This week I’m at the ASECS conference, giving a paper on Mary Toft and the strange fact of the pantomime/harlequinade that emerged from her fraud. I went to several fascinating panels, and one not-so-fascinating panel, met quite a few interesting people, re-connected with graduate school cronies, and generally made academic hay.
Richmond has a very strange, deserted downtown, which reminds me a bit of Detroit. Though if you walk northwest a few blocks, toward VCU, you do hit a beautiful section of the city, and driving past the university you can enjoy the residential college vibe. I visited Black Swan books, where I found a first edition of Margaret Ezell’s Writing Women’s Literary History, as well as a first edition of John Loftis’ Comedy and Society from Congreve to Fielding–as well as a weird book by a physician on the physical ailments of writers.
Tonya Howe 