I am having a wonderful time reading 16th-century Basile's splendid introductions to stories in his Tales of Tales. And while the tales are wicked-wonderful, these observations on the human condition have me enthralled — I suspect because they remain surprisingly current. Plus ça change… "…artisans leave their shops, merchants their trade, lawyers their cases, shopkeepers […]
Startling Moments from Basile That Still Ring True Read More »
I have been reading Thomas V. Cohen's Love and Death in Renaissance Italy, a fascinating study of crime reports, for the information they reveal about life and language in the 16th century (the setting of my WIP). Detailed handwritten depositions of criminal cases recorded the testimonies of everyone from the kitchen boy, the serving girls,
Containing Violence in the Language of Honor Read More »
Sometimes, it is much easier to dream a book than sit at a keyboard where the gossamer spell of an entire story shatters with clicks and spaces into a text. I can feel a whole book before I can speak it. Trust, perhaps? But then there is this waiting for the details to become apparent
Dream Writing a Novel into Existence Read More »
Portuguese artist João Lemos sent me this gorgeous and entirely unexpected painting "La Stigmatisée" by French painter, Georges Moreau de Tours (1848-1901). And what a narrative it visually suggests — rich and full of possibilities: a sensual image of a young woman, where both the dressings over the stigmata of her hands and her clothing
Inspiration in “La Stigmatisée” by Georges Moreau de Tours Read More »
I realized in the middle of the night that everything I had imagined about the plot structure of Three Sisters was insufficient unto the task. I had assumed I could move from one sister's narrative to another, forming discreet and somewhat separate interludes. But, I realized as I turned over on the pillow that If
A Middle of the Night Meeting With the Commedia Read More »
