Writerly Recluse

Collecting well-written posts to gaze at in delight for eternity. Also looking for writing advice/prompts and people to share a deep appreciation of beautiful language with.

[narcissa-black-supermacy]

i thought the “this is the face that launched a thousand ships, although now it would maybe be five-hundred.” line was just an internet joke but apparently that's a line Menelaus actually says in Nolan's Odyssey??

Not only that the language itself sounds straight out of a marvel forcibly funny haha moment, but Menelaus? The Menelaus who all thoughout human history, from Homer, to Sappho, to Euripides, to Virgil, to Shakespeare, to Brooke, to Barth; from Classical vases to Medieval poetry to Reinessance art, has been known as the man whose sword fell from his hands at the sight of his wife after 10 years apart?

"What joy for me to hold my wife" Menelaus?

"He flung the sword away, and kissed her feet" Menelaus?

"I believe all. I understand nothing. I love you" Menelaus?

"I have no fault to find; my wife, he daughter of Zeus and Leda, is mine again, she whom her brothers on their snow-white steeds, whilst torches blazed, made my happy bride, but gods removed her from my home." Menelaus?

The Menelaus who was picked out of the suitors by Helen herself? The Menelaus who couldn't kill a begging Trojan so his brother had to do it for him? The Menelaus who rescued Odysseus and got out Patroclus' body? The Menelaus who volounteered to fight Paris one on one so everybody could go home? Who kept expressing his guilt about himself being the cause of war through every assembly he spoke at in the Iliad? Who after 10 years away at Troy, took his wife through a 7-year long journey at sea back home, where he reinstated her as the queen of Sparta? Who wept like a child in front of Telemachus recalling the war and his brother and all the friends he lost and the only consolation being his wife' gentle hand on his?

You want me to believe that man scarred Helen's face and called her only worth half the ships because of it?

I'm actually physically sick just thinking about it.

[junietuesday]

white people go like “is anyone going to redesign this nonhuman evil character as a poc?” and not wait for an answer

[junietuesday]

white people go “is anyone going to redesign this nonhuman good character as a white person?” and not wait for an answer

[junietuesday]

white people can rb but please do not clown

[junietuesday]

white people really cant give a shit abt anyone but themselves unless held at gunpoint or smth huh?

“what about the poor little white kids just trying to have fun?” what about the poor little kids of color made to feel unsafe and unwelcome in a space that was supposed to be fun?

“why can’t poc just make their own redesigns and we can keep these ones” why cant you realize that your actions have consequences and that you should maybe try to not enforce racist stereotypes??

like ofc its ideal to have VARIETY among both villains AND protagonists, its when your characters look like this

that the issue arises

scratch “can”, white people are encouraged to reblog

[catantennae]

[Image description: 3 white stickmen labeled as "good guys" and 3 Brown stickmen labeled as "bad guys". End image description.]

[forthegothicheroine]

I like to think there's an Ankh-Morpork show (perhaps a live stage show) that's a combination of Great British Bakeoff and Forged in Fire where they bake dwarf bread and then attack a ballistic dummy with it.

[oneheadtoanother]

[tachyon-log]

(USAmerican trying to imagine a societal environment) Okay, so picture a highway,

[fishmech]

inability to correctly perceive 3d objects is in fact far more dangerous when someone is driving a car next to you then when they're like, sending emails to you.

[bunniope]

can we focus on the gnome for a second

[bunniope]

wait sorry i was not wearing my glasses. that is a cat

[ladyofspoons]

these are the people i have to share a highway with

[fyterx]

[cheriecore]

[cheriecore]

happy ending

[raptorific]

[poprocksromance]

A cautionary tale about the growing literacy crisis

[scribeherself]

There is no drug on earth that can replicate the absolute euphoria of hitting a writing flow state at 2:00 AM. You aren’t even typing anymore. You are a vessel. You are a channel for the gods. The characters are speaking directly into your brain and you’re just the stenographer trying to keep up. You feel like you could fight a bear. You feel like you invented the alphabet

[hylialeia]

listen it's not that I think epic the musical is a perfect adaption of the odyssey but it was an impressive passion project that knew what it wanted to be and knew what people gravitated to in the original work and it put significant effort into conveying this through its unique medium and tone to the point that hundreds of other people felt compelled to put effort into their own artistic interpretations of that version of the story. and that's really cool! and yes I would be more critical if it was a 100 million dollar project made by a professional because what the fuck do you mean you're a world-famous director and you cut the my name is nobody scene are you goddamn serious

[whimsicalfairytales]

The “nobody” scene in the odyssey is absolutely not just a clever pun—it’s a character defining moment for Odysseus because he refuses to be nobody. He devised an incredible plan that worked and he could have saved his men and returned home much sooner but he just had to yell to the cyclops that he isn’t nobody—he’s Odysseus, king of Ithaca so now Poseidon knows who to curse which severely fucks up the rest of the journey.

