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Monthly Archives: June 2009

There’s a lot of discussion around the web on the issue of e-publishing and its role in the romance industry. I feel a little overwhelmed by it all, and if you have not become overwhelmed yet and are interested in future trends of the publishing business and literacy, start here.

So I thought I’d talk about the issue of living in an age of rapidly-changing technology with mind-boggling choices of receiving and disseminating information and finding entertainment. I’m talking, of course, about the Regency.

Georgian England was known for its high literacy level. There was an audience for reading and paper prices dropped at the end of the eighteenth century; at a guess, it’s because the amount of cotton manufacturing rose, and in an era where everything had its price, there were more rags around to convert into paper. By 1800, every town had its own printing press and there were 250 periodicals in print. Periodicals and newspapers were handed on to other readers an average of seven times per copy.

The first circulating library opened in Bath in 1725; this specifically English phenomenon for the well-heeled, with membership costing about 1 gn., had expanded by 1800 to 122 circulating libraries in London, and 268 in the provinces.Libraries accounted for 400 copies of a book’s average print run of 1,000.

To give an idea of the print life of a best seller of the Georgian era, this book (probably not in the genteel circulating libraries) was first published as a pamphlet between 1710 and 1716, and was in its fourth edition by 1718. Between 1718 and 1788, it had gone through eighteen editions, with the eighth and ninth printings selling more than 12,000 copies in a few months. Each edition grew, with additional salacious material: testimonials, requests for advice, and the author’s response to print rivals and attacks. The fourth edition contained 88 pages; the 15th edition (1730) had quadrupled in size.

This evolving conversation in print clearly struck a chord with the eighteenth-century reading public, an audience that both delighted in the moral instruction and refinement available in The Tatler and The Spectator and made sexy or scandalous fiction like Delarivier Manley’s The New Atalantis (1709) and Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood (1719) early best-sellers–and that continued to read Onania long after popular tastes in fiction changed to favor more refined novels like Samuel Richardson’s Pamela (1740-1) and Haywood’s The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless (1751). The early eighteenth-century reading audience was one that seemed eager to both read and write back to the literary marketplace, to both absorb and influence the products that marketplace had to offer them. Read more here.


Of course, fiction was suspect from the beginning. It encouraged its audience, predominantly female, to lounge around and daydream, beguiled by narrative seduction. If you weren’t careful, your womenfolk’s experiences might end up as anonymous contributors to the next edition of the bestseller of the 1700s; in 1792, Bon Ton Magazine warned that readers of novels really couldn’t distinguish between reality and fantasy: women of little experience are apt to mistake the urgency of bodily wants with the violence of a delicate passion.

Oliver Goldsmith commented in similar vein: How delusive, how destructive, are those pictures of consummate bliss. They teach the youthful mind to sigh after beauty and happiness which never existed, that despise that little good which fortune has mixed up in our cup, by expecting more than she ever gave.

In 1773, The Lady’s Magazine agonized, There is scarce a young lady in the kingdom who has not read with avidity a great number of romances and novels, which tend to vitiate the taste.

A fictional mother in The Lady’s Monthly Museum complained that her daughter reads nothing in the world but novels—nothing but novels, Madam, from morning to night… The maid is generally dispatched to the library two or three times in the day, to change books. One week she will read in the following order: Excessive Sensibility, Refined Delicacy, Disinterested Love, Sentimental Beauty, etc.

It’s particularly appropriate that we discuss the issues of mass literacy and mass market fiction today, because it’s the birthday of George Orwell, one of my literary heroes, a passionate, clear-sighted defender of clarity and good language use. So I’m ending this long and rambling post with Orwell’s six rules for good writing from his essay Politics and the English Language:

  1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
  2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
  3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
  4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
  5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
  6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Many questions possible here–do you think, as I do, that we’re a reading audience, to borrow from my quote above, that is eager to both read and write back to the literary marketplace, to both absorb and influence the products that marketplace had to offer them?

If you’re a writer, what do you think of Orwell’s rules?

