Writer's Block: Voulez-vous parler ...

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English (Middle-Modern, can fumble through Old), Bangla, fair bit of Hindi.

Greek, specifically ancient Greek. Could've done it at uni, but am too lazy to learn Latin as requirement (ADG, sirbosslord, wai these blocks?).

Because I desire to fumble through Sappho and The Iliad in the original at least once.

Woot!

My yuletide fic, it is done! And clocks in at about 1200 words! And will probably grow a little when I fiddle with it! But most importantly, it is done! And is not cracky! I rather like it! I can now go write treats! Exclamation mark!

And, y'know, go reread the prompt to be sure it fits the letter of the request, seeing as how I havn't much of a clue as to the spirit thereof.

My Exams Are OVER

and so I've been doing the thing where I laze around, forget to return my books on time (thereby accumulating a library fine it will be a bitch to pay off), and read my way through a ton of old books.

Have some observations:

1. In The King's General, is Dick Grenvile gay? ( Or am I succumbing to the then-prevalant ideas of presenting as masculine? )

IDK, but Dick does present as what we'd still rate as slightly left of straight, meh.

2. When does 'u' drop into English as spoken in England? I mean, "color", and "honor", etc are all older spellings, right? So, when does it change to "colour"?

3. One of the loveliest scenes regarding Hephaistion is, oddly, in Funeral Games. ( And is such a shock to the system, too. )

I love seeing Hephaistion through Ptolemy's eyes, especially after the Bagoas-coloured lenses that are all we got throughout The Persian Boy.

4. And then we go back to Arridaios, and the whole horrific scene, and I feel physically sick. I feel sick throughout Funeral Games, more or less, actually, it's such a nightmarish book. Not that FFH and TPB are bereft of horror, of course, but, well, bildungsroman, love story, deathdeathdeath. The elephants. The babies. Stateira and Drypetis. Kynna. Sisygambis. Eurydike. Olympias. Alexander IV. Kassandros, gah.

5. This isn't to do with a book, but has anyone written the creepy bad Maham Anga-baby!Jalal fic? Because I watched Jodhaa-Akbar today, and, boss, that vibe is so there.

6. My copy of Maurice (third re-read, just about done) takes issue in the preface with Maurice's appearance in the film. And, yeah, a large dark-haired man has a very different impression than a large, fair man, esp. when, as in the film, he is more than awkward. Clive is the one who is small and fair. Incidentally, what does Alec look like? Do we ever know, other than the bright brown eyes?

7. I was planning on reading Forster, anyway, but have got sucked into reading A Room with a View solely because of ( Helena Bonham Carter )

. Baby Bella! With that hair! awww.

ETA: 8. I was watching an old Friends episode, where Chandler says, "You're the one who kissed my mom!". The whole cafe turns around. Ross says, "We're rehearsing a Greek play." They all nod and look away. I found this funny for about two seconds. And since then, I've been wondering what play they're talking about. I embrace my geekery, yes, haha, but, is Ross simply misremembering Oedipus Rex? Or is it some other play?