Ms. Pinkman

A day early, because I'll be on the road tomorrow for most of the day, and thus without internet access.


Personal backstory: Previous Bronte-related musings by yours truly can be found under this tag. The short version is that I care a lot, both about their works and the family. And one thing that has become increasingly obvious in the last twenty years or so is the increasing villainization of Charlotte Bronte. Now, Charlotte isn't my favourite, and of course there's a lot you can critique about her, as a writer (cue Bertha Mason) and as a human being, definitey including her treatment of Anne's second novel, The Tennant of Wildfell Hall (i.e. ensuring it would not be republished after Anne's death), and general underestimation of Anne. But the way fictional treatments of the Bronte sisters have made her into the villain or at least antagonist definitely has become a trend.

Part of it is, I think, because Charlotte is the sibling we know about most (she lived the longest, she had the most connections to people outside the family, there is therefore the most material from and about her available, and inevitably it also means she is the one through whose glasses we see the family initially). While it's not true you could put the reliable primary biographical material from Emily and Anne (i.e. written by them, not by someone else about them) directly on a post card, it really isn't much, not just by comparison to Charlotte but also to father Patrick and brother Branwell, both of whom left far more direct material. There are the two "our lives right now" diary entries from Anne and Emily separated by several years which offer a snapshot of not just how they saw their lives right then but also the intermingling of the fictional and the real, i.e. they both report of what's going in their lives and what's going on in Gondal and in Angria, the two fictional realms created by the siblings (and btw, the fact Emily and Anne know about Angrian developments years after stopping to write for Angria and creating their own realm of Gondal prove that they kept reading it). Emily's entries (very cheerful and matter of factly in tone) also counteract her image as the wild child barely able to interact with civiilisation. But that's pretty much it. And that means you can project far, far more easily on Emily and Anne than on Charlotte. Can form them how you want them to be. It's much more difficult with Charlotte, whose opinions on pretty much anything, from Jane Austen (boo, hiss) to politics (hooray for the Tories, down with the Whigs!) to religion (Catholics are benighted and/or scheming, but in a pinch a Catholic priest can be oddly comforting) is documented to the letter.

(Along with the projecting, editing also is easier with Emily and Anne. For example: Anne's rediscovery as a feminist writer due to Wildfell Hall rising in critical estimation these last decades, is well desesrved, but I haven't seen either fictional or non-fictional renderings focusing on her intense religiosity, and I suspect that's because it makes current day people cheering on her heroine Helen Huntington leaving her husband uncomfortable.)

There is also the matter of long term backlash. After Charlotte died, one of the things Elizabeth Gaskell tried to accomplish with her biography of Charlotte was the counteract the image of all three Bronte sisters as a scandalous lot - see their original reviews - by presenting the image of Charlotte as a faultless long suffering Victorian heroine, with her siblings living at a remote isolated place barely within civilisation. creating art of such unpromising material solely because they had nothing else. Now as well intended as that was, and as long enduring as the image proved to be, it's also hugely misleading in many ways. Juliet Barker in her epic Bronte family biography devotes literally hundred of pages on how Haworth wasn't Siberia but had lively political struggles, how the Brontes could and did go to cultural events such as concerts by a world class pianist like Franz Liszt or grand exhibitions in Leeds, and most importantly, how the "long suffering faultless Victorian heroine" image leaves out all of Charlotte's sarcastic humour and wit, her (unrequited but fervent) passion for a married man, her bossiness etc.; I won't try to reduce all of that into a few quotes. Though let me re-emphasize that the removal of humor via Gaskell proved to be really long term and fatally connected to Bronte depictions, not just of Charlotte. And it's a shame, because they were a witty family. Charlotte's youthful alter ego Charles Wellesly in the Angrian chronicles is making fun of pretty much everything, including Charlotte herself and her siblings, and most definitely of her hero Zamorna. (Proving that Charlotte the Byron reader didn't just go for the Childe Harold brooding but the Don Juan wit and Last Judgment parody.) In all the adaptations of Emily's Wuthering Height, I am always missing the scene which to me epitomizes Emily's own black humour and self awareness of the danger of going over the top with melodrama - it's the bit where a drunken Hindley Earnshaw threatens Nelly Dean with a knife and Nelly wryly asks him to use something else because that knife has just been used to carve up the fish with, ew. (Wuthering Heights adaptations also suffer from the fact that it's hard to convey in a visual medium the sarcastic treatment our first personal narrator Lockwood gets from his author, because he's consistently wrong about every single first impression he has of the people he meets and their relationships with each other, and if the adaptation includes the scene where child!Cathy and child!Heathcliff throw the religious books they don't want to read into the fire, they're missing out the titles which are Emily parodying the insufferable titles of many a religious Victorian pamphlet.) And Patrick, in direct contradiction of his image as a grim reclusive patriarch, for example wrote a witty and wryly affectionate (for all sides) poem documenting the grand battle between his curate (Charlotte's later husband Arthur Nicholls) and the washer women of Haworth who were used to drying their laundry on the tombstones which Nichols tried to stop them doing). Etc.

