Costa (Luis Toscar); Sebastian (Gael Gabriel Bernal), director and writer, Even the Rain, directed by Iciar Bollain, screenplay Paul Laverty, producer Juan Gordon Dear friends and readers, Strongly recommended film: Even the rain It’s the story of a group of people trying to make a film: they are the individuals we are to see history/politics [...]
Archive for March, 2011
Even the Rain: A True Must-See
Posted in 20th century culture, film studies, historical fiction, political novels/films, politics on March 28, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Foremother Poet: Helen Hunt Jackson (1830?-1885)
Posted in 19th century poetry, 20th century culture, feminism, Foremother Poetry, novels of sensibility, Poetry, political novels/films, Travel Writing, women's novels, women's poetry, women's art, womens' films, tagged Helen Hunt Jackson, Loretta young, Maria Fiske, Ramona on March 26, 2011 | 4 Comments »
Helen Hunt Jackson at her writing desk in Colorado Springs Dear friends and readers, This week’s foremother poet blog is on Helen Hunt Jackson now known among those who read and care about social justice as a strong fighter for Native American rights, a progressive social activist, travel writer, poet of lovely lyrical poems of [...]
Michael Haneke’s The Piano Teacher out of Jelinek
Posted in 20th century culture, feminism, Film adaptations, political novels/films, women's novels, womens' films, tagged Isabelle Huppert, Michael Haneke on March 24, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Isabelle Huppert as Erika, the piano teacher, desperately reaching out I can give you my loneliness, my darkness, the hunger of my heart; I am trying to bribe you with uncertainty, with danger, with defeat” —Jorge Luis Borges, from “Two English Poems” Dear friends and readers, This past week I watched two memorable and intelligent [...]
Foremother poet: Elizabeth Tollett (1694-1754)
Posted in 18th century, feminism, Foremother Poetry, Poetry, women's poetry, women's art, tagged Anne Finch, foremother poet, Gainsborough, Horatian imitations, learned woman, Marie Bashkirtseff, Mary Wortley Montagu on March 21, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Angelica Kauffmann (1741-1907), The Muse of Composition Dear friends and readers, My woman poet for this week is someone I came across first as an admirer of Anne Finch’s poetry: “In Memory of the Countess of Winchelsea”, a fine ode where we see how a woman poet can look to an admired predecessor as someone [...]
Picasso at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, & little of exclusionary cities goes a long way
Posted in 20th century culture, museums, painting, visual art, tagged Jane Jacobs, Randall Jerrell on March 19, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Picasso, Massacre in Korea, 1951 Dear friends and readers, The Admiral and I tried another day trip yesterday. We went to Richmond, Virginia, to see the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and its special traveling exhibit of Picasso, and walk about to see something of the city. It was more than a little disappointing. Not [...]
Canaletto’s world on a brisk sunny day; Or, the Venetian art marketplace
Posted in 18th century, painting, Travel Writing, visual art, tagged Guardi on March 14, 2011 | 19 Comments »
Canaletto, San Christoforo, San Michele and Marano from the Fuondamenta Nuove, about 1722 Dear friends and readers, Jim, Izzy and I set forth on the first of our planned day trips on a brisk sunny day — around 10 this morning. We went into DC, walked about, visited the National Gallery, two special exhibits and [...]
Foremother Poet: Anne Wharton (1659-85)
Posted in 17th century, 18th century, biography, feminism, Foremother Poetry, later 17th century, women's poetry, women's art, tagged Anne Finch, aphra behn, Germaine Greer, John Wilmot on March 12, 2011 | 2 Comments »
Antonio Canaletto (1697-1768), London, Whitehall and the Privy Gardens from Richmond House (1747) Dear friends and readers, A fifth foremother poet. In Slipshod Sibyls: Recognition and Rejection and the Woman Poet, Germaine Greer’s moving “Rochester’s Niece” on the life and poetry of Anne Wharton reveals a brilliant young woman poet whose life was brief and [...]
Spring break: Seasonal Moment
Posted in Austen, Autobiographical, Poldark, Seasonal, women's poetry, tagged Ingeborg Bachmann, Randall Jarrell on March 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Demelza goes fishing to provide food (1975-76 Poldark, Episode 11) Dear Friends and Fellow Readers, GMU’s spring break is upon us, so I’ve decided to write a blog about where I am in my life just now. Seasonal taking-stock. A while back the Admiral and I decided we would not go to the 18th century [...]
Foremother Poet: Isabella di Morra (c. 1520-1545?)
Posted in European Renaissance, feminism, Foremother Poetry, Italian culture, Poetry, women's poetry, women's art, tagged Frances Power Cobbe, Isabella di Morra, Judith Wright on March 7, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Castello di Valsinni where Isabella di Morra lived out most of her brief life Dear friends and readers, A fourth in my new series of foremother poet blogs. Unfortunately Isabella di Morra’s fame (such as it is) derives from her having been beat to death (it’s said in more than one source) by 3 of [...]
Not Quite a Year of Reading Gaskell: My Lady Ludlow & Sylvia’s Lovers
Posted in 18th century, 19th century novels, Elizabeth Gaskell, historical fiction, novels of sensibility, political novels/films, romance, suzy mckee charnas, Uncategorized, women's novels, women's art, womens' films, tagged elizabeth gaskell, French revolution, Lady Ludlow, pressgangs, smuggling on March 5, 2011 | 5 Comments »
An illustration for Gaskell’s Ruth Dear Friends and readers, I’m sad to have to report we seem to have come to an end of our not quite a year of reading Elizabeth Gaskell on my two listserv communities. What had enabled us to keep on came to an end: three volumes of short stories (Cousin [...]
