Of Shakespeare’s sister that Virginia Woolf imagines in A Room of One’s Own, Woolf speculates: “Perhaps she scribbled some pages up in an apple loft on the sly but was careful to hide them or set fire to them.” For some scholars of women’s literature, it’s fairly common to assume that there was a vendetta against the combination of women and work in Anglo-American history, and that stifling the ability to work– often forbidding, particularly, artistic expression – resulted in concomitant madness for oppressed women. It’s a common trope, although there were some significant historical exceptions to the rule. I’m not an expert on the subject, but I’ve heard that Jane Austen had to hide her manuscript whenever a guest entered her room. And one must wonder, as VW did, what happened to the likely expansive throng of brilliant, would-be productive women who weren’t given a voice prior to, say, the Romantic or Victorian eras – or later. As an unrelated heads up, there will be spoilers throughout this piece!
Continue reading “Thoughts on Scribbling from the Apple Loft: Madness and Work in Various Texts”jane austen
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Pretty Much What I’d Expected
I haven’t read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. However, as I entered the theater to see the film, I expected a version Pride and Prejudice that took place in the 19th century but reflected directorial styles and preferences of the present day, along with, well, along with zombies. By and large, I got what I expected. The movie was fairly attention-grabbing with fairly likable characters and a fairly original plot, which is to say, the film was interesting and fun, but far from exceptional. I think, though, that the film’s worth a view, for what it’s trying to do – combine our contemporary zombie-mania with classical literature to create a new and rare form of storytelling that pays heed to that which has come before and combines it with that which is popular now. The movie – and, presumably the book – try to resurrect classical literature into the realm of pop culture, with intriguing, though not compelling, ramifications. Continue reading “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Pretty Much What I’d Expected”
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