+65 | 19 | she/her
32 posts
Matsplatcat - Matsplatcat - Tumblr Blog
"catharine hated needlework and practicing the piano. catharine loved playing in the dirt with the boys. catharine was just like all the other girls." ……. jane austen was the first one who called out the ‘not like other girls’ trope
ask a bookworm!
what are you currently reading?
how many books have you read this year?
how have your reading tastes changed from when you were a child?
physical book or e-book?
where do you love to read?
what is your ideal reading atmosphere? background noise or silent? alone or with others?
are you a writer?
what was your very first baby book?
what was the first book you read on your own?
how many books have you read in total?
what has been the longest gap between books?
what are your favourite genres?
what books make you happy?
what books have made you uncomfortable? why?
can you read anywhere? moving vehicle? rollercoaster?
how do you bookmark books?
policy on book-lending?
do people know you’re a bookworm?
how well do you take care of your books?
can you read in other languages?
what is a total book turn-off for you?
what is an essential element of a good book?
genres you rarely read?
do you read non-fiction?
do you read reviews on a book before you read it?
do you judge a book by the cover?
do you read cover to cover or sometimes skim parts?
do you always finish a book, even if it is dull?
how do you organise your books?
favourite book this year?
i hate job hunting so much why couldn’t i have just been sent abroad as a girl to serve at the court of margaret of austria and then later to serve a succession of french queens so that i could return to the english court years later as a lady of sophistication and charm capable of causing one of the greatest religious schisms in european history
general tilney is giving abusive(?) father vibes. something’s afoot...
“Instead of finding herself improved in acquaintance with Miss Tilney, from the intercourse of the day, she seemed hardly so intimate with her as before; instead of seeing Henry Tilney to greater advantage than ever, in the ease of a family party, he had never said so little, nor been so little agreeable...”
“General Tilney, though so charming a man, seemed always a check upon his children’s spirits, and scarcely anything was said but by himself; the observation of which, with his discontent at whatever the inn afforded, and his angry impatience at the waiters...”
a very quick poem i just wrote, made from excerpts of texts my mum has sent me this year.
does anyone want to form a john thorpe hate club?
reading through northanger abbey and i am utterly overcome by the distate i have for this man. not to say i don’t have thoughts on the other characters but another post should be dedicated to them.
1. why is he talking incessantly about his gig. is this the regency equivalent of ‘man obsessed with his car’
2. “Novels are all so full of nonsense and stuff... as for all the others, they are the stupidest things in creation.” bad news buddy. i can’t wait to tell you what kind of medium you are being described in! stop trying to put down your companion!
3. “her companion assur[ed] her that it was entirely owing to the peculiarly judicious manner in which he had then held the reins, and the singular discernment and dexterity with which he had directed his whip.” of course it is, john.
4. “Old Allen is as rich as a Jew—is not he?” and we have JEWISH STEREOTYPES?
5. now he is talking about drinking. and oxford. and drinking in oxford. and not making any sense. is there or is there not a lot of drinking.
6. and now he contradicts himself on the curricle!
7. he’s talking about horses. he’s very materialistic, huh?
8. “And then you know”—twisting himself about and forcing a foolish laugh—“I say, then you know, we may try the truth of this same old song.” you aren’t smooth, john. catherine why on earth are you putting up with him,,,,,
“Without school, I could get by without seeing anyone or being seen by anyone. It was like being a piece of furniture in a room that nobody uses. I can't express how safe it felt never being seen.”
― Mieko Kawakami, Heaven
jorgen tesman is kind of a himbo (and the norwegian mr collins) (and why that matters)
was rereading Hedda Gabler and when tesman’s talking to his aunt about his honeymoon in the first act, he gives us some excellent bathos:
MISS TESMAN. Yes, yes, you did. But what I mean is—haven't you any—any— expectations—?
TESMAN. Expectations?
MISS TESMAN. Why you know, George—I'm your old auntie!
TESMAN. Why, of course I have expectations.
MISS TESMAN. Ah!
TESMAN. I have every expectation of being a professor one of these days.
and also,
TESMAN. I'm delighted! Quite delighted! Only I can't think what we are to do with the two empty rooms between this inner parlour and Hedda's bedroom.
MISS TESMAN. [Laughing.] Oh my dear George, I daresay you may find some use for them—in the course of time.
TESMAN. Why of course you are quite right, Aunt Julia! You mean as my library increases—eh?
