Fear, 1941 by Felix Nussbaum

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”
Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)

The american writer Mark Twain

Mark Twain was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was lauded as the “greatest humorist the United States has produced,” and William Faulkner called him “the father of American literature”.

His most famous works are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885).

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“Paintings have a life of their own that derives from the painter’s soul.”
Vincent van Gogh

Avenue with Flowering Chestnut Trees
Vincent van Gogh – 1889

Lies, the Artist’s Daughter, Painting
Floris Arntzenius – Date unknown

Landscape with Cattle
Willem Maris – Date unknown

“Choose only one master – Nature.”
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669)

The Abduction of Europa (detail) 1632.  Rembrandt van Rijn

For many more works by Dutch Painters please visit our online gallery Passion for Paintings

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“When it’s in a book I don’t think it’ll hurt any more …exist any more. One of the things writing does is wipe things out. Replace them.”
Marguerite Duras, The Lover

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There are two suspects; her own husband, Delray Kruller, from whom she is estranged from and her lover Eddy Diehl.

The story is told by two persons: Krista Diehl (daughter of Eddy Diehl) and Aaron Kruller (son of the murdered woman and Delray Kruller).

It is a story about passionate love, sex, abondance, cruelty, violence, and loss seen through the two young teenagers’ eyes.

Why did I like this novel so much?

Writer Joyce Carol Oates with her cat.

I was intrigued, not knowing who the killer was. Why was Zoe murdered? Reading the same story but through entirely different eyes by the two narrators Aaron and Krista. I was struck by their desperations and loneliness, fanatically defending their own fathers and blaming the other.

The final chapter, which I absolutely loved, showing us the incredible strength of a woman and the power she found in herself to take control of her own life.

It is not until the very end of the novel that we find out the truth about what has happened to Zoe.

I couldn’t stop reading and finished this book in just two days. Can’t wait to start another great novel by Joyce Carol Oates.

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“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy books and that’s kind of the same thing.”
Anonymous

Girl Reading
Edmund Tarbell – circa 1909

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“I am a writer and I want to write.”
― Jane Bowles

Jane Bowles with her little dog.

Fear and Hope

“Like most people, you are not able to face more than one fear during your lifetime. You also spend your life fleeing from your first fear towards your first hope. Be careful that you do not, through your own wiliness, end up always in the same position in which you began. I do not advise you to spend your life surrounding yourself with those things which you term necessary to your existence. This is regardless of whether or not they are objectively interesting in themselves or even to your own particular intellect.

I believe sincerely that only those men who reach the stage where it is possible for them to combat a second tragedy within themselves, and not the first over and over again, are worthy of being called mature. When you think someone is going ahead, make sure that he is not really standing still. In order to go ahead, you must leave things behind which most people are unwilling to do.

Your first pain, you carry it with you like a lodestone in your breast because all tenderness will come from there. You must carry it with you through your whole life but you must not circle around it. You must give up the search for those symbols which only serve to hide its face from you. You will have the illusion that they are disparate and manifold but they are always the same. if you are only interested in a bearable life, perhaps this letter does not concern you. For god’s sake, a ship leaving port is still a wonderful thing to see.”

Jane Bowles, American Writer (1917-1973)

Jane Bowles and her husband the writer Paul Bowles.

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Tavik Simon, Vilma reading on a Sofa, 1912

“What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?”

Anthony Trollope

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WOMEN WITH A PASSION FOR ART

The first female artist I  want to introduce in the series Women with a Passion for Art is Maria Yakunchikova. After seeing one of her paintings called Reflection of an Intimate World I immediately fell in love with it.  Therefore I like to share some of her paintings with you. Enjoy!

Maria Vasilievna Yakunchikova-Weber was a Russian painter, graphic artist, and embroiderer. Yakunchikova was associated with the Abramtsevo artists, especially with her teacher Elena Polenova. Polenova ,whose revival of traditional handicrafts inspired Maria to embroider and to execute pokerwork.

Apple Trees in Bloom 1899

Between 1887 and 1889 she began to collect folk art. Landscape art remained her favourite genre. She was  inspired to plein air painting by Elena Polenova.

View from the Old House’s Window
– 1897

Maira Yakunchikova died on December 27, 1902 near Geneva, Switzerland. She was just 32 years old.

Reflection of an intimate world
– 1894

The Terrace – 1899

Street with snow in Meudon, 1893

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SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR, AN EXISTENTIALIST FEMINIST 

I was 15 when I discovered Simone de Beauvoir, who was already a well-known writer and avant-garde philosopher. An article about her life story in the daily newspaper triggered a tremendous curiosity in me. When I finished reading I literally went straight to my local library – along with the bookshop this was my favourite place to spend time – hoping I was able to find some of her books on the dusty shelves.

Before I continue, allow me to make a brief introduction. Simone Lucie Ernestine Marie Bertrand de Beauvoir (1908-1986) was a French writer, intellectual, political activist, feminist, social theorist, existentialist and philosopher. Imagine the mid-twentieth century, a woman and intellectual making a living as a writer. And although she never thought of herself being a philosopher, her work made a significant impact on the further development of both feminist existentialism and feminist theory.

THE DISCOVERY OF HER AUTOBIOGRAPHY

The first book I read was “ Memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter”.  I was intrigued, hooked to this story about a Bourgeois girl, pushed into isolation after a long but successful struggle freeing herself from a strict catholic upbringing. Simone wrote this first autobiography in 1958. It describes her rebellion against the narrow mindedness of the world around her.  She dedicated herself to intellectual labour and so managed to escape what was otherwise predestined. 

INTELLECTUALLY ATTRACTED TO SIMONE

Although I was raised in a liberal Jewish family so my situation was very different from hers, I took Simone as inspiration and dedicated myself to studying and literature. I decided I would become the new Simone, would go and live in Paris, become a philosopher and polyglot going from one cafe to another where I would meet interesting young writers, artists and poets. Talking all night about art, music, philosophy and most importantly literature.

Here I went to university to study literature which later on also allowed me to continue my research abroad. At some point, I ended up living in Paris for a while. But I, did not meet the interesting people Simone so vividly describes in her books. Then again as a poor student studies and work always had to take precedence over leisure. It was OK, the limited-time I had left I certainly enjoyed myself. 

ESCAPE INTO SIMONE’S WORLD

Nowadays on rare occasions, whenever I feel the need to escape daily reality Simone’s novels are still there for me. That is when I go back for a moment in time, being that 15-year-old girl again, even if just so briefly; full of innocence and big dreams, believing that I am free to do whatever I want, as a woman and as a valued member of society.

MY GRATITUDE 

I thank you, Simone de Beauvoir, for keeping me company all these years.

Monique Lucy Weberink

Las Palmas, 4th of May 2020

Simone de Beauvoir

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