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that once research went beyond the Gaskell biography, I suspect a lot of people subconsciously felt cheated and blamed Charlotte for it, casting her as a hypocrite instead of a Victorian saint. (And more recently as a BAD SISTER, jealous of Emilly, Anne or both.) But Charlotte herself had never claimed to be the later. And honestly, I doubt that her postumous editing of her sisters' works came from anything more sinister than remembering all those early negative reviews casting the "Ellis brothers" as immoral and wanting to change these opinions. Not to say that Charlotte couldn't be jealous, of course she could be - I'm not just thinking of her depiction of her unrequited crush's wife but of her bitter remark re: Patrick's grief for Branwell directly after Branwell's death that betrays her anger about Patrick having loved Branwell better than her, for example -, and given Charlotte and Branwell, so close as children and adolescents, lost each other as writing partners once they became adults, I can also see her being somewhata envious about Emily's and Anne's continuing collabaration, though here I venture into speculation, because there isn't a quote to back this up. But it was also Charlotte who insisted they all pubilsh to begin with - not just herself - who, as oldest surviving sister, felt herself responsible for her younger siblings, and who was keenly aware that the moment Patrick died - and none of them could have foreseen he'd outlive all of his children - they could depend only on themselves for an income. It was Charlotte who despite hating (and failing at) being a teacher and a governess tried her best to improve nost just her but Emily's chances in that profession (basically the only one available for a woman without a husband and in need of an income) - and cajoled Emily into joining her in that year in Brussels, who did all the corresponding with publishers who initially kept sending back their manuscripts. Who had that rejection experience years earlier already when as a young girl she sent her poetry to Southey (today only known because Byron lampooned him in Don Juan and The Last Judgment) only to hear that she should turn her mind to only feminine pursuits and leave the writing to men. Who not only had survived the hell of charity school where she saw her older two sisters sicken (not die, the girls were sent home to do that) after abuse but went on to see all her remaining siblings die years later. Who kept writing and hoping and never stopped opening herself to new friendships instead of becoming bitter and grim. Charlotte had an inner strength enabling her to do all this, and she had it from childhood onwards. It's a big reason why Charlotte survived and became better as a writer and Branwell fell apart. Charlotte wasn't any less addicted to their fantasy realm of Angria than he was, well into adulthood. But she didn't react to rejection and crashes with reality by completely withdrawing into fantasy, she couldn't afford to, and it let her grow.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: given her allergic reaction to Jane Austen (which strikes me as having been mostly caused by her publisher's well intentioned but fatally patronizing - "go read Jane and take her as a role model for female writerdom" advice), it's highly ironic, but Charlotte of all the Bronte siblings strikes me as the one most like an Austen and not a Bronte character. (Especially, but not only because of how her marriage came to be.) Both in her flaws and in her strengths. And I wish current day authors would regard her in that spirit instead of making her the bad guy in their adoration of her sisters.

The other days

Well, it depends of course both on your physical fitness, time at had and whether you define "around Munich" as "within the city itself and its immediate surrounding era" , or whether an hour away from the city in the direction of the Alps also counts. I shall therefore start with the easy ones and go f or a grand climax of a mountain tour. ;)

Within the city of Munich, nice to walk even if your knee or foot should still trouble you:

1) Nymphenburger Park. The park surrounding Nymphenburg Palace. In addition to being a nice park, it has four tiny little mini cottage-palaces within, all Rokoko, and they're open in later spring, summer and early autumn. (The central palace itself isn't half bad, either, but that wasn't asked.) There's both a reasonably good coffee shop and an actual restaurant for the hungry and exhausted. One can reach the park via streetcar.


2) Der Englische Garten / The English Garden . Largest park in Munich, and I do mean large. Offers something both for easy strollers and people wanting to exhaust themselves. One of the modern attractions, the surfing wave of one of the rivers, is currently gone and the cause of much acrimony between the city administration and the surfers. Another attraction reliably shocking or enticing a certain brand of tourist is the fact that in summer time, a lot of Bavarians come here topless to sun themselves on the lawn. Architecture-wise, there is a nice "Chinese Tower" around one of the most popular beer gardens exists, and a Japanese Tea House, but mostly, like a park should be, it's trees, trees, trees, and large lawns. One can take both short and loooooong walks, depending on the time. Because of the size of the park, there are several entrance points close to subway stations available.

3) Olympiapark : what it says on the label. Originally created for the 1972 Olympic Games. Still very very popular to walk or jog through. The arena within it is very popular for concerts (I saw both Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen there.) Offers, among other things, a nice view over the city and to the Alps from one point. One of the starting points for hiking can be reached via subway.


