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rhodrymavelyneSometimes when I silently wish for something, the universe responds.
I’ve been reading Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence, by Michael Rocke for some time now.
Much as I love m/m relationships, there’s something depressingly patriarchal about the only kind of pairing which was tacitly accepted in Renaissance Florence, even while it was a censored.
This was when an active older man took a passive boy as his lover. It’s a form of relationship which goes all the way back to Ancient Greece. Perhaps earlier.
At the time, it wasn’t remotely queer. Not the way of relationship between two equals was.
You didn’t have a sexual relationship with your equal. The accepted norm was dominant/elder and submissive younger.
The younger was expected on the ‘feminine’ role of being passive and submissive. The elder had to take on the masculine role of aggressive and dominant.
Even if a couple wasn’t male/female, the members were expected to play these parts.
You couldn’t choose them. They were determined by your appearance and age. If you were a young boy, you were a bottom. If you were an older male, you were the top.
All this completely disregarded relationships between females entirely.
I found myself yearning to hear what a female might say for herself about anything.
I had to pick up a different book, but I got my wish.
I’d bought Lady Caroline Lamb, by Paul Douglass on a whim. The cover and the blurb intrigued me. I knew a little about her, being fascinated by Lord Byron. The notion of hearing her side of the story intrigued me.
I’m finding that I much prefer individual biographies to social histories. I’m more involved in experiencing the past through the prism of one person rather than filtering it through a large group.
At the point I’m at in this book, Caroline is still a child. I’m captivated by the matriarchal subculture she’s being raised in, caught between her philanthropic grandmother, Lady Spencer, and her clever, yet dissapated mother and aunt, Harriet and Georgiana.
I call them dissapated, but the two latter ladies are both fun and fascinating by modern standards. Quite a few people in their own found them so as well.
The triumvirate of Harriet, Georgiana, and their friend, the ‘fallen woman’, Bess is quite riveting. It illustrates one of the ways women could come together, bond, and share power, even in a patriarchal world.
This book was exactly what I needed to read, after taking a break from Forbidden Friendships. It’s not only been a delight to read, but it’s quite inspirational as a writer.
If you’re interested in history, or herstory from a personal perspective in a transition period from the eighteenth century to the nineteenth century, written from the perspective of a girl who lived through it, I recommend this book. If you’re interested in something a little more female centric concerning this time, I recommend this book.
This isn’t an official review. I’ve only gotten into the first few chapters of Lady Caroline Lamb. I’m already hooked. :)
Nor have I finished Forbidden Friendships. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot of good information in this book, not to mention inspirational material within its pages.
I’m just glad I picked up Lady Caroline Lamb right after I finished a chapter of Forbidden Friendships.
It balanced the descriptions of social norms with individual reinterpretations. Yes, the two books took place in completely different time periods, but both of them are living in my imagination now, reshaping my creative inner landscape into new forms.
It’s great to have a balance. :)
I’ve been reading Forbidden Friendships: Homosexuality and Male Culture in Renaissance Florence, by Michael Rocke for some time now.
Much as I love m/m relationships, there’s something depressingly patriarchal about the only kind of pairing which was tacitly accepted in Renaissance Florence, even while it was a censored.
This was when an active older man took a passive boy as his lover. It’s a form of relationship which goes all the way back to Ancient Greece. Perhaps earlier.
At the time, it wasn’t remotely queer. Not the way of relationship between two equals was.
You didn’t have a sexual relationship with your equal. The accepted norm was dominant/elder and submissive younger.
The younger was expected on the ‘feminine’ role of being passive and submissive. The elder had to take on the masculine role of aggressive and dominant.
Even if a couple wasn’t male/female, the members were expected to play these parts.
You couldn’t choose them. They were determined by your appearance and age. If you were a young boy, you were a bottom. If you were an older male, you were the top.
All this completely disregarded relationships between females entirely.
I found myself yearning to hear what a female might say for herself about anything.
I had to pick up a different book, but I got my wish.
I’d bought Lady Caroline Lamb, by Paul Douglass on a whim. The cover and the blurb intrigued me. I knew a little about her, being fascinated by Lord Byron. The notion of hearing her side of the story intrigued me.
I’m finding that I much prefer individual biographies to social histories. I’m more involved in experiencing the past through the prism of one person rather than filtering it through a large group.
At the point I’m at in this book, Caroline is still a child. I’m captivated by the matriarchal subculture she’s being raised in, caught between her philanthropic grandmother, Lady Spencer, and her clever, yet dissapated mother and aunt, Harriet and Georgiana.
I call them dissapated, but the two latter ladies are both fun and fascinating by modern standards. Quite a few people in their own found them so as well.
The triumvirate of Harriet, Georgiana, and their friend, the ‘fallen woman’, Bess is quite riveting. It illustrates one of the ways women could come together, bond, and share power, even in a patriarchal world.
This book was exactly what I needed to read, after taking a break from Forbidden Friendships. It’s not only been a delight to read, but it’s quite inspirational as a writer.
If you’re interested in history, or herstory from a personal perspective in a transition period from the eighteenth century to the nineteenth century, written from the perspective of a girl who lived through it, I recommend this book. If you’re interested in something a little more female centric concerning this time, I recommend this book.
This isn’t an official review. I’ve only gotten into the first few chapters of Lady Caroline Lamb. I’m already hooked. :)
Nor have I finished Forbidden Friendships. Don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot of good information in this book, not to mention inspirational material within its pages.
I’m just glad I picked up Lady Caroline Lamb right after I finished a chapter of Forbidden Friendships.
It balanced the descriptions of social norms with individual reinterpretations. Yes, the two books took place in completely different time periods, but both of them are living in my imagination now, reshaping my creative inner landscape into new forms.
It’s great to have a balance. :)
