From the Daily Mail (thanks, Colleen), news of a TV drama about a woman nicknamed Gentleman Jack, taken from an intimate diary walled up by her embarrassed family. “Written in code, her confessions of bodice-ripping affairs with other women were so scandalous her family hid them for over a century. No wonder they’re being turned into a new TV drama…”
The diary itself sounds, well, rather tedious (lots of Xs representing orgasms, and lots of whining about unrequited lurve) but the dramatic possibilities are vast. I’m looking forward to it. (Let’s hope PBS picks it up and doesn’t censor it as radically as Tipping the Velvet.)
Now I’m wishing for someone to remake The Wicked Lady, only this time moving the lesbian subext to full-bore dyketext. Huh. Perhaps I’ll have to write that one.
Nicola Griffith 
“Anne Lister filled 27 volumes with such experiences.” Holy cow, I really need to get busy. Courting a 'rich heiress' sounds like a pretty good idea. I hope they do right by here story.
I sometimes think what it would've been like to live back in time. Sometimes when I'm driving through the countryside, I wonder how amazing it must've been to ride through there on a horse with not another person for miles and miles. Would I have been like Calamity Jane on Deadwood? Maybe not quite, but I'd definitely have had a hard time fitting in.
Never heard of “The Wicked Lady” either. Maybe you'll take a break between Hild volumes and write that one. We can hope.
I'm starting off-topic, but I'll get there…eventually.
I read *The Blue Place* and a book by Jane Fletcher at about the same time, and I thought: “Wow, these women get me.” The split second after that, I thought: “OMG–*these* women get me!” Man, it's true what they say about the good ones being gay or taken–or gay AND taken, as the case may be.
I tell you this story so that it will seem less pervy when, as a straight male, i said that I have come to the conclusion that everything is better with lesbians in it (except for amazons; that cliche was old when it was new). So, yeah, that thing sounds hot…I mean, interesting. (*Grins sheepishly.*)
Seriously, though, I'll probably check it out; I've watched all the *L Word* I can get my hands on and have been jonesing for more.
That's all I wanted to say really.
— Shaun.
PS:
If you happen to meet a straight woman who's like Aud, send her my way, will you?
Jennifer, have you ever heard that 70s song (sadly I forget who wrote/performed it–but her label was Olivia) “Sugar Momma”? I used to sing it to myself all the time in my v. early 20s.
Shaun, well, a straight woman like Aud wouldn't be straight very long…
No, I never heard it, I don't think. But you got me curious (and I waiting for some images to process). At first I didn't find it, but then I found a discography for Olivia Records which led me to Gwen Avery. Is this the song? Must be.
I like it. :)
Oh, we'll see, Nicola, we'll see…
(Internal monologue: OMG, she's talking to me, she's talking to me!!!)
Hey, this is off-topic again, but I've been looking for lesbian media on Amazon, and I just want to know…is there a way to tell Amazon that I'm NOT looking for porn? Thanks.
–Shaun
jennifer, holy shit, yes! Though clearly recorded many, many years after the original. (I like the original best: very, ah, clear regarding intent.)
Shaun, that queer/porn connection is Amazon's biggest burden, I think. It lies at the kernel of what happened earlier this year when so many LGBT items were deranked. It's a complicated issue that I keep meaning to write about but just never have the time. I try make the time. Thanks for the reminder.
Meanwhile, there's a website (sadly, it's no longer active, but the archives are still up) called Kissing Fingertips that has a zillion reviews of dyke films. And Netflix also has a pretty good search function. Then there's Wolfe Video and others. (Perhaps readers will have some suggestions.) Knock yourself out.
Thanks. I'd actually already ordered *High Art* and *Imagine Me and You* through my library's interloan, being a couple of things on Amazon that looked, well, good. Heaven only knows if or how that'll come through, though–every time I ask for *If These Walls Could Talk 2*, I get the orriginal, and I once ordered a CD and got the same thing as a casset.
–Shaun
Well, maybe you'll resurrect the Friday audio one day and give us a sample/thrill…
I think this topic is fascinating . . . wanting to see “yourself” in books, on TV, at the movies. It's why I decided to write my own book . . . and it has meant several intersting discussions with my partner. She doesn't quite get why I like The L Word, or pretty much anything with a Lesbian in it (currently catching up with Carla and Stella in Germany's soap Verbotene Liebe) – regardless of how stupid they are!! (Maybe it's because she identifies as bi . . . LOL)
I too hope it can be done honestly.
-Robin-
“After her death, a relative feared that their family would be engulfed by scandal if any of these books ever came to light and decided to board them up behind a panel at the family home.”
I don't believe this for a second. If you want to destroy evidence, you burn it and scatter the ashes to the wind. If you don't care about something, you simply toss it in the trash. You board things up to protect and preserve them. Who ever did this cared about — loved or at least respected — Anne Lister, and could not bear to destroy her diaries.
Robin, yep, I'll watch almost any old crap with dykes in. I spent so many years being so hungry.
Dianne, I read 'fearful' and 'embarrassed' but also protective. How I imagine my mother might have reacted to finding a series of diaries.
Hi guys – just a small note, Nicola mentioned my website above (kissingfingertips.com) was inactive… it was more of a mental health hiatus :) I'm back posting reviews again so hopefully I can keep giving info on lesbian films. I can also give some advice on how/where to find things that are difficult to get one's hands on, I think I've spent the past ten years sourcing obscure films from various places. As Nicola pointed out, some of us were so hungry for images of ourselves we scoured the earth for them, quite literally in my case.
You're back? Excellent! I will go resubscribe to your feed ASAP. Thank you and welcome back.