Still within Munich, but incorporating the suburbs:

4) Isarauen/ Isar shore. From where I live in Munich, cutting through the Englischer Garten to the Isar shore means you can then turn left or right and in either case can do some really nice and lengthy hiking. If you go left, you eventually end up in Freimann near the arena where our football (soccer to Americans) club Bayern München plays, i.e. a place of much ire and admiration, depending how you feel about that club; due to the arena, there is of course a subway connection, so what I do is walk along the Isar to the arena and then go home by tube. Conversely, if you go right, you first walk in the general direction of the city centre and can see our Bavarian parliament building on the other side of the river, then in the middle of the river the Deutsches Museum (one of Germany's foremost science museums), then if you walk on you're leaving the centre behind and head towards the belt area. Most of the way is an appealing mixture of (mostly) trees and architecture. Though if Itake a really long hike, I take the Isar shore road from the opposite direction, i.e. I take the subway to Thalkirchen, where the Munich zoo is, and walk back from there in the direction of the centre. Hardcore hikers and bikers can go even further by S-Bahn and walk or drive back from Wolfratshausen.

Both Isar walks are something for when you have half a day or longer to spare.


Far Over The Misty Mountains:

5) One of my absolute favouriite hiking spots from all time is reached via train from Munich. One takes the train to Schliersee (that's about an hour), then hikes from Schliersee to the Gindelalm, from the Gindelalm to the Neureuth Alm, and from there it's possible to go down to either Tegernsee (town) or Gmund (also located at the Tegernsee lake). They both have a train station and you can take the train back to Munich, which again takes an hour. Now you don't need to be a hardcore Alpine sportswoman or -man to do this - it's not that difficult a way, upwards and downwards - but it does take at least two hours, usually more, to reach the first Alm. So this is only an option if you have the entire day to spare.

The other days

Eleven / Kathryn Janeway: Why? She's his type. Unlike many another version of the Doctor, he's good at endearing himself to competent authoritative women. Depending on when in their respective timelines this meeting occurs, he might also impress her by bringing his very own nurse (Rory) along, which given that Voyager is desperate enough for nurses to let their own Doctor draft Tom Paris will definitely be a plus.


Five / Benjamin Sisko: Why? Mutual bonding over argumentative companions and cricket vs baseball. Five would be charmed by the Ben and Jake father/son relationship (and depending on whether this is before or after Adric dies also melancholic), and wouldn't ruffle Sisko's feathers the way some other Doctors might.


Nine / Jean-Luc Picard: Why? Picard would respect Nine's chip on the shoulder and not wanting to talk about any personal issues (and vice versa). (Though Deanna Troi, sensing Nine's emotional state, wilil try to corner him, but that's another issue.) Depending on the situation they're in when they meet, there might be some prickliness at first, but I think generally they'd find it easy to ally against the menace of the day and maybe share clipped yet meaningful conversation over some tea and/or bond over Dickens once that's done before Nine takes off again.


Fifteen/ Michael Burnham : Why? Much of her personal arc is going from repressing it all stoicism to openly emotional behavior, accepting your past grief and guilt and continuing to do better (and helping others) in the present - that's what he's practically the embodiment of for the Doctor! They would work well as allies, and there would definitely be dancing at some point. Also, she'd make him promise to visit Zora now and then as he travels through time.


Three / Saru (who was a Starfleet Captain, too): Why? Three can come across as incredibly high handed on first impressions, but Saru is a masterful diplomat, would spot Three is actually knowledgable and competent beneath the bluster and would lintrigue him as a Kelpian so any initial problems would be quickly moved aside in favour of teaming up. 'They would also bond over Buddhism.


Thirteen/ James T. Kirk: Why? No, not because he'd hit on her. (TOS Kirk, not AOS Kirk, i.e. he's not his pop cultural stereotype.) She'd consider him fun to have an adventure with, he'd be curious and charmed and very amused once she inadvertendly outs Scotty's inflated time estimations, whereas with male versions of the Doctor he might feel initially one-upped.


Twelve/ Christopher Pike: Why? Even if it's early Twelve at his prickliest, Pike's general relaxedness and experienced diplomacy would help smoothing things over. Conversely, Twelve could empathize with the whole "knowing your eventual awful fate" part without insisting on talking about it the way some other Doctors might. I predict at least one meal cooked by Pike while Twelve plays guitar before the Doctor leaves again.


Unfortunately, I can't think of any version of the Doctor who'd get along really well with Captain Archer because Archer would, depending on the point of his timeline, suspect the Doctor of being a tool of the Vulcan High Command, the Admiralty or the Xindi, while the Doctor, any of them, might like Porthos but would find Archer incredibly annoying, and that's before they find out about certain episodes involving slavery or torture.


