Ancient Indian Poetesses

From Speaking Tree:

A community’s development can be easily measured by the level of women’s education or status. If we take all the ancient cultures into account, India has a unique place in the world. Lot of countries gave women-- education, freedom, right to inherit property, right to attend religious ceremonies and a status ---several centuries after ‘India that is Bharat’ gave them.

Vedas and Sangam Tamil literature have the highest number of women poets (poetesses) in the world. It is amazing to see they were able to compose poems and attend assemblies.

We have over 25 Vedic poetesses and over 25 Tamil Sangam poetesses. No culture in the world had so many poetesses 2000 years ago. It was a world dominated by men. Law giver Manu said that a community will be destroyed if women are not respected.

The Inventive Translations of Mary Sidney Herbert

From Slate dot com:

It's hard to imagine a modern family as prominent in as many ways as Philip Sidney and his sister, Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke were. In addition to the social and political prominence of the Kennedys and the wealth of the Kochs, beyond their personal glamour and estates and Philip Sidney's heroism in war, the brother and sister were at the center of scholarship and art—two realms that were less separated in their time than in the present.

Mary Sidney, proficient in Latin and ancient Greek as well as modern European languages, was a brilliant translator as well as a writer in prose and verse. Active as a patron of the arts and a host to artists, she was the center of a circle that included, in addition to her brother, poets Michael Drayton, Edward Dyer, Fulke Greville, and Edmund Spenser.

Her translations of the Psalms (continuing a project of her brother's, after his death) are said to have influenced, in a following generation, her cousin once removed George Herbert and John Donne.

Lady Elizabeth Dacre's Erotic Poem

From Huffington Post:

A crude love poem written almost 450 years ago by a Roman Catholic woman and sent to a Protestant scholar who served Edward VI has been discovered in the back of a book by a British academic.

When Professor Treharne took her class of undergraduates on a tour of medieval literature in the library of West Virginia University, she thought she was introducing another year of eager literature students to the familiar wonders of Chaucer.

Instead, tucked into a 1561 edition of the poet’s work, she was about to discover what she now believes to be the only known Latin love poem written by an Englishwoman until the 18th century.

After translating the poem Treharne discovered that the poem was penned by Lady Elizabeth Dacre, a married Catholic woman, and addressed to Sir Anthony Cooke, a Protestant and tutor to King Edward VI. During this time it was common for lustful Tudor men to pen verses to woo the objects of their affection but extremely unusual for a lady to do the same.

Four Women Western Writers

From New West:

When we did the Western Literature Association survey of Most Important Authors, very few women made the list. Willa Cather got her fair share of votes. Mari Sandoz was the next favorite, followed by Leslie Silko and Mary Austin. After that came such names as Amy Tan, Sandra Cisneros, Pam Houston, Terry Tempest Williams and Ann Zwinger. With the exception of Cather, none had sufficient support to be called "important".

For my list of significant Western women writers, I chose the four I find most unforgettable, four women I have spent many evenings with and who belong in the library of any well-read Westerner.

• Mary Hunter Austin
• Willa Catha
• Mari Sandoz
• Dorothy Jackson

The Enigma of Stephanie Rosenthal

From the Jerusalem Post Magazine:

We are all used to the phenomenon of the wandering Jew, and to finding a Jew in almost every nook and cranny. But who would have imagined that in the 1920s, a Polish Jewish woman was writing a best-seller in Chinese that was said to be “going like matza water” because half a million copies had been sold.

Prof. Irene Eber, an eminent scholar of Chinese literature and history and of Jews in China, was reading a fascinating travelogue by Mejlekh Ravitch, a Yiddish poet from Warsaw, written while he traveled in China for six months during 1935. Ravitch mentioned having met a landsman, one of the few women writers in the country. This discovery set Eber on a search to uncover the identity of her landsman as well.

Zora Neale Hurston (1891 - 1960)

From SheWired.com:

Flamboyant, bold and outrageous were Zora Neale Hurston’s writings, as was her life. As the diva of the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston was the most prolific black woman writer of her times and a brilliant chronicler of African American life.

A literary ancestor of the contemporary canon of African American women’s writings like Toni Morrison, Alice Walker and Maya Angelou, etc., Hurston helped to create the art of black women’s narrative voices.

Hurston’s genius for storytelling and drama derived from depicting the lives of her subjects in the poetic cadence of black idiom, and her art form won her critical acclaim in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Hurston’s explorations of black female characters, her analysis of women’s concerns, and their romantic quest for personal wholeness and female autonomy influenced a generation of writers.

Women's Fiction or Chick Lit

From the Salon Broadsheet:

On Thursday, the New York Times' Idea of the Day was: "Is women's fiction plagued by 'misery lit,' obsessed with bereavement, child abuse and rape? Or 'chick lit,' obsessed with Prada handbags and landing the perfect catch? Or is it torn between the two?" Here's my idea of the day: It's both -- and much more.

Insightful article from Kate Harding.

