purple elephants corner: April 2006 Archives

« March 2006 | Main | May 2006 »

April 29, 2006

April 28, 2006

Obscure(ish) Books

Despite the fact that she has been back a week, I still seem to be catching up with everything from those pesky Easter Holidays and of course there was the dreaded chicken pox. Mr PE is also (quite rightly) hogging the computer for his dissertation, so not a lot of computer time for me I’m afraid.
For today I link you to an interesting article from the Independent and because I’m lazy I quote;

Waterstone's has compiled a list of 30 'lost' masterpieces by asking writers and booksellers to name the book they believe most deserves a much wider audience

Some interesting choices there and a few by women well worth checking out.
Just by a strange coincidence I’m only a chapter in to a second hand copy of Ruth Adam’s I’m not Complaining and a quick search around the internet came up with little more information about her than what is on the inside of the front cover. (Interestingly not even a mention over at Virago, who were publishing this book in 1983) Any additional info much appreciated.
So if Waterstones asked you for a suggestion, then what would be your choice for the list?

Posted by purple elephant at 09:54 PM |

April 25, 2006

Cambridge Wordfest; Part One. ‘Stop! I wanna geddorrrfff!’

Whoah! What a busy couple of days, so busy in fact that last night I turned on the laptop intending to blog about the weekend and research John Betjeman for the impending assignment and while I was waiting for it to log on (ah the pleasures of dial up) I fell asleep. Not that you lot bore me or anything and nor does Betjeman, well at least I don’t think so because as I slept I dreamed that Westminster Abbey was in Slough. I was just exhausted and I’m sticking to that story.

After the Sandi Toksvig and Joolz Denby/ Serpent’s Tail disappointment I cheered myself up by grabbing one of the last tickets for Lionel Shriver, who was interviewed by Debbie Taylor (of Mslexia fame) about her brand new novel Double Fault. The fact that she wasn’t talking about her most famous work opened up many jokes during the questions from the audience along the lines of ‘I need to just talk about Kevin for a moment....’ Ok so maybe you had to be there. Shriver is a witty enthusiastic and confident public speaker and I was surprised to discover that she had been publishing novels barely successfully for almost 12 years before the K book was released. Ah there is hope for the rest of us yet.

Next up was Being Alive, an intriguing theatrical presentation of the poetry from the latest Bloodaxe anthology of the same name. The pieces chosen were reasonably wide ranging from funny to poignant, and irreverent to political, including works by Fleur Adcock, W.H. Auden, Norman MacCaig, Naomi Shihab Nye and Carol Ann Duffy. The actors, Gem Ahmet, Natasha Godfrey and Lewis Harwood kept the performance simple but lively, scarcely steering us away from the words themselves. My only complaint was with the circular screen behind them projecting hyper fast footage of the neon lights of Las Vegas strip whenever the set designer felt the need to emphasise the what-is-the-world-coming-to aspect of a poem. It only served to convince me that I was on some dastardly roller coaster, at moments I almost screamed out loud, ‘Stop! I wanna geddorrrfff!’
If this sounds interesting to you then there is a list of future dates here.

Talking of getting off, I still have things to do before bedtime so you will have to wait until tomorrow for my account of Julia Briggs’ talk on Virginia Woolf’s relationship with Cambridge and the fabulous Joy of Six.

*Best Noel Edmunds voice* And you will be back after the break. I know you will.....

Posted by purple elephant at 10:55 PM |

April 21, 2006

Sniff

Just tried to get some tickets for Cambridge Wordfest this weekend only to discover that Sandi Toksvig is SOLD OUT and the Serpent’s Tail 20th Anniversary event is CANCELLED! Only one of those incidents can be blamed on my poor organisational skills. Oh well I shall have to make do with some of my second choices instead.

To cheer me up the Carnival of Feminists is up again (is it me or did that come around quickly this time?) The Theme is;

“Feminisms and Challenges.” Finding our voices and demanding dignity and self-determination is always an uphill battle, but for some women that difficulty is augmented by personal issues–medical, mental health, aging and physical disability–which make the battle more difficult.

Some great posts, go and check it out....

Posted by purple elephant at 07:46 AM |

April 19, 2006

Spot the link - if you will

1) More people considering voting for the BNP
I’m not leaving the country in fear of a BNP government just yet. I acknowledge that ‘might consider voting’ is a far cry from actually voting but the article is at least mildly disturbing.

