Rather than let this precious (to me) blog seem abandoned, I want to alert everyone who stops by here to read my ramblings that I’m making the move to Medium, as I am excited about the opportunity to build an audience there and to enjoy camaraderie with other writers. I want to thank everyone who […]
Tag: novelists
Novelists offer so many hours of bliss to those who love to read fiction and there are many different styles of writing—from spare to effusive.
I like to feature the points of view of novelists when their writing helps me make a point about an era, an important historical figure or a part of the world. When I was wondering which of the novelists of the Georgian era would be a good fit for a literary design piece about valuable silver from that period for sale, of course Jane Austen came to mind. But wait, I thought, the movies we watch that are made from her novels are realized against a lush backdrop styled by set decorators. That wasn’t how she set the scene in her films.
In fact, she barely set the scene at all. Though highly emotional in a way that brings all of her characters to life, her narratives are quite limited in the concrete details that film companies like Miramax achieve in the grand productions they create to emulate England’s historical periods, such as the Victorian and Georgian Eras. I enjoy exploring ideas such as this on The Diary of an Improvateur. If you are fond of rummaging through literary history in this way, a click on the novelists tag will open you to other stories.
Café Society as Cultural Interpreter
What do the Paris and New York City cafés that served as historical backdrops for some of the world’s most brilliant creatives say about the differences in France and America? Quite a lot, actually. Since the fabric of New York is woven by revolving real estate, citizens of Gotham learn not to get too attached […]
Eudora Welty Finds Her Voice
When a writer begins to grapple with how to mine the outside world for inspiration, the process can be challenging. In her memoir, One Writer’s Beginnings, Eudora Welty describes how travel helped her awaken to what it means to embrace a broader reality, writing about a train ride she took with her father when she […]
Exploring Frankfurt with Goethe
I am returning to Frankfurt am Main next week to attend Heimtextil for the second time, an experience I truly enjoyed last year for the breadth of textiles the show holds and the depth of the trend forecasting its organizers achieve. I look forward to seeing the new products that will debut, my favorites […]
A Conversation on Trends in Textiles
I’m thrilled to announce that I am producing the first in my Modern Salonière series of events during High Point Market next month. With this and every salon to follow, I will explore subjects relating to graceful living, which French salonières during the 17th and 18th centuries elevated to an art form. I will […]
The Sensuous Delight of Place
Like Katherine Mansfield’s enigmatic stories, the book Place by Tara Bernerd feels like “a thread with a subtly woven texture embracing ecstatic feeling, sensuous delight.” The quote is from an essay by Angela Smith in a remarkable book titled The Modernist Party. Edited by Kate McLoughlin, the collection of literary explorations surveys the dinner party through […]
Badgley Mischka Fashion at Home
Mark Badgley and James Mischka introduced their new furniture collection, Badgley Mischka Home, during April’s High Point Market. I had the pleasure of sitting down with the design duo to talk with them about the new effort, their first foray into the furnishings market after designing fashion as a team since 1988. The furniture […]
Earnest in Paris
This comparative look at Wes Anderson and Ernest Hemingway, Earnest in Paris, is a guest post by Miles Stephenson, a talented young writer whom I had the great pleasure of haunting locales touched by the Lost Generation during the trip to Paris he is presenting on The Modern Salonnière today, an earnest post I throughly […]
A Backward Glance on rue de Varenne
The narrow sidewalks push their black iron batons up out of the ground to protect the buildings hemming them; the rain turns the cobblestones to muted mirrors of damp light—I’m visiting her again on the anniversary of her 155th birthday, and it dawns on me that I’ve never seen the statuesque green door with […]
For Decadents Beauty Is Difficult
Moving through the London literary scene during the fin de siècle was not a comfortable ride. Oscar Wilde is one of the most explosive examples but others who navigated those restrictive streets and who cloistered themselves in the gentleman’s clubs learned what a dicey trip rebellion can be. The lot of them, known as aesthetes […]