Art and Museums
Terror and Wonder: Exploring Gothic culture's roots in British literature
Highlights of the exhibition include a vampire slaying kit and 18th and 19th century Gothic fashions, as well as one of Alexander McQueen's catwalk creations. Also on display is a model of the Wallace and Gromit Were-Rabbit, showing how Gothic literature has inspired varied and colourful aspects of popular culture in exciting ways over centuries. more »
The Eye of the Needle: "Both needful and pleasant, and commendable in any woman"
The seventeenth century saw periodic and often raucous pamphlet wars over the status, roles and education of women. Many girls attended school but the curriculum they followed prioritized the attainment of socially acceptable skills and moral worth over intellectual achievement. more »
A Possible Poet-Ruler, The Schiava Turca; The Poet's Pen or the Painter's Brush
Parmigianino painted the Schiava Turca in the early to mid-1530s. The sitter wears an extravagant, almost theatrical costume comprised of a ball-shaped headdress, voluminous sleeves, and a striped garment with a plunging neckline. She holds an ostrich-feather fan in her left hand. In the early eighteenth century, when the portrait was in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery, the style of the woman’s costume inspired a cataloguer to invent the title 'Turkish Slave' by which she has since been known. more »
A Slightly Malicious Poetry Puzzle Perhaps Intended to Confuse and Mystify
Joan L. Cannon writes: Most people read poetry (if they read it at all) for the pleasure of it. I get very irritable when the author makes that impossible on purpose — very much like the 'modern' artists and composers who seem not to care a whit if their production is pure fraud. Of course, they get a way with it a lot because no one can figure out how to prove it's bogus. more »