Do you own an e-reader? How do you feel about it? Do you prefer it to tree products? What do you think of print vs. digital?

Obligatory SSP: Contest on my site. Enter now!

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Today is June 24 and for most people it’s not a big deal day. It is for me since it’s the day my son was born. 14 years ago today. It’s his day. He gets a party with his family, cheesecake (that’s what he wanted!) and gifts. Birthdays are a lot of fun, particularly when you’re young. He’s having a sleepover this weekend with some of his friends and but first they’re going to the fair. Now that he’s older, I just drop him off and pay the money (since it’s his birthday, otherwise the fair would be on his dime).

But I like to reflect on my own celebration of his day. And as I do, I find myself thinking that we don’t take enough time to reflect on all the reasons we have to celebrate. Americans can be plagued by our Puritan roots. More Work! Less Play! Do Better! You got an A-? Why didn’t you get an A? That sort of thing can be an affliction…

It’s important to take some time to think of the positives. This happens to be a particular challenge for me since my family’s Puritan roots are deep and, for whatever reason, I grew up to be the sort of person who doesn’t look to the positive often enough. This, I have sworn, is something I hope to address for the rest of my life.

When I finish writing a book, for example, all I can see is everything there isn’t time to fix. I look at my revision letters and think, oh my gosh, I suck so bad. I should have seen all these problems and fixed them! And then there’s reviews. My June 2009 release from Grand Central Publishing, My Forbidden Desire got 4 1/2 stars and a top pick from Romantic Times. On the other hand, AAR gave the book a D and called my hero foul-mouthed and some other stuff I have elected not to refresh my memory on. (The reviewer was right, too, the hero of that book does drop the F-bomb a lot.) People’s opinions differ. One reviewer’s top pick is another’s D. The diversity is to be celebrated.

And I do embrace that diversity. It’s a good thing in the grander scheme of things. My own life, however, has a somewhat narrower scope and, naturally, I spend far too much time thinking about what I could have done to avoid a D instead of celebrating the success of a Top Pick from RT.

My goal is to celebrate a bit more. I’m not saying ignore the bad — it behooves a writer to pay attention to revisions and the internal editor and learn from those things. (My God, do you see what I’m up against here?) But we needn’t and shouldn’t forget to celebrate the good, too.

Who’s with me on that one? It’s my son’s birthday, and he is the joy of my life. And I do celebrate that. Every day. Even when he’s rolling his eyes, embarrassed that his mom is such a doof. My Forbidden Desire has gotten some wonderful reviews and you know what, it came out pretty darn good!

What will you celebrate today?

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Empress Josephine Bonaparte was born on this day, June 23, in 1763 as Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie on the island of Martinique! Over at my own blog I had a short general bio on Saturday, so I thought here I would concentrate on one aspect of her very complex life–that of Style Icon. And she was very stylish indeed–what else could we expect from a French/Caribbean empress? 🙂 Even though her appearance was mostly said to be sort of average (average height, brown hair, hazel eyes–though some said brown and some said green, a good nose, and bad teeth) she knew how to dress to emphasize her good points and detract from her bad, and how to make herself seem graceful and elegant.

To help me out, I pulled books down off my shelves and looked up anything I could find that talked about Josephine’s clothes or fashion sense or use of cosmetics. Here’s just a few of the quotes I discovered:

In her youth as a young, aristocratic French bride in Paris:
“The forces of fashion conspired in Rose’s favor. The panniered dresses and terrifying hairstyles that had prevailed on her arrival in France were now somewhat demode. In their place came a style that suited Rose much better. The new look was captured in Vigee-Lebrun’s painting of Marie Antoinette which had caused such a sensation in the salon of 1783. It featured the Queen in a straw hat and simple white gown, reminiscent of the plain muslin dresses favored by Creole women on Martinique. Rose looked charming and felt comfortable in this new style. At last her native style was seen as an asset; at last she could feel confident in her femininity and in her burgeoning sexuality.” (Stuart, 78)

