Episodes

  • She Speaks Volumes is created by Daniella Sorrentino

    CREDITS:

    Voice-Actors + Narrators

    Margaret Alice Murray, excerpts from witchcraze read by Verna Sorrentino

    Scottish Witches: Marnie Thompson, JP Wright, Susan Harden

    Joan of Arc: @katsuky

    Interviews with:

    Yvonne Owens

    Dr Liz Williams

    LINKS TO PURCHASE or READ BOOKS REFERENCED: detailed bibliography below.

    Witch Cults in Western Europe

    Witchcraze

    Abject Eroticism in Northern Renaissance Art

    Miracles of Our Own Making

    Research

    BBC Bitesize. “Case Study: James vi and the North Berwick Witch Hunt.” Accessed May 29, 2023. https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zj77xbk/articles/zmr6hcw.

    Dictionaries of the Scots Language. “Dictionary of the Scots Language,” n.d. https://dsl.ac.uk/.

    King, James, G B Harrison, and James Carmichael. King James the First, Daemonologie (1597) : Newes from Scotland, Declaring the Damnable Life and Death of Doctor Fian, a Notable Sorcerer Who Was Burned at Edenbrough in Ianuary Last (1591). San Diego, Ca: Book Tree, 2002.

    Llewellyn Barstow, Anne . Witchcraze : A New History of the European Witch Hunts. New York, N.Y.: Harperone, 1994.

    Murray, Margaret Alice. The Witch-Cult in Western Europe, 1921.

    Owens, Yvonne. Abject Eroticism in Northern Renaissance Art : The Witches and Femmes Fatales of Hans Baldung Grien. London ; New York ; Oxford ; New Delhi ; Sydney: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2020.

    saint-joan-of-arc.com. “Joan of Arc: Trial of Condemnation Searchable Transcipt,” n.d. https://saint-joan-of-arc.com/trial-condemnation.htm.

    Williams, Liz. MIRACLES of OUR OWN MAKING : A History of Paganism. S.L.: Reaktion Books, 2021.

  • She Speaks Volumes: A primer for a millennia of often neglected writings by female philosophers, artists, and scientists.

    created by Daniella Sorrentino

    Donate Here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SheSpeaksVol

    S2:E2: The Hearing Trumpet by Leonora Carrington: Surrealist Storytelling and Female Friendship.

    Excerpts from The Hearing Trumpet are ready by Verna Sorrentino

    This episode is based on The NYRB edition of The Hearing Trumpet published in 2021.

    The Hearing Trumpet was written in the 1950s, and was originally published in 1974.

    Listen to the SSV episode on Carrington's Down Below

    FROM WIKIPEDIA: Mary Leonora Carrington OBE (6 April 1917 – 25 May 2011[1]) was a British-born Mexican artist, surrealist painter, and novelist. She lived most of her adult life in Mexico City and was one of the last surviving participants in the surrealist movement of the 1930s.[2] Carrington was also a founding member of the women's liberation movement in Mexico during the 1970s.[3][4] read more

    Research Links:

    Leonora Carrington's - Art work: https://www.wikiart.org/en/leonora-carringtonMuseo Leonora Carrington: https://www.leonoracarringtonmuseo.orgArticle about Carrington and Varo: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/leonora-carrington-7615/love-friendship-rivalry-surreal-friends

    Books I used for research:

    The Surreal Life of Leonora Carrington by Joanna Moorhead.Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art by Susan L. AlberthMagia,...
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  • She Speaks Volumes: Season 2 Episode 1.

    Down Below: Leonora Carrington - surrealism + feminism

    Down Below written by Leonora Carrington published by NYRB 2017 (originally published 1972).