2) U2’s ’One’ tops favourite lyric poll
I take it that the people who voted for "One life, with each other, sisters, brothers"
as their favourite line from a song are not the same people who ‘might consider voting’ for the BNP - just a thought.
Oh and to all who voted for the line "I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now, entertain us" from a Nirvana’s ‘Teen Spirit’ - You are stupid. In fact I’m surprised you managed to drum up enough intelligence to work out how to vote in the poll.
And finally my plea to the world - can we please talk about music just once without mentioning Coldplay. My four year old has written lyrics less cliche ridden. What next James Blunt droning ‘You’re Beautiful.’?

My favourite lyrics? There are so many but from the top of my head you can’t beat New Model Army (‘This golden age of communication means everyone talks at the same time’) or Manic Street Preachers (‘Outside open mouthed crowds pass each other as if they’re drugged. Down pale corridors of routine where life falls unatoned’)

Posted by purple elephant at 10:48 AM |

April 15, 2006

You might want to stand well back...

...over there, that’s right! That should do it!
Bath time, 7 o clock Thursday night, everything is fine, not a mark on her body. 10 o clock, she is burning a fever and a rather suspicious looking spot has appeared on her forehead. The next morning she is covered.

Have you ever tried being ill on a bank holiday? I mean not dangerously ill, but hmmm this could be Chickenpox but I’m not sure and really would like to get it checked out and confirmed one way or the other because it is Easter weekend and we are supposed to be visiting my nephew who has SMA and is not supposed to be exposed to infection because when he gets it, he gets it really bad type ill.

Doctors Surgery answer phone; ‘Bugger off! We are not open. In an emergency please call CamDoc on ___ but if it is not an emergency just put up with it for the whole weekend you whining little low life.’

Now this is not an emergency. No one ever died of Chickenpox but I’d hate to keep her away from her cousin if she was clear and likewise I’d hate to take her along and infect him, maybe if I explain this to CamDoc they’ll understand.

‘Hello CamDoc here. Are you phoning on behalf of yourself or someone else?’
‘I’m phoning on behalf of my daughter.’
‘Is she with you?’
(No I left her in the sweet section of the supermarket while I came home to phone you) ‘Err Yes’
‘Is she breathing?’
‘I’m sorry, did you say ‘Is she breathing?’’
For one moment I thought that only lung failure counts as an emergency on Good Friday. Forgive me but I kind of thought that A&E existed for that sort of thing.
(Checking) ‘Oh yes.’
‘What seems to be the problem?’
So I explained and was told that a doctor would phone me back but they are really busy and it could take up to two hours.
Good job she was breathing then. I guess.
Half an hour later I got to speak to a Doctor, I explained the whole sorry situation and she agreed that it would be best to bring her in and get it confirmed one way or another ‘but’ she warned me, ‘it could be a long wait.’

Much to my amusement we got the leper treatment and were told to wait in the corridor, separated from the (apparently) non-spotty non-infectious masses, which was fine by me, as that has always been my fear of The Doctor’s Surgery, there’s always that risk that you’d come away with something more fatal than the original illness. My fear may also have something to do with my old Surgery, the waiting room was wallpapered with beige woodchip and I spent my childhood convinced that someone had vomited all over the walls and no one had bothered to clear it up but I digress.

Littleone was less amused because all the toys and books were just the other side of the door and she was forced to stare upon them forlornly through the slit sized window. After God-knows-how-long we were shuffled in by a very understanding doc who confirmed that it was chickenpox and told us all that stuff about not picking and scratching and applying Callamine Lotion when it all gets too much. Pretty much the same as the Health Encyclopaedia really.

When we got home we phoned the Parents-in-law to let them know that we wouldn’t be coming, only to be told that Nephew had chickenpox about a year ago and so is immune anyway.

If I was sensible I kind of would have asked for that vital piece of information BEFORE we waited all morning in the emergency surgery.

Posted by purple elephant at 08:52 AM |

April 13, 2006

Stuart Little; Cambridge Arts Theatre

Yesterday I took Littleone to see Stuart Little at the Cambridge Arts Theatre. In the past year we have been to may productions in Cambridge including well known stories like Beauty and the Beast and The Gruffalo as well as smaller one man shows such as the excellent Fishes Wishes. I’m afraid to say that Stuart Little was the least successful of all. I think the first problem that struck me was that it seemed to have escaped the actors that the sound was amplified satisfactorily and there was no need to force their voices to reach the back of the hall, couple this with the numerous episodes that warranted characters running about the stage screaming and I fully understand the little boy next to us who hid under his seat with his hands over his ears for much of the performance.

