Today I read an article by Q. D. Leavis about Jane Austen, and I discovered that I had a little envy.

Let me explain.

Queenie [I just love that name!] Dorothy Leavis was a literary critic and wife to renowned F.R. Leavis (he had actually been an instructor of hers at Cambridge ;). They collaborated on multiple works of criticism and left a lasting mark on the study of English literature. But Queenie was also a mom and one who enjoyed her investment in her home. 

[F.R and Q.D. Leavis shortly after their wedding in 1929]

So why the envy? Because she had the life I want.
My goal is to be professor and literary critic, but also, and more importantly, to be wife to a man with similar passions and a loving mom to our children. She did it all--and excelled!
I guess more than "envy," I'm just inspired by her.
So thank you, Queenie, for living life well and inspiring others to not settle.




Leave you with this awesome quote of hers:


"Unless men and women are capable of relationships which include loyalty, confidence, mutual interests, and there are people of integrity who can act disinterestedly sometimes, which of course requires courage and faith - people, in short, capable of respect for themselves and each other, I don't see how one can expect that novels worth consideration could be written."


- QDL 'The Italian Novel'