Deidre Lynch
@drbibliomane.bsky.social
She/her, 1st gen, Canadian who's at Harvard but isn't OF Harvard-posts mainly about books (w/ cats & flowers thrown in for good measure). Now writing an itty-bitty book that aims to be a literary & media history of scrap.
Website: https://deidrelynch.org
Website: https://deidrelynch.org
The Toronto-based ceramic artist Janet Macpherson, who mingles the cute and the creepy like no one else, has a cool St. Lucy's day themed show (that is, a show involving 👀) on at a gallery on Queen St in TO.
The one on the right, titled St. Lucy's Tree, reminds me of Ali Smith's How To Be Both.)
The one on the right, titled St. Lucy's Tree, reminds me of Ali Smith's How To Be Both.)
November 26, 2025 at 11:58 PM
The Toronto-based ceramic artist Janet Macpherson, who mingles the cute and the creepy like no one else, has a cool St. Lucy's day themed show (that is, a show involving 👀) on at a gallery on Queen St in TO.
The one on the right, titled St. Lucy's Tree, reminds me of Ali Smith's How To Be Both.)
The one on the right, titled St. Lucy's Tree, reminds me of Ali Smith's How To Be Both.)
Doing all I could this morning to keep the few undergrads who even turned up awake, & even this ghastly but interesting image, a prop to my discussion of the female Gothic & "Get Out" didn't quite do the job.
So I'll try with YOU.
It's an illustration to Bluebeard by Winslow Homer, of all people.
So I'll try with YOU.
It's an illustration to Bluebeard by Winslow Homer, of all people.
November 24, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Doing all I could this morning to keep the few undergrads who even turned up awake, & even this ghastly but interesting image, a prop to my discussion of the female Gothic & "Get Out" didn't quite do the job.
So I'll try with YOU.
It's an illustration to Bluebeard by Winslow Homer, of all people.
So I'll try with YOU.
It's an illustration to Bluebeard by Winslow Homer, of all people.
It's sublime! Did you know that Hass also adapted, in 1986, James Hogg's Private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner? (There was a sold-out retrospective of his films here about 8 or 9 years ago: we felt very lucky!)
November 22, 2025 at 12:50 PM
It's sublime! Did you know that Hass also adapted, in 1986, James Hogg's Private memoirs and confessions of a justified sinner? (There was a sold-out retrospective of his films here about 8 or 9 years ago: we felt very lucky!)
And now I know exactly how to begin my Bride of Frankenstein lecture to the undergrads tomorrow morning! Thank you!
November 16, 2025 at 10:20 PM
And now I know exactly how to begin my Bride of Frankenstein lecture to the undergrads tomorrow morning! Thank you!
Look at this excellent handkerchief from 1769 at the V & A museum: a showcase for #18thc practices of remediation. Made to imitate a quodlibet/medley print, a genre that itself aims to simulate, in a trompe l'oeil idiom, a scatter of small printed papers.
Imagine blowing your nose on that!
#scraps
Imagine blowing your nose on that!
#scraps
November 16, 2025 at 6:57 PM
I travelled to NYC to help launch (last night) Joanna Stalnaker's astonishing new book _The Rest is Silence: Enlightenment Philosophers Facing Death_. The book is a treasure, humane and moving: a vindication both of the #18thc philosophes and of what literary studies scholarship can do with them.
November 14, 2025 at 1:52 PM
I travelled to NYC to help launch (last night) Joanna Stalnaker's astonishing new book _The Rest is Silence: Enlightenment Philosophers Facing Death_. The book is a treasure, humane and moving: a vindication both of the #18thc philosophes and of what literary studies scholarship can do with them.
This is our front garden in Toronto right now: substantial snow fall even before the leaves have fallen!
November 10, 2025 at 1:11 PM
This is our front garden in Toronto right now: substantial snow fall even before the leaves have fallen!
May we do the "black page" beyond Tristram Shandy thread again please? It's so interesting.
I love Róisin's example (wow!) & I wanted in this connection, too, to share this amazing page spread in Kate Beaton's graphic memoir Ducks. It evokes the moment of the protagonist Katie's sexual assault.
I love Róisin's example (wow!) & I wanted in this connection, too, to share this amazing page spread in Kate Beaton's graphic memoir Ducks. It evokes the moment of the protagonist Katie's sexual assault.
November 10, 2025 at 1:03 PM
May we do the "black page" beyond Tristram Shandy thread again please? It's so interesting.
I love Róisin's example (wow!) & I wanted in this connection, too, to share this amazing page spread in Kate Beaton's graphic memoir Ducks. It evokes the moment of the protagonist Katie's sexual assault.