    Excerpts read by: Verna Sorrentino.

    https://www.nyrb.com/products/down-below?variant=29716648135

    Leonora Carrington was born in April 6, 1917 in Lancashire, England, and died May 25th, 2011 in Mexico City. She studied art in London, and in Italy. In 1937 Carrington moved to Paris, and was a central figure in surrealist circles. She lived in Sant Martin d’Ardeche with her lover Max Ernst before fleeing to Spain as the Nazi’s encroached on France. In Madrid she was involuntarily committed to an asylum. After her treatment she managed to evade being sent to a sanatorium in South Africa by her parents. She married Renato Leduc and moved to Mexico City, where she would live for most of the rest of her life. A complete biography is available here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Carrington#Mexico

    If you liked this episode please consider supporting my work! You can ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ right here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/SheSpeaksVol

  • To support the podcast please donate at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/FeralCulture

    She Speaks Volumes:  The Primer for 500 years of feminist philosophy, history

    Season 1 Episode 8: Three Guineas by Virginia Woolf. 

    Created by: Daniella Sorrentino for the Feral Culture Lab: feralculturelab.com , dsorrentino.com 

    Virginia Woolf is voiced by Fiona Thraille: https://thraille.weebly.com

    In this episode we are listening to excerpts from the essay Three Guineas written by Virginia Woolf in 1938. Three Guineas is a satirical book length essay written as England is on the brink of World War 2. The essay is in response to a letter she has received asking her for a donation towards peace efforts, and posing the question, ‘how can women help prevent war?

    For this episode I used:

    Virginia Woolf: A Room of One’s Own and Three Guineas published by Penguin Classics - April 2019 Introduction by: by Michèle Barrett

    Listen to the She Speaks Volumes episode: A Room of One’s Own

    I also Used the following sites as references: 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1939

    https://www.bl.uk/people/virginia-woolf 

    http://www.virginiawoolfsociety.org.uk 

    Credit to:

    SFX: 

    freesound.org 

    00489 Aircraft Run 2 - Robinhood76   

    https://freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/62049/

    O1777 machine gun - Robinhood76

    https://freesound.org/people/Robinhood76/sounds/96376/#

    Military-alarm - kizilsungur 

    https://freesound.org/people/KIZILSUNGUR/sounds/96973/#

    Music: 

    https://www.soundstripe.com

    Sweata Weatha - Dresden, The Flamingo

  • When the failure of modern dictatorship and authoritarian philosophies becomes more apparent and the realization of failure more general, Anarchism will be vindicated.  

    ~ Emma Goldman 

    She Speaks Volumes: Season 1 Episode 7Emma Goldman, The Most Dangerous Woman in America. 

    Episode created by: Daniela Sorrentino, for Feral Culture Lab 

    Your donations help me the voice actors!

    DONATE HERE: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/FeralCulture

    Living My Life Volume 1 - written By Emma Goldman 

    Published by Dover Publications, New York, 1970. 


    Emma Goldman is voiced by: Halia Hirniak.

    Emma Goldman was born June 27th 1869 in Kovno in the Russian Empire. She died May 14th 1940 in Toronto Ontario, Canada. In her almost 70 years she witnessed, often firsthand, World War 1, the early part of World War 2, the Russian Revolution, The Spanish Civil War, the rise and fall of the American Trade Unions, the depression, and the rise and rise of capitalism. she fought for workers rights, wealth distribution long before it was a thing, campaigned for birth control and the rights of women. At heart she was an anarchist, and idealist and most surprisingly a romantic.  Yet she was called the most dangerous woman in America...but dangerous for who? 
    For research and references I also used: 

    https://theanarchistlibrary.org/special/index

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emma_Goldman 

    https://jwa.org/womenofvalor/goldman 


    The interview with Ruth Kinna is the bonus episode. Her books can be found here: 

    https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/128925/ruth-kinna.html

    And an essay here

    https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/professor-ruth-kinna-the-theory-and-practice-of-anarchism 


    Check out the Anarchist Library for tons of essays and publications on anarchy, including the works of Emma Goldman. 


