Thoughts and Things VII

Clare opens with a brief discussion of the tragedy Bertram and Matilda Heron's performance. She then turns again to her remarks about Augusta Evans's Beulah, noting that the publishers Derby & Johnson have withdrawn their advertisements from The Saturday Press in response to her remarks. Clare defends her right to write and publish her own opinion and also her right to disagree with the other writers at The Saturday Press. Clare discusses Queen of Hearts by Wilkie Collins, stating that the book does not contain very much new material. Clare expresses enthusiasm, however, for his current serial in Harper's Weekly, The Woman in White, and hopes that the work will prove itself to be "great" (2). Clare finishes with a discussion of the Blue Stocking and draws a satirical picture of her based on the depictions of the Blue Stocking given by men and in literature. She contrasts this to the overly sensualized literary woman of the modern era, creating a satirical portrait of the extreme ways in which literary (and intelligent) women are depicted or perceived by men.