Nigel Bruce

The Judgment of Paris Chapter Opener

The Judgment of Paris

How Ninon de Lenclos Cheated the Devil

Kama Sutra Chapter Opener

Kama Sutra

A Spiritual Fable of Eunuchs and Orgasms

Letters from Africa Chapter Opener

Letters from Africa

Angels and Wheels over Zion

Life as Opera Chapter Opener

Life as Opera

From Lola Montez to Mata Hari

Loki's Children Chapter Opener

Loki's Children

A Scientific Fable of Runes and Ragnarök

Oz is China Chapter Opener

Oz is China

A Political Fable of Chinese Dragons and White Tigers

Poison Pen Letters Chapter Opener

Poison Pen Letters

The Strange Tale of Agatha Christie

Precious Bodily Fluids Chapter Opener

Precious Bodily Fluids

Shakespeare's Worst Italian Plays

Sacred Prostitute Chapter Opener

Sacred Prostitute

Mary Magdalene: Was She or Wasn’t She?

Spinster Chapter Opener

Spinster

Why Jane Austen Never Married

The Sorcerer's Apprentice Chapter Opener

The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Melville, Mormons and Moby-Dick

Splendour in the Grass Chapter Opener

Splendour in the Grass

The Bastards of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Vampires in Venice Chapter Opener

Vampires in Venice

George Sand vs Alfred de Musset

Voices and Saints Chapter Opener

Voices and Saints

Was Joan of Arc a Virgin?

The Whore's Revenge Chapter Opener

The Whore's Revenge

The One Time Casanova Came to Grief

The Woman in the Bower Chapter Opener

The Woman in the Bower

A Murder at Woodstock: Fair Rosamond vs Eleanor of Aquitaine

Women in Trousers Chapter Opener

Women in Trousers

Pope Joan and The Rose of Versailles

The Age of Consent

20th Century Timeline

20th Century Timeline * 1905-6 Mark Twain’s Eve’s Diary published * 1909 Mark Twain writes Letters from the Earth (finally published in 1962) * 1910 Death of Mark Twain * 1922 T.S. Eliot’s The Wasteland published * 1924 A 35-year-old Chaplin marries 16-year-old Lita Grey. They divorced two years later. * 1940

Voices and Saints

Miniatures of Joan of Arc

We do not have an authentic image of Joan of Arc from her own time. There is a drawing from 1429, but we know the artist never saw Joan. Also, apparently, she sat for a portrait, but it did not survive. This medieval miniature below was painted some time between

From Russia with Love

A Night in Belgravia

The conversation upstairs did not go well. A nasty exchange. "I thought we made it clear to you last time," said Fagot. "After Evita... You thought we wouldn't come back? You thought we wouldn't notice anything? You don't think that fire

Immortal Beloved

The Popular Image of Beethoven

The images above and below of Beethoven are from 1818 through 1820 when he was around 50. They pretty much established the popular view we have today of the genius composer with wavy, flowing hair, an image he no doubt cultivated. However, there is reason to believe he did not

Vampires in Venice

'A Portrait of Alfred de Musset'

These portraits by Charles Landelle show de Musset in 1854, three years before his death. The one above actually seems to be from 1854; the one below seems to be a later version, from 1878. De Musset spent much of his time writing, drinking and cruising brothels. Possibly, he beat

Homer's Women

A Statue of Penelope

The Museo Pio-Clementino is one of the sculpture museums in the enormous Vatican Museum, and it showcases works of Greek and Roman sculpture.  This statue of Penelope is a Roman copy of Greek original. According to one expert, "the copyist has exchanged the stool of the original for a

A Tale of Two Women

A Tale of Two Women - Timeline

* 1499 Birth of Bernardino de Sahagún * 1517 Martin Luther nails the 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg * 1519 Cortés expedition arrives in Mexico (March 4) * Charles (Carlos) of Spain becomes the Holy Roman Emperor as Charles V * Death of Leonardo da Vinci * 1520 Night of Sorrow (La Noche

Immortal Beloved

A Truly Unknown Woman?

In her diary, a young Fanny del Rio records the visit Beethoven made to her father in 1816. She writes that Beethoven said that five years earlier he had found the perfect love: “Five years ago he had become acquainted with a person, a more intimate union with whom he