All Hallows and Melusina

The first Philippa Gregory’s book I read was „The Other Boleyn Girl”, about Anne Boleyn – Henry the Eighth’s wife, and her sister – Henry the Eighth’s mistress. I wasn’t impressed with the writing, I’m afraid. Despite this fact I found the book very interesting because of its historical background and completely different point of view, showing the relationship between sisters, not only as a historical fact from an encyclopedia, but also as an emotional competition. Philippa Gregory emphasized the small details which were critical for the English history and which were based on the most common and basic human feelings, like love, passion, jealousy and hatred. The story shown by Gregory in this book was filmed, and the film was very successful not only in the UK but also worldwide. 

“The White Queen” is also a historical novel. Many parts of the story are fictitious but they are based on the real history of the UK. It is the story of the cousins’ war between the House of York and Lancaster in XV century. The “White Queen” is Elizabeth Woodville, a young Lancastrian widow, who is loved by the charismatic and invincible King of England Edward the Fourth of York. He decided to marry her, which created a lot of new enemies for him, who didn’t agree with his will, and so didn’t want to accept Elizabeth as a right Queen of England and their children as the heirs.

Elizabeth is shown as a fascinating heroine who is beautiful, smart, strong, ambitious and confident. She believes in magic and relies on Melusina, the water goddess. The legend of Melusina and the descriptions of the magic practices make this book fabulous. The whole story is more powerful and mystical because of magic, and shows how human behaviour and choices are hardly determined by everything we believe in.

“The White Queen” is a book about being a woman in a men’s world, about being a lover, mother, daughter and widow in the medieval period. It’s a book about choices, worries, lost opportunities, fears and hope. Philippa Gregory was asked if she could go back in time and live in any of the royal courts which one would she choose she replied: “I would be absolutely mad to want to be a woman of any of these times. A Tudor or Plantagenet woman was wholly ruled by men: either father or husband. She would find it difficult to seek any education, make her own fortune, or improve her circumstances. If one could go back in time and be a wealthy man these would be times of adventure and opportunity but still tremendously dangerous”. I have to agree with her on one hand, but on the other hand we need to remember that despite the fact that women couldn’t vote at that time and were dependent on men, they were able to give men their heirs. This fact was essential and remains the same these days. This truth can easily be found in the discussed book: “He promised her that he would give her everything, everything she wanted, as men in love always do. And she trusted him despite herself, as women in love always do.”

The holes that make up a sponge…

Autumn in Leicester is very colourful and powerful not only because of yellow and crimson leaves on trees, but also because of the variety of cultural events. The first one, from the long list of the autumn Leicester festivals, is “Everybody’s Reading Festival” related to poetry and literature. This year I had an opportunity to take part in a number of the Everybody’s Reading Festival’s events which I really enjoyed.

I took part in a workshop called “Mass media – inspiration for poetry and art”, which was led by a poet Jo Twist and an artist Magnus (Gallery Guest/Galleri Gestur). During several hours of this workshop, participants created their collages and poems, inspired by news from the local newspapers, for me this was a really creative time.

I joined meetings with authors and poets as well as lyrical lunchtimes and other meetings with charismatic activists. There were a lot of things which I will remember for a long time, however there was one that I will keep deep in my heart for the rest of my life, this was the Anthology Launch of the “Showcase Smoothie” project. This is a literature and music project, led by Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust, designed to showcase the talent of young sufferers with mental health issues. Last year this project was dedicated to nine young schizophrenics and other mental health sufferers, who worked hard on their poems. Their work was published in the anthology titled: “Poems to read (before u die)”, introduced to the public during the Everybody’s Reading Festival. During the Anthology Launch these nine amazing men read aloud their poems and performed them. They did this very beautifully, showing not only their excellent writing skills, but also their professional performing talent. These two hours of reading poetry was breathtaking and absolutely unbelievable. It is difficult to imagine the difference between my standard and ordinary perception of reality and their splendid point of view on two different scales: the first one familiar to every people and the second one – their own. I was deeply touched and impressed. I laughed and cried at the same time, moved by the smart words, extraordinary emotions and fantastic performance given by fabulous people, who are full of surprises even for themselves. Just to give an example of their way of thinking I would like to quote a verse from one of the poems written by Zeropence: “I am the holes that make up your bath sponge”. How sophisticated these words are!!!

The authors of “Poems to read (before u die)” have definitely shown me a different world full of difficulties and fears but also beauty. I wish I was the holes that make up a sponge…

The 29th Birthday Resolutions

It was a gloomy Sunday, 28th of October 2012, it was yesterday. I was sitting on the sofa in my small, dark, rented flat and listening to the music. It was one of the Chopin’s Etude played by Sviatoslav Richter. I am not a big fan of Chopin’s music but it was a birthday gift from my Parents as I am old enough, in their opinion, to try to understand the classical music. They are right: I’m 29 so I’m old enough.

I had my 29th Birthday yesterday. I received a lot of beautiful and meaningful wishes from my family and friends, which made me very happy. I discovered once again that being far away doesn’t mean that my relationship with other people can’t be very deep and close. I also noticed once more that I have lovely friends here – far away from my home – which means that my place in the World is also here now. I should have been happy, however as it was my last birthday with number “2” in the front I had a lot of contradictory thoughts.

I was sitting on the sofa in my small, dark, rented flat, listening to the music and thinking about my life and my previous choices which have determined my future. I am 29 now, have been married for 9 years with the perfect man, without children. I am 29 now, a well educated professional with two masters degrees but without job from June this year and with a lot of plans for myself which haven’t worked as I had hoped for. I am 29 now, an only child with parents far away, who need me right now more than ever before. I am 29 now and I feel depressed without any particular reason.

I had my 29th Birthday yesterday so the time dedicated only to myself couldn’t last too long. The sounds of music were interrupted by the phone ringtone, it was my Brother-in-law who called me with his wishes and I found this conversation the most important from a long list of the awesome birthday wishes I received. He mentioned that he had felt depressed a couple of months before when he had his 29th birthday, but finally he realized that it was a beginning of the new era rather that the end of youthfulness. He said to me: “make every of your day before your 30th birthday powerful and meaningful to make sure that you will be a happy, successful and a confident 30 year old woman this time next year”. I promised myself I will do that, make all of the wishes come true! “Here I am, this is me (…) it’s a new world, it’s a new start, it’s alive with the beating of young hearts…”