Latest Releases

Latest Literary Releases:

A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century (2008) by Upinder Singh (Review here)

Edward IV and the Wars of the Roses by David Santiuste (Pen and Sword Books Ltd) (Author interview here)

Border Watch by Helene Young (Hachette)

Must You Go? My Life with Harold Pinter by Lady Antonia Fraser (Hachette)

Library Visit

Having about an hour to kill this morning, I dropped into my local library - a place I have long neglected for the past six months (though quite possibly more).

I managed to pick up a little light reading:

* Barbarians to Angels: The Dark Ages Reconsidered by Peter S Wells
I knocked this one over today - and was much impressed. A concise narrative of times long considered "dark" and "barbaric". Nice and to the point and not a bit long-winded. Highly recommended.

* Bad Girls & Wicked Women by Jan Stradling
Nice retelling of some of the more notorious "bad girls" from history - Messalina, Belle Starr, Empress Cixi, but to name a few. About two-thirds through this one and will no doubt finish tonight. Highly enjoyable.

* Moriarty by John Gardner
I love Sherlock Holmes and his nemisi, Moriarty so looking forward to this one.

* Marie & Mary by Nigel Tranter
Novel about Marie de Guise and her daughter, Mary Queen of Scots.

* The Templar by Paul Doherty
Novel of the Crusades by a masterful writer of medieval whodunnits.

* Mary Tudor: The Tragical History of the First Queen of England by David Loades.
Biography of "Bloody" Mary.

So, some more reading to add to my list whilst currently reading John Fox's marvellous biography on Jane Whorwood (spy to Charles I).

Scotland: Medieval Celtic Psalter

From the Telegraph:

The pocket-sized book of psalms dates from the 11th century and has been described as Scotland's version of the celebrated Book of Kells in Dublin.

It contains hand-written psalms in Latin, with Celtic and Pictish illustrations of dragons and other “beasts” and is normally only available to scholars, although it was exhibited in 1967.

t is thought to have been produced at the monastery on the island of Iona and although the original binding has been lost, the script is clear and the text can still be read today.

The psalter will go on display in the main library at the University of Edinburgh for the next three months, with other items including an edition of Romeo and Juliet that was published during Shakespeare's lifetime.

A Nobel Year For Women

From Associated Press:

A record five women were among the 13 people awarded Nobel Prizes on Thursday, including a writer who depicted life behind the Iron Curtain and two American researchers who showed how chromosomes protect themselves from degrading.

The prizes were created in Alfred Nobel's 1895 will, which stipulated that they be granted to those who "have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind." They were first awarded in 1901.

Only 40 women have won the prestigious awards, including Marie Curie who was given the 1903 physics prize and the chemistry prize eight years later. In all, 802 individuals and 20 organizations have received Nobel Prizes over the years.

* Romanian-born author Herta Mueller accepted the Nobel literature award for her critical depiction of life behind the Iron Curtain — work drawn largely from her personal experiences.

* Elinor Ostrom, 76, made history by being the first woman to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, sharing it with fellow American Oliver Williamson for their work in economic governance.

* Americans Elizabeth H. Blackburn, 61, and Carol W. Greider, 48, shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with countryman Jack W. Szostak for their work in solving the mystery of how chromosomes protect themselves from degrading when cells divide.

* The chemistry award was shared by 70-year-old Ada Yonath of Israel and Americans Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and Thomas Steitz for their atom-by-atom description of ribosomes, the protein-making machinery within cells. Their research is being used to develop new antibiotics.

November Blogs of Interest

From The Tyee - a review of "A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice" by Malalai Joya.

See also a review from Canadian Press posted here in October: Malalai Joya: A Woman Among Warlords

From Original Wavelength - Where can a Muslim woman show her face and the history of the veil.

From Reality Observer - a look at women in English literature (from Beowulf to Bronte).

From History Undressed - Kimberly Killion: Fiction vs. Fact: Did a woman’s virginity raise her worth on the slave market?

From A Striped Armchair - Women Unbound: A New Reading Challenge

Shakespeare: to be or not to be

Shakespeare - or the myth surrounding him - has always fascinated me. His life, his death, his works, the myth of his "true" identity.

So here's a fascinating article from Jack Malvern at Times Online, which claims that the Bard had help with his writing.

The 400-year-old mystery of whether William Shakespeare was the author of an unattributed play about Edward III may have been solved by a computer program designed to detect plagiarism.

Sir Brian Vickers, an authority on Shakespeare at the Institute of English Studies at the University of London, believes that a comparison of phrases used in The Reign of King Edward III with Shakespeare’s early works proves conclusively that the Bard wrote the play in collaboration with Thomas Kyd, one of the most popular playwrights of his day.

The professor used software called Pl@giarism, developed by the University of Maastricht to detect cheating students, to compare language used in Edward III — published anonymously in 1596, when Shakespeare was 32 — with other plays of the period.