    MUSIC:

    Dresden, The Flamingo; An Old Fashioned Magic Show:

    https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/12943

    SFX

    Inchadney: Northsea. https://freesound.org/s/587759/

    Plantmonkey: Gulls on the isles of Sicily; https://freesound.org/s/377107/

    Canardo55: Herring Gull 1: https://freesound.org/s/538016/

  • She Speaks Volumes:  The Primer for 500 years of feminist philosophy, history

    Season 1 Episode 6: In the Cage of Obscene Birds: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. 

    Created by: Daniella Sorrentino for the Feral Culture Lab: feralculturelab.com , dsorrentino.com 

    Harriet Jacobs is voiced by Portia Cue, VoiceOnCue.com  

    To support the podcast please donate at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/FeralCulture 

    For this episode I used two editions:

    Jacobs Harriet, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself,  Penguin Books, London, Eng 2000 

    Jacobs Harriet, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself, (Enlarged Edition), The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, and London Eng. 2009

    I also used the following web-pages as references: 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harriet_Jacobs

    https://www.humanitiestexas.org/news/articles/before-and-after-civil-war

    https://www.britannica.com/event/American-Civil-War

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_narrative 

    https://www.britannica.com/art/slave-narrative

    Here is the link ton the slave narratives from the Federal Writers Project in the Library of Congress: 

    https://www.loc.gov/collections/slave-narratives-from-the-federal-writers-project-1936-to-1938/about-this-collection/ 

    BIO: Harriet Jacobs was born into slavery around 1813, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, is her auto-biography, her own account of her life in slavery, and the harrowing years, decade she spent on the run, after her escape.

    “You may believe what I say; for I write only that whereof I know. I was twenty-one years in that cage of obscene birds. I can testify, from my own experience and observation, that slavery is a curse to the whites as well as to the blacks.” Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

    MUSIC: 

    Swing Low Sweet Chariot: written by Wallace Willis, c1865, performed by Antioch Mass Choir, licensed via soundstripe. https://app.soundstripe.com/artists/563 

    Oh, Freedom: writer unknown. c1865 performed by Antioch Mass Choir, licensed via soundstripe. https://app.soundstripe.com/songs/13065

    Sound Effects: 

    Rain on a Summer Day

    "Vlatko Blažek Varaždin, Croatia e-mail: [email protected]

  • She Speaks Volumes, the primer for over 500 years of feminist philosophy, history, and writing is produced by the Feral Culture Lab

    Written and created by Daniella Sorrentino. 

    Mary Wollstonecraft is voiced by Fiona Thraille

    In this episode we are listening to excerpts from the book that would lay the foundation of western feminism, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, written by Mary Wollstonecraft, and originally published in 1792.

    Episode extracts from Project Gutenberg edition 

    Research from the  Penguin Classic edition.

    Mary Wollstonecraft was born April 27, 1759 in Spitalfields, now part of London’s East End. Instability in the family’s finances, and her father’s drunken rages prompted her to seek employment outside of London as soon as she was able. She worked first as a ladies companion in Bath, and as governess in Ireland, she also briefly started her own school. Finding none of these careers suitable she returned to London to embark on a career as a writer. ‘The first of a new genus’, she would write in a letter to her sister. 

    A complete list of her works can be found in the bibliography on her wikipedia entry.

    Music:

    Mandoline Concerto in C, Vivaldo (1729) from the Internet Archive

    La Marseillaise, (1792 ) Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, from Wikimedia Commons

    Soundscape source credits: 

    "Rain on Windows, Interior, B.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org

    "Wind, Realistic, A.wav" by InspectorJ (www.jshaw.co.uk) of Freesound.org

    “Dry Thunder”, by JusKiddink of Freesound.org

  • Thank for listening to She Speaks Volumes, a primer for 500 years of feminist writings.

    feralculturelab.com

    This episode is an excerpt from Emma Goldman's autobiography Living My Life - Vol 2.

