Thank you so much for your wonderful post about my story, The Silver Stopper, Teresa!
I adore the word “lush”: it’s so voluptuous, sensual and opulent… (and makes me think of Nigella Lawson!)
This was posted on 3 September 2008 on Teresa’s blog:
A lush few moments with Colette: The Silver Stopper
Sarah Line Letellier is working on an historical novel that brings Anais Nin and Colette together in early 20th century Paris. I know, how cool is that?! She appears to be working on a movie script, as well, and the novel is not yet finished, but she’s adapted a short story from the novel Nights in Paris that you can get hold of through Fish Publishing.
This historical fiction short story begins early in Colette’s first marriage and visits her affair with Missy (Marquise de Belboeuf). Less a story than a vignette, the descriptions are vivid and the eroticism lush, if not detailed. This is not principly an erotic story, although the sensory intensity makes it feel so. Ms. Letellier has a way of filling-in a scene that reminds me of Anais Nin, but her keen human insights are all Colette:
“I was silent at the dinner party held to celebrate Willy’s homecoming. A nod or a sideways glance from my secretive, Egyptian eyes was all I dared give in answer to the most innocent of questions. The more curious people were about Monsieur Willy’s ravished wood nymph, the
more stubborn I became, strangled by a shyness that was not cowardice but a declaration.” (Letellier, The Silver Stopper)
At her blog, Ms. Letellier describes her interest in Anais Nin and Colette:
“The more I write about Anais and Colette, the more similar their personal issues are – and yet they are very distinct personalities – Anais created an opposite illusion, one of sophistication and exoticism…. They both had their faults, but to me the dramas and intrigues of their personal lives only make their writing all the more remarkable and fascinating.” (Inspiring music)
This is the kind of story I will reread many times, perhaps passages, perhaps the whole thing. Much as I do Nin’s works. Having read this single story, I feel like there’s an unread work of Anais Nin or Colette out there that has been newly discovered, and I can’t wait to read it.
Ms. Letellier published another short that I believe is adapted from the novel, The Slave of Bracelets, but that was unavailable online, published several years ago in a New Zealand
newspaper contest. Harlem River Blues is the Fish Anthology 2008 edition. I’ve not finished reading all the stories in it, but what I’ve read, I’ve enjoyed very much. Especially The Silver Stopper, which was runner-up in the Short Histories competition.
I ordered online through the Fish website. Since the price quoted is in euros and the shipping is from Ireland, I still don’t know how much I paid for the book with currency exchange and shipping, but I received it here in Iowa in a week!
read the original on Teresa’s blog:
http://teresawymore.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/a-lush-few-moments-with-colette-the-silver-stopper/
and buy the anthology The Silver Stopper is published in, Harlem River Blues, here: http://fishpublishing.com/
