Re: RARA-AVIS: The Age of Kafka / Bram Stoker

From: David Rachels (RachelsDA@comcast.net)
Date: 26 Jul 2009

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    Unfortunately, the boys tend to stop.

    David

    On Jul 26, 2009, at 12:58 PM, Patrick King wrote:

    >
    > The girls who learned to read Harry Potter seem to be reading
    > vampires and the zombies. What are the boys reading?
    >
    > ******************************************
    >
    > Not all of them. I'm currently reading THE PHYSIC BOOK OF
    > DELIVERANCE DANE by 26-year-old Katherine Howe. This is a fairly
    > intelligent story of a grad student looking for original source
    > material for her PHD thesis on colonial America. In her late
    > grandmother's cottage in Marblehead Massachusetts, she discovers
    > reference to Deliverance Dane. A further search of local records
    > indicates that Dane was an apothecary accused of witchcraft a few
    > months before the hysteria on that subject occurred in the nearby
    > town of Salem. There is also reference to an extensive journal that
    > Dane kept of her recipes. This is the only such volume known to be
    > written by a woman in this period so would be a tremendous coupe
    > for the grad student if she can locate it. The book also goes into
    > details about the effect of a conviction on witchcraft charges on a
    > family over generations.
    >
    > The characters are a little stiff and one dimensional, but the
    > story and the atmosphere are compelling. Howe is, herself, a
    > descendant of Elizabeth Howe who was hung for witchcraft in Salem
    > in 1692.
    >
    > This is a phenomenal first effort by a female member of the Harry
    > Potter generation.
    >
    > Patrick King
    >
    >

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