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: Marriage

    The tough game of unspeakable interests

    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”

    23 de February de 202023 de February de 2020 by juliana

    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,”

    15 de February de 202015 de February de 2020 by juliana

    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”

    28 de January de 202028 de January de 2020 by juliana

    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”

    11 de January de 202025 de May de 2020 by juliana

    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”

    9 de January de 202016 de February de 2020 by juliana

    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”

    22 de October de 2019 by juliana

    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,”

    16 de October de 201916 de October de 2019 by juliana

    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”

    13 de October de 201913 de October de 2019 by juliana

    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”

    23 de August de 2019 by juliana

    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,”

    17 de July de 201922 de November de 2019 by juliana

    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,”

    29 de March de 201929 de March de 2019 by juliana

    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”

    14 de March de 201914 de March de 2019 by juliana

    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”

    11 de January de 201912 de January de 2019 by juliana

    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”

    18 de October de 201819 de December de 2018 by juliana

    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”

    10 de September de 201812 de September de 2018 by juliana

    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”

    20 de August de 201820 de August de 2018 by juliana

    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”

    10 de August de 2018 by juliana

    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”

    31 de July de 201831 de July de 2018 by juliana

    Posts navigation

    Older posts

    The past

    March 2021
    S M T W T F S
     123456
    78910111213
    14151617181920
    21222324252627
    28293031  
    « Feb    

    Top Posts & Pages

    Ships at a distance have every man's wish on board
    I too have my vocation,
    The heart wants her horses back
    A trail of books: on Carolina Nabuco's A Sucessora ('The Sucessor', 1934) and the plagiarism charges against Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca (1938)
    Mary de Morgan
    Emília Freitas

    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

    You must be logged in to post a comment.

    Loading Comments...
    Comment
      ×