MISS TESMAN. Yes, quite so, my dear boy. It was your library I was thinking of.
in comparison to the farsighted lovborg or the canny brack he hardly comes out looking like the sharpest tool in the shed. but his dullness is not unforgivable on its own. i feel like when i was 16 and i was first reading it i got why hedda was frustrated, but not totally why it was such a pressing issue to her.
now that i’ve read pride and prejudice i think i get it.
i think that jorgen tesman and hedda gabler are like the norwegian version of william collins and elizabeth bennet. like collins to elizabeth, his dullness in personality and in thinking prevent hedda from achieving self-actualisation. (that’s why elizabeth rejects collins after all.)
he will never be an interesting conversational partner like lovborg or brack; there’s none of their innuendo and metaphor present in tesman’s conversations with hedda. there’s no way for her to transcend the boundaries of her role as a woman - because he is simply not interesting enough to share the exciting parts of the outside world with her, which she may not access in domestic confinement (contrast to ejlert, who shared with her his ‘escapades...days and nights of devilment’). what does she get? italian mountain ranges. recounts of the medieval crafts of brabant. something she could read in a textbook if she chose. hedda will never be happy with him, because he will never satisfy that intellectual desire and more importantly, that desire for freedom she holds. her marriage to him is out of convenience, the ‘safe’ choice. her marriage is a failure in her pursuit of autonomy, which will knock on her conscience for as long as she is married. hedda views marrying tesman as cowardice. (’Yes, Hedda, you are a coward at heart.’ ‘A terrible coward.’)
interestingly, tesman, just like collins, also insists on viewing his romantic partner as more of an ‘elegant female’ as opposed to an actual person. she’s a trophy wife, the beautiful daughter of the Great General Gabler, as opposed to an actual person. this of course only further reinforces hedda’s loss of autonomy in the relationship.
TESMAN. [Hums a little and smiles complacently.] Yes, I fancy I have several good friends about town who would like to stand in my shoes—eh?
TESMAN. Yes, isn't it? Eh? But Auntie, take a good look at Hedda before you go! See how handsome she is!
tldr; hedda gabler is what happens if mr bennet dies and elizabeth is forced to marry mr collins, but also in norway.
the real victim in Pride and Prejudice is Georgiana Darcy, bc u know her brother spent at least two weeks lying around in his Regency Jammies eating Benjamin and Jerrold’s out of ye olde carton feeling sorry for himself bc his crush not only didn’t like him back but tore him to shreds in the process and Georgie had to deal with that and then said crush shows up at their HOUSE and she has to live w both of them probably stealing lovelorn yearning glances at each other the whole damn day while knowing if she even SUGGESTS to her brother that maybe perhaps his crush doesn’t hate his entire guts anymore he’ll just be all tragic about it bc “you don’t KNOW her Georgiana she dESPISES me and i DESERVE it”
my first reading in my African history class this year is about why using “tribe” to refer to ethnic groups stems from a racist desire to make African conflicts sound primitive or stemming from a desire to pretend that these are just ancient conflicts that have always existed. great article and I also feel like I’m vicariously experiencing the bullshittery that this author has been subjected to from people they’ve tried to talk to about this. like the article remains extremely professional but you can just hear in the tone that they’re talking through gritted teeth, you can practically see the customer service smile
[ID: a screenshot from a section of the article titled “But why not use ‘tribe’? Answers to common arguments.” Under the bullet point for the argument “Africans talk about themselves in terms of tribes” is written, “Commonly when Africans learn English they are taught that tribe is the term that English-speakers will recognize. But what underlying meaning in their own languages are Africans translating when they say tribe? Take the word isizwe in Zulu. In English, writers often refer to the Zulu tribe, whereas in Zulu the word for the Zulu as a group would be isizwe. Often Zulu-speakers will use the English word tribe because that’s what they think English speakers expect, or what they were taught in school. Yet Zulu linguists say that a better translation of isizwe is nation or people.” /end ID]
translation: “ ‘Oh ho ho but some Africans themselves say tribe!’ You dipshit. You fucking donkey. When someone has a word that means “nation” or “people” in their own language but then when they learn English YOU TELL THEM IT TRANSLATES TO “TRIBE” then THAT WILL BE THE WORD THEY USE. Maybe if you LISTENED TO THE LINGUISTS OF THAT GROUP you’d have more accurate information. Asshole.”
each point is repeated over and over with like five different examples because you just know there are dipshits out there who will keep arguing.
to the anonymous author of this article for the Africa Policy Information Center I hope you have a good day every day and experience fewer people being assholes about this, your patience is actually legendary
I. HATE. IN-TEXT. CITATIONS.
Not just when I'm writing a paper, but when I'm READING a textbook it looks SO messy (Rick-Astley, 1969, p. 420) and it's SO distracting, (Morbius, 2022) and SO disruptive (Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, & Rudolph, 1964.) to my reading and (Bird, Grouch, Monster, & Monster, 1997 ) learning process. And why are some of them SO FUCKING (According, 2007; To & All, 1991; Known, Laws, & Of, 2378; Aviation, 57 B.C.E.) LONG???
whoever named this book knew what they were about
hi! if you have a blog dedicated to classics, literature, history, art, please reblog this and i’ll follow you, i want to follow more people :)
dni unless you have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, all the modern languages, all while possessing a certain something in your air and manner of walking, the tone of your voice, your address and expressions-
i think there’s also something to be said about the action that occurs around/as a consequence of said proposal which demonstrates a couple’s affection:
Pride and Prejudice -- “They walked on without knowing in what direction. There was too much to be thought, and felt, and said, for attention to any other objects.”
