tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27068668.post7036821277997311513..comments2024-03-25T19:37:33.706+11:00Comments on Cat Politics: Musing on Lord Byron and other booksAnne Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14258633760886787723noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27068668.post-34650365809940700922009-05-14T20:50:00.000+10:002009-05-14T20:50:00.000+10:00I must have misinterpreted the Frances Wilson 2008...I must have misinterpreted the Frances Wilson 2008 biog review in The Economist -<br />"Whether their intimacy was sexual, as was Lord Byron’s with his half-sister Augusta, is not something that can ever be known, though it was scurrilously gossiped about even at the time. <br />In her journal Dorothy says she “petted” her “darling” William “on the carpet”, sat with his head on her shoulder, and came into his room at night to help him sleep. <br />Ms Wilson thinks it unlikely that their relationship was incestuous in the full and literal sense. <br />She is more interested in the emotional texture (which was indeed erotic) of their exclusive brother-sister love, from which William escaped into marriage, breaking Dorothy’s heart."<br /><br />or got them jumbled with Lord B.<br /><br />Wish I had been part of their gang - no dull nights!iODynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394268529143990889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27068668.post-10054293623738833282009-05-14T20:15:00.000+10:002009-05-14T20:15:00.000+10:00oops! that should have been New Society NOT New St...oops! that should have been New Society NOT New StatesmanAnne Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14258633760886787723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27068668.post-43873827265707633742009-05-14T20:13:00.000+10:002009-05-14T20:13:00.000+10:00I don't believe they had that sort of relationship...I don't believe they had that sort of relationship.<br /><br />Here's a quote from Angela Carter regarding the Wordsworths from an article she wrote in the New Statesman back in the 70s.<br /><br />“Ghosts of dead poets don’t walk the Lake District, no – they hike. Fell-walking ghosts as mad as hatters, high as kites…you feel you might surprise them at the rim of Rydal Water, or spot their phantom reflections in the magic mirrors, Grasmere, Windermere – I bet the glassy tarns looked terrific on opium! Although the story goes the Wordsworth sibs, ace pedestrians and compulsive water-viewers, only took laudenum for medicinal purposes, your honour. In Lakeland, among daffodils shuddering in April snow, how easy to imagine the Wordsworths, freaked out as all hell, trudge, trudge, trudging the miles from Dove Cottage to Windermere to check if their connection (probably Humphrey Davy) had delivered.<br /><br />For surely they must have been smashed out of their skulls all the time. Wordsworth and his sportive sister with her crazy eyes (‘wild and startling eyes’, opined De Quincey, noting, no doubt, and who more knowledgeable, her expanded pupils). Why else should they have gone striding off in all weathers, whirling blizzard, serrating frost, braving the peculiarly wet Cumbrian rain, to take in yet another peak or mere in a different light? How else could they have stood it, had they not been smashed?”Anne Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14258633760886787723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27068668.post-45372820235272160772009-05-14T10:38:00.000+10:002009-05-14T10:38:00.000+10:00Did Wordsy have a sister Dorothy?
and were they '...Did Wordsy have a sister Dorothy?<br /><br />and were they 'very best friends' in a Byron-esque sort of way?<br /><br />opiates should be in the water supply along with fluoride and all the other poisonous additives.<br />We could save money on the cops for a start.iODynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394268529143990889noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27068668.post-39451805555282083052009-05-13T20:25:00.000+10:002009-05-13T20:25:00.000+10:00Kay, Actually I don't mind Wordsworth. He was on t...Kay, Actually I don't mind Wordsworth. He was on the syllabus of first or second year English Lit when I was at Uni. I remember being less than enthused that I had to study his poetry, but he finally won me over.<br /><br />Just remember he was stoned out of his head on opium for a lot of the time.<br /><br />PS I'm really looking forward to the new A S Byatt novel - it's been getting glowing reviews.Anne Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14258633760886787723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27068668.post-36910709957585887872009-05-13T10:48:00.000+10:002009-05-13T10:48:00.000+10:00I must look out for the new Byatt. And Carson McCu...I must look out for the new Byatt. And Carson McCullers is a writer I keep hearing about ... Thanks for these ideas for reading.<br />As for Byron, I am not one for bad boys, but I did enjoy learning about him and reading his stuff recently at Uni. (did some Engl. papers.) The lecturers loved him and so their enthusiasm led me to appreciate his writing. I certainly find him preferable to Wordsworth, who I think is a a bit soppy.Kay Cookehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01791873464409271216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27068668.post-40877276165835819082009-05-12T19:54:00.000+10:002009-05-12T19:54:00.000+10:00F.G - it is a great article. It certainly was educ...F.G - it is a great article. It certainly was eductational for me. I am enjoying The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, I must admit. I haven't seen the Capote movie, so can't comment. And yes you're right, Winona Ryder would be the perfect Carson McCullers - another bad girl.Anne Shttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14258633760886787723noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27068668.post-29501633155089375812009-05-12T19:25:00.000+10:002009-05-12T19:25:00.000+10:00wow.
thanks for that great link.
she died without ...wow.<br />thanks for that great link.<br />she died without seeing several of her novels become films.<br />I would have thought the antiseptic effect of all that whiskey would have cured the strep throat.<br />The depiction of her in the recent Capote movie, did not do justice to her amazing character - I am seeing Wynone Ryder in the bio-pic.iODynehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06394268529143990889noreply@blogger.com