    Anarchist Emma Goldman was called the most dangerous woman in America, she emigrated from Russia at the age of 17, the Romanov's were still in power. By the time she was 20 she was an active member of the New York anarchists movement and was speaking at union and worker rallies. Through her life Goldman fought against injustices and for the cause of anarchy, through the union movements, conscription and birth control in the US, the rebuilding of a new Russia after the revolution, fighting against conscription and militarism leading up to World War 1. She was also an avid student and lecturer on modern theatre.

    Read her books an essays for free at Project Gutenberg

    and articles by and about Emma Goldman at The Anarchist Library

    Read her biography on Wikipedia here.

    Visit our website to learn more about other episodes: feralculturelab.com

    AND contribute to the conversation an Facebook

  • She Speaks Volumes - a primer for 500 years of feminist writing.

    Feral Culture Lab

    written and produced by Daniella Sorrentino

    This Episode, #8 explores what anarchy is through an excerpt of Emma Goldman's essay 'Anarchy: What it Really Stands For - Anarchy and an interview with the author of several books on anarchy including The Government of No One, the Theory and Practice of Anarchism Ruth Kinna, professor of political philosophy at Loughborough University.

    The Government of No One: The Theory and Practice of Anarchism can and should be purchased at a local bookstore but you can read about it here.

    Here is a list of anarchist resources:

    https://theanarchistlibrary.org/special/index

    https://neighborhoodanarchists.org/anarchism/

    https://www.paperrevolution.org/library/

  • She Speaks Volumes:

    Created by: Daniella Sorrentino

    Marilynn Desmond is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Binghamton University. She (co-authored with Pamela Sheingorn), Myth, Montage and Visuality in Late Medieval Manuscript Culture: Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea. 2003, and is the author of "Christine de Pizan: gender, authorship and life-writing," in The Cambridge Companion to Medieval French Literature 2008, p. 123-135. I will post a bibliography for her on my website. Show notes will be updated to reflect this. 

    Two translations of The Book of the City of Ladies were used to create this episode:

    The excerpt is from the Penguin 1999 edition, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant

    https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/352/35288/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies/9780141907581.html

    My notes, and the blog posts were based on the translation by Earl Jeffrey Richards published by Persea Books in 1998

    https://www.perseabooks.com/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies

    PLEASE: whenever possible support your local bricks and mortar bookstore - 

    To comment email: [email protected] OR https://www.facebook.com/FeralCulturePodcasts

    Visit the website for more information on Christine de Pizan and the authors in the series.:

    www.shespeaksvolumes.ca 

  • She Speaks Volumes, the primer for over 500 years of feminist history, and philosophy is produced by Feral Culture Lab - feralculturelab.com 

    Created by Daniella Sorrentino - dsorrentino.com

    Excerpts in this episode are from Poems, Protest and a Dream, published in 1997 by Penguin Random House. Translated by Margaret Sayers Peden. 

    Sor Juana is voiced by Paola Poucel

    Music: Madre la de los primores - written and composed by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz. Performed by the L.A. Camerata, directed by Marylin Winkle 

    You can watch a YouTube video of the performance here.

    ‘ Like in much of Europe Sor Juana’s career options would have been limited to wife, whore, or nun.’ 

    In this episode we are listening to excerpts from a letter “Response to the Most Illustrious Poet Sor Fillotea’ written by Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, the 17th century Mexican poet, philosopher, playwright, composer, nun and feminist. Sor Juana was born just outside of Mexico City in 1648. A brilliant and opinionated nun, one who has powerful political allies was seen as an existential threat by the patriarchal Church.  Sor Juana is particularly aware that being a woman is no small part of the repercussions from her Athenagoric letter. Throughout her letter she asserts that the inherent misogyny within the church is hypocritical, and misguided.

    “considering the total antipathy I had toward matrimony, the convent was the least disproportionate and ( most honourable decision I could make” Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz - from Response to the Most Illustrious Poet Sor Fillotea

    Read more about Sor Juana

    To support She Speaks Volumes please consider donating with the Buy Me A Coffee link. All proceeds help me pay for voice actors, music, and production costs. 