Secondly Stuart Little is set in New York, yet the British cast spoke in a Southern whining drawl for most of the performance, which I found as irritating as Americans who insist that all British women speak in that slightly dappy posh upbeat tone of Renee Zellweger in Bridget Jones. It also deadened the gag somewhat when the bird flew South and could not get any sense out the locals, who were no different from anybody else except they wore big hats, chewed on straw and sounded like they were on drugs a touch more.

Ok so maybe the kids would not be as picky as me, but I’ve been to shows where the average age of the audience was much younger and the auditorium has been still and silent throughout. Yesterday many children were fidgeting and distracted and I think that this was the greatest indicator that something was amiss. From their point of view, it was too long, you have to work really hard to hold a child’s interest for nearly two hours and this show seemed to consist of three or four barely connected incidents with little audience participation which failed to form a single continuing narrative thread. It’s an insult to our youngsters to assume that you can just plonk their favourite character in front of them for a while and be done with it.

Having said that I do have some positive points to make. Stuart’s puppeteer was visible for the whole performance, which was a great attempt to draw attention to the show’s artifice, in an age where children’s entertainment is characterised by special effects and computer graphics. Also Snowball the cat was brilliantly played by the only black member of the cast, who got a laugh every now and then. Tellingly he also doubled as the bus driver and the road sweeper but I guess the point is that it isn't set in the 21st century, which I admit hadn’t occurred to me watching the film.

All in all a fair performance that could have done with a little more work.

Posted by purple elephant at 10:03 AM |

April 11, 2006

The Really Dead Women Writers Meme......

....although hopefully a little less dead once we've finished with them....

A great meme started over at Bardiac. Here are the instructions;

Here's the idea: I'll put in five women writers. If you're interested, pick up the list, add five more of your favorites, and drop me a line at Bardiacblogger at yahoo dot com to check your site. With even a few contributors, we'll get a great meme with fewer of my idiosyncracies than if I do it myself. (And yes, it will probably end up Euro-centered, but I'd love to learn more about non-Euro earlier women writers, too, so add them in, please!)

Bardiac sets the ball rolling with;
Behn, Aphra - Oroonoko
Christine de Pisan (aka Pizan) - The Book of the City of Ladies
Julian of Norwich - Revelations of Divine Love
Locke, Anne (aka Ane Lok, etc) - A Meditation of a Penitent Sinner
Marie de France - The Lais of Marie de France

(Check out the comments to this post for many more suggestions. I wish I had time to link to them all)

Dr. Virago adds:
The Paston Women - The Paston Letters
Margery Kempe - The Book of Margery Kempe
Anonymous - The Floure and the Leafe
Lady Mary Wroth - Poems

La Lecturess adds:
Anne Askew - The Examinations of Anne Askew
Mary Sidney - Psalms
Anne Finch - Poems
Katherine Phillips - Poems
Teresa of Avila - Life

Amanda adds:
Bradstreet, Anne: collected poems
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Fama y obras póstumas
Lanyer, Aemilia: Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum
Wroth, Lady Mary: Urania

Medieval Woman adds:
Trotula - The Diseases of Women
Female Troubador Poets:- La Comtessa de Dia - "A chantar m'er" & other Trobairitz poetry excerpted.
Hrostvitha of Gandersheim (c.930-c.1002) - Plays Gallicanus & Dulcitius

Heo Cwaeth adds:
Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179) Scivias and Liber Divinorum Operum (plus a whole bunch of other stuff I plan to address later in a MWIA post)
Rachel Speght (1597 - Some time after 1621) Mouzell for Melastomus and Mortalities Memorandum
Anna Comnena (1093-1153) The Alexiad
Frau Ava (1060-1127) First named German poetess. "Johannes," "Leben Jesu," "Antichrist," "Das Jüngste Gericht" (That's in MHG)
Dhuoda (9th century, inexact dates) Handbook for William: A Carolingian Woman's Counsel for Her Son (at Sunshine for Women) and a dual-language version from Cambridge UP

Natalie adds;
Sei Shonagon, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon (A lady in waiting to the Japanese empress c. 965AD)
Eliza Haywood The History of Miss Betsey Thoughtless (1751) (and much else)
Chen Tong, Tan Ze and Qian Yi, authors of The Peony Pavilion: Commentary Edition by Wu Wushan's Three Wives (1694)
Isabella Whitney, The Copy of a Letter, lately written in meeter by a yonge Gentilwoman: to her unconstant lover (1567) and A Sweet Nosegay, or Pleasant Posy: Containing a Hundred and Ten Philosophical Flowers (1573)
Elizabeth Elstob, The Rudiments of Grammar for the English-Saxon Tongue (1715).