“Describing her during this time one old acquaintance wrote ‘That lady, without being precisely pretty, nevertheless was attractive because of her style, her gaiety and her good heart’.” (Stuart, 93)

“She perfected a style of her own, of notable graceful movements and gestures and a seductive walk to match her native langurous manner. With a will that would be of iron, she effected a physical transformation, too, schooling herself into a new slender body. Her arresting voice, with its slight Creole accent filleted of r’s would always be her greatest asset, low and silvery, ‘like a caress’ Napoleon would say of it” (Bruce, 27)

“(Lady-in-waiting Madame de Remusant) was struck by Rose’s charms. ‘Her figure,’ she later recalled, ‘was perfect, her limbs were supple and delicate, all her movements were easy and elegant…full of grace rather than beautiful and with an expression of indescribable beauty’.” (Bruce, 56)

The scandalous Directoire years as one of the notorious beauties known as ‘Merveiluses’:
“She had metamorphosed into a glittering butterfly who flitted with ease through this illustrious company. Both sexes found her seductive and gracious. Men admired her amber eyes, her flawless skin, the perfection of her arms, the sensual aura that radiated from her person. Women enjoyed the sweetness of her manner.” (Stuart, 199)

In Milan with her new husband Napoleon:
“Initially Josephine’s friends were a shock to Milan. Journals complained of their ‘immodest behavior ; arms, bosom, shoulders, all are uncovered. The arrangement of their hair is a scandal–sown with flowers and feathers, and the whole crowned with little military helmets from which locks of untidy hair escape. They even have the effrontery to dress in tunics revealing legs and thighs barely hidden by flesh-colored tights. Their manners match their clothes: arrogant talk, provocative looks, and meat eaten on Fridays.” (Bruce, 183)

As First Consul’s wife:
“He (Napoleon) was particularly keen to encourage the use of French silks and velvets, rather than the popular muslin, which was imported via England. The vogue for shawls was another example of the Consulate push for female propriety. Popularized by Josephine, the shawl replaced the fan as the must-have accessory of the period. It was usually handmade from cashmere, and it became an essential luxury item that could cost a fortune. One beautiful shawl that the First Consul presented to Josephine cost over 10,000 francs.” (Bruce, 269)

Coronation, December 2, 1804:
“At six o’clock Isabey had arrived to paint Josephine’s face and to oversee her robing. Her hair was transformed by her coiffeurs into a mass of shining chestnut ringlets, and a diadem of pearls interlaced with diamond leaves was perched atop. Then her ladies helped her into a long-sleeved gown of white satin, embroidered with gold and silver. Its bodice was cut in a low square on the bosom, with a small collar of lace rising from the shoulders and encircling the neck, and its full skirt and long train were embroidered with golden bees. Her necklace and earrings were carved gems set in diamonds and on her finger she wore a ring with a ruby, the symbol of joy.” (Stuart, 323)

As Empress:
(when she made her first official appearance as Empress): “That day she was particularly radiant, noted one observer. ‘She appeared in bright sunshine attired in a robe of rose-colored tulle, spangled with silver stars and cut very low according to the fashion of the day. Her headdress consisted of a great number of diamond wheat-ears, and this brilliant attire, the elegance of her bearing, the charm of her smile, the sweetness of her countenance, produced such an effect that the Empress outshone all the ladies of her suite’.” (Stuart, 316)

Her influence on Imperial style: “The result was a melange of Greek purity and European sumptuousness, mingling the neoclassical aesthetic with the revival of interest in the Middle Ages, known as the ‘troubador style.’ Hence the preference for embroidery and the raised lace collar that had become part of court dress. The grace with which Josephine wore these grand costumes belied just how uncomfortable they were; stiff and heavy.” (Stuart, 336)

(An inventory of her wardrobe in 1809 listed 49 grand court dresses, 676 dresses, 60 cashmere shawls, 496 other shawls and scarves, 413 pairs of gloves, and 200 silk stockings)

In conclusion, “As one of history’s great style icons, Josephine’s influence on the way an entire generation wanted to look, dress, and behave cannot be overstated. Her every action and nuance of appearance were followed eagerly by newspapers and journals in France and abroad. She was the high priestess of style, and fashion-conscious women the world over idolized her.” (Stuart, 335)

Today, she even has a Barbie in her image!

