La matrice biographique établie par Cynthia Griffin Wolf permet de mieux comprendre l’histoire comme la reconnexion thérapeutique de Wharton avec les émotions que sa société - et sa mère - lui avaient appris à nier, en commençant par associer ces émotions enfouies à la capacité de communiquer. Cela provoque la peur du narrateur et, surtout, son incapacité à parler en présence de Mary. Le personnage éponyme occupe le seuil entre la vie et la mort, mélangeant diverses oppositions tout en illustrant ce que Jane Gallop appelle la « réceptivité juteuse qui rend la pénétration indolore et en fait un échange fluide ». La nouvelle invite à la lecture d’une confluence de perspectives féministes, psychanalytiques et biographiques.

It can easily be read in an afternoon, with just enough information, depending on your situation, to satisfy your curiosity, whet your appetite, or refresh your memory.« Miss Mary Pask » d’Edith Wharton est une histoire de fantômes qui ne correspond pas aux attentes du lecteur - ce n’est pas véritablement une histoire de fantômes. This is the perfect book to read in order to get the gist of Cleopatra’s life. Minor point, but it still bugged me: the lack of passage specific source citation for the text makes me wonder where some of the facts came from.

Most appreciated here, though, was a map of the Battle of Actium which none of the other books I’ve read so far provided. The “Documents” section in the back is nifty, but it’s really just a collection of snippets from either primary or literary sources about Cleopatra (or the people in her life), just enough to spice up the reading but nothing you can really sink your teeth into. Even with such limitations, though, the book does manage to get across a lot of information, helped along by the more than plentiful pictures and illustrations.

In a book this compact there isn’t a lot of room for elaboration so the concise details and zippy momentum keep the story moving at a fair pace. Though there are some minor editing issues, they don’t detract from the straightforward narrative of Cleopatra’s life. At 160 pages this is a rather slight book: the first 112 pages are slick and glossy (for the pictures), the rest is the “Documents” section printed on regular drab paper (resembling parchment in color, maybe to evoke mood?). This is an interesting little book, kind of like a miniature coffee table book, so full of pictures that the text must bob, weave, duck, and jump around them.

Discoveries by Edith Flamarion