![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Like a sprig of yarrow caught in the dark
My poem "Gramarye" has been accepted by Not One of Us. As indicated by the title, it bears some influence from Susan Cooper. The rest was influenced by anger and the sea. I am coming up on twenty-five years as a published author and it started with this pocket-sized black-and-white 'zine. I always encourage writer-type persons of my acquaintaince to send them fiction and poetry.
I regretfully conclude that I am not the target audience for Elizabeth Myers' Mrs. Christopher (1946) when its its banger of a premise—whether the three witnesses to the shooting of a blackmailer will turn in their benefactor of a little old lady who pulled the trigger when the reward is £500—plays out as a Christian thought experiment of forgiveness and love in which there is no suspense after all except for the punch line of the verdict. Its tempted witnesses are not psychologically unbelievable and their different circumstances are drawn in well-written detail, but taken all together they feel like a rigged deck. I am not sure whether I should try the film it was adapted into, Marc Allégret's Blackmailed (1951). On a shallower note, the author had an incredible face in her short life. I was glad to read that she bonded with Eleanor Farjeon.
Well, actually, there are quite a few noir thrillers told from the perspective of a woman, but Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's The Blank Wall (1947) may have been my first, too, through its screen translation of Max Ophüls' The Reckless Moment (1949), and I like the cover choice of Jo Cain's New York Harbor (c. 1940) a lot.
I regretfully conclude that I am not the target audience for Elizabeth Myers' Mrs. Christopher (1946) when its its banger of a premise—whether the three witnesses to the shooting of a blackmailer will turn in their benefactor of a little old lady who pulled the trigger when the reward is £500—plays out as a Christian thought experiment of forgiveness and love in which there is no suspense after all except for the punch line of the verdict. Its tempted witnesses are not psychologically unbelievable and their different circumstances are drawn in well-written detail, but taken all together they feel like a rigged deck. I am not sure whether I should try the film it was adapted into, Marc Allégret's Blackmailed (1951). On a shallower note, the author had an incredible face in her short life. I was glad to read that she bonded with Eleanor Farjeon.
Well, actually, there are quite a few noir thrillers told from the perspective of a woman, but Elisabeth Sanxay Holding's The Blank Wall (1947) may have been my first, too, through its screen translation of Max Ophüls' The Reckless Moment (1949), and I like the cover choice of Jo Cain's New York Harbor (c. 1940) a lot.
no subject
no subject
Thank you!
no subject
no subject
It's the noir that got me to notice them! I love it so much.
no subject
Re: Mrs. Christopher, I can imagine the rigged deck working either way, depending on where exactly the thought experiment wants us to be directing that forgiveness. In either direction, having it be laid out in an inescapable, non-suspenseful way would be irritating...
no subject
Thank you! I am, too. It has been a very good home for poems important to me.
Re: Mrs. Christopher, I can imagine the rigged deck working either way, depending on where exactly the thought experiment wants us to be directing that forgiveness. In either direction, having it be laid out in an inescapable, non-suspenseful way would be irritating...
I found it very frustrating. The people were real enough that I didn't want them running on rails!
no subject
I had a moment of disconcerted blinking at this post, because my grandmother's maiden name was Elizabeth Myers! She was only a few years younger than this Elizabeth, and they both went by Betty, looks like (my grandmother also by Betsy to some friends -- legacy of trying a different nickname on for size for a few years). But she had a very different life, from the look of it, and to my knowledge was never an author. Too bad about this one's mishandling of the very cool premise, though!
no subject
Thank you!
I had a moment of disconcerted blinking at this post, because my grandmother's maiden name was Elizabeth Myers!
I am blinking in sympathy with you because that sounds extremely disconcerting and it didn't occur to me that the name would be duplicated in the history of anyone I knew!
She was only a few years younger than this Elizabeth, and they both went by Betty, looks like (my grandmother also by Betsy to some friends -- legacy of trying a different nickname on for size for a few years). But she had a very different life, from the look of it, and to my knowledge was never an author. Too bad about this one's mishandling of the very cool premise, though!
It seems to be more positively regarded by people who aren't me. The structure is clever! I enjoyed the prose! I just wanted anyone in the book to surprise me!
no subject
I love The Blank Wall and The Reckless Moment.
no subject
Thank you!
I love The Blank Wall and The Reckless Moment.
I should probably just rewatch the movie. (My copy of the book is in a box.)
no subject
no subject
Thank you!
no subject
no subject
Thank you! Always accepted whenever.