Sleep is good, books are better
Readers reading #8 I saw this painting and immediately thought of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. Oh, whatever happened to the art of letter writing? Smiley face, lol. Heart. Smiley blowing a kiss. Heart kiss kiss. https://uk.pinterest.com/longvictorian2/jane-austen/ The 'Readers reading' series on this blog (this list last updated, 12th March 2017). Readers reading #1.... Continue Reading →
Could this be the first "selfie" in history? It is an 1839 self portrait of Robert Cornelius (1809 –1893). On the reverse of the photo it reads 'The first light picture ever taken'. What pose would you assume if you thought that posterity might stare back at you for eons into the future? Cornelius was... Continue Reading →
Can you identify the famous closing lines above? [Warning – clue below] To help you here is a list of the titles from which the lines were extracted - as usual they are presented in the order of when the book was published: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre... Continue Reading →
No.2. Angel & Tess and Alec & Tess from Tess of the d'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy) We continue our worst couples run down with Tess of the d'Urbervilles: A Pure Woman. It is a remarkable novel, full of interesting things and wonderful writing. And no less than two rotten relationships. Spoiler alert! Angel and Tess: This... Continue Reading →
Readers reading #8 Answering the Emigrant's Letter (1850) - By James Collinson. Oil on panel. 70 x 89cm. Manchester City Art Gallery. A lovely painting - I have looked at it many times in Manchester City Art Gallery (UK). It leaves my imagination free to wrap many stories around it. Not forgetting the amazing, deep... Continue Reading →
I enjoyed the BBC Radio 4 programme In Our Time this week - a discussion of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. A point made was that Hardy is said to have claimed that Tess's appearance was based on Lady Agatha Thornycroft (nee Cox) - wife of the famous Victorian sculptor, Sir Hamo Thornycroft. However, there is... Continue Reading →
Can you identify these famous opening lines? [Answers below] Answers: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850) Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1864) Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871) Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy (1878) Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy (1895) Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (1911) Ethan Frome... Continue Reading →
In Our Time, BBC Radio 4. A discussion of Tess of the D'urbervilles. On iPlayer https://uk.pinterest.com/longvictorian2/thomas-hardy/
Stripped of fine motives and pious words we are left with the raw human condition.
Can you identify the famous opening lines above? [Warning - clue below] To help you here is a list of titles from which the lines were extracted, in order of date published: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë (1847) David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (1850) Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1864) Middlemarch by George Eliot... Continue Reading →
The Long Victorian 