Man devouring man, my dear...
Dec. 13th, 2019 01:52 pmRe: UK Election - I don't have anything more constructive to say than "I'm sorry". Though this post puts it a bit better than that.
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petra recently linked Emma Thompson & Bryn Terfel performing Sweeney Todd, which was divine, and if ever there's a moment for pitch black Sondheim cynicsm, it's this one, so I'll follow suit, only with Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball:
Without women the novel would die: probably, though this article pays only a nodding tribute to previous centuries, and none at all to what I think is intimately tied to the current day different reading habits - different gender performance. I've spent the last week translating and summarizing excerpts from an 18th century nobleman's diaries forcahn and mildred_of_midgard, which reminded me of, among so many other things, how reading with and to each other (and bursting into tears whenever you felt like it, and proclaiming your utter devotion or your abject misery every second page) were completely au fait for your 18th century male. I mean, I knew that since I read Werther at school. But it's still neat to get a non-fiction reminder every now and then. And of course men were still great readers in the 19th and 20 century, but displaying emotion about it became less and less something seen as compatible with the masculine code of behavior.
Aaaaanyway. Feel free to burst into tears and/or grab a book now, oh fellow 21st century people of any gender. I venture to guess either might help at least a little bit?
Also:
petra recently linked Emma Thompson & Bryn Terfel performing Sweeney Todd, which was divine, and if ever there's a moment for pitch black Sondheim cynicsm, it's this one, so I'll follow suit, only with Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball: Without women the novel would die: probably, though this article pays only a nodding tribute to previous centuries, and none at all to what I think is intimately tied to the current day different reading habits - different gender performance. I've spent the last week translating and summarizing excerpts from an 18th century nobleman's diaries for
cahn and mildred_of_midgard, which reminded me of, among so many other things, how reading with and to each other (and bursting into tears whenever you felt like it, and proclaiming your utter devotion or your abject misery every second page) were completely au fait for your 18th century male. I mean, I knew that since I read Werther at school. But it's still neat to get a non-fiction reminder every now and then. And of course men were still great readers in the 19th and 20 century, but displaying emotion about it became less and less something seen as compatible with the masculine code of behavior. Aaaaanyway. Feel free to burst into tears and/or grab a book now, oh fellow 21st century people of any gender. I venture to guess either might help at least a little bit?
