Skip to content
the [blank] garden

the [blank] garden

blank pages & scarlet letters

  • Home
  • About
    • About the blog & me
    • Desert Island Books
    • Disclaimer & Blog policies
    • Podcast
    • Elsewhere
  • Index
    • Books by Author
    • Books by Nationality
    • Books by Publication Date
    • Books by Publisher
    • Queer Authors
    • Untranslated Books
    • Women in Translation
    • Other Categories
  • Books
  • Projects
  • Films
    • Films by Women
  • Features
    • Scarlet Letters
    • Menagerie of Authors
    • Letters Home
    • A poem a day
    • Commonplace Book
    • Lost in Translation
    • Miscellanea
  • More

    Tag: Literature and War

    I turned her into a tree so that she would stop trembling

    Dear Irmgard, Child of All Nations (2008, tr. Michael Hofmann. Original: Kind aller Länder, 1938) is all about voice. Not bitter nor cheerful, but something in-between. It…… Read more “I turned her into a tree so that she would stop trembling”

    21 de August de 2020 by juliana

    Her compelling mouth, the scent of lavender and cigarette smoke

    Dear Dola, Set in Amsterdam on the eve of World War II, The Tree and the Vine (2020, tr. Kristen Gehrman. Original: De thuiswacht, 1954*) is narrated…… Read more “Her compelling mouth, the scent of lavender and cigarette smoke”

    30 de July de 202030 de July de 2020 by juliana

    Something that was unassailable and inviolable

    Dear Netty, The Seventh Cross (tr. Margo Bettauer Dembo, 2018. Original: Das siebte Kreuz, 1942) starts and ends at the same point – but, in the span…… Read more “Something that was unassailable and inviolable”

    3 de June de 2020 by juliana

    The alphabet of my childhood

    Dear Hella, Running just beneath the nostalgic waters of The Black Lake (tr. Ina Rilke, 2012. Original: Oeroeg, 1948), there is a disturbing current of tainted innocence: at…… Read more “The alphabet of my childhood”

    20 de December de 201920 de December de 2019 by juliana

    One’s prime is elusive

    Dear Muriel, In The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961), there is something in the eponymous protagonist that repels us, but there is also something that strongly…… Read more “One’s prime is elusive”

    12 de December de 201813 de December de 2018 by juliana

    We took everything upon ourselves

    Dear Sophie, What I found most interesting in the book The White Rose (1952) were the leaflets you produced and distributed, together with your brother and a group…… Read more “We took everything upon ourselves”

    15 de November de 201815 de November de 2018 by juliana

    She regarded life as an expedition into the unknown,

    Dear Erika, I was not planning to read yet another book about you, nor anything related to the Mann family, but Gunna Wendt’s Erika und Therese: Erika…… Read more “She regarded life as an expedition into the unknown,”

    6 de November de 201810 de January de 2020 by juliana

    The milk of incomprehension

    Dear Nora, Soviet Milk, tr. Margita Gailitis (2018. Original: Mātes piens, 2015) was this odd thing: a butterfly that, going in reverse, moults back into a chrysalis. What…… Read more “The milk of incomprehension”

    11 de September de 201812 de September de 2018 by juliana

    A strange carousel from which there was no getting off

    Dear Daniela, In your novel A Kingdom of Souls translated by Véronique Firkusny and Elena Sokol (2015. Original: Podobojí, 1991), we have magical realism with an edge:…… Read more “A strange carousel from which there was no getting off”

    17 de August de 2018 by juliana

    Hope is a wound

    Dear Marianne, The Weight of Things (2015), translated by Adrian Nathan West (Die Schwerkraft der Verhältnisse, 1978) is this odd thing: something in-between a horror story, a…… Read more “Hope is a wound”

    28 de November de 201729 de November de 2017 by juliana

    Look at the colour of it

    Dear Ali, It takes us only a few paragraphs of Autumn (2016) to recognize your characteristic marks: experimental writing; a collage of literary references; a narrative propelled…… Read more “Look at the colour of it”

    6 de October de 201726 de January de 2018 by juliana

    Trespassing on one’s own ground

    Dear Monica, The atmosphere in your novel Mariana (1940) feels like a bright surface tinted by an added layer of nostalgia, and a pervading sense of loss.…… Read more “Trespassing on one’s own ground”

    17 de September de 2017 by juliana

    If you know about yourself, presumably you know about at least one other person

    Dear Mary, Your novel The Charioteer (1953) is crossed over by what it seems to be a tense string, a rein held so tightly by opposing forces…… Read more “If you know about yourself, presumably you know about at least one other person”

    4 de July de 2017 by juliana

    Who do you think you are, Cluny Brown?

    Dear Margery, Cluny Brown (1944) is a combination of comedy of manners and coming of age novel, set in England in 1938, and centred around a woman…… Read more “Who do you think you are, Cluny Brown?”

    25 de January de 20179 de December de 2017 by juliana

    Everyone was fleeing and everything was temporary

    Dear Anna, Do you know this feeling we have when something terrible happens in a dream and we must scream or run, but we find ourselves suddenly…… Read more “Everyone was fleeing and everything was temporary”

    1 de December de 20161 de December de 2016 by juliana

    They didn’t dare before; now they do, that’s all

    Dear Anna, I was halfway through Manja (tr. Kate Phillips, 2003. Manja: Ein Roman um 5 Kinder, 1938) this past week, when your book acquired a new…… Read more “They didn’t dare before; now they do, that’s all”

    13 de November de 201613 de November de 2016 by juliana

    The walls of her home were falling down, there was no refuge

    Dear Elisabeth, Your novel The Blank Wall (1947) is a gripping psychological thriller, in which a housewife get entangled in a web of murder, blackmail and pressing…… Read more “The walls of her home were falling down, there was no refuge”

    14 de October de 201614 de October de 2016 by juliana

    Pain never belonged to just one of us

    Dear Affinity, As the title of your novel suggests, Mischling (2016) is an hybrid: revenge and forgiveness; horror and wonder; hope and despair – these opposites mingle…… Read more “Pain never belonged to just one of us”

    9 de October de 20161 de October de 2017 by juliana

    Posts navigation

    Older posts

    The past

    January 2021
    S M T W T F S
     12
    3456789
    10111213141516
    17181920212223
    24252627282930
    31  
    « Dec    

    Top Posts & Pages

    George Egerton
    This restless craving for sun and love and motion
    Lorraine Hansberry
    A trail of books: on Carolina Nabuco's A Sucessora ('The Sucessor', 1934) and the plagiarism charges against Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca (1938)
    Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board
    He who takes me will feel my heart beating in his hand

    Try your luck

    Copyright & Disclosure

    Copyright © The Blank Garden (2007-2020). All Rights Reserved. Authors and artists hold the rights to their individual work. Any works posted against the wishes of the copyright owner will be removed asap upon request. This is a personal and non-commercial blog. The posts and videos published here are not sponsored, and the material published here is in conformation with Fair Use: criticism and comment, research and scholarship, and other educational uses. To know more about the blog policies, visit this page. Please do not use my words, videos or personal photos without attribution. Thank you.

    Meta

    • Register
    • Log in
    • Entries RSS
    • Comments RSS
    • WordPress.com
    • Goodreads
    • Instagram
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Youtube
    Blog at WordPress.com.
    Cancel