I love Róisin's example (wow!) & I wanted in this connection, too, to share this amazing page spread in Kate Beaton's graphic memoir Ducks. It evokes the moment of the protagonist Katie's sexual assault.
Describe your cat's personality with one photo
November 9, 2025 at 1:30 AM
Describe your cat's personality with one photo
Though, as the title says, it's just "Half of an Epic Simile" ("Not Found in Hesiod"), this poem by A. E. Stallings is very close to perfect, and also perfect for this time of day and dreary time of year.
(I think it might be a few decades before the undergrads can appreciate it as I do, though!)
(I think it might be a few decades before the undergrads can appreciate it as I do, though!)
November 8, 2025 at 9:11 PM
Though, as the title says, it's just "Half of an Epic Simile" ("Not Found in Hesiod"), this poem by A. E. Stallings is very close to perfect, and also perfect for this time of day and dreary time of year.
(I think it might be a few decades before the undergrads can appreciate it as I do, though!)
(I think it might be a few decades before the undergrads can appreciate it as I do, though!)
Netflix's UK poster is so different from its US poster: "Let us be monsters together" is quite distinct from "Only monsters play God."
The difference in emphasis is interesting.
The difference in emphasis is interesting.
November 7, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Netflix's UK poster is so different from its US poster: "Let us be monsters together" is quite distinct from "Only monsters play God."
The difference in emphasis is interesting.
The difference in emphasis is interesting.
Continuing to mark the spooky season, my undergrads and I turn this week to the supernatural preoccupations of early silent cinema. I hope they are as delighted as I am by the gleeful goofiness of Pathé studio's 1906 La Maison ensorcelée. To share the joy, I give you a couple of screenshots:
November 4, 2025 at 1:53 PM
Continuing to mark the spooky season, my undergrads and I turn this week to the supernatural preoccupations of early silent cinema. I hope they are as delighted as I am by the gleeful goofiness of Pathé studio's 1906 La Maison ensorcelée. To share the joy, I give you a couple of screenshots:
Here's a Halloween treat, Bluesky: another frontispiece & title page from a novel included in the Houghton Library's recently acquired Jean-Paul Kahn collection of French Gothic fiction: Les Terreurs nocturnes from 1820. #19thc
Oddly, the ghost on the left appears to be tucking its victim into bed.
Oddly, the ghost on the left appears to be tucking its victim into bed.
October 31, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Here's a Halloween treat, Bluesky: another frontispiece & title page from a novel included in the Houghton Library's recently acquired Jean-Paul Kahn collection of French Gothic fiction: Les Terreurs nocturnes from 1820. #19thc
Oddly, the ghost on the left appears to be tucking its victim into bed.
Oddly, the ghost on the left appears to be tucking its victim into bed.
Janeite friends, were you wondering about the menu for the birthday dinner you're going to hold to mark Jane Austen's 250th birthday, on December 16th?
Perhaps you might get some menu ideas from this book, which @tomkeirstead.bsky.social just spotted at a local baking supply store?
Perhaps you might get some menu ideas from this book, which @tomkeirstead.bsky.social just spotted at a local baking supply store?
October 28, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Janeite friends, were you wondering about the menu for the birthday dinner you're going to hold to mark Jane Austen's 250th birthday, on December 16th?
Perhaps you might get some menu ideas from this book, which @tomkeirstead.bsky.social just spotted at a local baking supply store?
Perhaps you might get some menu ideas from this book, which @tomkeirstead.bsky.social just spotted at a local baking supply store?
So many pleasures in the new Frankenstein...
I did regret just a bit del Toro's decision to give it a Victorian setting. But that shift opens the way for an episode in which Elizabeth purchases a work of entomology that, I'm pretty sure, is L M Budgen's Episodes in insect life (1849): cover below!
I did regret just a bit del Toro's decision to give it a Victorian setting. But that shift opens the way for an episode in which Elizabeth purchases a work of entomology that, I'm pretty sure, is L M Budgen's Episodes in insect life (1849): cover below!
October 26, 2025 at 12:40 PM
So many pleasures in the new Frankenstein...
I did regret just a bit del Toro's decision to give it a Victorian setting. But that shift opens the way for an episode in which Elizabeth purchases a work of entomology that, I'm pretty sure, is L M Budgen's Episodes in insect life (1849): cover below!
I did regret just a bit del Toro's decision to give it a Victorian setting. But that shift opens the way for an episode in which Elizabeth purchases a work of entomology that, I'm pretty sure, is L M Budgen's Episodes in insect life (1849): cover below!
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.
