A millpond as wide as the sea. . .

[sartorias]

Female slang, the superficiality of Jane Austen's little domestic romances . . . women writers and genderMy LJ participation has been spotty, partly because of those DDOS attacks (and I am even more firmly entrenched here because of the nature of those attacks) and partly due to being insanely busy

Comments

[tekalynn]

Oh, Patrick Leigh Fermor! He died recently, in his 90s, having almost *just* finished (?) editing the third book in his autobiography about walking to Constantinople. What an incredible writer. What book(s) of his are you reading?

[sartorias]

He died recently? Damn! I read the first, and have the second--I am saving it up. Extraordinary!

[tekalynn]

Try Mani and Roumeli too, if you get the chance. The story about The Hunt for Byron's Shoes has to be read to be believed. Terrific books about an old Greece that was just about to change irreparably.

[sartorias]

Oh, I shall--I intend to read every word he wrote.

I followed his wanderings through Germany on my huge map of Europe of 1815, and most of them were there!

[asakiyume]

I've never read the original Bordertown books, but I gather it's what started the theme of fairy folk in this world as rock singers and motorbike riders, that sort of thing? When you say it's dated, do you mean in the sense of "these themes have been well explored," or do you mean that something about the mores seems a product of an earlier decade? Or something else?

I'm interested, looking at the table of contents, in the blend of poetry and prose. Does that work well?

[sartorias]

They didn't start it--that particular subgenre really began with Emma Bull's War for the Oaks but as I believe she was involved with the invention of Bordertown, it shares many of the same tropes.

It always seemed consciously eighties to me, even at the time--runaway punks who get into rock and elves. We can talk more about it when we meet.

[ann1962]

I think Fermor is one of the best writers I've ever read. If you get a chance to read his letters with Deborah Devonshire, you really really should.

[sartorias]

Oh those do sound good!

[saare_snowqueen]

Did he finish the third book edits before he died? I hadn't read that - Oh Joy. I have everything he published about Greece and Europe. Not only was he an amazing writer he was an amazing man. The story of him and his crew kidnapping the German General Kreipe is priceless.

[cschells]

Oh, I read one of Spacks' books when writing the diss! (Maybe her only book? I don't know.) I can't remember now if I really liked it, or if I just really liked the title and cover. I think it was a good read. It's funny, I still have such a visceral, grabby-hands reaction to books about domestic privacy... *g*

[sartorias]

She's written several excellent books. Her one about gossip in literature is quite interesting--well, they all are.

[cschells]

I seem to recall that her prose struck a really nice balance between really-knowledgeable and down-to-earth-conversational. I'm pretty sure that at some point I wanted my dissertation to be just like her book when it grew up! I'll have to see if the library has any of her others.