In this novel Francis Poldark (Clive Francis) attempts to kill himself Dear friends and readers, Those who read my blog regularly will know this spring I fell in love with the 1975-76 mini-series Poldark, and have been watching them slowly ever since. I’m half-way through the first half of season 2 (1977-78). About half-way through [...]
Archive for July, 2010
Winston Graham’s Jeremy Poldark: in the midst of life there is death (Poldark 3, Cornwall 1790-91))
Posted in 18th century, Costume drama, Film adaptations, historical fiction, medicine, Poldark, political novels/films, Winston Graham, tagged Poldark on July 30, 2010 | 19 Comments »
Summer Music — & tiny kittens amid the Pemberley splendor of the Castleton grounds
Posted in 20th century culture, cats, Music, Musical, Plays, Poetry, Theater, tagged Capitol Fringe, castleton, il trittico, lonny smith, maris wicker, master pedro's puppet show, opera. lorin maazel, padrevia, puccini on July 26, 2010 | 3 Comments »
One of the puppets: the muslim abductor of Melisendra (also represented a puppet, a lovely romance lady in a medieval-like pink dress), from Master Pedro’s Puppet Show (at Castleton festival) Lonny Smith, Maris Wicker, Love Noir: the music of Lenny, Kurt and Harold (cabaret at Capitol Fringe) Dear friends and readers, I’ve got five summer [...]
Capital Fringe Festival: ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore & Medea
Posted in feminism, Musical, Plays, Seasonal, Theater, women's poetry, women's art, tagged Capitol Fringe, Greek tragedy, Jacobean tragedy, lysistrata, Medea on July 21, 2010 | 5 Comments »
Medea (Melissa Fenton), Euripides’s Medea, Englished Annabella (Jessica Shearer Wilson), ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore Dear Friends and Readers, We know it’s summer. Weeks of 90 plus degree heat, many days “feeling like” over 100 (because of high humidity), a glaring sun that burns my skin if I am so foolish as to get into [...]
Winston Graham’s Demelza: Mistress Poldark, Herstory (Poldark novel 2, Cornwall 1788-90))
Posted in 18th century, Film adaptations, historical fiction, Movies, Poldark, political novels/films, Winston Graham, tagged Cornwall, mining, Poldark mini-series, Poldark novels, romans fleuves, smuggling on July 18, 2010 | 19 Comments »
Demelza, contemplative: After a few years marriage to Ross Dear friends and readers, Having finished Winston’s Demelza (Novel 2 in Graham Winston’s Poldark series) about a week ago, I started Jeremy Poldark (Novel 3) last night, and was delighted to find myself in yet another superb novel by this man. Even though I’ve now watched [...]
The Object of Your Affection: the high risk of falling in love
Posted in 20th century culture, Austen, feminism, Film adaptations, Movies, Plays, women's art, womens' films, tagged gay texts, heidis chronicles, isn't it romantic, Jennifer Aniston, Nigel Hawthorne, romantic comedy on July 11, 2010 | 17 Comments »
George Hanson (Paul Rudd) and Nina (Jennifer Aniston) have a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers moment during their Friday night dancing lessons, from 1998 The Object of My Affection Miss Giest aka “poor Miss Taylor that was” [Twink Caplan] and Mr Hall aka Mr Weston [Wallace Shawn] talk on a park bench (1996 Clueless, free adaptation of [...]
Elena Ferrante’s Days of Abandonment — the other side of silence
Posted in 20th century culture, feminism, Italian culture, women's novels, women's art, tagged Margaret Drabble, margarita buy, natalia ginzburg on July 9, 2010 | 7 Comments »
I giorni dell’abbandono by Elena Ferrante Futile the winds To a heart in port, Done with the compass, Done with the chart. (Emily Dickinson’s “Wild Nights,” second stanza) Dear friends and readers, A few weeks ago a good friend, Kathy, who writes a thoughtful varied blog on the books she reads and her experiences, wrote [...]
Austen’s modest work space; or, Spaces of the Self
Posted in Austen, women's art on July 5, 2010 | 4 Comments »
Jane Austen’s writing desk, photograph from Chawton Cottage Dear friends and readers, Over on WWTTA a friend sent to the list the URL for a perceptive humane brief article by Claire Tomalin. It’s a meditation on Jane Austen’s writing space photographed above. Do peruse it. Tomalin brings out how touching this little writing space is. [...]
Jenny Uglow’s humane Hogarth; travel writing as art biography/history
Posted in 18th century, biography, painting, political novels/films, Travel Writing, Uncategorized, tagged henry fielding, Jame Quinn, jenny uglow, Tom Jones on July 2, 2010 | 10 Comments »
Jenny Uglow in her study, recent photo William Hogarth (1697-1764) Shrimp Girl Dear friends and readers, About two weeks ago now I finished reading Jenny Uglow’s marvelous biography, Hogarth: A life and a world. The pleasures of this book come from Uglow’s genuine gift for travel writing, and analysis of art, her thorough knowledge of [...]