(And, by the way, the 3rd volume in Philip Pullman's Dust Trilogy published today, which thrills me, but what if Lyra and Pantalaimon aren't reconciled in the end? My heart would break.)
(And, by the way, the 3rd volume in Philip Pullman's Dust Trilogy published today, which thrills me, but what if Lyra and Pantalaimon aren't reconciled in the end? My heart would break.)
October 24, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Stop scrolling and post two characters who bring you happiness.
(And, by the way, the 3rd volume in Philip Pullman's Dust Trilogy published today, which thrills me, but what if Lyra and Pantalaimon aren't reconciled in the end? My heart would break.)
(And, by the way, the 3rd volume in Philip Pullman's Dust Trilogy published today, which thrills me, but what if Lyra and Pantalaimon aren't reconciled in the end? My heart would break.)
It is always great to hear of additions to this wonderful translation series. Here, to inspire all of you, is Mr. Bean enjoying some of recent acquisitions (he is also a Jean Paul fan).
October 23, 2025 at 12:28 PM
It is always great to hear of additions to this wonderful translation series. Here, to inspire all of you, is Mr. Bean enjoying some of recent acquisitions (he is also a Jean Paul fan).
Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only.
October 19, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only.
October blooms in matching shades of purple are today's #tinyjoys
Enjoy Flora's final gifts of the year: the monkshood in my Toronto garden on the left (backlit by the morning sunshine); on the right, the autumn crocus--with lovely golden stamens-- in front of a house in Cambridge, MA.
Enjoy Flora's final gifts of the year: the monkshood in my Toronto garden on the left (backlit by the morning sunshine); on the right, the autumn crocus--with lovely golden stamens-- in front of a house in Cambridge, MA.
October 19, 2025 at 2:06 PM
October blooms in matching shades of purple are today's #tinyjoys
Enjoy Flora's final gifts of the year: the monkshood in my Toronto garden on the left (backlit by the morning sunshine); on the right, the autumn crocus--with lovely golden stamens-- in front of a house in Cambridge, MA.
Enjoy Flora's final gifts of the year: the monkshood in my Toronto garden on the left (backlit by the morning sunshine); on the right, the autumn crocus--with lovely golden stamens-- in front of a house in Cambridge, MA.
"Miss Glamour, or, Dangerous Men." New contender in the perennial contest for oddest #19thc title: discovered earlier this week, in a fun session engaging Houghton Library's recently acquired collection of French gothic fiction.
Does anyone know what English work T-P Bertin has freely translated?
Does anyone know what English work T-P Bertin has freely translated?
October 17, 2025 at 3:10 PM
"Miss Glamour, or, Dangerous Men." New contender in the perennial contest for oddest #19thc title: discovered earlier this week, in a fun session engaging Houghton Library's recently acquired collection of French gothic fiction.
Does anyone know what English work T-P Bertin has freely translated?
Does anyone know what English work T-P Bertin has freely translated?
Today's #tinyjoy, because every little bit counts, is the end papers (recreating a calico print called "Sailors" from 1940-41) you can find in the Persephone Books edition of English Climate, Sylvia Townsend Warner's Wartime Stories.
October 10, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Today's #tinyjoy, because every little bit counts, is the end papers (recreating a calico print called "Sailors" from 1940-41) you can find in the Persephone Books edition of English Climate, Sylvia Townsend Warner's Wartime Stories.
With its "medico-electrical apparatus," was Dr. James Graham's "celestial bed" in his "Temple of Health" in 1779 London a prototype for DJT's "med bed"?
There are just too many ways in which the #18thc is a useful guide to the hucksterism of 2025 America.
daily.jstor.org/the-prince-o...
There are just too many ways in which the #18thc is a useful guide to the hucksterism of 2025 America.
daily.jstor.org/the-prince-o...
October 9, 2025 at 2:01 PM
With its "medico-electrical apparatus," was Dr. James Graham's "celestial bed" in his "Temple of Health" in 1779 London a prototype for DJT's "med bed"?
There are just too many ways in which the #18thc is a useful guide to the hucksterism of 2025 America.
daily.jstor.org/the-prince-o...
There are just too many ways in which the #18thc is a useful guide to the hucksterism of 2025 America.
daily.jstor.org/the-prince-o...
#TinyJoys and self-indulgence (but maybe it will brighten you timeline as well?)
Probably the last of the bouquets I will buy at the farmers market this season.
Probably the last of the bouquets I will buy at the farmers market this season.
October 5, 2025 at 2:03 PM
#TinyJoys and self-indulgence (but maybe it will brighten you timeline as well?)
Probably the last of the bouquets I will buy at the farmers market this season.
Probably the last of the bouquets I will buy at the farmers market this season.