that one sick character in Victorian literature

Mia, they/them, mostly literature and mythology

[gcantread]

Agnes Grey, or its more accurate title, I Should Be Allowed to Beat These Children With a Sock Full of Quarters Shillings by Anne Brontë (a cover redesign by me)

[the-grollican]

ishmael using a pseudonym is so funny. like what are you in witness protection? from the whale?

[heidi891]

I think that many people who find Mary Bennet relatable, imagine her to be like Fanny Price. Mary is a pretentious, not very bright show-off. It is Fanny who is a neglected, abused, intelligent introvert.

[lizzieandme]

According to the novels, absolutely.

If we take the Pride and Prejudice to be the point of view of the primary character (Lizzie Bennet), it makes slightly more sense that Mary may have virtues and interests outside what her sister sees. That's not how the novels are written, though. They are written from the perspective of a objective outsider, and the clear interpretation of Mary is that she is shallow, conceited about her accomplishments, and not very smart. She has skills but not judgement.

I still enjoy seeing her in a different way through The Other Bennet Sister, however much license they are taking.

[werewolf-transgenderism]

irritating as fuck when people get mad at Black people existing in premodern historical fiction/fantasy media. like first of all, you're racist. and second of all, you are acting as though Black people didn't exist in premodern Europe which is simply false. especially when we're talking about the Mediterranean, like what the fuck do you people think is along the southern half of the Mediterranean Ocean?? everyone's on boats, there are GOING to be interactions with Black people in Northern Africa, and there are GOING to be Black people in Mediterranean Europe. stop being stupid. your imagined homogeneous white European past is not historical reality, get over it you massive losers

[currentlycryingaboutlancelot]

hamlet is so funny all the time. horatio being like ghosts aren’t real. i know this. i know ghosts aren’t real. i am a real mature student who goes to school and studies real mature things so i know ghosts aren’t real. i know this because i go to school. gets to denmark and the guards are like oh you go to school??? thank God we need someone who learned how to talk to ghosts

[slut-jpeg]

snoopy image of the day

[penny-anna]

Hello hello, off the back of the recent book polling i decided to put together a little reclist i'm calling:

Literary Fiction I really enjoy as someone who is mostly an SFF reader

some of these have speculative elements; others are books that I just think go hard. here we are:

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell:

most of David Mitchell's books are simply a blast IMO if you're only going to readone it has to be Cloud Atlas. if there was ever a book that has everything it is Cloud Atlas. as a word of warning I will say: if you are unfamiliar it consists of 6 nested stories and the opening section (The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing) is a bit dense but if you power through it you will get to other sections like the 1930s doomed gay romance and the fast food clone dystopia that are a great time.

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino:

I would warmly recommend reading this one if you are into writing fantasy in particular. a breezy 165 pages where each chapter is a description of a different fictional city.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark:

we now enter into 'books that simply fuck'. I feel like The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is potentially a tough sell if you are not already into the classics given that the premise does not sound very exciting but i gotta say: dude trust me. this one ranks on '100 books to read before you die' or whatever lists over and over for a reason. probably the most perfectly constructed novel i have ever read. and under 200 pages.

Fictions by Jorges Luis Borges:

this is another one i would recommend if you are into writing fiction. "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote" in particular has been living rent free in my mind for years. im always wanting to reference it. i wanna be like 'wow this is a real Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote' situation but i worry no-one will know what I'm talking about and i will sound like the Gregory Berrycone guy. anyway Borges is really good.

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood:

i've read a good chunk of Margaret Atwood and this is solidly my favourite. just an absolutely banging read. the sections about the titular blind assassin are extremely cool. the plot creeps along to this like slow-burning reveal that will have you like ohh... OHHH!!

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson:

as w Blind Assassin this is another one that will slow burn you into a big oh... OH NO?? i read it in a single day (it's under 200 pages) (I like a book that is short) and it really cracks along.

Black Narcissus by Rumer Godden:

i would just like to say that Rumer Godden is a wildly underrated writer. i came across her first via her children's books and subsequently sought out her adult fiction and was like FUCK me. anyway: Black Narcissus is about a group of English nuns trying to set up a convent in the Himalayas and instead get into some messed up psychological horror. has a movie adaptation that offended the Catholic Legion of Decency.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier:

this is one of ur classic books where everyone says its really really good and then you read it and are like wowie that was really really good.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka:

look u have probably already read this one bcos we all love it but if you haven't then you definitely should. its only 70 pages. big bugge.

