17 Comments
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Shideh Mirashrafi's avatar

Thanks, Rebecca, for this great post. I ordered The Masterpiece right away!

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Dr. Rebecca Marks's avatar

So glad to hear it ❤️

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Ramya Yandava's avatar

Zola's book sounds right up my alley—I remember reading Thérèse Raquin ages ago and loving it and thinking I should read more of his work.

100% agree with you about not wanting a Shakespeare sex scene 😂

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Dr. Rebecca Marks's avatar

Lord Byron MAYBE, Shakespeare - absolutely not!!

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Monica Nastase's avatar

Nice! I started The Masterpiece twice, and couldn't finish it. Maybe this winter I'll give it another try.

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Dr. Rebecca Marks's avatar

No I totally get it! If you’re not enjoying Zola, why not try ‘Dorian Gray’ by Oscar Wilde? It has some similar themes.

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Monica Nastase's avatar

Oh, I read that at least twice during Uni, maaany years ago, as I studied English Lit. :)

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Dr. Rebecca Marks's avatar

A great classic! Well, then I think you might really enjoy the third book on the list :)

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Roldano De Persio's avatar

"If you are really brave, you can try reading this in the original French. Because I am a coward, I used the Oxford World’s Classics translation by Thomas Walton." :D lol Thanks for this part. Humility and selfirony are great ingredients in communication. I am Italian, and English is not my mother tongue, so I can understand your fear. Anyway all the post is great because of this peculiar point of view; literature as a tool to understand art.

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Dr. Rebecca Marks's avatar

I absolutely agree! Literature and art are so intertwined

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marianaownroom's avatar

This post is great! I'm taking note of all three recommendations :) The algorithm here on Substack is great, I found your blog and I love it. (I try to talk about classic literature, maybe you'll like it too)

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Shanti's avatar

I have been searching for somone who would do posts on art history. Count me in and I will become a subscriber.

I am looking for books on the relationship between a painter and his muse/ subject. I suppose I am a romantic at heart, but whenever I look at a portrait, I cannot help thinking of how and why the painter wanted to paint her or him. I hope you can understand where I am coming from

.

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Rebecca's avatar

Thanks Rebecca! I'm a recent English major who is starting a BA in Art History this month so these are definitely up my alley

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Dr. Barbara's avatar

This was a fantastic read, thank you so much

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Ethan's avatar

My must read for art lovers is Get the Picture by Bianca Bosker. Immersive investigative journalism into the contemporary art scene

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Stephanie Bax's avatar

I linked to this from your recent post. I’m downloading Light immediately it should like a real gem!

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James Lee's avatar

…the Eva Figes novella sounds great - just added that to my reading list. 🌿✨

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