wednesday books has edwardian girl musicians with unconventional upbringings

[landofnowhere]

The Devourers, Annie Vivanti Chartres. I've been getting into the archives of Emily E Hogstad's blog The Song of the Lark recently, which has some really good deep dives into forgotten woman in music -- after reading The Devourer and the Devoured about child prodigy Vivian Chartres and her mother, ex-prodigy poet Annie Vivanti, who wrote this semi-autobiographical novel about a poet mother of a violin prodigy: as Hogstad says, "One gets the impression that three-quarters of the novel is, in fact, a memoir. But which three-quarters? ". The writing in this novel is really good, and I generally enjoyed the panoramic family saga aspects, but ultimately the worldview and the thesis that geniuses destroy everyone around them is just too depressing. Also the novel has an interesting combination of realism in its setting (which spans Europe and New York) and a plot which defies the laws of probability. Some racism, including a few uses of the n-word (though no characters on color are portrayed) lots of not-very-examined classism, and the Italian characters lean into unflattering stereotypes sometimes. I have mixed feelings about this novel but unreservedly recommend the essay I linked above, which has some of the better quotes quotes.

Rooftoppers, Katherine Rundell. Read because of skygiants' review which sums it up pretty well. I too would have adored this book at age 10! This pairs interestingly with The Devourers in terms of setting and theme, but ultimately it's not trying to do serious social commentary, it's trying to have an adventure with fun hijinks.

Comments

[lunabee34]

You are always reading the most fascinating material!