BL.Arinna_1982

But I am... or my Muse is. I have to wake her up somehow.

Nikki K

Yes, shake her, pinch her. Perhaps the prompts will make her jump? I might look at them myself again if I have the time. Borgias fanficition could need more... and more diversity.

BL.Arinna_1982

I hope she'll get to work soon.

Nikki K

She might need a good spanking (I think that was also a prompt btw.). So I didn't get around to filling another prompt tonight as I was trying to catch up with posting here. I'm exhausted.

BL.Arinna_1982

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay. So you're writing too?

Nikki K

Again... I just filled a prompt the day before yesterday!
Perhaps. I don't know. I still have these bits and pieces I want to write about but it'll be a challenge to fit them into a story.

Nikki K

Again... I just filled a prompt the day before yesterday!
Perhaps. I don't know. I still have these bits and pieces I want to write about but it'll be a challenge to fit them into a story.

BL.Arinna_1982

Maybe if you can combine them, you'll get something good.

Nikki K

It's a time span issue. It'd have to go over a lot of the family history.

BL.Arinna_1982

I hope you'll make it.

Nikki K

Maybe after the season ends... during some long and cold Novembre nights. I have to do some more research for it though.

Nikki K

So... have you been inspired today?

Nikki K

So I watched "Dangerous Beauty", a movie about the life of the Venetian courtesan Veronica Franco. I thought the end was rather cheesy but I did like the over all performance of the actors, especially Jacqueline Bisset as Veronica's mother who showed her the tricks of the trade. It made me think of Vanozza and what she would have to teach Lucrezia.

I finished reading Frederik Berger's book on Agostino Chigi, the Sienaese banker and richest man in Rome at the time of Alexander VI, Julius II and Leo X. While I do like Berger's style, it's an easy read but the prose is well done, I just couldn't help being disappointed that it focused so much on Francesa Ordeaschi, a young girl he brought back from a business trip in Venice, basically buying her from her impoverished parents, making her his concubine and Imperia, the celebrated Roman courtesan who also hoped that he would marry her. I feel like the focus of this was way too much on the whole "women's role" = being objects for purposes of sex, entertainment and giving birth to sons and beingn worthless when they are "old" part. I felt like these are sad facts we already know and I really would have prefered reading more about the economy of the time and Chigi's dealings with the chruch, the Fuggers, the Serenissima. Some things I found interesting side bits - like the part where Chigi tries to marry Francesco Gonzaga's illegitimate daughter to gain a title and the description of the Gonzaga/D'Este family life, also about Isabella D'Este while hating Lucrezia Boriga, her sister-in-law, still corresponded with her etc. - also that Imperia's love Angelo Del Bufalo apparently was married to Felice Della Rovere's half-sister Francesca de Cupis. But all in all I thought that it could have focused more on the professional and less on the private life of Chigi to draw a better picture of the lives and times of the Romans/Italians. I did feel for Imperia when she killed herself in the end, realising that her life was useless - which it basically is... life in general, at least in my opinion. Some people like Chigi delude themselves with the idea that they sponsor artists and therefore will be remembered in history, others like the simple Francesca that having children will ensure their legacy but ultimately - to what point? Why would you want to be remembered and what is it to you anyway - because you are dead. I'm just saying. I understand the reasons for her suicide, there being no point to life.

I realised that there must have been a movie from 2005: Imperia, la grande cortigiana - Wikipedia which also features Della Rovere and the Borgias. I might go and try and find a copy of it.

ring of fire

I watched that movie years ago and I loved it. I agree that the end was a little bit cheesy and unrealistic but I still loved the movie.

One of my favorite scenes was when she talks with one of the married women in private. The woman wants to convince Veronica to make her daughter a courtesan when she grows up but Veronica tells her being a courtesan is a hard life that can end in tragedy. However, the married woman tells her being married is sometimes harder and more horrible.

Nikki K

Right, wasn't that her childhood friend played by Moira Kelly and also the sister of the guy she actually loved?

I think neither opition sounded terribly appealing to be honest. I suspect it was best if you married rich and were widowed soon, with no extended bulk of relatives who would want to take advantage of you.

Reading the synopsis for the "Imperia" movie, it sounds kind of out of sync with history. I think that Villa in Travestere with all its great art wasn't done until 1510 - well after the Borgias were done.