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    Tag: Mental health

    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 brina

    I shall have snow on my glassy fingers,

    Dear Emily, Somewhere on the threshold of a novel and a prose poem, we have The Shutter of Snow (1930). When the book starts, we are told of…… Read more “I shall have snow on my glassy fingers,”

    26 de April de 201926 de April de 2019 by juliana brina

    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 brina

    Take her away and I’m half of whatever we are

    Dear Dorothy, Cassandra at the Wedding (1962) is a nuanced, finely observed character study and comedy of manners, full of a dark, twisted sense of humour, which can…… Read more “Take her away and I’m half of whatever we are”

    5 de February de 20195 de February de 2019 by juliana brina

    Kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths

    Dear Henry, The Heart of the Matter (1948) is a book about a man caught in the vortex of a moral crisis – and, ultimately, torn apart and…… Read more “Kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths”

    17 de January de 201917 de January de 2019 by juliana brina

    My past life would be but a dream,

    Dear Ottessa, My Year of Rest and Relaxation (2018) seems to be a novel suffering from split personality: on the one hand, it is a book about…… Read more “My past life would be but a dream,”

    18 de December de 2018 by juliana brina

    Perhaps freedom has no meaning

    Dear Iris, The Unicorn (1963) is a tale of imprisonment in a shared fantasy, where the cages, rotating on a blank axle, are full of longing. When…… Read more “Perhaps freedom has no meaning”

    10 de December de 2018 by juliana brina

    I preferred us when my father was away

    Dear Birgit, The Mussel Feast, tr. Jamie Bulloch (2013. Original: Das Muschelessen, 1990) is a novella about the collapse of a man’s rule over his family during the course of an…… Read more “I preferred us when my father was away”

    13 de November de 2018 by juliana brina

    Panic calls out cowardice, and cowardice cruelty

    Dear Elizabeth, The novella Lois the Witch (1859) is a fictionalised account of the Salem witch hunt, as well as a sharp meditation on the thin line…… Read more “Panic calls out cowardice, and cowardice cruelty”

    23 de October de 201824 de October de 2018 by juliana brina

    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 brina

    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 brina

    Trust is fine, but control is better

    Dear Elfriede, Your novel The Piano Teacher, tr. Joachim Neugroschel (1988. Die Klavierspielerin, 1983) is vile and uncompromising: it dwells on the grotesque, crossed by an undercurrent…… Read more “Trust is fine, but control is better”

    3 de August de 20183 de August de 2018 by juliana brina

    The various crimes of sadness

    Dear Fleur, Most of the twenty-one stories in your collection I Am the Brother of XX, tr. Gini Alhadeff (2017. Original: Sono il fratello di XX, 2014) have a…… Read more “The various crimes of sadness”

    31 de July de 201831 de July de 2018 by juliana brina

    To disentangle true from false

    Dear Delphine, Based on a True Story (2017, tr. George Miller. Original: D’aprés une histoire vraie, 2015) is an atmospheric book that revolves around a woman who…… Read more “To disentangle true from false”

    27 de July de 2018 by juliana brina

    I was giving the glad-eye like blazes

    Dear Connie, The Laws (1993, tr. Richard Huijing. De Wetten, 1991) reads like a draft of a draft: the shadow of an idea, hovering over the page…… Read more “I was giving the glad-eye like blazes”

    17 de July de 201813 de December de 2018 by juliana brina

    One gets the criminals one deserves

    Dear Amélie, The Enemy’s Cosmetique (Cosmétique de l’ennemi, 2001, not translated into English yet) reads like an ouroboros, a snail swallowing its own tail: in a sequence of…… Read more “One gets the criminals one deserves”

    15 de July de 201822 de November de 2019 by juliana brina

    The sky was red and all my life was in it.

    Dear Jean, In your novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966), you seem to be holding up a distorting mirror to Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847): if we look…… Read more “The sky was red and all my life was in it.”

    19 de January de 201820 de March de 2018 by juliana brina

    I’ll describe my insanity through a sudden insight

    Dear Christine, Do you know that feeling we have when we know where a book was going, and we know it could have worked – but it…… Read more “I’ll describe my insanity through a sudden insight”

    8 de December de 2017 by juliana brina

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    One gets the criminals one deserves
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    Kunsthistorisches Museum (II): it's impossible to do justice to this collection without spamming you. It feels as though the museum were a live beast & we were walking inside its ever-expanding limbs. 🌟 . . . #kunsthistorischesmuseum #wien #vienna
    Kunst-historisches Museum (I): at the temporary exhibition on Caravaggio and Bernini, my favourite piece was actually by Artemisia Gentileschi: I wasn't expecting to find her there, and my eyes just sparkled when I spotted her Maria Magdalena in Ecstasy, at a corner, luckily still unnoticed by the crowds. Artemisia always brings an unique perspective to her female figures, something we can never find in her (male...) contemporaries. Her Magdalena shows no trace of guilt, modesty, nor fear - instead, she is complete in the moment, a whole being, both strong and vulnerable, as though making herself available, almost like an offering, the true embodiment of ecstasy. 🌟 . . . #kunsthistorischesmuseum #caravaggio #artemisiagentileschi #terbrugghen
    One happy person among very old books 🌟 . . . #nationalbibliothek #austriannationallibrary #librariesofinstagram
    A peek at the Albertina Museum 🌟 The first five are from the temporary exhibition on Albrecht Dürer. . . . . #albertinamuseum #wien #vienna #albrechtdürer

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    Copyright © The Blank Garden (2007-2019). 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.

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