books read; moving on; sick

[flea]

Re-read: Josephine Tey, The Man in the Queue. I remembered who done it, but forgot significant sections of the plot until they began to unfold and jog my memory. Interesting to note she wrote this one a full 10 years before writing another detective novel, and under her play-writing (male) psudonym.

Looked through and read the parts that were of interest:
John E. Miller, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little Town.
ibid, Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Woman Behind the Legend.
Ann Romines, Constructing the Little House.
I hadn't read any account of the relationship between fact and fiction in the Little House books, so these remedied that. Romines was traditional feminist-postmodern criticism - nothing wildly insightful but a pleasant read that sparked some thinking. Miller's first had lots of stories and photos from the historical DeSmet, which was pleasant. Miller's second was a little redundant after that, and really, nobody is that interested in LIW's 50 years as a farm housewife in Missouri.

***

Purged two more boxes of notes from gradual school, plus flash cards I wrote for Greek 101, my senior year in college, 11 years ago. Kept my offprints, though not sure why. Felt fine.

I watch the Classics grad students who spend a lot of time in the library here (Papyrology is upstairs) and I do miss the camraderie of graduate school. I had a great bunch of colleagues.

***

Feverish, achy, and coughy. And at work. I couldn't not come. Not feeling too bad, more annoyed than anything, but feel a little contagious and guilty. Trying not to touch anyone/thing. Casper was up every two hours in the night annoyed by her stuffy nose, was rather feverish in the night. Ellen is sick too, so I should have expected it. Actually I think we've done rather well - this is the first cold in maybe 6 weeks. mr. flea not sick (yet).

Comments

[scrappylj.livejournal.com]

So where do these books come down on the "her daughter wrote the books" idea? I LOVE all the Little House books--Laura is a great heroine. She is more complex and layered and the books paint a darker and more interesting picture of prairie life than non-readers give them credit for.

Hope you and the wee lassie feel better soon!

[casperflea.livejournal.com]

There's pretty solid evidence that Laura and her daughter Rose worked together very closely on the books - I'd really call them jointly authored, based on what I read. They first discussed what to include and what to leave out, and even did some trips for research. Laura wrote first drafts longhand, and they were typed up and edited by Rose, and then they both edited further from there. (Copies of the drafts and marked-up typescripts survive). I think the "voice" is truly Laura's, especially in terms of things like descriptions of the prairie. Rose was most important in terms of structure, plot, etc. - which makes sense as she was a professional writer and very experienced in these areas.

[mearagrrl.livejournal.com]

Huh. The truth about LIW sounds kinda interesting. But I'd have to re-read those books.