Skip to main content

Eighteenth century novels

I have finished The History of Emily Montague, and find myself at a loss as to what I should read next. It will be hard to top that work, which despite holding every device and convention intolerable to modern critics, held my interest throughout.

I had The Nocturnal Minstrel in mind but feel I should try a new author. I have some great gothic fiction resources I hope to consult this weekend. For now, I am still reading Mrs. Shelley, P.B.S.'s letters, and of course, his poems.

I love the eighteenth century for its attention to reason, self-awareness and a growing Romanticism which blossoms in the Shelleys. I am not willing to advance to the nineteenth century just yet. I want to study the gothic and epistolary novels as I continue to work on The Soul of the Rose.

There were some things I read in E.M. that I want to quote, but eReader doesn't allow text selection, so I will have to find time to do it later.

Also much with me have been my beloved Helen and Anne, two idealists: one real, one not, whose ideals follow me so consistently throughout my life that it is very hard to believe I do not know them, or even that I am not one of them. I feel I have read their stories so recently it isn't time for a revisit, yet I want to keep close to their stories all my life, reading them many times over.

Popular posts from this blog

The secret to a happy home

I finished Marion Harland's guide tonight and I wonder ceaselessly at two things. 1. She is so down on America! Even more than I am. She complains of things in which I am so well-steeped I could not see them for what they were. In particular, American style and cookery. It is true that our food, which we count as so much more generous in portion than the overseas counterpart, is as coarse and indecorous as it is plentiful, but as an American woman I cast up my hands and declare I would rather spend my time on something else. She makes an interesting point about American women's fashions. In France women wear what looks good on them, and in America women wears what comes off the manufacturing line in the latest style. It is very conformist, and I have to admit I feel it in myself, for I would be embarrassed to wear something that is "out" even if it flattered me better. 2. Harland's other point I feel clearly from last night's experiences. I looked in my journ...

Sprouts

Sprouts Originally uploaded by ladyhildegarde . I am getting sprouts. Hopefully they are carnations. It is such a beautiful spring day. It's good I'm taking the chance to come outside: I have craved a moment to reflect on something beautiful.

Poor sleep and bad dreams

I had a bad time of it last night. Going on two weeks now, I haven't felt right. I think though I don't talk about it that I haven't been right since I found out about Mrs. Mark. Lately I have been awakened in the middle of the night by Jonah's frights. I have to turn on the lights to check on him, and this normally wakes me up thoroughly. I can't not check on him because the thought that he might have hurt himself keeps me awake. Last night he was on the perch and the other two were on the floor, looking frightened. Why's my bird have to be such a pain in the ass? Why do I love him almost more than any other living thing? And I don't dream in my sleep so much as think, and it's never of anything calming: either of an error in one of my projects, or something just gruesome.