Status Updates From The Virgin of the Seven Dag...

“Marsyas in Flanders”: not your typical vernon lee story. It actually reminded me a little of M.R. James’ short work, but much more sinister and creepy. loved.

“The Doll”: the shortest story in this collection but probably the most powerful. witchy, gothic, but also so, so touching lee was so ahead of her time with her subjects. i can’t believe this isn’t a more well-known feminist piece of literature.

“Prince Alberic and the Snake Lady”: continuously astounded by the amount of detail lee puts into her short stories. this 40 page short story had the depth and richness of a 300+ page novel.

“The Virgin of the Seven Daggers”: not her best honestly. i appreciate the stark difference in topic from her other stories, but it felt a tad too fable-esque for my liking. i found the background info in the notes regarding lee’s conception of the story really interesting, though.

“The Legend of Madame Krasinska”: really liked this one. kind of reminded of A Christmas Carol.

“A Wicked Voice”: probably the weakest story so far, but i still enjoyed it. though i like its theme a lot more than the story itself.

“Oke of Okehurst; or, the Phantom Lover”: so fucking good oh my god. with every story, i’m astounded that lee isn’t a more celebrated gothic writer. her work is GENIUS. so entertaining and psychological, with some sharp, sharp prose. her ability to weave such a well-rounded, complex narrative into a couple of pages is just astonishing. i’m so happy i found out about her.

“It was quite wonderful to watch the exquisite, exotic creature in one of these moods, with the distant look in her grey eyes and the absent-looking smile in her thin cheeks, talking as if she had intimately known these people of the seventeenth century…as she might of her most intimate friends.”


Alice Oke is so me

“Dionea”: really into vernon lee’s penchant for writing these weird, ominous slightly evil women. this was such fun.