July 7, 2022 • 53

Zwei bemerkenswerte Frauen « von Tracy Chevalier/D/E/I


In unserem Garten/In our garden/Nel nostro giardino/Martina &Franz Ramsauer

Da wir diesen Sommer wegen des Gesundheitszustandes meines Mannes nicht reisen oder sonstige Ausflüge machen können, bleibt mir mehr Zeit zum Lesen von Büchern, die mich zum Nachdenken bringen und worüber ich mich dann natürlich gerne mit Interessierten austausche!

Vor einiger Zeit hat Klausbernd Vollmar mir den hervorragenden historischen Roman «Zwei bemerkenswerte Frauen « von Tracy Chevalier empfohlen und ich möchte mich hiermit auch gleich bei ihm für diesen Tipp bedanken.

Gleichzeitig werde ich hier kurz aufführen, warum mir diese Geschichte sehr gefallen hat:

-Sie führt uns nämlich vor allem an zwei Orte. Einer ist an der Küste Südenglands, oder genauer nach Lyme Regis in Dorset und der andere London, also an Orte, wo ich wunderschöne Erinnerungen habe.

Also, in der Geschichte sind wir anfangs des 19.Jahrhunderts und da sind zwei ganz aussergewöhnliche weibliche Wesen. Die eine ist zu Beginn noch ein Mädchen, arm und kann praktisch nicht lesen und schreiben, aber sie hat ein unvorstellbares Auge für Fossilien, so dass ihr erster grosse Fund, ein «Krokodil», oder genauer gesagt ein Ichthyosaurus, der die Wissenschaft durchschüttelt, und später ein Plesiosaurus, sie zur ersten selbstgemachten Paläontologin machen, obwohl sie manchmal von Wissenschaftlern auch ausgenutzt wurde. Übrigens war sie auch nie Mitglied der Geologischen Gesellschaft in London.

Das andere weibliche Wesen war älter, gebildet und unverheiratet, die auch noch analytische Fähigkeiten hatte. Ihr Name war Elizabeth Philpot und sie ist auch eine historische Figur, wegen ihrer Leidenschaft für Fisch Fossilien. Sie kommt aus London, das sie wegen der Heirat ihres Bruders zusammen mit ihren beiden Schwestern Verlassen musste. Diese Dame bring Mary das Lesen bei und Mary zeigt Elizabeth, wie man Fossilien findet, reinigt und hervorhebt. Es entwickelt sich eine tiefe Freundschaft zwischen den beiden Dank ihrer gemeinsamen Leidenschaft und den Respekt, den sie, trotz des Klassenunterschieds, füreinander haben. Dank diesem überlebt diese Freundschaft auch grosse Probleme, die sich infolge einer grossen Liebe und Eifersucht ergeben.

Aber als der berühmte Cuvier behauptet, dass Mary’s Plesiosaurus ein Betrug sei, macht sich Elizabeth ganz alleine nach London auf, um Mary’s Ruf zu retten.

Ein anderer interessanter Punkt ist, wie die Kirchenvertreter und die Gesellschaft mit der Tatsache umgehen, dass eine Frau nach ausgestorbenen Fossilien sucht und, dass das Resultat nicht dem Buch der Genesis entspricht!

Foto von Martina und Franz Ramsauer/Küste von Südengland/On the shore of South England/costa sud dell’Inghilterra

As for us it won’t be possible to travel this summer because of my husband’s health condition, I have more time to read books, reflect on them and talk about the ones I like or have liked as well as enjoying our garden!

Some time ago, Klausbernd Vollmar recommended me the stunning, historical “Remarkable Creatures” by Tracy Chevalier and I would like to thank him for having me given this very good advice.

I would just like to tell you some reasons why I liked this book:

The brilliantly told story takes us mainly to two places. One is on the shores of South England, or more precisely in Lyme Regis, Dorset and the other is London, places I like very much!

We are at the beginning of the 19th century and there are two outstanding women. One is, at the beginning, a poor and uneducated girl, Mary Anning, who has, however, an unimaginable eye for fossils so that her first big find a “crocodile” or more precisely an ichthyosaurus and later a plesiosaurus, make her, despite being exploited by several scientists and not a member of the Geological Society of London, the first and self- made paleontologist.

