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Scribblings

Category Archives: Stories

The Man Who Invented Christmas

28 Thursday Dec 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling, Stories

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A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, Susan Coyne, The Man Who Invented Christmas

I emerged from my Reading Days last night, for a trip to town to see The Man Who Invented Christmas – and, unlike the rest of my party, quite loved it.

I admit I’d been wondering a little as I watched: the film is as lovely as a vintage illustration or a Christmas card, and Dan Stevens is vividly endearing as the overimaginative, struggling, high-strung writer – but there are two aspects of the writing that, while very, very appealing to me, are perhaps not made to click with an Italian audience… Continue reading →

The Movie

16 Thursday Nov 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Stories, Theatre

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bibiThey were making my children’s play into a movie.

Perhaps it was a slightly peculiar choice, but after all, what do I know?

Big production, too.

It was to be out next July.

Is July a good month for movies? No idea, really. Continue reading →

Davide Mana’s Behind the Copper Mask

11 Saturday Nov 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Stories

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Davide Mana, Halloween story, Karavansara, masks, subtle horror, theatre

Do you remember when I told you about my copper mask – oh well, the Chorus’ copper mask in Shakespeare in Words? And how my friend Davide – he of Karavansara – said there was a story in there, and he’d write it for Halloween?

Well, he’s done it.

Not that I’m terribly surprised, mind: the man has proved again and again that he can put together a good story by whatever deadline he gives himself – and so a Halloween story it was… Continue reading →

The Odyssey of the Captain Fracasse

26 Thursday Oct 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Stories

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Ernestina Grisi, Gervais Charpentier, Happy ending, Le Capitaine Fracasse, Théophile Gautier

Théophile Gautier first promised The Captain Fracasse to his readers in 1836, when he had yet to put pen to paper.

What he wanted to do, was a picaresque, baroque tale, in the way of Scarron and Scudery… only, he must not have wanted it too much, because in 1845, when he signed a publishing contract (and received a substantial advance), he forgot to mention that he still had to write a single word of the novel. Worse still, he kept procrastinating for years, while the publisher Buloz grew understandably nervous… Continue reading →

Osborne Vs. Ravel

21 Saturday Oct 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Stories

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Gaspard de la nuit, Maurice Ravel, Steven Osborne

A musical little post – and a slightly hasty one, because Shakespeare in Words with fire*- but really, read this wonderful article**: Steven Osborne tells of how he conquered Ravel‘s Gaspard de la Nuit.

Don’t you love it when a window opens on someone’s creative process? This is not just about music. It’s the journey of a (stellar) performer tackling the highest heighths of difficulty in his field – told with humour and passion. About a master wondering at great art and, in his own words, wrestling with it.

I hope you’ll find the read as delightful and inspiring as I did.

______________________________

* Yes, well. I’ll tell you about it…

** Thanks for sharing, M.!Salva

Salva

A Matter of Dancing Madness

15 Saturday Jul 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Stories, Things

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

#Swashathon, Alan Breck Stewart, David McCallum, Iain Glen, Kidnapped, Michael Caine, Movies Silently, Peter Finch, R. L. Stevenson, Robert Cain

Hooray: the #Swashathon, Movies Silently’s “blogathon of swashbuckling adventure“, is back! Four days of cloaks and daggers, swords and sails, fops (or not) and farthingales, derring-do and damsels not-quite-in-distress… Does it get more fun than that?

Let’s get dancing, then – and discuss my favourite swashbuckler of all times: Stevenson’s Alan Breck Stewart. Alan  is a wonderful character – the most perfect one in English literature, according to Henry James, no less – but how has he fared on the screen? Ah now, this is a tricky question – so be warned: it’s going to be a long, long post. Continue reading →

On the Danger of Names

08 Thursday Jun 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Stories

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christopher marlowe, Doomed characters, Hanno Buddenbrook, Johnny Nolan, Konradin von Hohenfels, names

So names, we were saying…

I remember once shopping for Sicilian wine, and choosing a bottle of Grecale for no better reason than the beautiful name. If I were being written, I thought, this wouldn’t bode well for my life expectancy… Continue reading →

The “No, You’re Crying” Blogathon: Sniffling for Cyrano

13 Saturday May 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Stories, Theatre, Things

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

"No You're Crying" Blogathon, Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand, Gérard Depardieu, Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Moon in Gemini

This post is my entry for the “No, You’re Crying” Blogathon, an event hosted by Moon in Gemini – about our favourite tearjerker films…

What is it that makes us cry, at the movies or elsewhere? Whenever the question crops up, I’m reminded of Uncle Vernon in An Awfully Big Adventure, explaining how the lowest notes of the male voice automatically trigger his lachrymal sacs… Continue reading →

A Cautionary Tale

23 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by la Clarina in Books, History, Stories

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anachronism, Historical fiction, Rose Theatre

Once upon a time I came across an interview or an article – I wish I could remember – in which a historical novelist gleefully told about placing in his latest novel’s prologue a handful of elements that could easily pass for anachronisms. He gleefully anticipated the mails, weblogs and reviews pointing out his “blunders”, and the joys of answering back that, in fact, a lack of written record for some thing before a certain date could not be taken as proof that the same thing did not exist… Continue reading →

The Historical Novelist’s Dilemma

09 Thursday Feb 2017

Posted by la Clarina in History, Scribbling, Stories

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

breaking the rules, historical accuracy, historical novel, history and story, writing

dilemma-676x305redI’m dithering…

Yes – it’s the novel. Again. But the fact is, you see, that there is this rather grim thing happening in June 1594 – historically happening, I mean. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, because while not directly involving my hero, it has two sets of ties to his circumstances – one practical (and historically documented), and one, shall we say, psychological… Continue reading →

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