Sense and Sensibility -- “the change was openly spoken in such a genuine, flowing, grateful cheerfulness, as his friends had never witnessed in him before.”
Persuasion -- “He joined them; but, as if irresolute whether to join or to pass on, said nothing, only looked. Anne could command herself enough to receive that look, and not repulsively. The cheeks which had been pale now glowed, and the movements which had hesitated were decided.”
in regency society that requires so much decorum, what is often said cannot be trusted to be sincere (see collins/caroline bingley for proof), so perhaps the lack of words can signal sincerity of emotion? actions speak louder than words sorta thing? heck, in Pride and Prejudice, elizabeth is noted to actively blush when she is embarrassed because she can’t really express her discomfort (see netherfield ball scene with her mother, or the conversation about the countryside with mr darcy and...her mother again)
Proposals in Jane Austen
So I started making a chart of all the proposals in Jane Austen’s collected works, just to prove that proposals can be accepted indoors (common myth, despite the fact that Bingley’s is accepted and indoors), but then I started looking at the speech. Is a person quoted or just described? Some have both, like Darcy for whom we get an opening line and then “he spoke well” but others are completely quoted or completely described:
If we look in at just the on-page proposals (Bingley’s basically is off-page) and those accepted and rejected, we can see a pattern:
Women are only described when they accept proposals (She spoke then, on being so entreated.—What did she say?—Just what she ought, of course.), but they are very much speaking aloud when they refuse. Which I think goes into a theme of Jane Austen’s, the most important agency a woman can have is the power to say “No” (man has the advantage of choice, woman only the power of refusal). And yet when these women say no, they often have to repeat themselves, and explain, and explain again, and be called irrational… But the point is they CAN speak, they can KNOW THEIR HEARTS, and the men and everyone else should LISTEN.
Because these men are trying to take away the only right these women have.
As for why we don’t see quoted speech with acceptance, I read a very interesting paper that theorized that Jane Austen gives their characters privacy when they are actually in love. Which fits to this pattern, as we know that most of the women accepting are in love. Also, Henry Crawford, who is only quoted, we know was in love. Now does it follow that the described Mr. Elton actually was in love? Who knows. Emma certainly doesn’t think he is.
It makes me think of a line from Mansfield Park: there were emotions of tenderness that could not be clothed in words. Jane Austen is able to get around writing sappy proposals because she gives us some great opening lines:
“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
You pierce my soul.
And then she lets us imagine for ourselves how the rest of the conversation went. And you don’t really feel that cheated because with the journey we have experienced we do kind of know what they would say.
The one proposal I do feel a little cheated on is Darcy #1 because I really want to hear just how much he insulted her family.
Note: John Thorpe and Mr. Elliot I classed as semi-proposals. Mr. Elliot I barely think counts because he made a vague comment in public, but many people have argued to me that it is a proposal. I disagree, but it’s on the chart. I think his comment about Anne not changing her name is very obvious flirting. John Thorpe’s proposal is so vague Catherine doesn’t understand that he is proposing!
Does anyone else DIE OF CUTENESS whenever they read Northanger Abbey or is that just me?
I died right here:
enjoyed her usual happiness with Henry Tilney, listening with sparkling eyes to everything he said; and, in finding him irresistible, becoming so herself…
And here:
Is there a Henry in the world who could be insensible to such a declaration? Henry Tilney at least was not.
And here:
Prepare for your sister-in-law, Eleanor, and such a sister-in-law as you must delight in! Open, candid, artless, guileless, with affections strong but simple, forming no pretensions, and knowing no disguise.”
“Such a sister-in-law, Henry, I should delight in,” said Eleanor with a smile.
There we go, I died again. I hope you’re happy Jane Austen!
the day I stop thinking about Them™️ is the day I die
———
Beatrice and Benedick, act IV, scene 1
underrated character type I actually relate to: hopeless romantic who loves to intellectually spar disguised as an unbearable clown
(re)introduction
hello! name’s cat. longtime lurker, but have emerged enough from exam hell to find the will to Participate in social media. i like: history, literature, mythology, fashion, asian dramas, and anime. this blog is probably going to be a mish-mash of the aforementioned (and many more) things, including (unfortunately) my thoughts. if you’re up for that, feel free to follow!