Cast of 1932 film Black and White touring Soviet Union, 1932 Dear friends and readers, I’ve not written about Women’s Review of Books on the listservs I’m on of late, mostly I’ve been too busy, or they have not as a whole struck me. This fall issue seemed to me of such high caliber I [...]
Archive for September, 2011
Women’s Review of Books: The myth of naturally conservative women; Gulag actress, public, poetic, illustrating women
Posted in 20th century culture, feminism, women's memoirs, women's novels, women's poetry, women's art, womens' films, tagged women's review of books on September 28, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Handy list: Winston Graham’s Poldark, Cornwall & other books
Posted in 18th century novels, Film adaptations, historical fiction, mystery-suspense, Poldark, political novels/films, Winston Graham, tagged Cornwall, Poldark on September 24, 2011 | 3 Comments »
Bronze Age Tomb, Cornwall Gentle readers, I hope I do not try your patience by placing a concise survey of the Poldark series, together with the counterparts of each novel in the mini-series, and a list of fiction and non-fiction by Graham I’ve read thus far, two closely related books by other authors, and two [...]
An argument for not trying to decrease prostitution (trafficking in women) or help prostitutes — at least as presently done
Posted in 20th century culture, feminism, politics, tagged female archetypes, misogyny, prostitution, violence towards women, wife abuse on September 20, 2011 | 6 Comments »
Brief review and summary Dear friends and readers, I’ve been puzzled for quite a while over the terms of debates feminists have about prostitution. Well-meaning feminists stigmatize and inveigh against those working to rescue and help prostitutes (which includes Emma Thompson who travels about trying to help women by lending her acting talent and prestige). [...]
Winston Graham’s The Little Walls
Posted in 20th century culture, mystery-suspense, novels of sensibility, Winston Graham, tagged Susan Hill, wife abuse on September 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Little Walls, an ancient “red light” district of Amsterdam Dear friends and readers, I’ve gotten into my penultimate phase of my project towards a paper on Winston Graham’s Poldark first 7 novels. I read the plot-design of the first novel, am nearly finished outlining the plot-designs of the next three, and then I can just [...]
Lynda La Plante’s Prime Suspect starring Helen Mirren
Posted in 20th century culture, feminism, film studies, mystery-suspense, political novels/films, womens' films, tagged heroine's text on September 12, 2011 | 5 Comments »
The young Helen Mirren as Marlene Dietrich Dear friends and readers, It’s not uncommon of me to do something at least ten years after everyone else, but twenty may be pushing it. At any rate, I finally watched Prime Suspect, Series 1 last week. It held me absorbed straight through no matter how late I [...]
Pleasant Work ahead: Liberty in the Poldark novels
Posted in 18th century, 18th century novels, Conferences, historical fiction, Poldark, tagged Poldark on September 10, 2011 | 1 Comment »
Still from 1975-76 Poldark series: Verity Poldark (Norma Streader) dancing with her chosen suitor, Andrew Blamey (Jonathan Newt) Dear Friends and readers, Yesterday I wrote a proposal for the Brooklyn AGM for JASNA, and sent it to the appropriate committee person “’I am not romantic you know. I never was’: how Jane Austen’s letters enable [...]
A la francaise: Sarah’s Key, The Names of Love, & The Hedgehog
Posted in 20th century culture, Film adaptations, film studies, French culture, French novels, women's novels, women's art, womens' films, tagged heroine's texts on September 4, 2011 | 7 Comments »
Renee (Josiane Balasko) and Paloma (Garance Le Guillermic) hug tightly (The Hedgehog) Dear friends and readers, Izzy and I continue our unplanned French Indian summer: sparkling, moving films. Just now French films seem the finest, most intelligent, unexpectedly telling movies in our neck of the world’s woods. We began with Sarah’s Key (Elle s’appelait Sarah [...]
Foremother poet: Stevie Smith (1902-71)
Posted in feminism, Foremother Poetry, Poetry, women's poetry, women's art, tagged book illustrations, foremother poet on September 3, 2011 | 10 Comments »
Stevie Smith’s drawing underneath her poem, “My Soul” Dear friends and readers, Stevie Smith is one of my favorite 20th century poets. I’ve been wanting to write a foremother poet blog for her, and waiting until I could re-see the movie, Stevie (1978), based on her life, and starring Glenda Jackson (director Robert Enders, writer [...]