The other is an older, educated and analytical but unmarried lady, whose name is Elizabeth Philpot. She is also a historical character, because of her passion for fossil fish and comes from London, but had to leave it, because her brother gets married. This lady teaches Mary to read and Mary teaches Elizabeth how to find, to clean and emphasize with fossils. A deep friendship develops thanks to their common passion and respect for each other, despite the class fissures, which survives also big difficulties due to the love for a man and jealousy. But when Mary’s plesiosaurus is considered a fraud by the famous Cuvier, Elizabeth goes alone to London to save Mary’s reputation.

Another very interesting point is how the representant of the church and the society around handle the fact that a woman pursuits the search of extinct animals and act contrary to the Bible’s Book of Genesis!

An der Südküste von England/On the shore of South England/Sulla costa sud dell’Inghilterra/Martina & Franz Ramsauer

Dato che quest’estate non possiamo viaggiare o fare altre escursioni a causa delle condizioni di salute di mio marito e ho quindi più tempo per leggere libri, riflettere su quest’ultimi e naturalmente mi piace discuterne con persone interessate!

Qualche tempo fa, Klausbernd Vollmar mi ha consigliato l’eccellente romanzo storico “STRANE CREATURE” di Tracy Chevalier e vorrei ringraziarlo per questo ottimo suggerimento.

Allo stesso tempo, spiegherò brevemente perché questa storia mi è piaciuta così tanto:

Ci porta in due luoghi in particolare. Una è sulla costa dell’Inghilterra meridionale, o più precisamente a Lyme Regis nel Dorset, e l’altra è Londra, luoghi in cui ho ricordi meravigliosi.

Quindi, nella storia siamo all’inizio del XIX secolo e ci sono due esseri femminili molto straordinari. Una è una ragazza all’inizio, povera e che praticamente non sa né leggere né scrivere, ma ha un occhio inimmaginabile per i fossili, tanto che il suo primo grande ritrovamento, un “coccodrillo”, o più precisamente un ittiosauro, che scuote la scienza, e più tardi un plesiosauro, la rendono la prima paleontologa che si è fatta da sé, anche se a volte gli scienziati si sono approfittati di lei. Tra l’altro, non è mai stata membro della Geological Society di Londra.

L’altra donna era più anziana, istruita e non sposata, e aveva anche capacità analitiche. Si chiamava Elizabeth Philpot ed è una figura storica anche per la sua passione per i pesci fossili. Viene da Londra, città che ha dovuto lasciare a causa del matrimonio del fratello insieme alle sue due sorelle. La signora insegna a Mary a leggere e Mary mostra a Elizabeth come trovare, pulire ed evidenziare i fossili. Tra i due si sviluppa una profonda amicizia grazie alla passione comune e al rispetto che nutrono l’una per l’altra, nonostante la differenza di classe. Grazie a ciò, questa amicizia sopravvive anche problemi difficili che sorgono a causa di un grande amore e della gelosia.

Ma quando il famoso Cuvier sostiene che il plesiosauro di Mary è una frode, Elizabeth parte da sola per Londra per salvare la reputazione di Mary.

Un altro punto interessante è il modo in cui i funzionari della Chiesa e la società affrontano il fatto che una donna sta cercando fossili estinti e che il risultato non è conforme al libro della Genesi!

Spero che questo libro piaccia a tutti coloro che lo leggeranno!

THE DEVIL’S GRIN/TEUFELSGRINSEN

Categories: BÜCHER/BOOKS/LIBRI, ENGLISH/GERMAN/ITALIAN, EUROPA/EUROPE, FOTOS/PHOTOS, HISTORY/GESCHICHTE, MACHT DER MENSCHEN/POWER OF PEOPLE, SCIENCE/WISSENSCHAFT, UMWELT/NATURE

53 replies »

      • This is the third time round to read your post, Martina. I am so sorry to hear of your husband’s health issues! You have a magnificent garden – one day I would love to sit with you in your garden and talk about books. When I first read your post I went searching for Remarkable Creatures” and it now in my library. Klausbernd Vollmar has the best book suggestions and now that I know that Dave Astor and you say it is remarkable, I am excited that I will be joining you in reading the book. Sending hugs and more hugs your way!

