Renate Stendhal's Blog – September 2010 Archive (3)

Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 55

On our pilgrimage to the sites of Stein's "mystery" novel, the impression of sadness, the all-pervasive dread of French country life deepened at the Hotel Pernollet. (Here, as the center of the world, on a postcard from the 80s.) Situated in the little town Belley, some 4 miles from Bilignin, the five-generation hotel had its heighday around 1930. Gertrude and Alice discovered it in the Guide des Gourmets and took to it. It did not matter that the owner, Mr. Pernollet, at first… Continue

Added by Renate Stendhal on September 21, 2010 at 7:18pm — 3 Comments

Can a writer’s life experience earn a university degree?

Summer ending… Perhaps a good time to think about goals and projects for the fall and winter, or the next year, or the future altogether. I would like to tell you about a uniquely creative study program that has changed my life. UIL, the University for Integrative Learning, seems made to order, “hand-woven” for women – for writers like you and me.

First of all: Does a degree serve a writer?

You may say an M.A. or Ph.D. could perhaps serve a writer of non-fiction… Continue

Added by Renate Stendhal on September 6, 2010 at 6:00pm — 14 Comments

Why Do Something If It Can Be Done: Quoting Gertrude Stein # 54

Our sleuthing began 75 km east of Lyon on an empty country road, between rabbit cages and sad bistros. Whereas nowadays a plaque guides the pilgrims in the village of Bilignin, back then, when I translated Stein's mystery story, you had to be a good detective to find the house behind its forbidding walls. We found ourselves “at the edge of radical uncertainty,” having to knock at the gate. It so happened that the same family who had owned and rented… Continue

Added by Renate Stendhal on September 3, 2010 at 10:27pm — 5 Comments