Therefore, you get a bonus pairing:

Seven/ Gabriel Lorca (no, not the one we never met, I do mean the season 1 of Discovery guy) : Why? Mutual mindgames! Who manipulates whom best? Who sets a trap for whom while pretending to be their harmless facade? Who figures out the truth about the the other guy first? Might there be conversations with increasingly disturbing subtext about mentoring young women with a chip on their shoulder and tremendous guilt and anger issues? One thing is sure: it would be incredibly entertaining.


The other days

I'll have you know it's really hard to limit myself to only five. And of course this is highly subjective. For an entertaining alternative choice with two per German Bundesland (i.e. federal state), check out the two most recent episodes of History of the Germans here.


Aaaanyway, pondering deeply, this is what I have come up with from the depths of my Teutonic yet Southern Wessi German soul:

1.) The Rhine between, say, Düsseldorf and Koblenz. You can either go by boat on the river itself or take the train, but this is a combination of landscape, architecture and history which is both aesthetically pleasing and incredibly historically and contemporarily relevant. Parts of it are ridiculously romantic. Other parts visibly suffer from climate change.

2.) Berlin. I am the opposite of a Berlinerin, but it's the capital, and talk about being relevant for German history (though not beyond the last two hundred and fifty years or so) and present. If you don't visit in Winter, take a boat trip on the Spree as well.

3.) Munich. Was bombed as much as Berlin, did a better job at reconstruction, is the South to Berlin's North (and only three hours away from Italy via Autobahn or train), with the Alps next door. Offers Baroque splendour to Berlin's 19th century classicism. Speaking of German history of the 20th century: if you haven't visited the Jewish Museum in Berlin with its section devoted to the Holocaust, visit the NS Doku centre and the Jewish museum in Munich. (Don't visit the Dachau concentration camp if you're in a hurry, but do visit it if you have much more time, and don't do anything else on that day. It's stomach turning and it ought to do be. You can't do that in the morning and then hop over to the art collection at the Alte Pinakothek in the afternoon.)

4.) Lake Constance, aka der Bodensee. Most parts of this gigantic lake are either in the German state Baden(-Württemberg) or in Switzerland, but there's a Bavarian section as well, oh, and a Rhine connection. The individual cities located on the lake and the islands in it offer early medieval castles and Zeppelins (they were first built here, and if you have a lot of cash, you can still board one), 19th century German poets and prehistoric settlements, and lots and lots of vegetables and gardening and great food throughout the year. Oh yeah, and the Romans were there, too. And a famous Church Council featuring in opera and historical novels. (Have a pic spam.)


5.) Bamberg. Hamburg. Was bombed to smithereens, did a reasonable job at reconstruction, offers a legendary harbor which you can take a two hours boat trip to visit, two great towers to have a view from, an early morning fish market, an immigration museum, stylish nineteenth century villas, quite expensive shops, some good art musuems and the Reeperbahn. Look, it was as important in shaping the Beatles as Liverpool was, and so the world owes it a visit for this alone, okay? Also: three hours train ride to some spectacular northern sea beaches from there.

The other days

Darth Real Life is still on my heels, but:


Katabasis - R.F. Kuang

Two different and both clever and sensitive explorations of what the aftermath of the novel might have been like for Alice and Peter:

The Next Step

The Raven's Paradox



The Last Unicorn - Peter S. Beagle


In that clear unpeopled space: the Unicorn's long way to her forest. Has the poetry, the beauty and the character growth of the book.


Lord of the Flies - Willliam Golding

I Remember (Don't Worry) : in which Ralph encounters Jack years post novel. Disturbing in the way the book is, yet with some glimpse of hope.


Penny Dreadful

mimics the lampllight's struggle with the dawn: After a night of victory, Vanessa and Hecate, separately, search for their footing. Missing scene from the second season's finale, with both women and Malcolm expertly drawn.



The Radiant Emperor Series - Shelley Parker-Chan


The Calligraphy of Disgrace: in which we get another take on these novels' entertainingly screwed up soulmates relationship, with an AU twist.


Frederician Historical Fiction

Five times Amalie saw Luise, and one time Luisa saw Amalie: in which the "Five Things" format is expertly used to portray the relationship between the Melanie Wilkes of the Hohenzollern court and her sharp-tongued sister-in-law.

Courting the Chamberlain : in which we find out how Frederick the Great's lover got married to the resourceful Caroline Daum.

The Ring of the Nibelung - Wagner

Loyalty only to me: Hagen learns many lessons from his father over the years.


Some Desperate Glory - Emily Tesh

Again two different takes on a novel's aftermath, the first focused on Magnus, the other on Avi, which also doubles a great take on his development across several timelines.

Some Desperate Hope

Salvation from falling into the sea of misguidances