        Liked by 3 people

      • I am very touched, Rebecca, by your perseverance:):) and you will see that this is an important point in “Remarkable Creatures”. Thanks also to Klausbernd and Dave, these trustworthy advisers, I’m sure that you will like the book, about which we will, of course, speak when you visit me in our garden and to which I’m very much looking forward! My hushand is sending his thanks for your thought and we are sending you our big hugs!

        Liked by 2 people

  2. Great post, Martina, with lovely photos. What a beautiful garden! Sorry about your husband’s health situation. 😦

    I’ve read “Remarkable Creatures,” and it is indeed a remarkable book. Glad you wrote about it, and wrote about it so well!

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    • Isn’t it great, Rosaliene, to fly away with our books and to always discover new countries or amazing people, who just continued to walk on their road, despite all the problems!
      I thank you very much for your visit and comment:)

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  4. Hi Martina, your garden is lovely. Thank you for this review of Remarkable Creatures. I am quite sure I’ve read another review of it on another blog or on Goodreads. It caught my attention then too. Thank you for reminding me about it.

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    • Roberta, we have put 50 years in creating our garden from scratch and I hope, of course, that the tempests, which have recently become quite strong will not ruin it! I very much hope that we will be able to enjoy many more hours here, not only working but also by reading interesting books! We know, of course, that we won’t manage to read all the ones we have programmed to, but we do our best! Thank you very much for your visit and your interests.:)

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      • 50 years is a wonderful time investment, Martina, and it has paid off. My husband and I bought our house 18 years ago and we have also invested in our garden. We have planted a lot of fruit trees and every year we share the fruit with all the birds in our area. I always laugh and say we have the fattest birds in South Africa in our garden.

        Liked by 2 people

      • The way you share your fruit with the birds really made me laugh, Roberta:) We know this sharing system too, especially as far as the blueberries are concerned and I can much better accept the birds’ needs than that of the hail!
        Have a lovely weekend in your garden together with your beautiful birds.

        Liked by 1 person

    • Absolut, liebe Erika, und es ist sehr ermutigend, wenn man sieht, dass auch, wie hier, ein armes, ungebildetes weibliches Wesen, das von der Gesellschaft geächtet wird, mit viel Leidenschaft, Ausdauer und Hilfe einer guten Freundin, Anerkennung Seitens der Wissenschaft erlangen kann. Ganz lieben Dank für deine Worte:)

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  7. Patricia Furstenberg wrote a comment to my post Remarkable Creatures, which didn’t arrive here and I sent her the following answer:
    Dear Patricia, thank you so much for these absolutely trueful words to which I would maybe add perseverance despite difficulties!
    Concerning the problems with our sites, I have them also with your site. I can’t for example send you a comment in answer to the email, which arrives after your publishing a post. I have to go on the “reader” and then it seems to work.
    Many thanks also to your good wishes:)

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  8. Here is Patricia’s comment:
    Dear Martina, there seems to be a glitch and I can’t comment on your website.
    With regards to your last post, “Zwei bemerkenswerte Frauen « von Tracy Chevalier”, I wanted to say:

    I will look up this book, “Remarkable Creatures” by Tracy Chevalier.
    How filled with possibility were the times when being “self- made” was still a possible thing and no one minded that you had no other credentials, but your passion and your self-acquire knowledge. 🙂
    I hope your family is strong. Wishing you all the very best.

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  9. Patricia’s answer:
    Thank you for letting me know, Martina.

    This morning I discovered having the same issue with Masticadores Romania. Can’t post comment, can only reply.

    I’ll have a look at WP updates and such!

    Have a blessed weekend.

