TRANSCRIBING excerpts from Charles Dickens's letters for my Bleak House article! For the illustration I have drawn Esther Summerson and Ada Clare, friends and protagonists in the novel!
I am writing an article on female beauty in Bleak House, concentrating on the figure of Ada Clare, the beautiful blonde, and her close friendship with the protagonist and first-person narrator Esther.
Esther Summerson is Charles Dickens's one and only female first-person narrator. Though Dickens was not a feminist, he was quite progressive in relation to women. Unlike many of his contemporaries Dickens understood, for example, that the causes of prostitution were poverty and the sexual double standard, not an inherent vice in the women themselves. He was among the first to appreciate that many individual problems have social, not personal, causes, and among the first to speak about structural violence -- that is, the (indirect) violence of institutions.
Moreover, Dickens was progressive in that he appreciated eroticism in women in an era which wanted the "normal", "healthy" woman to be passionless and asexual.
The whole of Dickens's letters are available free at Project Gutenberg.
Have a good evening and take care! xxx
NEW book with secret beauty recipes, can the day get any better? Of course not!
I am an avid book collector and books on beauty are the favorites among favorites! This is a Greek book, by Maura Vayioni-Stasinopoulou, founder and owner of Fresh Line, a cosmetics brand. I must confess that I had not heard of Fresh Line before. Ms Vayioni-Stasinopoulou has a large collection of cosmetic family recipes, which she uses for her brand, and which she has started to publish in books!
Women always found success in the beauty business. The names Estee Lauder, Helena Rubinstein, Elizabeth Arden and, more recently, Bobbi Brown, are household names now, but there have been countless women who made a living by making and selling cosmetics through the centuries! Beauty and women's rights are good for each other.
The book features the recipe for Galen's famous cold cream (Γαληνός, Galen, ancient Greek physician), but also a wealth of original recipes from plants, herbs and foodstuffs -- there's a soap pudding, peeling cream made from cornflakes, sugar and cinnamon bath oil, Nutella facial mask -- it's so yummy!
Have a good evening and be well! xxx
IN ANCIENT GREEK times, Homer's Iliad functioned as the central religious book, and as a young adult schoolbook, where children learnt reading, comprehension and everything about their civilization. Alexander the Great, the legendary Greek king, carried a copy of the Iliad in all of his campaigns. He never lost a battle.
As the centuries wore on, the idea of specialized books for children and young adults began to emerge. Fairy tales and fables were always widely available; the British Library dates a first children's book to 1687 (Nathaniel Crouch's Winter Evenings Entertainments). The Victorians too excelled in the children's book, while some classics were read by all ages with equal pleasure -- Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe, for example.
This is The Lipstick Papers Book Review, and we have We are Going on a Bear Hunt by Michael Rosen with illustrations by Helen Oxenbury!
I love this book so much that I bought it in two formats, as you can see!
This is a lovely adventure, already considered as a classic. What is the meaning of Bear Hunt? I think it has a number of meanings. On one level, it tells us that we should leave animals alone. Animals have their own lives and dignity; humans must not disturb. Another idea, perhaps the most important, is that we should never embark upon a plan unless we have thought very well of the implications and consequences. And third, we have the ambiguous ending. Did the bear hunt the family down, or did the bear want to be friends with them? Readers seem to be divided. It's all a matter of perception, and you must read it for yourselves to find out!
Have a good evening, always with beauty and a book xxx
THE NEXT best thing to buying a new lipstick is rediscovering an old one! It just happened to me with my Rouge Coco 16, the Tafettas Rose. It's the most amazing color! Here I am wearing it.
I don't even remember when I bought this Beauty. However, the lipstick inside is sadly broken. This means I have to use with extreme care and apply with a lip brush!
Another encounter with beauty this week is with this wildflower bush in a neighborhood in Larnaca!
Isn't it amazing??????
I really don't know what it's called, but I do know that it just grows there unaided and untended. A real wild beauty!
In my view, it is a flower bush visited and inhabited by the fairies. I must make a note to check it out on Mid Summer's Eve at twilight; it will certainly be all aglow.
Cyprus legends and folk-stories with fairies mostly present fairies in a negative light. In the Cypriot Greek fairies are called either aneraes (ανεράες, the Cypriot for the Greek "νεράιδες", literally, fairies) or "good women" ("καλές γεναίτζιες") which is a euphemism for "bad women"! The "good women" of fairy lore are believed to steal children from human women and exchange them with children of their own.
