Victoria Janssen's Blog, page 90

Charles Sorley, "To Germany"

To GermanyYou are blind like us. Your hurt no man designed,And no man claimed the conquest of your land.But gropers both through fields of thought confinedWe stumble and we do not understand.You only saw your future bigly planned,And we, the tapering paths of our own mind,And in each others dearest ways we stand,And hiss and hate. And the blind fight the blind.When it is peace, then we may view

Charles Sorley, "Such, Such Is Death"

Such, Such Is DeathSuch, such is Death: no triumph: no defeat:Only an empty pail, a slate rubbed clean,A merciful putting away of what has been.And this we know: Death is not Life, effete,Life crushed, the broken pail. We who have seenSo marvellous things know well the end not yet.Victor and vanquished are a-one in death:Coward and brave: friend, foe. Ghosts do not say,"Come, what was your record

Mansfield Park Revisited, Part the Third

My final notes on my last re-read of Mansfield Park.Mansfield Park can be read online at Gutenberg.org.#November 18, 2004After finishing my reread I confess I'm a bit puzzled about Henry Crawford. Either he was a great actor (it is a plot point that he is a good actor) and managed to fool not only Fanny and Edmund but his own sister, or he's simply inconsistent. I could believe him flirting with

Mansfield Park Revisited, Part the Second

More on my most recent re-read of Mansfield Park, from several years ago.Mansfield Park can be read online at Gutenberg.org.#November 15, 2004I had a couple more thoughts on the rereading I've done so far. First, Edmund criticizes the behavior of Mary Crawford and blames her upbringing for it; but he never makes the same point about his brother and sisters, who also exhibit poor judgement on

Mansfield Park Revisited, Part the First

I recently located the journal entries I made when I last reread Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, way back in 2004. I reproduce them here for your enjoyment.#November 12, 2004I've just begun my first reread of Jane's Austen's Mansfield Park. It was the last of the Austen novels I read, excluding juvenalia, back in the spring of 1990. The paperback copy I'm reading from is the same one that traveled

Punctuation & Style

I participated in a panel at Readercon last weekend that was all about punctuation. We were asked to bring examples of prose that used punctuation in interesting ways. I chose examples that I thought used a wide variety of punctuation, all of it intended to have specific effects. We didn't end up using any of those examples for the panel (and it turned out I was the only one who'd brought any,

Fanfiction and Feedback

I've been meaning to post about fanfiction for a while, not really in connection with recent online discussions of literary fanfiction. Instead I want to talk about one particular reason why people write fanfiction. They write fanfiction for feedback, and for community.I've been involved with fandom since I was a pre-teen. I read my first Star Trek fanzines in middle school and was unimpressed

Charles Sorley, "A Letter From the Trenches to a School Friend"

A Letter From the Trenches to a School FriendI have not brought my OdysseyWith me here across the sea;But you'll remember, when I sayHow, when they went down Sparta way,To sandy Sparta, long ere dawnHorses were harnessed, rations drawn,Equipment polished sparkling bright,And breakfasts swallowed (as the whiteOf eastern heavens turned to gold) -The dogs barked, swift farewells were told.The sun

Readercon 2010

I have a new free read posted on my website, in PDF format: Camille, Henri, Maxime, an erotic outtake from The Duchess, Her Maid, The Groom & Their Lover. It was removed from the original submitted manuscript for pacing reasons. If you've ever heard me say, "I removed the sodomy for pacing reasons," this is the scene to which I was referring. It's an odd feeling for me to read over it now,

Carezze Di Luna releases!

I'm on the road today, traveling to Readercon with friends Judith Berman and Michael Swanwick. If you're going to the con, my schedule is posted here.Today is the release date for the first translation of The Moonlight Mistress. The Italian title is Carezze Di Luna. I love this adaptation of the original cover.Mentre scoppia la Prima Guerra Mondiale, l'avvenente chimica Lucilla Daglish