Reading Rambo

Here we are once again at the Aurora Leigh readalong, hosted by me, Alice, and this week I read only Book 5, but it was yet again really gay and a mix of genius and wtf, so lots to talk about here. We left off in Book 4, with Aurora and Romney parting ways again after he has been dumped by Marian Erle. Romney talked about Aurora "break[ing] the mythic turf where danced the nymphs," and in my epic poetry I love that, but if he said that to me in real life I would be like Elizabeth Barrett Browning makes her case in Book 5 for people writing about the world right now . She makes some great points, but also it is a lot  and maybe write an essay. MAYBE WRITE AN ESSAY, ELIZABETH. But she doesn't want to, and this is her book, so fine. There is a consistent feeling through Aurora Leigh  of Browning peeling back the curtain of Being Literary in the Victorian Age and just talking about life as we all know it. It's weirdly juxtaposed with verbal flights of fancy tha...

Elizabeth Barrett Browning: "You know how ladies are like windmills?" Aurora Leigh ! EBB's novel in verse. This week we read Books 3 & 4, which involve Aurora making her name as a poet, talking about how great London is to inspire  one, and also some gay stuff and Aurora's cousin Romney Leigh almost marries Marian Erle, A Poor Person, but then she says never mind. If we're going to pick a gay person in this book, I pick Marian. SURE, you can say "But she seems too into Romney." I also  really wanted to marry a dude who I could help with his Great Life's Work. But guess what? I then turned out to be super gay. Marian says “I’d rather far be trodden by his foot, Than lie in a great queen’s bosom.” And it's like, um, no one MENTIONED a great queen's bosom, Marian. That was all you. But sure, now that we're on the topic of ladies and their bosoms etc, what's up with— Marian: I'M NOT GAY ladies just kiss me all the tim...

You know how you're walking along, minding your own business, and suddenly you just stop and go "SHIT, I haven't read Aurora Leigh  yet"? PROBLEM. SOLVED. TODAY. Well, in November. Yes! This November, a scant two weeks away, we will be reading Elizabeth Barrett Brown's masterpiece (?) Aurora Leigh , which is either a novel in verse or an epic poem or an epic novel/poem, the internet cannot seem to agree. "What's it about?" you ask. No idea! A lady poet? It looks like? But don't worry, the ever-fantastic Jenny of Reading the End will be divvying up the chapters for us so the readings are somewhat cohesive/not wildly scattered or ending at odd points. I AM EXCITED because this is a semi-deep cut of Victorian lit, and if you've read it, you can scoff at the superficially Victorianist  Jane Eyre  and Great Expectations  readers and say YES BUT WHAT DID YOU THINK OF AURORA LEIGH  oh you haven't read it I see (not that you would ever ...