If a new mother believed her child had been exchanged by the fairies, she had to go with three young women and an older, wise woman at a crossroads in the deep of night. They left the baby on the crossroads, together with a some bread. They spoke some ritualistic words and walked away. It was believed that the fairies would then come and exchange the baby again.
From Chanel lipstick to fairies: only at The Lipstick Papers! xxx
HOW I love to read about literary breakfasts! As Jenny Uglow writes, in the 19th century, "Breakfasts were smart social events". Elizabeth Gaskell enjoyed a number of breakfasts during her London tour in 1848, the year Mary Barton was published. Sam Rogers the poet, gave breakfasts at his home in 22 St James Place that were celebrated across Europe, as Charlotte Bronte has noted. Here is my illustration inspired by today's post:
I am still reading Uglow's biography of Mrs Gaskell, and I am enjoying it very much. I love Uglow's language and writing, and have bought most of her books. I just read today that Gaskell collected autographs, and was amazed to hear about the same thing on BBC Radio Four's program Front Row! I also heard that the Elizabeth Gaskell archive, at the John Rylands library, has now been fully digitized.
To return to breakfasts. Charles Dickens described wedding breakfasts with relish. In the neo-Victorian novel Possession, it is a letter describing a literary breakfast (given by Thomas Carlysle, if I am not mistaken) that sets off the amazing plot!
And, of course, breakfasts at Christian Grey's apartment in Escala are always the most interesting events, as anyone who has read Fifty Shades knows!
Have a good Tuesday night xxx
ETIQUETTE is probably as old as human history; there have been set rules on manners and how to behave in specific circumstances since the dawn of civilization. Etiquette changes with time -- in the Homeric, heroic world, for instance, newly-arrived guests had to be given a bath with aromatic oils. We don't do this anymore, as shower or bath have become things we do in the privacy of our own home. This is The Lipstick Papers Book Review, and tonight we have The Little Pink Book of Etiquette!
This is a lovely little book with basic etiquette rules and know-how on all subjects, from dining to dating to greetings, introductions and job interviews!
The book was written by Ruth Cullen in 2005, with illustrations by Kerren Barbas. It is a very tasteful edition, printed on glossy paper, and with elegant illustrations, including a LIPSTICK illustration! Pink is everywhere, making the book exceedingly pretty!
I find the rules useful -- did you know that, at table, you have to break your bread into bite-size pieces in order to eat? The book has a section on perplexing foodstuffs too.
The one flaw in the book is that it is too brief. Yet, it is called the "little" book of etiquette, so it does not pretend to be anything else but a brief guide. Besides, all the advice is pithy and to the point.
Michel Foucault, Elizabeth Langland, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel de Certeau and all theorists studying discourse and discipline (in the case of Foucault he did not study discourse, he actually defined and coined the term) -- all of them, make a field day of etiquette books. They teach social discipline and control. Yet, as Jane Austen would say, manners and rules are essential to any meaningful form of social living. Personally, I am obsessed with etiquette books!
(I am obsessed with books in general).
Have a good night, always with beauty and a book! xxx
IN the memoir Elizabeth Tells All, Elizabeth Taylor notes how much work and guts it took her to establish herself in Hollywood, even as a child actor. Of course, it always took guts to be an actor: for many years, actors faced great social prejudice, men too but especially women. Karl Marx and John Stuart Mill were two progressive Victorians, for allowing their daughters to go on stage. Eleanor Marx and Helen Taylor both became actresses, Eleanor even playing Nora in Ibsen's The Doll's House!
Here I am last night at the theatre and drama awards at Alexander College! It was a lovely event, honoring actors and artists from Larnaca, my hometown. Larnaca is in great need of such cultural events; despite our 4,000 years of history, you sometimes feel that the cultural aspects of life are sadly neglected.
Nevertheless, efforts are made, since we do not lack talent and talented people ;-) The show took us to a journey to 19th century Larnaca, when local theatre was firs established! I saw rare pictures, and clips from old Greek movies.
It is the first year of the awards, and I wish the best of luck!
One of my favorite Victorian writers, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, was also a professional actress. More about actresses in a later post!
Have a good night and be well xxx
AS Flipboard informs me, this month is lingerie sewing month! I wish I could sew so that I could produce something to celebrate, but I have sadly forgotten most of my home economics knowledge from school. The only thing I remember how to do now is cross-stitch. But I was quite good, and could even do traditional Cyprus embroidery, Lefkara needlework (Λευκαρίτικο) and Fiti needlework (Φιθκιώτικο).
