Deidre Lynch

Very true !

I must say that I do wonder what incident in the Life of Johnson that illustrator was trying to evoke. Were they dreaming, counter-factually, of a mash-up of Life of Johnson with Moll Flanders?

News of the imminent demise of the mass market paperback has sent my thoughts back to some of the more luridly packaged “classics” of my youth.

This is going to keep me up at night !

In courses in which I teach a lot of novels, I include a message on the syllabus that gives this very advice.

Congratulations!

Oh my--now I might have to watch? (This season sounds quite interesting, in fact.)

"From the very moment [a venerable man turned author] took pen in hand--all the devils in hell broke out of their holes to cajole him....So that the life of a writer, whatever he might fancy ..., was not so much a state of composition, as a state of warfare"
#18thc

If you're trying to finish a book (& it's not easy now!), best not read Tristram Shandy w/ all its examples of how not to do it.
But I do rather like the example of the Archbishop who dawdles b/c convinced that his first thoughts, indeed any good thoughts, might be "the temptations of the evil one."

Yes! well spotted! I spent such a nice July day there. (It's hard to believe in July in darkest February.)

Walter Scott's Abbotsford --and it is!

Post a pic you took, no context, to bring some zen to the feed.

For Carney, it could have been a Chretien moment (Canada’s PM who rejected joining the US attack against Iraq in the early 2000s).

Middlemarch, George Eliot Shirt Screen Printed on Bella + Canvas 3001 Unisex Shirts.

Got a new one for you big book enjoyers.

allgrimprints.shop/products/mid...

Maylis de Kerangal, Eastbound, or her Painting Time? (not British and 21st century)

Oh, perfect! Thank you!

This winter has felt so long and hard that these are (for me at least) a very cheery sight.

Snow drops in front of a brick wall Also my shadow

Floral alert! Snowdrops spotted on my walk home from campus!

Here they are, along with my shadow, which adds an incongruous film noir note.

Only in Italy: train-station bookstore, six copies of Lucretius from five different publishers, each of course with facing-page Latin text. To me, that’s civilization.

Plagiatsurteil gegen frühere UZH-Professorin: «Schwerster Fall wissenschaftlichen Fehlverhaltens» Der Schweizerische Nationalfond forderte Fördergelder wegen angeblich nicht korrekt zitierter Passagen zurück. Das Urteil bestätigt «massives Fehlverhalten» bei zwei ihrer Publikationen.

Plagiarism verdict against former University of Zurich professor: Massive scientific misconduct

#ReceptioGate

www.tagesanzeiger.ch/st-gallen-bu...

Reposting, because I really think that Mr. Bean's strenuous (if a tad dim-witted) effort to get under his orange shawl should have received more appreciation from Bluesky.

A typical decorating ornament from a page of an eighteenth century newspaper made in Zurich, Switzerland. The ornament features three heads, 2 smiling men and a woman, made of symbols.

I see text emoji's in this ornament from an eighteenth century news print. #textemoji #newshistory

The 2005 movie ! the latter is too awful to contemplate

The student prefers the 1995 P and P but didnt have the heart to tell her mum

Pride and Prejudice pajama top, brown and white in toile de jouy style with vignettes of scenes from the 2005 P and P

Here is the pajama top in question.

BELINDA! (Imagine the casting of Lady Delacour and Lord Delacour: what fun!)

... we all felt envious! (Maybe not the young men in the class, but who knows.)
One of the delights of teaching the Austen course is that quite often the parents of the students get very interested, albeit from afar. Some even start reading along w/ us. But Pride and Prejudice pajamas are a first.

I didn't see the news for 12 hours, and there are many, many reasons to feel alarmed & depressed tonight.
But to end this long day on a brighter note, the mother of 1 of my undergraduates just sent her kid Pride and Prejudice pajamas in the mail. A photo was taken of the parcel's contents & ...

A new addition to my JANE AUSTEN GUIDE TO FACULTY MEETINGS (an intermittent series):

From Northanger Abbey, ch. 8--
“In this common-place chatter, which lasted some time, the original subject seemed entirely forgotten.”

I will give you credit ! It’s too great a comparison not to be broadcast widely