The “nobody” scene highlights both Odysseus’s cleverness but also his arrogance and those two traits define Odysseus throughout the entire story. It’s a foundational aspect of Odysseus’s character and cutting the scene displays a shocking level of ignorance and disregard for the themes in the source material.

[ape-of-naples]

lmao

[ape-of-naples]

come on

[maxknightley]

"of course this is a valid historical source. it says 'this happened' right there at the top of the page."

[pixiecatsupreme]

This is really funny considering the bible was retranslated multiple times before being translated to English

[scribeofchaos]

Even more hilarious given that 50% of the Old Testament details are acknowledged to be fudged for symbolic purposes, i.e., people have forgotten how much time exactly and just said either 3, 7, or 40.

Did stuff portrayed in the Bible actually happen? Yes. But it is a religious text originating in a rich oral history and utilizing narrative traditions in order to clearly illustrate points to its audience. Not a 100% straight facts history textbook.

[rhera]

Madame Bovary (1949, dir. Vincente Minnelli)

[jazzcathaven]

Quilt is Corona II by Caryl Bryer Fallert 

[psychedelicmoonpie]

My favourite Adrian headcanon is that they're a biologist/zoologist who has seen so much shit, they're completely unphased by any and every alien habit of Grace's.

I mean full-on khaki-shorts-wearing, traversing-wilderness-with-nothin'-but-a-machete Adrian who yoinks snakes outta trees and pets swamp puppies and will unflinchingly dig around in elephant faeces for signs of a rare parasitic tapeworm if needed.

Oh, humans eat socially? No problem, Adrian has observed many many animals eat. Did you know that an obscure species of small underground dirt creature from the north side of Erid also eats socially? Adrian can give you a not-so-short presentation on them.

Oh, the human has no external carapace and so its internal sounds are absurdly loud, wet and off-putting? No problem, Adrian was just conducting an expedition last month researching the incredible eridian animal, the Wet Loud Worm from the south-east region of Wet Loud Wormland. They're desensitised, it's fine.

Oh, Grace leaks often from many orifices and it can be a bit of a learning curve to get used to? No problem for Adrian, see Wet Loud Worm paragraph again!

Meanwhile, Rocky is bewildered as to how he's managed to third-wheel both of his relationships, because both Adrian and Grace are nerds who nerd out about things, and Adrian is shaking in their carapace with enthusiasm to learn more about human culture and biology, not to mention everything about earth animals. And yeah, sure, Grace might be a molecular biologist, but he'll be damned if he'll pass up an opportunity to learn about alien fauna from a fellow scientist, and yes, Adrian, he'd love to hear about the small underground dirt creature from the north side of Erid, and he's so excited to learn more about the Wet Loud Worm, do go on.

[the-grey-hunt]

#zoologist adrian would be absolutely captivated by the concept of Plants. erid doesn't have those#you mean your atmosphere is so clear your entire planet has ground level sunlight and there's an entire subsection of life#defined by their ability to turn it into energy... because the rest of it DOESN'T? sure you synthetize vitamin d out of it#but that's nothing#saviour grace why don't you photosynthesize question? skill issue question?

[writer-room]

listen to me. Joey and Shubble are polar opposites on so many spectrums, but they could and absolutely should be best friends. but in the way that they are constantly two seconds away from strangling each other. for flavor

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[authorkims]

[heinous-bitch]

you forgot the best one

[scribeofchaos]

why don't more people wear shawls they're literally a socially acceptable blanket

and they're so versatile you can use them to keep warm or as a stylish cape or to make an impromptu bag or wrap a random baby you found in the street or use as a blanket or fold into a pillow or

[byjove]

correct amount of time to wait before moving on after your husband is presumed dead?

minutes

hours

days

weeks

couple of months

a year

two years

five years

ten years

twenty years

thirty+ years

never

Remaining time: 1 day 15 hours

[byjove]

it’s a Penelope and Odysseus situation for additional context. you’re about 98% sure he’s dead and you hadn’t seen him in the 10 years before his supposed death