tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4322995747669796194.post6874772907636853060..comments2024-02-09T16:00:40.486+01:00Comments on Edith's Miscellany: Book Review: The Christmas Carp by Vicki BaumEdith LaGrazianahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07885017198423641770noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4322995747669796194.post-7385827428255586012019-01-10T08:04:48.208+01:002019-01-10T08:04:48.208+01:00I don't know enough of Baum's books to be ...I don't know enough of Baum's books to be able to judge the quality of her writing in general, but she may well have suffered the fate of being underestimated for being a female in addition to a popular writer. Helene Böhlau, Margarete Böhme, Gabriele Reuter and Clara Viebig were very popular at the time, too, and today they are all quite forgotten. Nazi reign for 12 or 7 years respectively in Germany and Austria certainly had an impact as well - after all women were supposed to be wives and mothers primarily. Luckily, those times are over although you can still see the aftermaths in the publishing business with male writers getting so much more attention.Edith LaGrazianahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07885017198423641770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4322995747669796194.post-78226891736641254652019-01-08T04:02:23.829+01:002019-01-08T04:02:23.829+01:00I idly picked up a 1943 English translation of Bau...I idly picked up a 1943 English translation of Baum's second novel, "Once in Venice," suspecting from the title and the owner of the shelf where I found it that it must be treacle. Within the first page I was disabused. Baum has got to be the best writer that I'd never heard of before I opened her book. She has been dismissed for being popular, but that's hardly a black mark. "A first-rate second-rate writer" said one academic. But what I see is an author on a par with Eliot, Woolf, Greene and even Mann -- but a lot easier on the reading glasses than the last-named. I'm making a re-appraisal of Baum a personal mission. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05218190781194878866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4322995747669796194.post-54137681990106554332013-12-18T09:30:05.879+01:002013-12-18T09:30:05.879+01:00Yes, I think Christmas traditions are rather simil...Yes, I think Christmas traditions are rather similar in many parts of continental Europe with certain exceptions like St Nicolas or the Swedish St Lucia or the Spanish Reyes Magos or the Italian Befana...<br /><br />It's indeed a pity that much of Vicki Baum's work is out of print today. Even in German only the most famous like <i>Grand Hotel</i> or <i>Hotel Shanghai</i> are still available. <i>The Christmas Carp</i> is a nice story and the last reprint in German was in the 1990s.<br /><br />Thanks for your comment, Emma,... and Meilleurs Voeux !Edith LaGrazianahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07885017198423641770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4322995747669796194.post-56391455438641989222013-12-17T18:59:11.453+01:002013-12-17T18:59:11.453+01:00I've read her Grand Hotel and really liked it....I've read her Grand Hotel and really liked it. <br />The Christmases described here seem a lot like my own, but well, I come from a part of the country where we celebrate St Nicolas, contrary to most of France.<br />Thanks for sharing. I wish it weren't out of print. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com