………………………… What things have we seen Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been So nimble, and so full of subtle flame, As if that every one from whence they came Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest And had resolved to live a fool the rest Of his dull life! [...]
Archive for January, 2011
“They do it with the lights on!” American Shakespeare Group in Staunton, Va
Posted in Renaissance, Theater on January 31, 2011 | 9 Comments »
Some thoughts on “costume gothics”: aka film adaptation
Posted in Costume drama, Film adaptations, film studies, historical fiction, Poldark, Trollope, women's art, womens' films, tagged Geogiana Spencer, marital rape, ralph fiennes, the duchess on January 28, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Long shot: The Duchess walking away from the Grey family after giving her newborn to that family. By contrast, Duke kept mistress as the duchess’s companion, & his illegitimate children he has too, a daughter from a liaison Georgiana mothered. At the same time how beautiful the scene … Keira Knightley in Gainsborough style hat: [...]
Do you have someone to go on vacation with? Mike Leigh’s Another Year
Posted in 20th century culture, Movies, politics, Uncategorized, tagged Another Year, Imelda Staunton, Jim Broadbent, MIke Leigh on January 25, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Mary (Leslie Manville), all vulnerability, sitting between a quizzical Gerri (Ruth Sheen) and her ever so relaxed son, Joe (Oliver Maltman) Dear friends and readers, On Sunday Izzy and I ventured forth in the brutal cold to see Mike Leigh’s Another Year. I so enjoyed Happy-Go-Lucky, admired his High Hopes at the time, and Topsy-Turvy [...]
She had seated herself again … for life, as it were
Posted in Autobiographical, Seasonal, teaching on January 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Frank Currituck Benson 186201951), Currituck Marshes, North Carolina (1926) Dear friends and readers, A brief seasonal blog: tonight in Alexandria we are experiencing the kind of cold that threatens the life of anyone who has to spend the night out in it. I did finish and sent off my paper on the film adaptations of [...]
Eugene O’Neill’s Beyond the Horizon at American Century Theater in Arlington
Posted in 20th century culture, Plays, Theater, tagged O'Neill on January 17, 2011 | 3 Comments »
I have an inward treasure, born with me, which can keep me alive if all extraneous delights should be withheld; or offered only at a price I cannot afford to pay” —–Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre Beyond the Horizon: from another production, probably Andy and Robert as the play opens Dear friends and readers, Six years [...]
Winston Graham’s v Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie
Posted in 20th century culture, feminism, Film adaptations, film studies, gothic, historical fiction, medicine, Movies, Poldark, Winston Graham, tagged Hitchcock, marital rape, marnie, Rhetoric of Fiction on January 13, 2011 | 8 Comments »
Marnie (Tippi Hedren) all distress and the caring tender Mark (Sean Connery) from Hitchcock’s 1960s Marnie) Dear friends and readers, I’ve not given up on Winston Graham because his 8th Poldark novel, The Stranger from the Sea, revealed a precipitious falling off. A series of 7 remarkable historical novels set in the 18th century is [...]
Elizabeth Gaskell festival still going on!
Posted in 19th century novels, Elizabeth Gaskell, gothic, historical fiction, novels of sensibility, women's novels, women's art, tagged Grey Woman, John Middleton, My French Master on January 7, 2011 | 11 Comments »
Camille Pissarro, Morning Light on Snow Dear friends and readers, Several months ago now (!), back in September I wrote a blog about how on WWTTA we had begun a reading and discussion of a group of Gaskell’s short stories and novellas that are online as well as in print in three separate collections (Cousin [...]
Kate Chisholm’s My Hungry Hell: an attack on anorexic women
Posted in 20th century culture, feminism, politics, tagged autism, hilary mantel, kate chisholm, Maria Palazzoli, self-starvation on January 2, 2011 | 29 Comments »
Isabelle Caro, dead at 28: she weighed 56 pounds Dear friends and readers, I’ve had a policy for quite a while now of not writing about books or movies which are bad. It takes time to write a blog, to write about something awful seems counterproductive: after all, ignoring it is the best way to [...]
