Born in County Down, Robert Cromie (1855-1907) published his science fiction novel A Plunge into Space in 1890 at the age of 35. The text does pretty much what it says on the tin and follows an expedition to Mars and while it doesn’t feature in our project’s corpus, it is perhaps a good example of Irish fin…
Category: Image of the Week
Caturday, vol. III: the cattening
Today’s Caturday collection has been compiled with the assistance of my own two felines, who have been industriously wrecking the place while I work. Thank you, Kaylee and River! Previous Caturday posts can be found here.
Image of the Week: A slice of Mrs. Weston’s wedding-cake
This weeks image is inspired by a short scene in Jane Austen’s Emma. Concerned for the digestive health of the guests at Miss Taylor’s wedding, Mr. Woodhouse tries to dissuade them from eating the wedding-cake… There was no recovering Miss Taylor—nor much likelihood of ceasing to pity her; but a few weeks brought some alleviation…
Image of the Week: Alice’s Appetites
This week’s image is taken from The Nursery “Alice,” – an adapted version (for younger readers) of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865). The work contains a number of rich colour images by the British illustrator and cartoonist Sir John Tenniel. This famous illustration captures the moments after Alice’s journey down the rabbit hole. Anxious to find her way through a tiny…
Visual tropes collection of the week: Fainting and Swooning
You know, if my extensive education in feminism and gender issues has taught me anything, it’s that women of all walks of life have one thing in common: fainting at the slightest provocation. Amirite, ladies? Of course, it’s not unheard of for a gentleman to indulge in a swoon, too – and who’s to judge? …
Image of the Week: Portrait of a frustrated artist
This week’s image is taken from Chapter 17 of Katherine Cecil Thurston’s beautifully illustrated novel Max (1910). It is one of eight illustrations by the British painter and illustrator Frank Craig (1874-1918). The image effectively captures Max’s growing frustration at the quality of his/her latest work and captures the moments leading up to a heated exchange between the…
Image of the Week: Summer bathing and sea air
In Chapter 12 of Austen’s Emma, Mr. Woodhouse questions his daughter Isabella’s decision to spend the autumn with her children at South End and adds sea air and swimming to his list of dangerous activities. “It was an awkward business, my dear, your spending the autumn at South End instead of coming here. I never had…
“A charming amusement for young people”
In Chapter 6 of Pride and Prejudice, Sir William Lucas and Mr Darcy exchange some thoughts on the merits of dancing… Sir Lucas proffers “What a charming amusement for young people this is, Mr. Darcy! There is nothing like dancing after all. I consider it as one of the first refinements of polished society.” A less than impressed…
Image of the Week: “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two”
This week’s image is taken from Thomas Hood’s “Hood’s Own: or, Laughter from Year to Year” (1855) and aptly depicts the shenanigans of Fagin’s gang in Dickens’ Oliver Twist (1838). In a humorous vignette in Chapter 10, The Artful Dodger and Charley Bates show off their pickpocketing prowess to an amused but naive Oliver… “When the breakfast was…
Warning! Women on bikes
This week’s image collection is inspired by Kate Beaton’s fabulous cartoons riffing on vintage cautionary literature for ladies, although these velocipedestriennes don’t seem too concerned about The Dangers of Cycling… I think this last image is my favourite, though…
Image of the Week: Clongowes College in 1898
In Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916), Stephen Dedalus recalls his schooldays, spent at the boarding school Clongowes Wood College: It would be better to be in the study hall than out there in the cold. The sky was pale and cold but there were lights in the castle. He wondered from…
Discerning drinkers?
While the Temperance Movement gained ground in the nineteenth century, authors writing about Ireland were sure to include references to drinking. In The Nun’s Curse, however, one of Charlotte Riddell’s characters is disappointed with her Guinness, while the locals are disappointed with her disappointment. Great effects spring, we know, from little causes; and had Miss Dickson, mourning…
The Sea of Books 