He discovered that playwrights often use the same patterns of speech, meaning that they have a linguistic fingerprint. The program identifies phrases of three words or more in an author’s known work and searches for them in unattributed plays. In tests where authors are known to be different, there are up to 20 matches because some phrases are in common usage. When Edward III was tested against Shakespeare’s works published before 1596 there were 200 matches.

There has been lots about the Bard in the tabloids over the past few years - here's a selection:

• Portrait of William Shakespeare
• Bard was a Catholic
• Hubble Bubble - Shakespeare's in trouble
• The Death of William Shakespeare

Playboy Bunny: Marge Simpson

From 7 News:

Marge Simpson -- the blue beehived matriarch of America's most loved dysfunctional family - is Playboy magazine's November cover, the magazine said on Friday.

Simpson, tastefully concealing her assets behind a signature Playboy Bunny chair, is the first cartoon character ever to front the glossy adult magazine, joining the ranks of sex symbols like Marilyn Monroe and Cindy Crawford.

Playboy said the cover and a three-page picture spread inside was a celebration of the 20th anniversary of the "The Simpsons" and part of a plan to appeal to a younger generation of readers.

Scott Flanders, the recently-hired chief executive of Playboy Enterprises, told the Chicago Sun-Times in an interview that the Marge Simpson cover and centrefold was "somewhat tongue-in-cheek."

Nobel Winning Women

From Yahoo News:

Elizabeth Blackburn has become Australia's first female Nobel Laureate, after winning the Nobel Medicine Prize, along with Americans Carol Greider and Jack Szosta, for identifying a key molecular switch in cellular ageing.

The trio solved the mystery of how chromosomes, the rod-like structures that carry DNA, protect themselves from degrading when cells divide, an insight that has inspired new lines of research into cancer.

The Nobel citation said the laureates found the solution in the ends of the chromosomes - structures called telomeres that are often compared to the plastic tips at the end of shoe laces that keep those laces from unravelling.

From About Women's History:

Herta Muller, a German-speaking Romanian novelist whose works are not well known outside Germany, was named the Nobel literature prize winner for 2009. Muller emigrated to West Germany in 1987 after being refused permission to leave in 1985. Her novels draw on her experience of the oppression and horrors of Ceausescu's Romania

From Xinhuanet:

Israeli scientist Ada E. Yonath, the fourth woman who won a Nobel Prize in chemistry, said on Wednesday that women can do as well as men in science.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Science said in a statement on Wednesday that Yonath, together with Thomas A. Steitz from America's Yale University and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Britain's Cambridge, won the prize for their respective achievements on "the ribosome's translation of DNA information into life."

Yonath said after the announcement that she was very surprised about her winning the prize.

Reading: Women Take the Lead

From the Korean Times:

The more culturally aggressive nature of the female half of the population is behind new statistics that show women read more than men, a book publicist said Wednesday.

A survey by online recruiter, www.incruit.com, showed that of 906 salaried workers, women outnumbered men in the number of books they read by 3.9 to 2.6 per month.

About 31 percent were self-help titles, while those in the genres of classical literature, business, sociology and real estate followed.

In contrast, some men feel reading books is feminine. "I read newspapers and magazines but rarely buy books or read them," said one man in his early 40s.

He added that television is another factor blocking his reading habits.

A Short History of Women

Review by Helen McAlpin of the San Francisco Chronicle:

The common thread in Kate Walbert's fiction is an exploration, at once intellectual and lyrical, of women throughout the 20th century (and into the 21st) coming up against society's limiting expectations and constraints.

Her new novel, "A Short History of Women," is a complex, exquisitely rendered consideration of what used to be called "The Woman Question." Told through the interwoven stories of five generations of highly intelligent but variously thwarted women, it considers women's place in society over the course of more than a century, a time frame that spans both world wars and our current multi-fronted wars.

Believe It Or Not ....

Does anyone else see the resemblance of this medieval woman and the Duchess from Alice in Wonderland???

Anna Julia Cooper

From PR News Wire:

Educator, scholar, feminist and activist Anna Julia Cooper (c.1858-1964), who gave voice to the African-American community during the 19th and 20th centuries -- from the end of slavery to the beginning of the Civil Rights movement -- was immortalized on postage today [June 11th, 2009].

Cooper, best known for her groundbreaking collection of essays and speeches, A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South, also exhibited educational leadership, most notably challenging the racist notion that African Americans were naturally inferior.

Medieval Women & Literacy

Excellent post by Bavardess - Medieval women & the myth of illiteracy:

An intriguing manuscript recently surfaced in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples that sheds new light on the reading abilities and habits of women in late medieval England. The manuscript, which was serendipitously unearthed by Canadian scholar James Weldon while he was looking for something else entirely, has attracted some attention from the mainstream media*. This article rather flippantly describes the manuscript as a ‘medieval women’s magazine’, composed as it is of a varied collection of ‘articles’ (if you will) on topics of supposed feminine interest – as the subhead puts it, ‘Canadian researcher discovers historic document filled with romance and recipes’. The anthology is written in Middle English and includes extracts from a variety of different sources, including medicinal recipes, household tips, romances and a saint's life.