Well, the major event of this portion of the Browning letters is, of course, the mutual declaration (ish — Elizabeth’s still being a little cautious about it) of love. They stop playing games where Robert doesn’t talk about being in love with Elizabeth and Elizabeth doesn’t talk about being in love with Robert. Those games could be really sweet, but it’s even sweeter for them to be able to say, I love you and that will always be true. Thematically, what interests me about this section is Elizabeth’s falling in love with Robert. I feel like you see it first…
11 CommentsTag: Robert Browning
Anyone care to read the Browning letters with me?
Published 9 Apr 2013
by
Gin Jenny
I’ve been wanting to reread their letters for a while now anyway, and it would be more fun if other people read them with me! I’ve just downloaded an epub copy of the whole set of them from the New York Public Library (thanks, library!). Gutenberg only has the first volume available for epub, so if you can’t find the full version with both volumes, please say so in the comments and I’ll email you the epub file. (I’ll do that regardless of whether or not you want to join me in this readalong, of course. I am not holding…
12 CommentsLady’s Maid, Margaret Forster
Published 4 Dec 2008
by
Gin Jenny
Hmph. One quick method to make me not finish your book: Talk shit about Robert Browning. I was reading this book Lady’s Maid, which is a story about Elizabeth Barrett Browning from the point of view of her maid, Wilson, and for a while I was only bothered by how little Robert Browning there was in the book. I kept reading, expecting to see more of dear, sweet, lovely Robert Browning (born on my birthday!), and very little was forthcoming. And I was only half paying attention to it while I was reading it, because in my mind I kept…
4 CommentsGeek Love and True Love
Published 20 Jul 2008
by
Gin Jenny
The past few days have been a bit weird, reading-wise. I was reading Geek Love – recommended to me by Toryssa as an antidote to the trite blahness of Water for Elephants (Water to Elephants? I can never remember) – and then when I wasn’t reading that, I was reading the Brownings’ letters to each other when they were a-courting. It’s been strange. Geek Love is two stories running consecutively: the main character, Olympia, is a hunchback dwarf from a family that deliberately bred freaks in order to make their circus all interesting, and she’s telling the story of her…
6 Comments