Happy Happy Productive Day

Saved by the sun. Finished many projects today, revitalized by the end of Noah's Second Flood.

The Milton bio is finished, and for the past 5 days I've been working on a site for the Restoration playwright, Aphra Behn, including a biography, quotes, poems, prose, plays, and web resources and essays for the same — the whole nine yards.  It's been quite invigorating, actually.

I had only read "Oroonoko" previously, and building the site I naturally got a full course on Mrs. Behn. While she may be remembered for her prose and dramas, I really got a kick out of her poetry. Methinks she has been way overlooked as a poet. For example, her "Disappointment" works in great comparison with Rochester's "Imperfect Enjoyment", and her poem on the death of Rochester moved me greatly and is indeed a fabulous poem.

I tend to agree with Virginia Woolf that modern woman writers owe a great debt to Behn for her paving the path and plowing on despite vicious criticism and ridicule. This woman owned her own sexuality, her freedom of speech, and her right to practise her craft and earn a living when such things weren't deemed womanly — 300 years before women were publicly burning their bras.

Next in line for me is to post the scan of the beautiful Milton engraving Mark has in his collection on the Milton site, and to tackle the site for the aforementioned John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. I read Graham Greene's biography "Lord Rochester's Monkey" over 6 months ago, but haven't set to it. I think it's been trepidation. I am so fond of Rochester, and don't want to do him a disservice. But perhaps it is more of a disservice to keep him waiting...

I wonder if I'm boring y'all with my blabbing about Early Modern literature. I s'pose most people don't get a kick out of RenLit the way I do, heheh. Well folks, feel free to skim and skip any rants on RenLit if it isn't your cup of tea — I'm mostly just blabbing to keep myself warm.

Although... It hit 85 today, and I had my laptop outside, and grilled my bacon in the sunlight. If this stupid vampire flick ever gets made, they are soooooo going to have to use copious amount of body makeup to make me appropriately ghoulish.

I'm thinking hair extensions down to my waist, raven hair. I'm also toying with the idea of a no-eyebrow look (achieved with makeup, not permanent), for appropriate non-human creepiness. The shaved high forehead thing they did in the Middle Ages would also be excellent, but what if it won't grow back! Sort of a look à la Alice Krige as the Borg Queen, 'cept with hair, attitude like "evil Galadriel".  Any thoughts?

~A

Tags: Literature | Vampires