Words of Love

I had a lovely e mail from the writer Pamela Norris commenting on the blog and wondering whether we might have met.
In fact she was right we did meet at a weekend conference in Cambridge on Virginia Woolf and I sat at dinner with her and Lyndall Gordon and was probably a bit gawpish and gormless as I listened in wonder to real literary conversation.
Writers and publishers probably assume that literary conversations are the norm for everyone but of course this is far from the case. I can't be the only one who works in a non-reading environment where even reading for pleasure is rarely discussed.
But where was I? Ah yes, gawping gormlessly over a literary conversation and loving every minute, so I was delighted when Pamela Norris offered to send me a copy of the book she had talked about at that weekend and then to discover that I was part of the audience mentioned in the acknowledgements.
I've had some happy hours reading and browsing this book and now feeling a bit mystified as to how I let it pass me by when it was published. I don't baulk at paying out for an expensive hardback when I know it's my subject but I think I may have come across a few critical reviews that were enough to deter me.Yet now I read it for myself and find it compelling and fascinating which will teach me to pay heed to the experts.
The cover a beautiful painting by Mary Cassatt who I have mentioned on here several times before.
Part One "Farewell my only love : The Passion of Heloise" and here a story I knew of, but not a lot about.I've read this one right through and now will have to read the letters in their entirety.
Part Two "Shimmerings of a Summer Sky : The Transient Loves of the Japanese Court" and of course this is The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu which I have dipped in and out of but can now revisit with a much better understanding of its mysteries.
Part Three "The Heart's Desire: Medieval Women Write About Love" This one largely new and unknown territory for me
Part Four "The Heat and Violence of the Poet's Heart :Women and the Love Sonnet" and amongst others the Brownings and Edna St Vincent Millay get plenty of coverage here, I love both.
Part Five "Dreams and Reality : Fictions of Love" and so many favourites get an airing here it's difficult to know where to begin, Louisa May Alcott, Lucy Maud Montgomery, Edith Wharton, George Eliot, Jane Austen, the list is endless and fascinating
Finally Part Six "Sylvia Plath : Passion and Poetry", rounding the circle and Ted and Sylvia my specialist subject if ever there was one.I will report back on this and more when I've read the book properly.
Words of Love one of those books that opens up a multitude of diverse and exciting reading trails and will act as a catalyst for some revisiting and renewing of acquaintances alongside some some new literary discoveries here. Having jumped ahead and started my Autumn reading project early perhaps I now have a good replacement.
This goes in that little shelf on my desk, those right hand books that you always need close by.