In my research today I encountered a 1856 essay by George Eliot called "Silly Novels by Lady Novelists," in which she complains about a character apparently predominating the popular fiction of her day. She is known today by the name of Mary Sue"The heroine is usually an heiress, probably a peeress in her own right, with perhaps a vicious baronet, ( Read more... )

Urrrgh, sick. Please send thoughts of chicken soup. Gleh.

Am listening to an audiobook of Elizabeth Gaskell's Mary Barton in the car these days. Just heard that The Guy The Heroine Ought To Be Interested In But Isn't has been fending off the attentions of another young lady... Molly Gibson. Whose father is a Manchester shopkeeper ( Read more... )