In Princess Daisy, the 1980s novel by Judith Krantz, a Russian princess has all her lingerie hand-made by Swiss (if I remember correctly) nuns. Princess Daisy was not a good novel at all -- character inconsistency and an overall emptiness being its major faults. However, it is very good in describing fashion and clothes.
Today I celebrated lingerie with a bit of shopping, albeit within my very tight budget. I love all the girlie products of Marks and Spencer, have a look at these pics:
Coming back home, I fell upon the football crowd. The local Nicosia team (Apoel, Αποέλ) played for the Champions League qualifiers. I love football, and I love Cristiano Ronaldo, but I am not that keen on learning results. I hope our local team won, of course!
Have a good evening and be well! xxx
P.S. If the pics seem a bit dark, it is because of the bright sunshine. In Cyprus we have sun by the buckets (and thank goodness for that). I think it is our major export product!!!
HELLO and welcome to The Lipstick Papers Book Review! Today we have a rare item, the Marks and Spencer's Home Diary for 2004! I remember I bought this when I had just moved in to my little flat (which I own with a mortgage). I was so happy and proud to finally have a place of my own!
This is a lovely diary, and I think Marks and Spencer's has not issued one since. They issue lovely pocket diaries each year, but not one which is also a lot like a housekeeping volume.
The first part of the diary has everything you need to know when you have a home. Cleaning, laundry, shopping, clothes care, first aid, holiday packing, allergies, health and wellbeing, eating, hygiene, exercise -- you name it, it's there!!! Then the actual diary is full of season recipes, and there is a third section for household accounts and costs. What more can you ask for?
Marks and Spencer's have also issued a house book, called The House Book, which I also got, but which may be out of print.
I keep these two books like a treasure. But I guess I can say that for all of my books. ;-)
Have a good Sunday, with beauty always with you! xxx
NEW BOOK arrived from Amazon yesterday! Here I am with the unopened box first!
And here I am with the actual book, The Art of Forgery, by Noah Charney.
I found out about this book from NPR (the public radio of the US, something like CyBC, RIK, in Cyprus). If you are interested in quality books, especially non-fiction, I recommend three places: NPR books (on the NPR website) and the relevant programs on the radio, Los Angeles Times and Brain Pickings. Also, a fourth forum is the BBC Radio 4 Midweek Programme, every Wednesday between 9 and 9:45 UK time. However, Midweek is now on summer holiday and will come back in September.
I will review The Art of Forgery for The Lipstick Papers (of course). Another book which talked about forgeries was On Paper by Nicolas A. Basbanes, which had a chapter on forged documents and money.
Off to jogging now! Have a good evening and be well! xxx
HELLO and welcome to The Lipstick Papers Book Review! Tonight we have Selling Beauty, by Morag Martin!
This book is by The Johns Hopkins University Press, a press which welcomes editions on beauty and fashion. Morag Martin is an associate professor of history at the College at Brockport, State University of New York.
I really enjoyed this book, which I am now reading for the second time, and used it for my courses at University!
Morag Martin first provides a short history of makeup, and then goes on to examine the production and consumption of cosmetics during the period under investigation, that is French society between 1750-1830. Historical research is thorough: Martin examines a huge number of advertisements, beauty manuals, pamphlets, diaries and all sorts of written material.
Most importantly, the book outlines how the language concerning cosmetics was used to control women. That is, "natural beauties" were considered to be good women, while "coquettes" were viewed negatively. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the famous misogynist, would label any woman who dared to reject him as a "coquette" in order to destroy her!
Also, the medical profession tried to control the production and consumption of cosmetics. Medical doctors back then were considered cosmetics experts and even published recipes for cosmetics.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of cosmetics and makeup, the history of advertisements, gender studies, and, of course, anyone who wants to read about French society in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Have a good night, always with beauty and a book! xxx
HOME-MADE pedicure the other day! I picked up the recipe for peeling scrub from the Body Shop Book: salt with almond oil (I substitute Johnson's Baby Oil).
The Body Shop Book, published by the Body Shop in the mid-90s, is a fantastic book filled with practical advice on beauty, which I try to follow. I remember this book was expensive and, as usual, my funds were very low. Now, however, I am glad I bought it, coz it is collector's as well as a fantastic book. I reviewed it for The Lipstick Papers a while ago, but I can review it again in a future post.
Anyway, home-made pedicure went great!
What else is new? I watched the Fifty Shades of Grey on DVD, and I must say I still find it lovely and good. I can't wait for the double sequels! I really think Dakota Johnson is pretty and has one of the most beautiful female voices I have heard. And I still love Jamie Dornan ;-)
Bye for now, and see you all tomorrow for The Lipstick Papers Book Review!
