Adrian Mole
Adrian Albert Mole (born April 2, 1967 ) is the fictional protagonist of a book series by the British author Sue Townsend . The books are written in the form of a diary. The series comprises a total of eight titles, and there are also two compilations that combine several volumes. The first two books were not only very popular in the author's home country, they also serve as a reflection of the Thatcher period in Great Britain in the 1980s.
The volumes, especially the first two, are now considered classics of British youth literature .
content
The books are about the pubescent boy Adrian Mole (at the beginning of the series) who keeps a diary about his life. He lives with his parents in Leicester and is an only child until the birth of his sister Rosie, who is 15 years old . Although his family comes from the classic British working class , Adrian sees himself as an intellectual . While the first two volumes focus primarily on Adrian's friends and family, the later books also focus more on Adrian's political views, for example in Volume 5, Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years , a follower of Tony Blair . The title of the 6th volume, Adrian Mole and the Axis of Evil , as well as the content, refers directly to the Iraq war in 2003.
Adrian's youth in the first two volumes is shaped by the relationship between his parents, who split up, have affairs and later find each other again. Adrian has tried his hand at writing since the beginning of his writing, but his offers of poems and radio plays to the radio station Radio Four are repeatedly rejected. In order to broaden his literary horizons, Adrian reads works by classical authors, for example Tolstoy or Charlotte Brontë . The author repeatedly uses Adrian's passion for books, especially in the first volumes, as an opportunity for subtle allusions. So the reader can feel superior to the young Mole if he catches him in his numerous errors, for example when George Eliot or George Sand are mistaken for men. Another example is Adrian's wish in the first volume to become a veterinarian after reading George Orwell's Animal Farm - the protagonist apparently completely escaped the political statement.
All of the books in the series are shaped by Adrian's feelings for Pandora Braithwaite, who is new to his class during the first volume and begins a political career in the later books, becoming a member of the House of Commons and junior minister in the Ministry of the Environment under Tony Blair.
Emergence
The character of Adrian Mole was originally invented by Sue Townsend for a 30-minute radio play for BBC Radio 4. Initially the character was still called Nigel Mole, but the name was changed before the first book was published due to the likelihood of confusion with Nigel Molesworth, a character from the British Children's literature, changed.
Parallels
The biographies of Adrian Mole and his author show some parallels, such as the place of birth. Townsend was also able to refer to the school experiences of her own children, who are Adrian's generation. Like her protagonist, Sue Townsend also worked for English radio, but her success as a writer is far more important than Adrian's. In the sixth volume in particular, the similarities between Nigel, Adrian's homosexual friend, and the author are unmistakable: Nigel falls ill and becomes blind . Due to her own blindness caused by diabetes , the author announced after the publication of Volume 6, Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction ( Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction ) in 2004 that this would be the last Adrian Mole- Book be. In the meantime, however, two more Adrian Mole volumes have been published: The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999-2001 in 2008, and The Prostrate Years (2009).
Use in other media
Following the books' success, a six-part mini-series was produced for ITV television in 1985 , with Gian Sammarco as Adrian and Julie Walters as his mother. The series ran from September 16 to October 21. Two further series followed in 1987 (second volume) and 2001 ( Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years ) with a different line-up.
In 1985 Mosaic Publishing brought out a text adventure for the most popular home computers of the time , the title of which is identical to that of the first book. Although the game uses graphics, it cannot be compared to other well-known graphic adventures of the time, as it does not allow text input, but only provides three options that determine the further course. Another part followed in 1987, named after the second book and using the same concept.
List of books
- The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ (1982)
- The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole (1985), published together with the first volume in German under the title Das Intimleben des Adrian Mole, 13 3/4 years
- The True Confessions of Adrian Albert Mole (1989)
- Adrian Mole: The Wilderness Years (1993), published in German 1995 under the title Adrian Moles wilde dreams. Secret Diaries, Part Four.
- Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years (1999), published in German 2007 under the title Die Cappuccino-Jahre. An Adrian Mole novel
- Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction (2004), published in German 2006 under the title Adrian Mole and the axis of evil
- The Lost Diaries of Adrian Mole, 1999-2001 (2008), published in German in 2009 under the title Die Verschollenen Tagebücher des Adrian Mole
- Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years (2009), published in German 2011 under the title The Diaries of Adrian Mole: The Difficult Years After 39
Web links
- Sue Townsend on her publisher's website
- Adrian Moles Page
- Entries about the first and second Adrian Mole Adventure on Moby Games
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article668430.ece
- ↑ http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141041384,00.html?strSrchSql=adrian+mole/The_Lost_Diaries_of_Adrian_Mole,_1999-2001_Sue_Townsend ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info : The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
