The Heroine's Bookshelf » frances hodgson burnett

Protagonists All

Erin Blakemore — Tue, 17 May 2011 06:02:43 +0000

One of the motivations behind The Heroine’s Bookshelf was to remind readers (and myself) that we are protagonists of our own lives. Call me egotistical, but I don’t see any reason why we can’t see ourselves as heroines, stars of our own particularly tricky novels, no matter how mundane or convoluted.

Tonight I had the pleasure of speaking with the North Metro Area Writers’ Meetup on the idea that leaning into your unique voice, purpose, and path can bolster a writing career. In my experience, when you stop thinking like a supporting character and start accepting a leading role in your writing life, interesting things happen.

Ordinary Jerrica...or Holograms Lead Singer Jem?

Too often, we’re fed the line that writers merely have their ear to the floor, that they’re glorified secretaries taking dictation from finicky muses. I’m never going to claim that writing isn’t (freaking) mysterious, but I do think that it’s too easy to discount ourselves in the process. Instead of railing against the unfairness of there being approximately three story ideas ever, none of them original, we would do well to lean into what we bring to the table.

Maybe our Brooklyn childhood and WPA political schooling taught us to look out for detail about the poor immigrants who make the machine of the United States go (Betty Smith). Maybe our brother shot us in the eye and taught us to see things slightly askew (Alice Walker). Maybe we want to bring a bit of magic into the world (Frances Hodgson Burnett). Each of these authors tackled the coming-of-age story, but they did it so uniquely and with such beautiful difference that we will always view them as individuals.

Along with many writers I know, I’m thinking a lot about My Next Step. What do I bring to the table? What do I suck at? What can I live with? What perspective is unique to the enthusiastically vestigial Southern Californian history nerd with the scarred-up roller derby knee and the obsession with the everyday details of history? At times like this, I lean into the possibility of Erin-as-protagonist, secure that at the very least, I’m in good company.

notes from a book in progress

Erin Blakemore — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:27:37 +0000

I’m deep in the thick of things, and writing The Heroine’s Bookshelf is simultaneously easier and more challenging than I thought it would be. I feel kind of schizophrenic…by day, I’m instructing people on how best to use Twitter to promote their businesses and doing marketing plans. But a huge part of me is busy sifting through the complexity of Louisa May Alcott’s relationship to her father and wondering about the architecture of corsetry in the Antebellum South.

Here are some tidbits I’ve come across in the past several weeks:

Jane Eyre, illustrated: A great collection of artistic interpretations of everyone’s favorite plane Jane, Jane Eyre
Pioneer Girl: A blog devoted to Laura Ingalls Wilder fact and fiction
A fascinating look at the history of Times New Roman (and its connection to children’s book illustrator [famous for The Secret Garden and A Little Princess] Tasha Tudor)

Also, if you’re interested in issues of girls and boys reading (I sure know I am), check out my contribution to Newbery Honor winner and all around superstar Kirby Larson’s blog (coming next week sometime). Preview here…

Magic

Erin Blakemore — Sat, 01 Jan 2000 07:00:07 +0000

Mary Lennox – The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

“If I could only just remember that always. The worst thing never QUITE comes.”

Born in 1849, Frances Hodgson Burnett was famous long before she wrote her most poignant novel for children. A British expatriate, Frances’s exploits in high society gained her as much recognition as her American bestsellers. Frances died in 1924.

For Book Clubs:

1. By the time she wrote The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett had suffered grave personal tragedies. How do sorrow and nostalgia inform Burnett’s narrative?.

2. Mary Lennox’s growth is reflected in that of her “bit of earth.” Find parallels between Mary and her garden.

3. Frances Hodgson Burnett is known for writing Little Lord Fauntleroy, a book that famously idealizes childhood. Does The Secret Garden idealize children? Why or why not?

4. Discuss the role of magic in The Secret Garden. Is magic an external force or an internal one?

5. Though Burnett writes about the garden as a hideaway from the world, she herself was a wordly woman known for her affairs, divorce, and very public lifestyle. Discuss the intersection between public and private worlds in The Secret Garden.