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Tag Archives: Josephine Tey

Pirates?

03 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Stories

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John Steinbeckhine Tey, Josephine Tey, Pirates, R. L. Stevenson, Rafael Sabatini

A couple of weeks ago my mother discovered, with considerable amusement, the existence of Talk Like a Pirate Day, and asked why I didn’t post about it.

“Never have,” I said. “I don’t even like pirate stories.”

“Nonsense,” was the answer. “You’ve read lots of them.”

And I protested that no, really – in fact, I rather dislike pirate stories… And I was thinking of Jack Sparrow and company, but even more of Salgari’s insufferable Sandokan and multi-coloured corsairs, without which no Italian childhood is considered complete… Continue reading →

Reading, after all

13 Thursday Sep 2018

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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A Shilling for Candles, Josephine Tey, Reading, vacation

Do you remember my Reading Week – the one I could not have this year?

Well, it seems that I must have it, after all – in fact, quite a bit longer than a week, whether I want it or not. Now, don’t get me wrong: I love the chance to read, read, and read some more – and a longish vacation is something I haven’t taken in… oh, something more than a decade, I’d think. Still, I’d have vastly preferred to do without the trouble and hospitalisation that caused this one particular vacation… Continue reading →

More Old Word Music

01 Tuesday Sep 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Scribbling

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Annie Whitfield, English Authors of Historical Fiction, historical novel, Josephine Tey, Old English, To be a queen

Beowulf.firstpageWe’ve already talked about language and word choices when you are a historical novelist. Now I found another very interesting article on the subject: a post that Annie Whitfield wrote for English Authors of Historical Fiction, about her use of Old English in her novel To Be a Queen.

Ms. Whitfield seems to have taken a very rigorous approach – and of course there is always the matter of balancing authenticity with the necessity to write something that is not only readable, but also appealing and relatable…  Continue reading →

Perchance to read…

25 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Books

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Edward Rutherford, Georgette Heyer, Josephine Tey, Muriel Bradbrook, p. f. chisholm, Patricia Finney, Rafael Sabatini, Reading vacation

readerbooksHere we go again. Summer is back, and I am thinking about a Reading Week. As usual, I still don’t know whether I’ll manage it: work is rather intense, the revision is only a week away, and I have a short play to write… There is no question of going anywhere – but that’s all right if only I can get myself a week of blissful, uninterrupted reading. Why, at a pinch, even half a week would do very well.

When? No idea. We’ll see. Meanwhile, I’m hoarding books like there is no tomorrow. Let us see… Continue reading →

Seven books I wish I had written

16 Thursday Apr 2015

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Scribbling

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Emily Dickinson, joseph conrad, Josephine Tey, Robert Bolt, Rodney Bolt, Ros Barber, Steven Runciman, Writer's Envy

BooNot necessarily my favourite books… well, some of them, yes – but for the rest… Let’s say, seven books that, for one reason or another, I can dream of having written myself.

1. Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim. Yes, yes, I know. But it’s a matter of power, depth, beauty and intensity… Continue reading →

The hunt for “Queen of Scots”.

08 Saturday Feb 2014

Posted by la Clarina in Books, Theatre

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Bodleian Libraries, Gordon Daviot, Gwen ffrangcon-Davies, John Gielgud, Josephine Tey, Laurence Olivier, Queen of Scots

jtI’ve been wanting to read Josephine Tey/Gordon Daviot’s Queen of Scots for ages, and never could – the only way, when you live in Italy, being to buy some insanely expensive old edition.

But I like Tey/Daviot’s plays, and I’ve loved her Dickon and her Richard of Bordeaux. It’s old-fashioned historical theatre the way I like it, the sort of plays that makes me wish I’d been there, in the West End, in the Thirties, when QoS premiered starring Gwen ffrangcon-Davies and Laurence Olivier, under the direction of John Gielgud.

So, as a last attempt before splurging, I decided to try for an international inter-library loan. I did my research, filled my form, and went to the library in town. The lady who presides over this kind of loans was sympathethic but not overly sanguine. British libraries, she said, are wary of entrusting their books to the Italian mail service – and small blame to them…21HI3cR5WtL

So, imagine my surprise when next day Ms. R. phoned to say she had my play – in pdf format. Only, it was rather bulky. Did I mind bringing a memory stick or something?

I didn’t mind, of course, and I am now the proud owner of a pdf of a 1934 Gollancz edition from the Bodleian Libraries – no less – which I will happily read over the weekend. Or more likely tonight.

And Ms. R. is an angel, and I love her dearly, and libraries are wonderful institutions, and how would we live without the net – and we all lived happily ever after.

Related articles
  • Mary, Queen of Scots (edartfest2013.wordpress.com)
  • Actors on Actors Who Act Shakespeare (nytimes.com)
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Inspiration

23 Saturday Nov 2013

Posted by la Clarina in Books, History

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#StoryMOOC, Arnolfini Portrait, christopher marlowe, Conrad, Daughter of Time, Jan Van Eyck, joseph conrad, Josephine Tey, Lord Jim, Rodney Bolt

And so it happened that the creative task for week 4 of StoryMOOC was to put together a small video, with a list of one to three books, movies, paintings or whatever that we find especially inspiring – storytelling-wise.

The hardest part, frankly, was choosing just three of them – but the choice was an interesting exercise in itself.

I spent nearly five days wondering: which three pieces of inspiration would I most care to share? Which three books, movies or whatever do I want to recommend to other storytellers?

GE DIGITAL CAMERAThe first one, actually, was very much a given: Joseph Conrad‘s Lord Jim is the book of my life, and the standard of literary quality I aspire to, and an endless source of wonder. It was also an eye-opener the first time I came across it, with its intenseness, psychological depth, poignancy, complexity… It also made me fall in love with English, when I was eighteen – and thus very likely changed the course of my life. All else apart, as a non-native speaker, I rather hero-worship Conrad, who learned English in his twenties, and learned it well enough to become one of its great storytellers…HPBW

My second choice was less obvious, but I wanted something to do with my love of history and history’s fictional treatment. I dithered between Josephine Tey‘s The Daughter of Time and Rodney Bolt’s History Play… Bolt won the day in the end: his not-quite-novel plays with a growing distance between facts and their telling, documents and their interpretation. It plays with readers’ expectations and trust. There’s a lot of food for thought in this book – especially about the iridescence of history, a pet theme of mine. Besides, I am thankful to Rodney Bolt for sparking up my interest in Christopher Marlowe.

ArnolfiniThe last item in the list was, as usual, the hardest to pick. So many inspiring pieces, and just one slot left… In the end I settled on a detail from Jan Van Eyck‘s Arnolfini Portrait, the one you can now see at the Portrait Gallery in London. There is a round mirror on the wall, behind the merchant and his green-clad bride. The mirror shows the Arnolfinis from behind, and the window lighting the scene, and the door where the painter is working at his easel – and another small figure: the viewer. I’ve always loved it: the mirror shows the story, the storyteller at work, and the viewer/reader/listener – all together. I find it a perfect symbol for meta-literature and meta-theatre, both of which I love dearly.

So in the end these were the relevant inspiration I wanted to share – all of them well steeped in the past, aren’t they? Perhaps, it strikes me, a rather strange choice for The Future of Storytelling. Then again, I’ve always been more of a keeper than an innovator… after all, the nature of my inspiration comes as no great surprise.

Related articles
  • A Masterpiece in the spotlight: The Arnolfini Marriage (Jan Van Eyck) (peteomer.wordpress.com)

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