The British Library has agreed on putting something like 40 million pages on the internet in a digital format. Books include titles from 1700-1870, in several languages. The first published are feminist pamphlets about Queen Marie-Antoinette. For example, Les droits de la femme. A la reine, [The Rights of Women. To the Queen] by Olympe de Gouges which I downloaded and read. I'd suggest you to do the same]
The files are free to download. In fact, the text no longer is under copyright laws.
I am not very keen on reading from a computer - I'd rather touch and smell the book - but I think this is a fab project we should all support because it's not about reading 'old stuff'. It is about understanding that culture, books which made history, is for us all and should be available to everyone.
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label women. Show all posts
7.20.2011
1.09.2010
Venus - and other women
I confess I am not very fond of historical novels. In fact, I think most authors tend to show you how well they know the subject rather than using infos as a simple background for stories which need to be told.
However, when a very good friend of mine suggested I should read The Birth of Venus, by Sarah Dunant, I decided to accept, main reason being I didn�t want to disappoint her. Plus, she had spoken so well of the novel that I was quite curious to know how the book was really like.
The book, set in Renaissance Florence, opens with a couple of nuns having to sort things out for the funeral of one of their sisters, Alessandra. We are told that, as a general rule, none of them can look at naked bodies (theirs included) therefore these two have been given a special permission to do so. When that happens, they find something unexpected: the painting of a snake all over their sister's body. The face of the snake is that of a man...
From this moment on, we are thrown into Alessandra's life before she became a nun. She was a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a fighter. Basically, she played all the roles every woman does, but quite often with very hard-to-digest extras. For example, I was almost in tears when she discovers that her newly-wed husband, Cristoforo, has a secret: he's been dating her brother and won't ever be able to love her the way a husband should. They will talk, befriend each other...and have sex only a couple of times so that she gets pregnant and people do not get suspiciuos...
Is this the life she wanted or dreamt of? Of course not! Still, she didn�t even imagine to find herself in love with a young artist, nor to face the consequences of such a "mistake"...
I loved this book because it is well written and history has a part in it but is not the protagonist. Characters are believable, especially in regards to the relationship between one another: Alessandra and Erila, Alessandra and her mother, Alessandra and Plautilla...
The only/main problem I found is that I sometimes had the feeling modern age, ideas, opinions, views were popping up too strongly in a book set in a different time, age...frame of mind...but I want to read the other (historical) novels from Dunant to understand if that�s just my own impression or a mistake she made.
PS: I haven't added links and a number of other details yet: I apologise for this but am having problems with that -or, simply, I am not that expert. I am really sorry and I am trying my best to sort this out. Help appreciated indeed;-)
However, when a very good friend of mine suggested I should read The Birth of Venus, by Sarah Dunant, I decided to accept, main reason being I didn�t want to disappoint her. Plus, she had spoken so well of the novel that I was quite curious to know how the book was really like.
The book, set in Renaissance Florence, opens with a couple of nuns having to sort things out for the funeral of one of their sisters, Alessandra. We are told that, as a general rule, none of them can look at naked bodies (theirs included) therefore these two have been given a special permission to do so. When that happens, they find something unexpected: the painting of a snake all over their sister's body. The face of the snake is that of a man...
From this moment on, we are thrown into Alessandra's life before she became a nun. She was a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a fighter. Basically, she played all the roles every woman does, but quite often with very hard-to-digest extras. For example, I was almost in tears when she discovers that her newly-wed husband, Cristoforo, has a secret: he's been dating her brother and won't ever be able to love her the way a husband should. They will talk, befriend each other...and have sex only a couple of times so that she gets pregnant and people do not get suspiciuos...
Is this the life she wanted or dreamt of? Of course not! Still, she didn�t even imagine to find herself in love with a young artist, nor to face the consequences of such a "mistake"...
I loved this book because it is well written and history has a part in it but is not the protagonist. Characters are believable, especially in regards to the relationship between one another: Alessandra and Erila, Alessandra and her mother, Alessandra and Plautilla...
The only/main problem I found is that I sometimes had the feeling modern age, ideas, opinions, views were popping up too strongly in a book set in a different time, age...frame of mind...but I want to read the other (historical) novels from Dunant to understand if that�s just my own impression or a mistake she made.
PS: I haven't added links and a number of other details yet: I apologise for this but am having problems with that -or, simply, I am not that expert. I am really sorry and I am trying my best to sort this out. Help appreciated indeed;-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)