The first fairytales were feminist critiques of patriarchy. We need to revive their legacy Melissa Ashley finds the origin of fairytales to “a coterie of 17th century French female writers known as the conteuses, or storytellers.” Fairytales “crystallised as a genre” in this time when women, sometimes as young as 15, were married off—often to […]
There is one form of power that has fascinated me ever since I was a girl, even though it has been widely colonized by men: the power of storytelling. Telling stories really is a kind of power, and not an insignificant one. Stories give shape to experience, sometimes by accommodating traditional literary forms, sometimes by
Quotation: Elena Ferrante: Storytelling as Power Read More »
Tips for Writers and Readers Last night I dreamed I went to Manderley again. —Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier Read that sentence, one of the most famous first sentences in literature, aloud. Notice its cadence. The rhythm lulls you toward sleepiness—appropriate for a dream. And the rest of the book hinges on that final word,
5 Irresistible Introductions in Fiction Read More »
10 Best Whodunits I love a good mystery! Here mystery novelist John Verdon (his latest book is Wolf Lake, featuring NYPD homicide detective Dave Gurney) offers a list of “ten remarkable works, each of which has a special appeal to my whodunit mentality”: Oedipus Rex by Sophocles Hamlet by William Shakespeare The Hound of the
Last Week’s Literary Links Read More »
Even though it’s not quite the end of the year yet, the blogging stat monkeys have delivered their report on how things went here at the Notes in the Margin blog during 2015. I’ll have my own, more detailed report ready early next month, but for now I offer you the stat monkeys’ findings. “In
Annual Blog Report Read More »
One midwinter in 1950s New York, Harper Lee went to stay with friends. Little did she know she was about to receive the gift of a lifetime… Source: Harper Lee: my Christmas in New York | Books | The Guardian
Harper Lee: my Christmas in New York | Books | The Guardian Read More »
Thanks to a recent WordPress Daily Prompt for today’s post: Give some love to three blog posts you’ve read and loved in the past week, and tell us why they’re worth reading. (1) SAGA SATURDAY I This post was my introduction to AbbieLu’s site Cafe Book Bean. In this post she defines what a saga
3 Blogs I’ve Loved Recently Read More »
Once again, travel has intervened (which is a good thing) and affected my blogging (not such a good thing). Since this report falls right in the middle of a two-week cruise, I will once again have to publish posts after I arrive back home, where I have reliable internet access. This travel also means that
Blog a Day Challenge: August Report Read More »
Related Posts: Review: “Go Set a Watchman” Compendium on “Go Set a Watchman” More on Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” Lee, Harper. Go Set a Watchman New York: HarperCollins, 2015 ISBN 978–0–06–240985–0 Consensus is that Go Set a Watchman is the manuscript that Harper Lee originally submitted to publisher J. B. Lippincott Company in
“Go Set a Watchman”: A Lesson in Writing & Reading Fiction Read More »
After the chaos of my June blogging, in July my main goal was simply to get back into the habit of writing and publishing a post every day. At that I succeeded. However, I did not work on my word for the year, story. And I anticipate a bit more chaos in the upcoming weeks
Blog a Day Challenge: July Report Read More »
