wait i think actually madeline miller's circe is the heir to margaret atwood's penelopiad, unintentionally, in the way it thematizes the impossibility of real solidarity among women.

bc it's such a major part of the penelopiad how penelope creates what she thinks is a real community, a sort of family, with these young women in her household only be to reminded and continue to reinforce that they are slaves over whom she (among others) holds the power of life and death. and penelope ultimately does not or cannot hold a lasting grudge against odysseus on their behalf. she aligns herself, or circumstances force her to align herself, with odysseus instead of with other women whose positions are even more dangerous than hers. the world they live in does not allow solidarity between women across lines of class and enslavement, and penelope is also complicit in maintaining that world and her place in it.

and then the thing i found so frustrating about circe was that at every turn miller forecloses the possibility of real connections between women-- but the thing in this world that prevents that is just, like, jealousy over men. and totally needlessly. the other nymphs are prettier. glaucus loves scylla and not circe. her mom never liked her. hermes doesn't really think she's hot. athena is a rival for odysseus' attention. and the book doesn't do anything with this, it's not due to structural power imbalances or a society built on enslavement or even how patriarchy pits women against each other (circe lives alone on an island outside of society that could be another writer's lesbian separatist utopia!), it's just that circe doesn't like other women and they don't like her. end of story.

much as i don't love what atwood does with helen, it does make sense in the context of the penelopiad! thematically and in terms of characterization. atwood's penelope has internalized this idea of what it means to be a good woman and, willingly or not, she's staked everything on being seen by men as a good woman. it makes sense that she's desperately trying to pull herself up or even just cling to what little she has by dragging other women down. she does to helen what she ultimately does to the maids. she's with and for odysseus, always, not helen, and not the maids. that's the kind of world she lives in, and while she likes to think that she's resisting it with a sort of radical female community, in the end she is its agent. even if she feels bad about it. she's here to tell a story about odysseus, not about the girls he killed.

letter from a mother of a gay man. sent to ONE magazine, 1958.

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This post was flagged as adult content and the original poster was deactivated so I'm bringing it back.

Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) — Lady in Waiting  (tapestry, thread, stainless steel, steel, wood and glass, 2003)

he's the star

when the function has a polynomial of multiplicity 3

i think i hauve carpal tunnel

i have. one day. to put together a portfolio detailing my compositional process over the last six months hahhahahksjdshkjsfhj

update: we are fifteen pages in and nearing the finish line. or rather. nearing the close-enough-to-the-finish line i decided on after i lost my caffeine pills

i have. one day. to put together a portfolio detailing my compositional process over the last six months hahhahahksjdshkjsfhj

all secrets sleep in winter clothes. ok.

Bryan Christie: 'Portraits' (2012)

sibelius symphony no 2 🚬🚬🚬

thanks guys we solved it 😁 with teamwork 👍

Girl what do you MEAN?

i have. one day. to put together a portfolio detailing my compositional process over the last six months hahhahahksjdshkjsfhj

Moomins is a whole mood

Map of the nations of the world in 250 million years from now