Friday May 11, 2012
I don't know about you... but on days like this, I yearn for the beach. I want to dig my feet into the sand, run barefoot on the wet sand, and let the waves wash over me. It's well into May. And, it's feeling more and more like summer every day.
Ah, so... Imagine: sand, sea, sun and a light breeze. And, while you're at it, dig out a book of fiction or poetry. The seas have inspired so many tales, legends, and poems--all about mermaids/men, magical lands beneath the waves, ocean voyages, and seaside adventures. Dream the sea and walking along the shore, as you read these famous lines...
"Why does the sea moan evermore?" We all yearn for something, and the sea seems to speak for us...
Thursday May 10, 2012
I have friends and acquaintances who chose the name of their child (or pet) based on an author or the characters of their favorite novel. It's not really that surprising--it's both an homage and a telltale sign. True, not all parents who select names like Alice, Emerson, Byron, Harper, Homer, or Anna have thought about the literary connections, but some of us do. And, with every book that comes out, we can sometimes see the ripple effect of popular names derived from novels like Twilight. We are drawn to the characters; we like the traits; and we give the name to our child or pet. And, thus the name is further perpetuated (or some derivative of the name).
Are there names you'd like to name your child or pet? Have you already named them after your favorite literary figure? What are your thoughts on the subject?
Tuesday May 8, 2012
Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, "Youth fades; love droops, the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all." It's a deep-set hope, enmeshed in all that will make a child's life better. I am who I am because my parents read to me.
It's difficult to imagine a different life. Books have always been a part of it. And, when I read the biographies of my favorite writers, I find similar experiences. It seems that many writers and bibliophiles are initially drawn to reading because of a mother's passion for books.
When I think about motherly influences, reading and writing, I like to recall Charlotte Gordon's biography of Anne Bradstreet. Given that biography, and the countless other novels and biographies by or about women, I can only feel blessed by the ease of my life compared with the many demands mothers of previous generations have experienced. How did they do it? And how have you been affected--by mother writers in literary history, and by your own mother? Have they helped you to love literature more, or offered an angst-ridden legacy? Here's what some writers have written about mothers...
How have mothers affected your love of literature? Is there a mother in literature that you like to remember? How do you like to think of motherhood?
Sunday May 6, 2012
Some of my earliest memories of my mother are of her reading. It seemed a normal part of existence: to ravenously devour a book, to sleep with a book beside the bed (or in one's hands), to have a book forever at hand. But, the role of mothers in literature runs far deeper than my initial introductions to reading...
How have mothers influence the lives of writers? How have women writers balanced the demands of motherhood with the need to write? And, what have authors written about their mothers?
Walt Whitman wrote:
"I see the sleeping babe nestling the breast of its mother,
The sleeping mother and babe--hush'd, I study them long and long."
What are your early memories of reading? Do you have a favorite passage that expresses motherhood in literature? Have you been by a writing and/or reading mother?
