Dionne Warwick as a doll

It seems that Dionne Warwick us meditating about

The Windows the World or taking a deep breath.

by Dulce Tyler at Flickr.

Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary tantalizing introduction

I copied three paragraphs of Lewis Warsh's essay about Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary. I think

that it can help those who have not read the book to know a little of what they are missing.

I hope it helps. Don't forget to search for the term "bovarism".




"Already disappointed with humanity by the age of twenty-two, Gustave
Flaubert abandoned the outside world and retired as a hermit to his         

family's estate in the small town of Croisset, France. It was in            

this provincial Normandy setting that he created one of the world's         

great novels, Madame Bovary, and in which he spent most of his life         

almost mystically devoted to literature. Since he was deeply                

affected by stress and believed that a life of activity would damage        

the creative process, he wanted to shut the door, close off all             

distractions, and bury himself in work.  

                                   

"The writing of Madame Bovary dominated Flaubert's life from 1851          

to 1856. On completing the novel, he made no effort to publish it. But      

at his friends' insistence, he sent it to the prestigious Revue de          

Paris, which published Madame Bovary in installments in 1857.

The editors suggested he cut certain "offensive" passages, but the              

author refused. He might have reacted differently if he had known what      

lay ahead. Both Flaubert and his publishers were thrown into court          

on grounds that the novel was morally and religiously offensive to the      

public. Ironically, when the defendants won their case, Madame              

Bovary became a national best-seller." 

                                      

  The book was also recognized as marking a turning point in the            

history of the novel. The combination of realistic detail, objective        

narrative technique, harmony of structure, and language chosen to           

reflect the characters' personalities created a realistic, yet              

beautiful, picture for the reader. Drawing on both the Romantic             

emphasis on inner feelings and the Realist's concern for truth, Madame      

Bovary serves as a bridge between Romanticism and the modern novel."



Madame Bovary had two lovers:





"She repeated, 'I have a lover! a lover!' delighting at the idea as if a second puberty had come to her. So at last she was to know those joys of love, that fever of happiness of which she had despaired! She was entering upon a marvelous world where all would be passion, ecstasy, delirium."

read the book...

Image: Madame Bovary' book clutch by Olympia le tan

Kookoo's enchanted dolls

"The first one is Flora: "Meet Flora. In Roman mythology Flora (from latin floris = flower) is a goddess of flowers, flowering plants, especially those that bear fruit and the season of spring. Her function is to make the grain, vegetables and trees bloom. That is why I dressed her in crocheted dress in blooming pink and purple colors and even gave her hair a feeling of a growing tree".

The second, blonde hair,is Zoe. The third with the colored dress is Lisa: "Meet Elizabeth (or Lisa, as her friends call her, or Isabelle, as her grand-mère from France names her). She is a playful girl who loves colors and enjoys painting the most beautiful moments of our lives. Her desk is covered with brushes, pencils, crayons and a multitude of unfinished paintings, since she often rushes from one idea to another and forgets what she was doing in the first place."

The doll in white: The Bride:

"You really shouldn't say "I love you" unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget. ~ Author unknown, attributed to an 8-year-old named Jessica"
These are the descriptions Kookoo at Kookoocraft did about her dolls. I felt sharing these two girls created by Kookoo. They are adorable. There is another one here.

Knitting and embroidering famous painting masterpieces

The group "The Materialistics" based in UK have recreated 50 masterpieces that enchanted the world. Works of famous artists like Kandinsky, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Andy Warhol, Vermeer, Piet Mondrian, Rossetti, Klimt, Picasso, Munch were redone through knitting, embroidery and crochet and started being exhibited last November at The Customs House in South Shields, has been presented in other cities and is gaining international recognition.

They name the creations based on the original title so "The Scream" by Munch is turned into "The Seam"; "Girl with Pearl earring by Vermeer" recreated becomes " Girl with the Purled Earring" and so on.

Some of the recreations are done in weeks but others can take months.

Executive director Ray Spencer said: “Our work with The Materialistics stems from our belief art should be inclusive, not elitist."

I don't know how to knit

I came across with this picture of a girl knitting her sweater at Hyena in Petticoats a while ago and today I wanted to share it. I think this is an amazing picture. The way the girl stares at us and the way her body is positioned says "I'm embarrassed. I have to finish it quickly."

The left picture is at Distance Knitting and I loved this colors and different patterns and textures. Even thou grandma tried many times to teach me I don't know how to knit. It's great that other people do!

Still women prefer spending a huge amount of money in any item that has a label with letters or symbols of a glamorous brand than buying something handmade that is exclusive and very well done.

Usually handmade clothes cost nothing compared to the famous brands.