Dec 9, 2018 05:35 AM
Post#405 (Quote of the day thread): https://www.scivillage.com/thread-3465-p...l#pid22686
I finally watched Colette. (Alone, as I gave up trying to turn that "eye" into a "oui".
The boys club unsurprisingly not interested.)
The film's a reminder that "ghostwriters slaving away in a locked cellar" was around long before the recent era's crop of such (the latter a far less metaphorically indentured kind). At least Willy did seem to contribute more edited bits to the "Claudine stories" than what Tom Clancy probably did to the work of his farmed-out "authors behind the curtain". But then again, who knows how accurate the details of the movie are in that regard. For instance, Willy's typist -- Paul Heon, who decided to save Colette's original manuscripts from the fire at the end, was really a white figure rather than black. (Just one contemporary retcon of several details).
Remarkable for even 1907, that Frenchmen in an audience (of all groups of males in particular) would riot over a pantomime kiss between two women. Perhaps the caveat to this day is that one of the performers must be a lipstick lesbian rather than a Missy. In order to press the masculine porn-button and garner a less homophobic, non-violent response.
I can't even remember the name of the red-haired Louisiana millionairess which Colette first hooked-up with via Willy's knowing support (and who Willy in turn jumped into bed with behind Colette's back). She may be a completely fictional character. Natalie Clifford Barney, of wealthy parents, certainly knew Colette and had what she described as "demi-liaisons" with her. But she was born in Ohio and wandered from Washington D.C. to New England before planting herself as a famous expat in Paris.
While she eventually published under her own name (if one could call the Cher-like solitude of "Colette" that)... It's curious that women writers to this day whose publishers start them out with initials still cling to that old tradition long after their male readers/fans discover that they're actually female. A couple of examples would be J.K. Rowling and C.J. Cherryh (among many others). I guess a simple explanation is the "knock on wood and don't mess with the original successful momentum of things" (don't try to fix what's not broke).
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(Aug 22, 2018 04:08 PM)Secular Sanity Wrote: "The hand that holds the pen writes history."
I loved this quote.
Colette (wikipedia.org)
This is coming out next month. It looks good.
https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/c_8U7gjb2k4
I finally watched Colette. (Alone, as I gave up trying to turn that "eye" into a "oui".
The boys club unsurprisingly not interested.) The film's a reminder that "ghostwriters slaving away in a locked cellar" was around long before the recent era's crop of such (the latter a far less metaphorically indentured kind). At least Willy did seem to contribute more edited bits to the "Claudine stories" than what Tom Clancy probably did to the work of his farmed-out "authors behind the curtain". But then again, who knows how accurate the details of the movie are in that regard. For instance, Willy's typist -- Paul Heon, who decided to save Colette's original manuscripts from the fire at the end, was really a white figure rather than black. (Just one contemporary retcon of several details).
Remarkable for even 1907, that Frenchmen in an audience (of all groups of males in particular) would riot over a pantomime kiss between two women. Perhaps the caveat to this day is that one of the performers must be a lipstick lesbian rather than a Missy. In order to press the masculine porn-button and garner a less homophobic, non-violent response.
I can't even remember the name of the red-haired Louisiana millionairess which Colette first hooked-up with via Willy's knowing support (and who Willy in turn jumped into bed with behind Colette's back). She may be a completely fictional character. Natalie Clifford Barney, of wealthy parents, certainly knew Colette and had what she described as "demi-liaisons" with her. But she was born in Ohio and wandered from Washington D.C. to New England before planting herself as a famous expat in Paris.
While she eventually published under her own name (if one could call the Cher-like solitude of "Colette" that)... It's curious that women writers to this day whose publishers start them out with initials still cling to that old tradition long after their male readers/fans discover that they're actually female. A couple of examples would be J.K. Rowling and C.J. Cherryh (among many others). I guess a simple explanation is the "knock on wood and don't mess with the original successful momentum of things" (don't try to fix what's not broke).
~
