REVIEW: Dimsie among the Prefects
Dimsie Among the Prefects: Dorita Fairlie Bruce. Oxford. Reprinted 1949
I thought that I had bought four Dimsies in one go, but it was only three, so, after this, only one to go.
This is set in the period of Dimsie’s schooldays that I’m used to than the last book. Dimsie is appointed prefect by Miss Yorke, over her pal, Rosamund Garth, strictly speaking in terms of seniority, but, Miss Yorke, having come to the school at the same time as Dimsie pooh-poohs that, being one of the Paragon Headmistress types. Dimsie is more worried by it than Rosamund, who likes an easy life, although she’s worried that she won’t get one this term, as her troublesome niece, Hilary is coming to school.
As with ‘The Senior Prefect/Dimsie Goes to School’, there’s a junior/senior split focus. Hilary and her penchant for adventures find kindred spirits in need of a leader in Dormitory no. 6. Meanwhile, Dimsie, well, Dimsie is always right. I didn’t feel that Fairlie Bruce followed this through entirely. Most of the prefects are distracted from their duty to look after the whole school by a special exam that most of them are taking, Pamela, the sports prefect has to ‘make do’ with Middles in her teams, and Dimsie seems to be picking up a lot of the slack, although the Anti-Soppists rouse themselves to be quite worried about Jean’s mania for poetry (which leads to greater problems in ' Dimsie, Head Girl', of course). In fact, they seem to have lost a good deal of their common sense and a crowd consensus in taking the easy, if high-handed option develops, as happened with the seniors and prefects of Dimsie Goes to school. When a ‘ghost’ is sighted at Jane’s, and the rumour spreads that it is the founding Iane herself, from whom the school takes its name, although the veiled figure in grey looks nothing like her rather dumpy portrait, no-one listens to Dimsie’s eminently sensible suggestion to take it to the headmistress. This leads to a lot more scares than it needed to.
There probably is a law of diminishing returns in reading a series like this in one go - puckish Hilary’s determination to ‘do things that haven’t been forbidden yet’, but obedience to the rule of law when they have been are Dimsie all over again. She also has what the author and prefects point out are mad ideas from BOYS school stories (Hilary’s upbringing doesn’t really make sense if you think about it too much. Why would she be devouring all these books when Primrose and Rosamund turned out to be much more ladylike?) The author emphasises these similarities, and I am found of familiarity as much as any reader, but too much similarity leaves you thinking ‘lazy’.
And, as ever, the Anti-Soppist ideal seems rather wonky to me. But the kids’ belief that they should be punished the right amount for their misdeeds is funnier and more interesting, though what their elders and betters are trying to instil n them is taking responsibility for their actions before they do them and realising that trespassing for conkers or repeatedly making their floor believe that ghosts are afoot are not on.
Anyway, we have a daring rescue at the end (what els are schools on the coast good for?) and Dimise is in danger of never being able to walk again because of it, and some of the seniors and the school realise that they have been slack or too focused on one thing and let Dimsie run around and pick up the pieces for too long. I don’t know, maybe I could have done with more penitence about that.
Anyway, I am currently reading A Company of Swans, and it's delightful.
I thought that I had bought four Dimsies in one go, but it was only three, so, after this, only one to go.
This is set in the period of Dimsie’s schooldays that I’m used to than the last book. Dimsie is appointed prefect by Miss Yorke, over her pal, Rosamund Garth, strictly speaking in terms of seniority, but, Miss Yorke, having come to the school at the same time as Dimsie pooh-poohs that, being one of the Paragon Headmistress types. Dimsie is more worried by it than Rosamund, who likes an easy life, although she’s worried that she won’t get one this term, as her troublesome niece, Hilary is coming to school.
As with ‘The Senior Prefect/Dimsie Goes to School’, there’s a junior/senior split focus. Hilary and her penchant for adventures find kindred spirits in need of a leader in Dormitory no. 6. Meanwhile, Dimsie, well, Dimsie is always right. I didn’t feel that Fairlie Bruce followed this through entirely. Most of the prefects are distracted from their duty to look after the whole school by a special exam that most of them are taking, Pamela, the sports prefect has to ‘make do’ with Middles in her teams, and Dimsie seems to be picking up a lot of the slack, although the Anti-Soppists rouse themselves to be quite worried about Jean’s mania for poetry (which leads to greater problems in ' Dimsie, Head Girl', of course). In fact, they seem to have lost a good deal of their common sense and a crowd consensus in taking the easy, if high-handed option develops, as happened with the seniors and prefects of Dimsie Goes to school. When a ‘ghost’ is sighted at Jane’s, and the rumour spreads that it is the founding Iane herself, from whom the school takes its name, although the veiled figure in grey looks nothing like her rather dumpy portrait, no-one listens to Dimsie’s eminently sensible suggestion to take it to the headmistress. This leads to a lot more scares than it needed to.
There probably is a law of diminishing returns in reading a series like this in one go - puckish Hilary’s determination to ‘do things that haven’t been forbidden yet’, but obedience to the rule of law when they have been are Dimsie all over again. She also has what the author and prefects point out are mad ideas from BOYS school stories (Hilary’s upbringing doesn’t really make sense if you think about it too much. Why would she be devouring all these books when Primrose and Rosamund turned out to be much more ladylike?) The author emphasises these similarities, and I am found of familiarity as much as any reader, but too much similarity leaves you thinking ‘lazy’.
And, as ever, the Anti-Soppist ideal seems rather wonky to me. But the kids’ belief that they should be punished the right amount for their misdeeds is funnier and more interesting, though what their elders and betters are trying to instil n them is taking responsibility for their actions before they do them and realising that trespassing for conkers or repeatedly making their floor believe that ghosts are afoot are not on.
Anyway, we have a daring rescue at the end (what els are schools on the coast good for?) and Dimise is in danger of never being able to walk again because of it, and some of the seniors and the school realise that they have been slack or too focused on one thing and let Dimsie run around and pick up the pieces for too long. I don’t know, maybe I could have done with more penitence about that.
Anyway, I am currently reading A Company of Swans, and it's delightful.