    If you want to learn more about Feral Culture Lab productions, and sign up for the monthly newsletter please visit feralculturelab.com 

  • Thanks for listening!

    To find out more about She Speaks Volumes, the series and the authors please visit:

    http://www.shespeaksvolumes.ca

    or like us on Facebook:

    https://www.facebook.com/FeralCulturePodcasts

    The text I used for Part 1 of episode 3 is:

    Dialogue on the Infinity of Love by Tulia d'Aragona translated by Rinaldina Russel and Bruce Merry, published by The Chicago University Press as part of The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe series.

    I used music from Youtube audio library: Yonder Hill and Dale by Aaron Kenny

    Guests this episode:

    Fabian Deuchert,

    Jessica North O'Connell: Great Goddess Alive - Aboutgreatgoddessalive.com

    Terry Van Roon

  • She Speaks Volumes is produced by feralculturelab.com

    Created by Daniella Sorrentino dsorrentino.com 

    Support the podcast at: Buy Me A Coffee: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/FeralCulture

    Sign-Up for FCL Newsletter: 

    Episode #3: Dialogue on the Infinity of Love by Tulia d’Aragona 

    Published by University of Chicago Press as part of The Other Voice in Early Modern Europe Series. https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/series/OVIEME.html

    Edited and Translated by Rinaldina Russell, and Bruce Merry. 

    Music from Free Music Archive:

    Lady in Waiting [Instrumental] by Kathleen Martin

    Excerpts from Cosi Fan Tutte by Mozart performed by MIT Symphony Orchestra Soprano: Emily Marvosh from the Album An Opera Evening. 

    Tullia d’Aragona read by Vita Wulff: 

    Benedetto Varchi rad by Tomaso Thellung: http://www.tomasothellung.blog/

    Poet, philosopher, and Courtesan Tullia d’Aragona was born in Rome at the height of the Renaissance to Giulia Campana, herself a courtesan.  This was a golden era for the courtesan that waned over Tullia’s life as the church extended its reach and influence over Italian states one by one. 

    Read more about Tullia d’Aragona here: http://www.projectcontinua.org/tullia-d-aragona/

    The Dialogue on the Infinity of Love is one of a few surviving examples of Tullia d’Aragona’s work. The Dialogue as a literary form has a long history; the first examples date back to the third millennia BCE from the Mahabrata, and to Plato in the west. The dialogue is a literary form rendered by way of a conversation between two or more people.  Plato’s The Symposium being the most well-known dialogue and perhaps the first to address the subject of love. A subject which was which was explored in numerous dialogues in the Renaissance period. Of all the dialogues we know of from the Mahabrata  onwards, only the Dialogue on the Infinity of Love was written by a woman and explores a feminine view on the subject of love and desire.

    Listen to the other podcasts in this series: 

  • She Speaks Volumes:

    Created by: Daniella Sorrentino

    Marilynn Desmond is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Binghamton University. She (co-authored with Pamela Sheingorn), Myth, Montage and Visuality in Late Medieval Manuscript Culture: Christine de Pizan's Epistre Othea. 2003, and is the author of "Christine de Pizan: gender, authorship and life-writing," in The Cambridge Companion to Medieval French Literature 2008, p. 123-135. I will post a bibliography for her on my website. Show notes will be updated to reflect this. 

