Just a quick link today–this article details 23 words identified by a research team at the University of Reading that have lasted largely unchanged across 15,000 years. I’ve read a few comments saying how nice it is that words like “thou” and “give” and “mother” are in there…but obviously, I went in scanning for anything with axes. Very gratified to see that both “fire” and “worm” are on the list. Now all we do is combine them, and things are getting very pleasingly Viking-y…
May 7, 2013
Last Words
Posted by meghanpurvis under Article link, Beowulf | Tags: beowulf, vikings |Leave a Comment
March 19, 2013
Nomenclatures
Posted by meghanpurvis under Article link, Writing | Tags: barbara stanwyck, link, novel |Leave a Comment
A bit of an odd post, but this is my blog so I do what I want: if you are not already reading Anne Helen Peterson’s Scandals of Classic Hollywood over on The Hairpin, read this article on Barbara Stanwyck.
If you need something to make it blog-worthy aside from the article’s inherent brilliance, it is: Barbara Stanwyck’s real name was Ruby Stevens. So when I was starting work on my novel-in-progress and needed a name for a feisty, slightly rough around the edges heroine in 1932, I couldn’t resist. Stanwyck is anything but rough around the edges, but in terms of her on-screen personality and sass, well, we should all be so lucky.
February 10, 2013
…and another
Posted by meghanpurvis under News, Writing | Tags: escalator, novel, writing |Leave a Comment
And at least without too much spinning out of the antici(…say it!)pation, I can now safely reveal my other piece of good news: I’m one of the Escalator Literature 2012/13 winners.
The Escalator is a yearlong literary development scheme, where the winners are helped through applying for an arts grant, get the assistance of a mentor over the course of the program, and have their work showcased at a few events. This year the focus is on genre fiction, and I entered with the novel I’ve been noodling around with periodically and mentioned a few times on this blog. In my brain’s perhaps most impressive attempt at dissertation avoidance, I had what I thought was a pretty irresistible idea for a novel…right in the middle of the final crunch of writing up my thesis. So while I’ve been working on it in bursts, they’ve been interspersed with much longer periods of working on, you know, what I was actually supposed to be working on at the time. Thankfully, I’m free and clear of my Ph.D. just in time to leap into this program.
Oh, and the genre fiction aspect? It’s…erm, vampires. I can at least promise no sparkles: my main guy is a rather embittered Civil War veteran. And historical as well, as the novel’s set in the final years of Prohibition. One reaction to my Facebook page’s link to my profile, complete with short extract, was “True Blood meets Boardwalk Empire?!”, which is actually not that far off.
I’ve got quite a bit of writing ahead of me for 2013, and while it’s a challenge, it’s one I am very excited about.
February 6, 2013
An Update
Posted by meghanpurvis under Beowulf, News, Writing | Tags: beowulf, penned in the margins, poetry, poetry book society, translation, writing |[2] Comments
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? And that’s all I’m saying about that, because the only thing more annoying than an extended blogging silence is a returning blogger making a huge production out of his or her return.
Instead, I come bearing news! My translation of Beowulf, light of my life and/or bane of my existence, is being published this May by Penned in the Margins. I couldn’t be happier about it.
Also, Beowulf has been chosen by the Poetry Book Society as their recommended translation for summer 2013. Penned in the Margins has put up a blog post announcing it, featuring an entirely too close to life-sized photo of my enormous noggin.
If I avoided an infuriating beginning, I’ll make up for it with this ending: I have another writing-related piece of news, but as it hasn’t been officially announced yet I’m being forced to sit on it. So more anon…
December 22, 2011
Joyous Yule!
Posted by meghanpurvis under Dogs, Personal, Purvisalia | Tags: christmas, fresno, yule |Leave a Comment
Apologies for the lull in posting—it’s the holiday season, with all the transatlantic shenanigans that usually entails, so things are a bit scattered and even more covered in dog hair than usual. Never fear, much like the sun, my blog posts will return with all the sarcastic cracks about Fresno (newest favourite: a billboard outside of town imploring us to visit FresNOW…) that they usually bring. Unless, of course, the gods smite me for that last sentence.
In the meantime, have a joyous yule, happy Hannukah, merry Christmas, and otherwise lovely holiday season!
December 12, 2011
This old thing? I got it off Etsy.
Posted by meghanpurvis under 1920s | Tags: boss, clara bow, hat, owl, owls |1 Comment
(source)
Further proof that nothing is truly new: oh, crafty hipsters, you thought you were the first ones to rock owl-covered everything? Owl patch for your bag? Owl tattoo? Knitted owl prophylactic holder? (I may own one of these.) May I present to you CLARA BOW WEARING A HAT OF AN OWL EATING A RAT. Like a boss, 1920s style…like a boss.
December 5, 2011
Link Groupie: RealTimeWWII
Posted by meghanpurvis under 1930s, 1940s, Blog Link | Tags: link, link groupie, realtimewwii, twitter, wwii |Leave a Comment
Okay, so if the New York Times has already written a profile piece on it, you know I’m behind the times on this one. However, if you are not already following RealTimeWWII on Twitter, you absolutely should be. It is…well, pretty much exactly what it sounds like: tweets from contemporary news stories from World War II, starting (as of last month) in 1939 and, hopefully, proceeding for the next six years.
Yes, yes, we all know how it ends—but at the risk of sounding like some pothead having a SUPER DEEP EPIPHANY, it is so easy to forget that when history was happening, nobody knew how it was going to end. When—as is going on right now on the feed—the USSR was invading Finland and Britain was waiting out the Phony War, nobody knew it was all going to end in Hitler’s defeat and the Greatest Generation and Tom Hanks storming the beaches somewhere. It was confusing and disorganised and really, really frightening, and I’ve been surprised by how well having these tweets pop up in my feed has gotten that across. And that reaction is only partly motivated by the fact that I keep forgetting it’s a historical feed, so suddenly think Russia is attacking the Finnish people for no reason and we’re about to enter World War III. Which, I suppose, is exactly in the living-history spirit of the thing.
