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Dear Carmen, In A Luta (‘The Struggle’, 1909), we have the unfolding of multiple struggles: Celina’s existential dilemma, as she is torn between her need for social…… Read more “The tough game of unspeakable interests”
Tag: Marriage
Fame and glory, insatiable libertines,
Dear Délia, I spent the past couple of weeks immersed in three of your recently rediscovered novels: Aurélia (1883), Lésbia (1890), and Celeste (1893). In all of…… Read more “Fame and glory, insatiable libertines,”
A confused consciousness of untouched treasures
Dear André, The Immoralist, tr. Dorothy Bussy (1930. Original: L’Immoraliste ,1902) is framed as your protagonist’s confession, as he tells the tale of his moral downfall to…… Read more “A confused consciousness of untouched treasures”
Like an image made of snow
Dear Edith, In The Age of Innocence (1920), you manage to do, on the level of writing, the same thing you set out to do on the…… Read more “Like an image made of snow”
To search for the sources of joy
Hi, folks, Inspired by Buried.In.Print’s Mavis Gallant and Alice Munro reading projects, I decided to incorporate more short stories into my weekly reads, and I thought that…… Read more “To search for the sources of joy”
The most wonderful thing in the world must be to be a childless widow
Dear Elizabeth, Irony is your plaything in Diary of a Provincial Lady (1930), to the point where it starts to be slightly subversive. Written as a series…… Read more “The most wonderful thing in the world must be to be a childless widow”
I should be thankful to be called a Fury,
Dear Rhoda, “A woman’s soul is such a small room”, you write at some point in your novel Belinda (1883). You will trap your eponymous protagonist in…… Read more “I should be thankful to be called a Fury,”
Before I knew I had a heart
Dear Charlotte, In Emmeline, The Orphan of the Castle (published in four volumes in 1788), we have a Cinderella-like heroine surrounded by characters who are constantly burning their…… Read more “Before I knew I had a heart”
What if mothers refused to deny their womanhood
Dear Sibilla, A Woman, tr. Rosalind Delmar (1980. Original: Una donna, 1906) is a disturbing novella where rape, depression, suicide, adultery, and domestic violence are packed in…… Read more “What if mothers refused to deny their womanhood”
I do not know how women do it,
Dear Júlia, In A falência (1901, “The bankruptcy”, not translated yet), I could not help but feel you were constantly hiding something in plain sight, in-between the…… Read more “I do not know how women do it,”
I have tried to be honest with you,
Dear Penelope, The Pumpkin Eater (1962) is a disillusioned account of a woman’s emotional collapse, told from the fog of self-delusion and depression in which her mind seems…… Read more “I have tried to be honest with you,”
You cannot live in armour all your life
Dear Maria, In Belinda (first published in 1801, revised in 1810), we can almost feel the double-edged sword you are playing with: while championing the idea that…… Read more “You cannot live in armour all your life”
Notes heard by no one reverberating against nothing
Dear Robert, Intimate Ties, tr. Peter Wortsman (2019. Original: Vereinigungen, 1911) comprises two novellas centred on repressed sexuality, taboo, and female desire. Both content and narrative style…… Read more “Notes heard by no one reverberating against nothing”
You’ve stayed where you were
Dear Agatha, Absent in the Spring (1944) is a character study and a psychological exploration of self-denial, crossed through by a growing sense of unease at each…… Read more “You’ve stayed where you were”
Hardness was probably his most distinctive quality
Dear Laura, Reading your novel Breathing into Marble, tr. Marija Marcinkute (2016. Original: Kvėpavimas į marmurą, 2006) feels like being trapped in a room of glass: it’s…… Read more “Hardness was probably his most distinctive quality”
Two half drowned things, clinging together in a shipwreck
Dear Elizabeth, Vera (1921) is the story of a toxic relationship which gradually unfolds into a full-blown tale of psychological horror, made ever more disturbing by the…… Read more “Two half drowned things, clinging together in a shipwreck”
What two people can make of the same view
Dear Elizabeth, In your novel A View from the Harbour (1947), we are sea watchers, guided by a faint beam. It feels very much as if we…… Read more “What two people can make of the same view”
I believe in the god of carnage
Dear Yasmina, Threading the thin line between civility and barbarity, you manage to convey, with acerbic wit, how civility and good intentions are slowly but steadily sacrificed…… Read more “I believe in the god of carnage”
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