In the comments to Natalie's post Penny L. Richards adds;
Clara Reeve (English, 1729-1807), _The Old English Baron_ (1778), _The School for Widows_ (1791), and other books
Betje Wolff (Dutch, 1738-1804), _Historie van mejuffrouw Sara Burgerhart_ (1782)
Maria Gaetana Agnesi (Italian, 1718-1799), wrote and published mathematical and philosophical treatises, including _Propositiones Philosophicae_ (1738) and _Analytical Institutions_
Luise Kulmus Gottsched (German, 1713-1762), plays, poetry, translation, also co-edited a dictionary with her husband
Mercy Otis Warren (American, 1728-1814), satirical plays, poetry

Phew!! I hope I don't overlap too much if I add;

Mary Robinson(1758-1800) Beaux and Belles of England
Mrs. Mary Robinson, Written by Herself, With the lives of the Duchesses of Gordon and Devonshire Poems and Sappho and Phaon.

Anna Lætitia Barbauld (1743-1825) Pushing the boundaries of the meme a bit but she did write most of her stuff before 1800 including Hymns in Prose for Children.

Lucy Hutchinson (1620-1681) Order and Disorder

'Ephelia' Female Poems On Several Occasions (c. 1679)

Bathsua Makin (1600-1675) An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen (Scroll down to the section entitled 'Women Educated in Arts and Tongues, have been eminent in them' to find another comprehensive list)

Posted by purple elephant at 09:29 AM |

April 07, 2006

Joyriding on the C1 Bus....

To whom it may concern,
If the person sitting four seats behind you on the bus is singing along to your music then it is possibly a hint that either;
a) Your headphones are crap
Or
b) You need to get your ears tested
Or even
c) Both of the above

Oh and
d) Roxette? I mean Roxette?!! Some of us remember them the first time around. I think I’ve got that album on vinyl somewhere. How old does that make me sound?

Altogether now Sh la la la she’s got the look....

Posted by purple elephant at 07:10 PM |

April 06, 2006

Carnival of Feminists XII

The 12th Carnival of Feminists is up at Written World. I'm slowly working my way through the posts and they've been great so far...
Head on over and take a look.

Posted by purple elephant at 06:38 PM |

April 05, 2006

Who reads your blog?

Because I’m too tired to write anything for myself, I direct you to a post, discussing something I’ve been thinking about lately. As it stands I’m anonymous but I don’t think it would take much effort if someone wanted to find out who I am and where I live. I also haven’t given my blog address to friends and family (except for my husband obviously) , I’m not really sure why, I’ve got nothing to hide, I don’t blog about my wild sex life (ha) or anything like that but somehow it would feel weird writing with the knowledge that all my friends and family might be reading. I don’t think I’d censor but still it would be there in the back of my mind.
Of course if anyone I know had the slightest suspicion that I kept a blog, it wouldn’t take them too long to stumble across me, as Purple Elephant would be one of the first aliases they’d think of me using...
So just out of interest, how many of you use your real name on your blog? Have you ever had any problems? Also who (if anyone) in your ‘real’ life knows about your blog?
Over to you....

Posted by purple elephant at 11:58 PM |

April 04, 2006

You can call me ‘Thhhhhh’

Come 9am yesterday I was already trying to ignore the never-ending call of ‘Muuuuuuuuummmmmeeeeeeeeeeee,’ or any of its equally irritating variations, I was toying with the idea of changing my name by deed poll to something ugly and unpronounceable. My daughter struggles with the sound ’th’ so yes, that would do.
I got a whole paragraph written; the school holidays, you’ve gotta love them.

