tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post2566589636856281161..comments2023-11-05T04:15:44.564-08:00Comments on Robert Frost's Banjo: "Sisterhood of the Pen"Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15687192784861682991noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-54312258246441499212009-03-21T12:04:00.000-07:002009-03-21T12:04:00.000-07:00Hi Dominic: Thanks for commenting-- & for fol...Hi Dominic: Thanks for commenting-- & for following! Am looking forward to visiting your blog soon-- am a little behind on such things, as I've been away. Eberle knows Bronte's poetry much better than I do, & I believe she's going to write a comment later about that specifically. <BR/><BR/>Very gratified by your interest in what we're doing here.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15687192784861682991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-30420232005708312752009-03-21T00:01:00.000-07:002009-03-21T00:01:00.000-07:00As a great Dickinson fan you've got me wanting to ...As a great Dickinson fan you've got me wanting to read Emily Bronte's poetry. <BR/>Incidentally, the Bronte's Parsonage in Haworth is not far from here and I used to live just over the hill from it.Dominic Rivronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02618013365521035400noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-25602171867748672312009-03-20T10:37:00.000-07:002009-03-20T10:37:00.000-07:00Thank you, Eberle and John. Don't you love free e...Thank you, Eberle and John. Don't you love free e-books?Sandra Leighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12052047359365369942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-48816962519243518822009-03-20T10:16:00.000-07:002009-03-20T10:16:00.000-07:00Hi Kimy, Dave & Sandra:Yes, great to be back &...Hi Kimy, Dave & Sandra:<BR/><BR/>Yes, great to be back & am very much looking to catching up on everyone's posts over the weekend. For those who might be interested, it appears "The Female Quixote" is available as a free download <A HREF="http://girlebooks.com/ebook-catalog/charlotte-lennox/the-female-quixote/" REL="nofollow">here</A>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15687192784861682991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-76043193159663126762009-03-20T10:10:00.000-07:002009-03-20T10:10:00.000-07:00Hi Sandra thanks for writing--and that's a questio...Hi Sandra thanks for writing--and that's a question whose answer could go on a long time. The two books I think I had in my mind about women's relationship to fiction were Northanger Abbey by Austen and The Female Quixote by Charlotte Lennox (also 18th century.) The heroines of both books take their notions of reality from works of fiction, specifically women's fiction, and I think this is seen as both a weakness and a strength-- a source of comedy but also of the heroine's ultimate triumph in both cases-- meaning they had the last laugh instead of the laugh being against them. I think in male literature the issue might be one that is used to simply mock women-- that wouldn't surprise me at all-- and in some cases where the authors are women this probably happened too-- but with Austen and Lennox I think the issue is much more complex, and certainly at least part of the heroines' over-identifying with women's literature is portrayed as positive. In fact, one day a number of years ago it struck me as quite pungent that Austen in Northanger Abbey, through the "foible" of her heroine is able to present a possibility that the father of a prestigious family is a perpertrator of domestic crimes against women,including murder-- an interesting light on the subject... Thanks again for reading and for your insightful question!<BR/>EberleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-36850975876030580882009-03-20T10:09:00.000-07:002009-03-20T10:09:00.000-07:00Hi Willow, Mouse, and Dave,Thanks for your comment...Hi Willow, Mouse, and Dave,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for your comments on the Sisterhood of the Pen—it’s really nice to know you enjoy reading these pieces. Something I’ve always liked about women’s literature (although I guess the same could be said about any marginalized group of authors) is being a reader-detective and following clues to discover authors that other women authors in the past thought were cool but who have now gone largely invisible. I first read Storm Jameson because she was mentioned in a detective novel by Dorothy Sayers, for example. As a younger woman I was outraged by the suppression of women’s writing; as an older woman, I still feel outrage, but I also recognize more nuances in the situation—like one of the benefits of women writers being less canonized than men is that it’s easier to interact with their works personally and immediately, unfiltered by cultural ideas of “greatness”; and that it’s fun to find one’s own way through the history of literature rather than a traditional or authorized way. Since the 90s I started focusing on women writers between the first two World Wars and hope to write some essays on them in the future. I never seem to catch up with the present, though, which troubles me sometimes. I made it all the way up to the 1950s briefly, including a re-discovery of Shirley Jackson and a quest to find and read all of her works (some are out of print); lately however, I’ve been distracted by ancient Sumerian texts including works specifically by women in 3,000 B.C.! Will I ever make it back? I don’t know. Thanks again for reading and being in touch!<BR/><BR/>EberleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-82963380021548644862009-03-20T09:17:00.000-07:002009-03-20T09:17:00.000-07:00Welcome home, John. We missed you.Re Eberle's post...Welcome home, John. We missed you.<BR/><BR/>Re Eberle's post: It sounds exactly like the internet, doesn't it? (except that the internet is faster....usually!)<BR/><BR/>One question, though. Eberle, when you speak of the "literary commonplace to make fun of their inability..." etc., do you mean a commonplace <I>within</I> the commmunity of women writers? Self-mocking? Or do you mean mocking by male authors?Sandra Leighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12052047359365369942noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-38236497928542999622009-03-20T07:56:00.000-07:002009-03-20T07:56:00.000-07:00Suyperb post. Interesting all the way through.Suyperb post. Interesting all the way through.Dave Kinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08430484174826768488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-8092692905145292662009-03-20T07:28:00.000-07:002009-03-20T07:28:00.000-07:00wonderful post, I so enjoy eberle's series....than...wonderful post, I so enjoy eberle's series....<BR/><BR/>thank youmouse (aka kimy)https://www.blogger.com/profile/09385557065971602436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-56995654669570254142009-03-20T06:53:00.000-07:002009-03-20T06:53:00.000-07:00Hi Willow: Thanks-- yes, everything's ok out this...Hi Willow: Thanks-- yes, everything's ok out this way-- but I do have oodles of reading to catch up on blog-wise over the weekend!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15687192784861682991noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4821243838031243709.post-38391911222648857992009-03-20T05:54:00.000-07:002009-03-20T05:54:00.000-07:00Nice post. Glad you're back safe and sound! Hope a...Nice post. Glad you're back safe and sound! Hope all is well.Tess Kincaidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04889725786678984293noreply@blogger.com