lise,

everything she did was a    partie de plaisir    for her.

[karlovnas]

the little princess, like an old warhorse hearing the sound of trumpets, was preparing herself, unconsciously and forgetting her condition, for her habitual coquettish gallop, without any second thoughts or struggles, but with naïve, light-minded merriment.

private and low activity ELIZAVETA KARLOVNA BOLKONSKAYA of leo tolstoy's WAR AND PEACE, as understood by alyssa. established february '23. no minors.

¹ RULES. ² DOSSIER — TBA. ³ PINTEREST.

[taggedmemes]

SENTENCE MEME ⟶ THE BLOODY CHAMBER AND OTHER STORIES - Angela Carter / Part One always feel free to tweak the sentence to fit your muse.

‘are you sure you love him?’

‘my mother herself had gladly, scandalously, defiantly beggared herself for love.’

‘opals are bad luck.’

‘i swear to you, i had never been vain until i met him.’

‘all the better to see you.’

‘i clung to him as though the one who had inflicted the pain could comfort me for suffering it.’

‘but it is our honeymoon!’

‘i was only a little girl, i did not understand.’

‘i was not afraid of him; but of myself.’

‘what is that key? the key to your heart?’

‘every man must have one secret, even if only one, from his wife.’

‘you must promise me, if you love me, to leave it well alone.’

‘i longed for him. and he disgusted me.’

‘i have gold bath taps.’

‘i suppose that’s nothing to cry about.’

‘there must be a great deal to conceal if he takes such pains to hide it.’

‘is he not rich enough to do without crime?’

‘the supreme and unique pleasure of love is the certainty that one is doing evil.’

‘there is a striking resemblance between the act of love and the ministrations of a torturer.’

‘it was his tender look that made me faint.’

‘oh, god. i can smell the blood.’

‘we whisper all manner of strange tales up and down the coast. there was a marquis, once, who used to hunt young girls on the mainland.’

‘he hunted them with dogs, as though they were foxes.’

‘i thought all these were old wives’ tales.’

‘the old name for this place is the castle of murder.’

‘it must be near morning, the tide is going down.’

‘i must pay the price of my new knowledge.’

‘can’t it wait until morning, my darling?’

‘i would have strangled him.’

‘i could expect no mercy.’

‘it is the key that leads to the kingdom of the unimaginable.’

‘you’ll never know how much i hate daylight.’

‘prepare yourself for martyrdom.’

‘we shall have absolute privacy for our last rites.’

‘i can be of some comfort to you, though not much use.’

‘you do not deserve this.’

‘who can say what i deserve or no?’

‘i’ve done nothing, but that may be sufficient reason for condemning me.’

‘you disobeyed him. that is sufficient reason for him to punish you.’

‘let the blind lead the blind, eh?’

‘do not fear that in death you shall be divided.’

‘i never heard you cry before.’

‘the snow brought down all the telephone wires.’

‘the roads are bad. i hope he’ll be safe.’

‘the very rich are often very eccentric.’

‘forgive me for robbing your garden.’

‘it will be lonely here, without you.’

‘since you left me, i have been sick.’

‘i am sick and i must die; but i shall die happy because you have come to say good-bye to me.’

‘if you’ll have me, i’ll never leave you.’

‘there’s a special madness strikes travellers from the north when they reach the lovely land where the lemon trees grow.’

‘what a burden all those possessions must have been to him.’

‘he laughs as if with glee as he beggars himself.’

‘they used to hang condemned men in cages from the city walls.’

‘unkindness comes naturally to them.’

‘what can he smell of, that needs so much camouflage?’

‘i never saw a man so big look so two-dimensional.’

‘he wears as mask with a man’s face painted most beautifully on it.’

‘he is a carnival figure made of papier mâché and crêpe hair; and yet he has the devil’s knack at cards.’

‘gambling is a sickness.’

‘my father said he loved me yet he staked his daughter on a hand of cards.’

‘my father, of course, believed in miracles; what gambler does not?’

‘if you are so careless of your treasures, you should expect them to be taken from you.’

‘he bought solitude, not luxury, with his money.’

‘i shall twist a noose out of my bed linen and hang myself with it.’

‘nothing human lives here.’

‘she is a marvellous machine.’

‘take off my clothes for you, like a ballet girl? is that all you want of me?’

‘i wish i’d rolled in the hay with every lad on my father’s farm.’

‘if you have enough money, anything is possible.’

‘the tiger will never lie down with the lamb; he acknowledges no pact that is not reciprocal.’

‘nothing about him reminded me of humanity.’

‘it will all fall, everything will disintegrate.’

[helenekuragina]

After Hélène, the little princess also came over from the tea table. 

“Attendez-moi, je vais prendre mon ouvrage,” she said. “Voyons, à quoi pensez-vous?” she turned to Prince Ippolit. “Apportez-moi mon reticule.”

The princess, smiling and talking with everyone, suddenly effected the transposition, and, taking a seat, cheerily settled herself.

“Now I feel good,” she said several times, and, asking them to begin, started to work. Prince Ippolit fetched her reticule, came after her, and, moving his chair towards her, sat down close by.

war and peace,  leo tolstoy.

[karlovnas]

@bourienne . . .

it could not be said that life at bald hills suited the little princess. all the fears she had expressed that day before her husband and pierre had proved horribly justified. she had been told that this was how such things had to be in her condition, that it was absolutely necessary to keep her away from the excitement of petersburg, but she still could not understand why. her frustration and loneliness were suffocating. — of course, she loved princess marya with all her heart and she did her best to love the old prince, but it was in mademoiselle bourienne alone that she felt the companionship she had experienced within the society she loved.

she took the woman's hand in hers, smiling at her softly and tenderly, eyes full of sincere admiration. ❝ DEAREST AMALIE, YOU MUST KNOW THAT YOUR COMPANY HAS BEEN SUCH A JOY TO ME. MY LOVE FOR OUR MARIE KNOWS NO END, OF COURSE, BUT — YOU ARE SIMILAR TO ME IN SOME WAY, I THINK, THAT MASHA IS NOT. ❞

[helenekuragina]

CHARACTER GRAPHICS:    LISE BOLKONSKAYA.

“Ah! Do not speak to me of this departure, do not speak to me of it. I do not want to hear it spoken of,” the princess said in the same capriciously playful tone in which she had spoken with Ippolit in the drawing room and which was so obviously unsuited to the family circle, where Pierre was like a member. “Today, when I thought how I’d have to break off all these dear relations … And then, you know, André?” She winked meaningfully at her husband. “I’m afraid, I’m afraid!” she whispered, her back shuddering.

Her husband looked at her as if he was surprised to notice there was someone else in the room besides himself and Pierre. However, with cold politeness he inquiringly addressed his wife:

“What are you afraid of, Liza? I cannot understand,” he said.

“See what egoists all men are; all, all egoists! For the sake of his whims, God knows why, he abandons me, he locks me up in the country alone.”

“With my father and sister, don’t forget,” Prince Andrei said quietly.

“Alone all the same, without my friends … And he wants me not to be afraid.”

—  volume i, part one, vi:    WAR AND PEACE,  LEO TOLSTOY.