, there's no limit to my lowbrow references today!) in one of her songs asks

Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where’s the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?

Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need

I need a hero
I'm holding out for at hero 'till the end of the night
He's gotta be strong
And he's gotta be fast
And he's gotta be fresh from the fight

 

OK, this is a girly song, about a hero to sweep her away on his white horse, but might it not be a question that haunts Underwood's readers?  Who are the heroes they can emulate as they enter the brave new world of post war Britain?

How much this is me going off on some total flight of fancy, I'm not sure.  I just sense that if I am to 'create' a mental picture of the implied reader, I need to get my head around why Underwood includes all these vignettes.  Maybe there is something that rings true in the Elton John song...

And Roy Rogers is riding tonight
Returning to our silver screens
Comic book characters never grow old
Evergreen heroes whose stories were told
Oh the great sequin cowboy who sings of the plains
Of roundups and rustlers and home on the range
Turn on the t.v., shut out the lights
Roy rogers is riding tonight

 

The characters described by Underwood are all long dead and largely forgotten - but the mystery is that as he describes them, they take on the 'comic book quality' of ageless heroes designed to inspire a fresh generation of young men to service in the Baptist cause.

No doubt some clever perosn has written a worthy tome on this in relation to the Bible and how we imagined the characters we read of.  And yes, it's going off at a tangent from what I'm meant to thinking about.  But it is interesting.

Oh, and just in case you ever wondered, Colman's mustard was founded by a Baptist (as was Chiver's jam (Hartley's was Methodist)) - important things to know next time you're in the supermarket!!