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  10. Tut mir leid zu hoeren, liebe Martina, dass es Deinem Mann gesundheitlich nicht gut geht. Ich halte die Daumen, fuer eine schnelle Genesung.
    Liebe Gruesse,
    Pit

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  11. Liebe Martina, deinem Mann wünsche ich von Herzen gute Besserung. Euer Garten ist so schön und ich bin sicher, es lässt sich wunderbar darin in Erinnerungen schwelgen und Pläne schmieden. Alles Liebe Erika

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  12. Martina here are the books I am reading now I reading a biography of Dostoevsky, in one of those fancy editions I got, plus “The Plum on the Golden Vase or Ching Ping Mei translated by David Tod Roy. I will send you the links separate, in case that was the problem you did nnot received my answer.

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    • We very much enjoyed our various hiking holidays in the South of England, so the pictures are the consequence of them, Jean-Jacques:)
      The main character of the book, Mary Anning, the poor girl, who went her way, despite the fact that she was not accepted by the scientists or society of her time, shows us how important the role of individuals are, as you explain it so well in your last post!!
      Thank you very much for your visit and all the best.

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  16. Liebe Martina,
    zuerst und vor allem gute schnelle Besserung für deinen Mann.
    Tracy Chevalier hat wie fast alle namhaften englisch schreibenden Schriftsteller z.Zt. in Norwich studiert. Wegen dieses weltführenden Instituts für kreatives Schreiben wurde Norwich von der Unesco als ‘Literary City of the World’ ausgezeichnet. Übrigens hat in Norwich auch der hoch gerühmte deutsche Autor W.G. Sebald gelehrt.
    Wir waren übrigens auch in Lyme Regis Fossilien sammeln, fanden aber nur Bellemiten und Amoniten, allerdings endeckten Siri 🙂 und 🙂 Selma ziemlich große und schön ausgeprägte Amoniten.
    Habe herzlichen Dank, dass du unser liebes Masterchen erwähnt hat. Er hat sich sehr darüber gefreut 🙂 🙂
    Mit ganz lieben Grüßen
    The Fab Four of Cley
    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Grazie mille, Lieber Klausbernd für deine einfühlende und interessante Antwort, die auch mich erfreut.
      Für mich ist die Wichtigkeit von Norwich total neu, aber ich habe sofort das Buch “Austerlitz” von W.G. Sebald gefunden, worin er das individuelle und kollektive Erinnern theamatisierte. Das Buch war für mich damals bedeutend.
      Wir waren auch in Dorset und Lyme Regis, wo es uns sehr gut gefallen hat, aber Fossilien haben wir nicht gesucht und auch keine gekauft!!
      Ich wünsche euch weiterhin eine gute Zeit zusammen und sende liebe Grüsse 🙂
      Martina

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  17. Wie schön, dass du dieses interessante Buch hier vorgestellt hast, liebe Martina! Ich mag Bücher, die ein besonderes Thema haben und in die ich mich “hineinversenken” kann. Dieses scheint so eines zu sein. Vielen Dank für den Tipp!
    Liebe Grüße aus dem Sommerregen…..von Rosie

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  18. This is the second time today I’ve read something about this book. Perhaps the universe is giving me a rather big hint. It sounds fascinating, and I do love stories about fascinating women defying gender expectations. Thanks for the recommendation. Wishing you and your husband a healthy, peaceful autumn.

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  19. Hello Martina, it was a pleasure to come over and see your stunning pictures for a second time. Thank you for leaving a comment on my most recent chapter. Your comment went into the wrong place so I didn’t get a notification, I have once again ‘white-listed’ you on the app so hopefully it won’t do that again 🙂 ! (On Friday I will also post some excerpts of this chapter on my other blog.).

    Are you planning any journeys at the end of the year in Europe or abroad?

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    • I’m sorry, Jean-Jacques, for these inconveniences! I, too, have some problems with your blog in the sense that when I open your email I can’t comment on your blog, so that I have to go onto the reader and search there for your post. This takes quite some time!
      Unfortunately we are not planning to organize big trips, because my husband has been very ill but we hope know that he will get better. But I try to read whenever I can. I have just finished “The Woman in Red” which it’s about the very courageous Anita Garibaldi, wife of the Italian revolutionary.
      Many thanks for your kind words:)

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  21. Pingback: Roberta Writes – Book review: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

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