[sicklysidecharacter]

My casting for a Muppet version of The Tempest:

Prospero: Bunsen (weird science experiments instead of magic)

Miranda: Miss Piggy (the only female character)

Ferdinand: Kermit (love interest of Miss Piggy)

Alonso: Beaker (I just thought it would be funny)

Sebastian: Statler (heckle Fozzie)

Antonio: Waldorf (heckle Fozzie)

Gonzalo: Fozzie (get heckled)

Trinculo: Pepe (minor silly role)

Stephano: Rizzo (minor silly role)

Caliban: Gonzo (both have a what is that thing??? vibe)

Ariel: the one human

The masque: Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem

[butchhamlet]

i don’t know why tumblr won’t let me post this image in a way that looks normal but i have to imagine that it’s because of the contents of this image

[hollow-head]

"who do you self insert as when you read?"

This is me when I read:

[chaser]

Boss is asleep, cannot stop me from frogposting

[chaser]

First like and this has already found its intended audience

[chaser]

uh oh

[itsmyturnonthegender]

[cogentranting]

Mr. Collins would be such a fan of ai. He would love it. He would have it write scripts for him to use for complimenting people. He'd ask it what to do in social situations and then when someone would tell him "I think that's a bad idea" he'd be like "my dear madam it's so good of you to be concerned but I think the highly esteemed Grok knows a little more about this than a lady like yourself" and then he'd go humiliate himself publicly.

[hate-kill-repeat]

revamped design with all of my disabled keith haring style dancin' guys all together, updated to include the yellow power chair user ~

ID in alt text

[disabilityaidpositivity]

Mobility aid positivity post!

[natalieironside]

Mad At You Island is where the events of William Shakespeare's The Tempest take place

[plant-based-person]

had a fascinating english class that resulted in the notes header “the forcefeminization of victor frankenstein”

[plant-based-person]

what the people want, the people get

you see

my professor’s take is that mary shelley is feminizing victor throughout the novel, as a way of flipping gender roles and putting a male character through female experiences.

evidence as explained:

victor is creating life. he is putting his health at risk (spends two years with little sleep or socialization) to bring life forth into this world

his illness after he is shocked by the creature coming to life is akin to both ‘hysteria’ and postpartum depression

he pretty much swoons, let’s be honest

henry clerval, a man who has been characterized as manly and heroic, has to chase after damsel-in-distress victor and care for him as he convalesces 

afterward, he hides what he did and went through, for fear that others will label him crazy and emotional and not believe him. sound familiar?

Victor in general is more emotional than the other characters and is constantly tempering his reactions to not be seen as irrational 

the book does not otherwise have central female characters 

Also, Shelley’s mother died in childbirth. It’s interesting, then, that Shelley presents the creation of life as something horrific and damaging. She parallels Victor with her mother.

in conclusion, Frankenstein (1818) by Mary  Wollstonecraft Shelley is one of the first examples of mpreg in English literature 

[just-call-me-the-old-hag]

[poetryofapollo]

I'm really disappointed that mainstream media has made it so that Romeo and Juliet is nothing but a romance. Yes, that was there, however there is so much more to it then just that, and one of the things I wish people explore more is just the themes of parental negligence/abuse. These parents hating each other more than they loved their children is what led to their eventual downfall.

[sandersstudies]

My Shakespeare students (they are 12) wanted to summarize the lessons they learned this semester. If. Um. Anybody would like to see.

[sandersstudies]

I cannot emphasize enough that they made these with very little input from me.

Henry the Fifth

- ALWAYS encourage others to do their best.

- NEVER talk about people behind their back.

Antony and Cleopatra

- ALWAYS check your produce for pests. [They liked this one so much made a rap about it.]

- NEVER count your chickens before they hatch.

Hamlet

- ALWAYS act decisively

- NEVER tell your girlfriend to go to a convent and become a nun [Oh boy they REALLY liked this one]

Romeo and Juliet

- ALWAYS collect all the important information before making an important decision

- NEVER bite your thumb at us, sir. [They enacted this scene in the original language a lot, except they swapped every “sir” for “bro.”]

The Merchant of Venice

- ALWAYS pay your debts.

- NEVER judge based on appearances, because “all that glisters is not gold.”

The Tempest

- ALWAYS try to forgive others.

- NEVER be a colonizer. [Yes, a middle schooler said this]

Midsummer Night’s Dream

- ALWAYS stay on forest trails

- NEVER fall in love with an ass. [They were excited about this one for obvious reasons.]

Twelfth Night

- ALWAYS stay in touch with those important to us

- NEVER read other people’s mail

Macbeth

- ALWAYS wash your hands. [One of the girls performed Lady Macbeth’s entire Out Damn Spot monologue at the end of the semester]

- NEVER succumb to peer pressure.