#amy levy

[aliteraryprincess]

Birthday Book Haul!

I think I made out pretty well! 😊

From my parents:

The Goodbye Cat by Hiro Arikawa

Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen

A Theory of Dreaming by Ava Reid

The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

What Jane Austen's Characters Read (and Why) by Susan Allen Ford

From my husband:

The Autobiography of Margaret Oliphant edited by Elisabeth Jay

Reuben Sachs by Amy Levy

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell

Selected Letters by Jane Austen

The Half Sisters by Geraldine Jewsbury

Man and Wife by Wilkie Collins

[fictionadventurer]

It occurred to me that an amateur photo of an 1880s woman is perfect for Amy Levy's The Romance of a Shop, so I had to generate a Penguin cover.

[flowerytale]

John Keats, from a letter to Fanny Brawne Gabriela Mistral, from a letter to Doris Dana Charlotte Brontë, from “Jane Eyre” Amy Levy, from The Romance of a Shop Florence and the Machine, from "Haunted House"

Young Man Holding a Book ca. 1480 Heart imagery by Andrea Zanatelli

[infiniteglitterfall]

I've been wanting to start making videos where I just read queer literature to you. Especially in a time when a lot of people have no or limited access to queer culture from around the globe and across the ages.

It's hard to know where to start. There's so much of it!

The easiest place to start turned out to be, "I'll just read that one tiny book I wrote in the Minecraft server I like."

I really want to livestream Big Queer Storytime. Just sit there, at a specific time each week, reading from the Legend of Gilgamesh, the Book of Dreams, the Book of the Dead, the Iliad, Sappho, the Mahabharata, the Tale of Genji, the Canterbury Tales, The Life and Struggles of Our Mother Walatta Petros, The Great Mirror of Male Love....

Reading about Johnathan and King David, Hinemoa and Tūtānekai, bearded Aphrodite, the unnecessarily hot Rabbi Yohanan, or Herculine Barbin.

I really want to do a deep dive into some of the more recent centuries that we have a ton of queer content for, and show how much their lives were like ours. We are not new. We have continuity. We don't have to wait for "the academy" to feed it to us.

I also really want to show people that the Approved Straights they learn about in school... aren't. I haven't done these in years, I need to do a deep dive!

[jomiddlemarch]

‘A girl of genius’: archives unsealed of Amy Levy, queer Jewish writer admired by Oscar Wilde

Levy’s work was ‘ahead of her time’ and speaks to current debate around feminism, LGBTQ+ literature and Jewish identity, say researchers

[dearboypete]

At a Dinner Party

With fruit and flowers the board is deckt,    The wine and laughter flow; I'll not complain—could one expect    So dull a world to know?

You look across the fruit and flowers,    My glance your glances find.— It is our secret, only ours,    Since all the world is blind.

― Amy Levy (1861―1889)

[ofliterarynature]

TBR TAKEDOWN: GOODREADS, WEEK 23a

The Romance of a Shop by Amy Levy

Should I keep this book on my tbr?

Yes

No

(see results)

Voting ended onApr 14, 2025

I'm trying to trim down my tbr list(s) and I'm asking for your help! Descriptions and more info under the cut. Please reblog and add your thoughts!

* * * *

The Romance of a Shop tells the captivating story of four sisters — Fanny, Gertrude, Lucy, and Phyllis Lorimar. When their father passes away, the sisters are faced with the daunting prospect of abject poverty. But with Gertrude's visionary proposal to open a photography shop, the sisters embark on a journey of self-discovery, challenging social norms and advocating for their right to independent thought. Set against the backdrop of urban life in the late 19th century, Levy beautifully examines the opportunities and difficulties faced by the "New Woman" during a time of great societal change. With richly drawn characters and a compelling storyline, The Romance of a Shop is an inspiring tale of love, family, and the pursuit of independence.

"A bright and clever story, full of sparkling touches." - Oscar Wilde

Amy Levy (1861 – 1889) was an English essayist, poet, and novelist best remembered for her literary gifts; her experience as the second Jewish woman at Cambridge University, and as the first Jewish student at Newnham College, Cambridge; her feminist positions; her friendships with others living what came later to be called a "New Woman" life, some of whom were lesbians; and her relationships with both women and men in literary and politically activist circles in London during the 1880s

Date added: 2020

Goodreads: 3.56

Storygraph: 2.64

PRO:

Interested in the time period!

Love to see women challenging social norms

Also have a preference for classics about women, by women

Available on audio via LibriVox!

CON:

I do prefer a bit more drama my classics (I'm proving to be a sucker for the gothic - this isn't giving me big dramatic vibes)

Only available from my library in ebook (I really only do classics on audio)

Who knows what kind of quality the LibriVox recording will be. Doesn't seem to be very long at least.

[isaiahpadams]

At a Dinner Party

With fruit and flowers the board is deckt,

The wine and laughter flow;

I'll not complain - could one expect

So dull a world to know?

You look across the fruit and flowers,

My glance your glances find.-

It is our secret, only ours,

Since all the world is blind.

Amy Levy (1861-1889)