#Historical English literature

[papillon-de-mai]

"As soon as we die, we enter into fiction. Just ask two different family members to tell you about someone recently gone, and you will see what I mean. Once we can no longer speak for ourselves, we are interpreted."

— Hilary Mantel, from Reith Lectures, Resurrection: The Art and Craft

[vehwill]

Finished, and I have to say… I'm almost satisfied. It was the first time I drew a fire and a fireplace, and I must say that the light steals a lot from England. Not bad overall or from afar, but up close… meh. Iggy, you're always cute, I apologize 🙇🏻‍♀️

He scares me a little honestly, with that slightly evil smile 😈

[burningvelvet]

I've been considering different ideas for historical fiction novels about the Romantics and one of my concepts teeters into the realm of the alternate history subgenre. As a result, I decided to start doing some preliminary research on the history of the subgenre itself. Then I find this...

Of course I've known that there have been a bunch of historical fiction & alternate history novels made about the Romantics throughout time (maybe most famously Henry James' Aspern Papers in 1888). BUT I DIDN'T KNOW THEY WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR INSPIRING THE WHOLE SUBGENRE!!!

The Romantics/Georgians were so iconic they inspired their fans to invent historical fanfiction over a hundred years ago & we're still writing it... their impact...!!!

But tbf I should have known Byron would be involved somehow because most roads of modern literature often point back to him & his cult of personality — & practically everyone who knew him or was inspired by him ended up writing books about him, whether fiction or nonfiction.

[peonies-and-dreams]

come back, come back to me

[ariadnethedragon]

THE GENTLEMAN’S GAMBIT by EVIE DUNMORE

“We broke your spectacles, too … I shall fix them for you.”

The Arabic language offered many romantic possibilities, at least eleven different words for love to precisely capture the various stages of the emotion, and perhaps, secretly, she had expected more elaborate verbal wooing from him. Yet here he was, making her swoon with a plain I shall fix them for you.

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

I just had the biggest revelation

I think Ephemera is based on Aeneas, the founder of Rome. Specifically the version of him that’s expanded upon in Vergil’s Aeneid. I know we joked about him being the founder of Italy and all but deadass. yeah. With lots of kh characters nowadays having ties to various mythologies, or at the very least, being named after certain figures, this makes so much sense

just….god. It’s all there isn’t it

[persephoneflouwers]

Harry sits messily on the floor like a delicate flower lay crushed and scattered on the ground, trampled by careless feet. Yet even in his brokenness, there is beauty to be found. Like petals, Harry’s lips and pale skin blend together in a mosaic of soft pinks and red, his glassy eyes blinking slowly as he starts to realize just now Louis is standing in front of him.

DE AMORE EX TEMPORE - part ❤️/🎨

READ NOW on AO3

[starrdwst]

"I am made of memories"

HOW CAN ANYONE COME UP W THIS LINE!?!?!

Stooopid book ruined my fucking life.

[i-want-to-be-a-poet]

"I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree... One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was a brilliant professor... another fig was Constantin and Socrates.... a pack of other lovers... beyond and above these figs were many more... I saw myself sitting... starving to death, just because I couldn't make up my mind which of the figs I would choose. I wanted each and every one of them, but choosing one meant losing all the rest, and, as I sat there, unable to decide, the figs began to wrinkle and go black, and, one by one, they plopped to the ground at my feet."

Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar

[amphibimations]

In Wuthering Heights, outfits are not often described in much detail. After her stay at Thrushcross Grange, however, Cathy is described as wearing "a feathered beaver, a long cloth habit... a grand plaid silk frock, white trousers, ...burnished shoes... (and) gloves" When I first read that, I had no clue what a 'habit' or 'feathered beaver' was supposed to be. so I did some research. A riding habit is a dress women used to wear while riding horses. the 'feathered beaver' was probably a beaver fur hat with feathers. I decided that since I had looked into it so much, I may as well draw my own interpretation of the outfit! Here are some of the reference images I used while drawing this (1) (2) (3)

[eleanorcrane]

my sweet girl, you’re a nightmare.

concept drawing for the cover of my upcoming novel, “Bloodletting.”

the final version of the piece will be a 12x16 painting, oil on linen.

[i-didnt-do-1t]

Having female characters in shows is not feminism. It’s just women existing

(Especially when they should’ve been there all along)

[burningvelvet]

this is a reminder that you should all read tristram shandy (1759) by laurence sterne

[peonies-and-dreams]

The cost of oblivious daydreaming was always this moment of return, the realignment with what had been before and now seemed a little worse. 

[non-conventionnel]

“Silence is as deep as eternity, words are as short as time.” ― Anton Sammut, from the historical novel: Memories of Recurrent Echoes

[home-ward]