I did read two chapters of Ellen Moers’s Literary Women in direct protest against Delighting the Heart (which I never finished) Page 4 and I already found the quote I was looking for, from Harriet Beecher Stowe;

‘Since I began this note I have been called off at least a dozen times; once for the fish-man, to buy a cod fish; once to see a man who had bought me some barrels of apples; once to see a book-man; then to Mrs Upham, to see about a drawing I promised to make for her; then to nurse the baby; then into the kitchen to make a chowder for dinner; and now I’m at it again, for nothing but deadly determination enables me ever to write; it is rowing against wind and tide.’

I heaved half a sigh in sympathy before a sticker was thrust on my chest (from a book of stickers intended to keep her quiet for the holidays) it read ‘I am Cheerful’ but when I bent over to run a bath, it fell into the steaming water and congealed into sticky fragments.

Up at five today, by the end of the week I will no doubt be joining Sylivia Plath;

‘at about four in the morning - that still blue, almost eternal hour before the baby’s cry, before the glassy music of the milkman, settling his bottles.’

Ah hers was the romantic age before tetra-paks, I guess the equivalent in the modern age is the intrusive weekly harassment from the NTL man.

Posted by purple elephant at 08:12 AM |

April 02, 2006

Oxfam Chic

I think it says a lot about my finances that yesterday I stood staring longingly through the window of Oxfam. I couldn’t bring myself to enter you see because the other day I pulled a rather appealing pair of black trousers off the rail only to discover that I couldn’t afford them.

In Oxfam.

Back in the eighties if you wanted to make it through school with your credibility still intact then there were two things you would never admit, the first was that you watched Blue Peter and the second was that your mum picked you up a nice cheap coat from Oxfam. And then Thatcher got the boot, I made it to the 6th form and suddenly not only were you supposed to shop in Oxfam, but you had to purchase the most hideous granny dress you could find, lob off the top bit, turn up the hem and pair it with a velvet jacket, thick black tights and Doc Martens. Personally I preferred to buy the tights brand new but coming to think of it maybe that’s where I went wrong because despite all that I was STILL not allowed near the tape player in the common room.

Sometime after that Oxfam had to change its tactics because a whole new breed of shops sprung up where you would be charged a small fortune for brand new clothes that just looked like they’d been sitting in a bin bag in the back room for 6 months, but don’t get me started on that.

So what happened to Oxfam? I thought catching the scent of Ecover Floor Clearer as a comfortable well dressed family opened the door and headed straight for the Suma Organic Free Trade Breakfast Cereal in the food section. You were just the sort of kids who would take the piss out of my Oxfam coat all those years ago. (And while I’m on the subject Blue Peter presenters are not meant to be young, trendy and on the ball, back in the day, its square-ness was its appeal. You never saw Simon Groom sporting a fake tan now did you?)

Sadly, but with an awareness that it was probably a good thing that Oxfam has many new customers richer than me, I bowed my head and walked on by.

By the time I reached Oxfam Books however, my willpower was totally and utterly shattered, but that is another story.

Posted by purple elephant at 10:52 PM |

April 01, 2006

The sun has got his hat on...

I cannot put to words how utterly refreshing it is to be able to walk freely around the house in just one layer of clothing and with the windows open too. God it was a long time coming this year.
Wandering about taking photos today for the Wheel of the Year project,* I noticed how some of the trees have suddenly sprouted blossom (although sadly not in the photos I took - note to self remember this for next year) I even noticed a few clusters of daisies in the grass. Oh and the ice cream parlour on Jesus Green was finally open although I’m not sure if this is because it’s a) Saturday, b) April or c) Spring-(ish) weather.
Mother Nature has her place but on days like this my favourite pass time is people watching, or more precisely clothes watching. it’s the diversity that amuses me, the teenage girls who expose their midriffs and thighs whatever the weather, so they don’t look any different; the men, usually coming up for middle age who, as soon as the thermometer rises to just above freezing, insist on donning a pair of shorts and a wacky Hawaiian shirt (my theory is that it is something to do with the mid-life-crisis, the dawning realisation that there are only so many summery days left in one’s life, so let’s make the most of them) and then there’s people like me, who refuse to part with their cuddly winter coat until the temperature has remained above 20 for at least a month, or when we drown in a pool of our own sweat, whichever comes soonest. As my mum used to say ‘the day Purple Elephant sheds her winter coat, is the day summer finally arrives.’

* I am so absolutely aware that I haven’t even uploaded last month’s yet, someone slap my wrists. Also how much do I suck at changing my reading list in the sidebar? The Virago Book of Christmas indeed!

Posted by purple elephant at 10:58 PM |

purple elephants corner