    Two translations of The Book of the City of Ladies were used to create this episode:

    The excerpt is from the Penguin 1999 edition, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant

    https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/352/35288/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies/9780141907581.html

    My notes, and the blog posts were based on the translation by Earl Jeffrey Richards published by Persea Books in 1998

    https://www.perseabooks.com/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies

    PLEASE: whenever possible support your local bricks and mortar bookstore - 

    To comment email: [email protected] OR https://www.facebook.com/FeralCulturePodcasts

    Visit the website for more information on Christine de Pizan and the authors in the series.:

    www.shespeaksvolumes.ca 

  • She Speaks Volumes: a primer for 500 years of feminist history, and philosophy 

    Created by: Daniella Sorrentino. Feral Culture Lab - feralculturelab.com 

    Episode 2: The Book of the City of Ladies:

    Written by Christine de Pizan - 1405 

    Excerpts read by: Leanne Woodward: https://www.leannenarrates.com 

    Two translations of The Book of the City of Ladies were used to create this episode:

    The excerpt is from the Penguin 1999 edition, translated by Rosalind Brown-Grant

    https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/352/35288/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies/9780141907581.html

    My notes, and the blog posts were based on the translation by Earl Jeffrey Richards published by Persea Books in 1998

    https://www.perseabooks.com/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies

    PLEASE: whenever possible support your local bricks and mortar bookstore

    Christine de Pisan: Christine de Pisan, (born 1364, Venice [Italy]—died c. 1430), prolific and versatile French poet and author whose diverse writings include numerous poems of courtly love, a biography of Charles V of France, and several works championing women.

    https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christine-de-Pisan

    The British Library has a digitized copy of The Book of the City of Ladies, illuminated by Christine de Pizan. https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/the-book-of-the-city-of-ladies 

    To support She Speaks Volumes please donate at: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/FeralCulture 

  • A discussion about a Room of One's Own and exploring if women have achieved equality in writing and publishing with Brooke Warner, publisher at She Writes Press and author of Write on, Sisters!

  • She Speaks Volumes S1-E1: A Room of One’s Own 

    This is a re-vamp of the original episode

    A Room of One’s Own written by Virginia Woolf, 1929 

    Originally published by Hogarth press.  This edition published by Penguin Random House

    Also available at Gutenberg:  http://gutenberg.ca/ebooks/woolfv-aroomofonesown/woolfv-aroomofonesown-00-h.html 

    Excerpts read by: Fiona Thraille

    Episode Glossary:

    The Verneys: A prominent British family that left a legacy of letters and papers detailing life until 1693. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verney_family_of_Middle_Claydon

    The Hutchinsons: I am not sure….

    Cleopatra: Queen of the Ptolemaic Region: 51–30 BC  - VW is referencing Shakespeare’s tragedy: Anthony and Cleopatra. 

    Lady MacBeth: From Shakespeare’s Macbeth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Macbeth 

    Rosalind: From Shakespeare’s As You Like It. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosalind_(As_You_Like_It) 

    Clytemnestra: raped and forced into marriage by the tyrant Agamemnon, she avenged herself and the death of her eldest daughter Iphigenia by murdering him with the help of her lover Aegisthus. 

    Antigone: In Greek mythology Antigone is the daughter of Jocasta and her son Oedipus (Oedipus Rex), VW’s reference is most likely to the play and charchter in Sophocles play Antigone. 

    Phaedra: Cretan princess, half-sister of the Minotaur. Phaedra falls passionately in love with her stepson Hippolytus, but it is unrequited. Phaedra tells her husband Theseus that Hippolytus tried to rape her and Theseus calls in a favour from Posiedon who summons a bull from the sea that scares his horse and kills Hippolytus. 

    Cressida: refers most likely to Shakespeare’s Cressida, from the play Troilus and Cressida, which is based on the Boccaccio’s Il Filostrato, a telling of a Trojan legend originally by Benoît de Sainte-Maure. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cressida 

    Desdemona: From Shakespeare’s play Othello: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desdemona 

    The Duchess of Malfi: A play by John Webster premiered 1614, about the Italian aristocrat Giovanna d'Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanna_d%27Aragona,_Duchess_of_Amalfi 

    Millamant: from the play The Way of the World by William Congreve, a restoration comedy that premiered in 1700. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Way_of_the_World 

    Clarissa: The main character in the novel ‘