What do you think of Josephine’s style? (I could do without the immense gold-embroidered dresses and velvet trains, but I do love cashmere shawls!). Who would be a comparable style icon today (Princess Diana, maybe? But I can’t think of anyone more recent…)

(A few of the sources I enjoy on the life of Josephine are: Andrea Stuart’s Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon’s Josephine; Evangeline Bruce’s Napoleon and Josephine: An Improbable Marriage; Frances Mossiker, Napoleon and Josephine: The Biography of a Marriage; and Carrolly Erickson’s Josephine: A Life of the Empress)

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I’ve been watching Ovation TV this past week, shows about the Phantom of the Opera (the play not Gerard Butler, alas!), West Side Story, Annie, and A Chorus Line. So I’ve been steeped in music, song and dance.

I’d love to write a Regency Historical about a dancer. The theater performances during the Regency had “ballet dancers” performing and I’d love to make one my heroine. Mostly Regency ballet dancers are mentioned as easy company for gentlemen, but I wonder if any of them had the love of movement and music that I associate with dancers today.

Consider this clip from West Side Story (my favorite sequence). Don’t you think the dancers loved performing this?

Love of dance transcends even ego. Watch mega star Mikail Barishnikov dance the finale of A Chorus Line.

Certainly Regency characters loved dancing and singing as part of their entertainment. This little clip recreates what I imagine might have been the after dinner entertainment at a country house party.

A part of me always wants to break out in a song or dance the way they do in the movies. Unfortunately, I don’t have the talent to pull it off, except in my imagination, but this clip shows it can be done! And romantically, too.

My very favorite is the Liverpool Train Station video. It always makes me smile.

On July 15, after the Literacy Signing, at the Marriot Wardman Park in Washington DC the Beau Monde will be hosting its annual Soiree. We’ll have a chance to dance the Regency dances there! And at the Harlequin party on July 17, I’ll get a chance to dance like they did in Liverpool.

What’s your favorite dance performance, movies or theater? If it is on YouTube, share the url!

P.S. This has nothing to do with dance or song or music, but it is Regency and it made me laugh. I couldn’t resist.


This week, my local library system announced that the city’s budget will allow for libraries to remain open six days a week. Whew!

One indicator of the current economy has been the massive upswing in library use; people who’ve been laid off are heading to the library for internet and computer access, people aren’t buying books as much, kids need a place to go if their parents’ jobs have changed or their caregiver has had to go to work again.

And, of course, library budgets have been threatened because of the economy.

So when the Brooklyn Public Library asked for donations to help keep the library’s doors opened, I ponied up what I could and crossed my fingers. Where else can I get a steady stream of new books, DVDs and books for my son? Judging by the amount of traffic I see going into my local branch, and by how many people wanted The Reader ahead of me (hurry up, all 327 of you!), I would say the library’s usage is thriving. So I was hoping the membership would also hear the call. And the city’s mayor, not a stupid guy, made sure the library was taken care of in the budget. Again, whew.

The library is a great leveller; people of all ethnicities, age and gender congregate there. And while you might think the one thing they have in common is literacy, that is not always the case; my son and I spent many hours there before he could read.

I know from our books that the library in Regency times offered some of the same services, subscribing to the papers so people didn’t have to pay for an individual subscription, getting the latest ‘horrid novel’ so a young lady needn’t spend her pin money on it.

How about you? How has the economy affected your town or city’s cultural spots? Do you visit the library as often as I seem to? What is your secret library tip (mine is to get cookbooks out of the library first to test-drive the recipes; that way, if you like the book, you can buy, but cookbooks can be super-pricy, and you’re not sure you’ll like until you try)?

Thanks,

Megan

PS: The top pic is the main branch of my library, which is just gorgeous.

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