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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Oct 20, 2021 12:42:16 GMT
Still, I know Mother Superior would have a frowny-face if she knew you were perusing such work. Are they the works of Satan? They can't be as evil as the work of Russell Kirk, who people on here seem to think is beyond the pale for being conservative. Instead of stars, please use the rating system below of conservative thinkers so I know which book is the most shocking: Samuel Taylor Coleridge - Horrid. Edmund Burke - Very Horrid. Klemens von Metternich - Very Very Horrid. Joseph-Marie, comte de Maistre - Very Very Very Horrid. Russell Kirk - Very Very Very Very Horrid. and, to be used only on rare occasions: Roger Scruton - Off the Charts for Horridness. Thank you.
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Post by Dr Strange on Oct 20, 2021 15:17:49 GMT
Sarah Waters in History Workshop Journal No.47, Spring 1999, p.317, says: "what is surprising about Chris Hunt - and it's something that GMP (Gay Men's Press) go to some lengths, in their marketing and publicity, to conceal - is that she is a female writer, implicitly posing as a gay male one." www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4289622.pdfApparently Waters' own Tipping The Velvet (1998) is something of an homage to Street Lavender, with lesbian characters taking the places of the gay male characters in Street Lavender. The only thing by Waters that I have read is The Little Stranger (2009), which is a bona fide ghost story. I quite liked the book, though it is probably a bit over-long, but I couldn't be bothered with the recent TV adaption.
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 20, 2021 16:06:44 GMT
The only thing by Waters that I have read is The Little Stranger (2009), which is a bona fide ghost story. THE LITTLE STRANGER is extremely boring. Waters's AFFINITY is fantastic, however. Read it now!
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Post by helrunar on Oct 20, 2021 17:55:51 GMT
I know very little about Chris Hunt, but I did hear years ago that "he" was actually "she." It did not come as that much of a surprise because women have written some of the best gay male novels in the 20th century. And some of them are lesbians but they have a deeper insight into the emotional dynamics of our relationships than many male writers do. Mary Renault and Bryher were both excellent authors. I don't know why Bryher's work isn't better known--the books are hard to find, and I suppose that has something to do with it. Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset which is an excellent, but quite complex book, tells an imaginative reconstruction of the original story of King Arthur as a Romano-British war leader, and there's a very subtly described male companionship with some non-sexual romantic colorings at the heart of the book. rosemarysutcliff.net/summaries-and-synopses-of-rosemary-sutcliff-books/H.
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Post by šrincess šµuvstarr on Oct 21, 2021 10:03:15 GMT
I know very little about Chris Hunt, but I did hear years ago that "he" was actually "she." It did not come as that much of a surprise because women have written some of the best gay male novels in the 20th century. And some of them are lesbians but they have a deeper insight into the emotional dynamics of our relationships than many male writers do. Mary Renault and Bryher were both excellent authors. I don't know why Bryher's work isn't better known--the books are hard to find, and I suppose that has something to do with it. Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset which is an excellent, but quite complex book, tells an imaginative reconstruction of the original story of King Arthur as a Romano-British war leader, and there's a very subtly described male companionship with some non-sexual romantic colorings at the heart of the book. rosemarysutcliff.net/summaries-and-synopses-of-rosemary-sutcliff-books/H. I've read Bonnie Dundee by Rosemary Sutcliff and have been meaning to read Sun Horse, Moon Horse. I know about Bryher as I saw a book by her on my online book site, called Ruan, which went on one of my future read lists, but it isn't available on the site at the moment.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 29, 2021 0:27:10 GMT
John Linwood Grant's latest inspired bit of whimsy, as seen on social media:
Few people know that from M R Jamesās original draft of āOh Whistle and Iāll Come to You, My Ladā, he had intended to insert a caustic commentary on the behaviour of one of his academic adversaries at Cambridge, mathematician Joseph John Thomson, Cavendish Professor of Physics (who later became Master of Trinity College). However, friends persuaded him that Quis est iste qui venit? Est Josephus, flavus, facetiarum sensus. Sibilus ter ad tempus bonum. Or āWho is this who comes? It is Joseph, blonde, sense of humour. Whistle thrice for a good time.ā was liable to open James up to legal actionā¦ and that it wouldnāt fit on a small whistle anyway. Reluctantly, James shortened the verse to Quis est iste qui venit?, and resigned himself to flicking gravy at Thomson during college dinners...
