Natasha Simonova
@philistella.bsky.social
Research Fellow @ies-sas.bsky.social, Bougie London Literary Woman, cat concierge. Book on 18th-century women's letters forthcoming from Chatto & Windus. natashasimonova.com
'Ô muse, dis moi l' homme aux mille tours' is the first line of the first translation of the Odyssey by a woman, Anne Dacier in 1716. She had previously translated the Iliad in 1699. And she got involved in a controversy, much like the current Nolan vs Wilson one #QuerelleD'Homer
Five! hundred! and twenty two! English pounds! to be told that my 16-year-old cat is 16!
Finally watching The Vampire Lestat and it's great because I keep thinking things like 'but the actress who plays Regina doesn't even look that much like the actress who plays Claudia!'
"When the first of August came round, the Professor realized he had pleasantly trifled away nearly two months at a task which should have taken little more than a week." -Willa Cather (from The Professor's House, 1925)
Highly recommend the Youtube version of this if you can stand my hideous visage, as for a long stretch of it @garius.bsky.social is just petting a little cat on his chest like 'I've been expecting you, Mr Bond'. youtu.be/a_-VEXGlV6s?...
Letters: Hidden Histories of 18th Century Women | Untitled History Podcast Episode: 25
YouTube video by The Untitled History Podcast
youtu.be
John Bull@garius.bsky.social · 5d agoOn the Untitled History Podcast this week, I'm joined by @philistella.bsky.social to discuss letter writing in the 18th century, and the insights it gives us into the lives of women. WARNING: Contains MULTIPLE chaos Torties on screen Available below, on youtube or your pod app of choice! #history
On the Untitled History Podcast this week, I'm joined by @philistella.bsky.social to discuss letter writing in the 18th century, and the insights it gives us into the lives of women. WARNING: Contains MULTIPLE chaos Torties on screen Available below, on youtube or your pod app of choice! #history
Episode 25: 18th Century letter writing and the hidden history of women
The Untitled History Podcast · Episode
open.spotify.com
Sure wish the film had actually made this point because we're definitely seeing that people CANNOT READ in the discourse.
Natasha Simonova@philistella.bsky.social · last wk.Me, if I was going to pin my big ending moment on 'we will become oral tradition because people will forget how to write,' I might show literally anyone writing or reading over the course of the previous 3 hours? Penelope's weaving wasn't even pictorial!!
In my continued unemployment, I am aiming to become the most researched person in Britain by signing up for every paid study and opinion poll going. I am LITERALLY the woman on the Clapham omnibus.
This was extraordinary, although it’s taken me all day to read it. I’ve had to stop and go away and do other things. At times it left me disorientated and even distressed.
An Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog@hugobookclub.bsky.social · 4w ago"Something has taken place that we cannot speak of or know or even fully perceive, yet the fact of which sits before us." Nuanced story that plays with epistemological malaise. jewishcurrents.org/the-event
Woke up still feeling annoyed (the sheer waste of having Helen in it for a 500 ships line when you could do so many interesting things!). My criticisms are slightly different than Wilson's (I liked the absence of the gods) but I would totally write 4000 words in the LRB if someone let me.
Natasha Simonova@philistella.bsky.social · last wk.Odyssey posting at last! That was a MOVIE by a DIRECTOR, but my god the script kept going ker-plunk.
Odyssey posting at last! That was a MOVIE by a DIRECTOR, but my god the script kept going ker-plunk.
I do not envy Emily Wilson whatever forcefield she's got that makes people constantly mad at her for the most innocuous statements, today intensified by them simultaneously having their first encounter with the concept of the LRB.
My mother has informed me that I have 'at most 10 or 13 more years' to write books before my brain completely turns to mush, so that's a cheerful thought! Love to be nel mezzo del cammino di nostra vita.
Ever read a take so stupid that you feel like it's just punched you in the face?
just a heads-up that next week's Untitled History Podcast episode features both the regular Chaos Tortie AND a guest Chaos Tortie. so brace yourselves for that.
Just recorded a podcast episode in which a little purry cat has been EXTREMELY present, fyi. About 80% cat bum to information ratio.
Discovery: I think Catherine Talbot may have been the first documented owner of a peloton? In 1744, she complains that the weather has been too wet to walk or ride - 'For exercise I have a Chamber Horse, tho I must confess I for the most part content myself with the consciousness of having it only’
Every interview with Larry is like 'sir are you aware you are a cat' except he looks like he's asking 'are YOU aware I am a cat?'
Richard M. Nixon@dicknixon.bsky.social · 2w ago
Larry laid his mouse in front of the press to be photographed. Lest you ask, this is a real photograph via the Press Association.
Ah yes, you should definitely hire me for my 'keem attention to detail.'
30 YEARS AGO TODAY: The South Bank Show profiles not yet famous RADA hopeful Maxine Peake, as part of which she and drama school friend Diane Morgan take private elocution lessons.
Got a new cheap jute rug to go under my colourful antique rug, which in turn goes under the coffee table. Attempt to achieve this arrangement, however, has been stymied.
In eighteenth-century Europe pineapples were everywhere. They featured in paintings, adorned buildings, appeared on ceramics and silverware, and crowned dining tables. Was pineapple mania simply about rarity and sweetness? Not quite.
Spot the things wrong with this AI ad of southwest London
Does anyone know any unmarried earls with vast funds burning a hole in their pocket. Dukes in need of an eccentric librarian. A viscount looking to reduce his tax liabilities.
Had it read aloud to me at about 4/5 (followed by LOTR, I think in an abridged version as it was only one volume); then multiple more times after I learned to read myself at 6.
Gary Longsine 📱@arbiteriapetus.bsky.social · 3w agoHow old were you, when you read The Hobbit?
What I'm getting from responses to this is that everyone on Bluesky has hyper-competent siblings doing very important jobs, while we are mainly On Here.
Bethany Albertson@albertsonb2.bsky.social · 3w agoThought experiment- if you were suddenly appointed to do your sibling’s job, how badly would you suck at it?
Snapshot of my life: smiley faces drawn in the renovation dust under the sofa by preteen guests wanting to hang out with Penny (hiding).
As some recompense for all my whinging, have a before, during, and beautiful after (as long as you don't look too closely).