H.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 29, 2021 12:54:01 GMT
Hi Swan, it's a joke. John Linwood Grant has written a number of these--maybe at least one of the other ones is higher up in this thread, or I might have annoyed folks by posting in the MR James news thread (which was a reason why I started this space--it's more or less my personal playpen here).
cheers, Hel
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Post by Swan on Oct 29, 2021 13:03:30 GMT
Hi Swan, it's a joke. John Linwood Grant has written a number of these--maybe at least one of the other ones is higher up in this thread, or I might have annoyed folks by posting in the MR James news thread (which was a reason why I started this space--it's more or less my personal playpen here). cheers, Hel I fell for it. Ha. I'll have to read threads more. It did seem odd. Remind me to double check anything you post. I don't think my mind is working straight after reading four Kathy Acker novels in quick succession. I can recommend The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec by Henri Toulouse Lautrec, in which Toulouse Lautrec is female, is a regular at a brothel, and tries to help Poirot solve a murder. Also includes a romance between a 9 year old Janis Joplin and a 24 year old James Dean. Also the discerning reader may enjoy an early Kathy Acker effort, The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula, in which the main character has sex with a log.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 29, 2021 14:12:57 GMT
Golly, Swan, were I wearing a hat, it would be off to you for having the stamina to get through not just one, but FOUR Kathy Acker novels. Excelsior!
I think of Acker now as a tragic figure because of her final illness and death. She was one of countless people who have died because of the indescribably inhumane American healthcare system (or lack thereof). However, prior to that, I knew of her as an outspoken cultural critic with a rather aggressive style--a stance all her own. I knew she wrote novels but never actually saw the books. I may have read reviews of them in the NY Review of Books. I was too preoccupied at the time navigating my own doomed academic career to investigate further.
John Linwood Grant has a "blog," Grey Dog Tales, which may or may not amuse you--the humor may simply not be your flagon of ale.
cheers, Hel
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Post by Swan on Oct 29, 2021 14:36:34 GMT
Earlier this month, feeling they were underrepresented in my reading, I decided to concentrate on reading female writers. I'll probably keep going on the fiction side, so any suggestions you might have will be of value. It's likely if they are famous names I've read them, so obscure writers would be welcomed. As a guide, this month, as well as Kathy Acker (who died too young of breast cancer), I have read in terms of fiction: Anne Quin, Clarice Lispector, AnaĆÆs Nin, and the less well known Leonora Brito, Margiad Evans and Susan Scarlett. I mixed in a few non-fiction works by Tullia d'Aragona and Marie le Jars de Gournay too. Kathy Acker died in an alternative cancer clinic aged 50. In what was known as "Room 101", something she would probably have seen a dark humour in. Alan Moore, who was a friend said: "There's nothing that woman can't turn into a literary reference".
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Post by Swan on Oct 29, 2021 14:39:16 GMT
John Linwood Grant has a "blog," Grey Dog Tales, which may or may not amuse you--the humor may simply not be your flagon of ale. cheers, Hel It probably would, I think my mind at the moment is currently jelly.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 29, 2021 14:49:06 GMT
Interesting project. There are so many intriguing women writers, past and present, to savor and peruse.
I presume you've read Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand--if not, well, I think you would really like it. Hand's most recent novel, The Book of Lamps and Banners, was disappointing to me. I also highly recommend the first of the Cass Neary novels by Hand, Generation Loss.
An odd one from the past is Mary Butts. I have read a couple of fascinating essays about her life and work but my attempts to tackle any of her novels did not get very far. I think she wrote some outrƩ tales that show up in anthologies from time to time.
Maybe I'll just message you any other possibilities that come to mind, unless others begin contributing on this particular topic.
Saluting, H.
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Post by helrunar on Oct 31, 2021 18:58:38 GMT
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Post by Jojo Lapin X on Oct 31, 2021 20:13:10 GMT
I find "The October Game" cheerful.
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Post by Middoth on Oct 31, 2021 20:17:23 GMT
I find "The October Game" cheerful "Interim" is not bad too
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