literature

97d

Poet, writer, artist, & avant-gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925–2006) was born 100 years ago #OTD, 28 Oct, in Nassau, Bahamas – a fact which he would later describe as “ridiculous, not in character at all”. His father was a bootlegger, smuggling rum to the USA, & Finlay was sent, aged 6, to Larchfield, a boarding school in Helensburgh, Scotland, where WH Auden had recently joined the staff

A 🎂🧵

1/9

#Scottish #literature #poetry #visualart #gardening #sculpture #IanHamiltonFinlay

“Et In Arcadia Ego”, a stone sculpture by ian Hamilton Finlay (1976)

A slab of pale stone, showing a stylised scene in a woodland. In the foreground is what looks like a tank (i.e. a military vehicle), except it has incised lines across it suggesting that it is in fact made out of stone blocks. The scene is framed and under the frame the words

ET IN ARCADIA EGO
After Nicholas Poussin

are carved into the slab.

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98d

7 Best-Selling 19th-Century Female Novelists Who Aren’t Jane Austen

Add these forgotten novels to your TBR pile.

By Rebecca Batley

https://www.mentalfloss.com/literature/authors/bestselling-victorian-female-authors

At PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/630
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2824
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1177
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/939
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/52296
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2957
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1147

#books #literature

Maria Edgeworth by John Downman, 1807.

It depicts the Anglo-Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth at approximately forty years of age. She is shown from the bust upward, wearing a light dress of the Regency style and a delicate frilled bonnet tied under her chin. Her dark, softly curled hair frames a composed and thoughtful face.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Edgeworth#/media/File:Maria_Edgeworth_by_John_Downman_1807.jpg

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97d

Jessie Kesson (1916–1994) was born #OTD, 28 Oct. Taken from her mother at 10, she spent 6 years in an orphanage; although she displayed obvious academic talent she was denied any chance of further education & was sent into domestic servitude aged 16.

Despite these & other hardships she became a highly regarded novelist whose works explore ordinary women’s lives with clarity & poetic prose

A 🎂🧵

1/5

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/9964/jessie-kesson-novelist

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #womenwriters #workingclass

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94d

But gin the auld fowks’ tales are richt
An’ ghaists come hame on Hallow nicht,
O freend o’ freends! what wad I gie
To feel ye rax yer hand to me
Atween the dark an’ caun’le-licht?

—Violet Jacob, “Hallowe’en”
first published in COUNTRY LIFE, 1920

Jacob’s only son, Harry, was killed at the Somme in 1916

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Halloween #warpoem #warpoetry #WW1

Hallowe’en
Violet Jacob

The tattie-liftin’s nearly through,
They’re ploughin’ whaur the barley grew,‍‍
And aifter dark, roond ilka stack,‍‍
Ye’ll see the horsemen stand an’ crack
O Lachlan, but I mind o’ you!

I mind foo often we hae seen
Ten thoosand stars keek doon atween‍‍
The nakit branches, an’ below‍‍
Baith fairm an’ bothie hae their show,
Alowe wi’ lichts o’ Hallowe’en.

There’s bairns wi’ guizards at their tail
Clourin’ the doors wi’ runts o’ kail,‍‍
And fine ye’ll hear the skreichs an’ skirls‍‍
O’ lassies wi’ their droukit curls
Bobbin’ for aipples i’ the pail.

The bothie fire is loupin’ het,
A new heid horseman’s kist is set‍‍
Richts o’ the lum; whaur by the blaze‍‍
The auld ane stude that kept yer claes—
I canna thole to see it yet!

But gin the auld fowks’ tales are richt
An’ ghaists come hame on Hallow nicht,‍‍
O freend o’ freends! what wad I gie‍‍
To feel ye rax yer hand to me
Atween the dark an’ caun’le licht?

Awa in France, across the wave,
The wee lichts burn on ilka grave,‍‍
An’ you an’ me their lowe hae seen—‍‍
Ye’ll mebbe hae yer Hallowe’en
Yont, whaur ye’re lyin’ wi’ the lave.

There’s drink an’ daffin’, sang an’ dance
And ploys and kisses get their chance,‍‍
But Lachlan, man, the place I see‍‍
Is whaur the auld kist used to be
And the lichts o’ Hallowe’en in France!

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1y

American author, humorist, editor & columnist Irvin S. Cobb was born #OTD in 1876.

At the age of 17, Cobb began working for the Paducah Daily News, where he quickly made a name for himself with his keen observations & humorous writing style. In 1904, he moved to New York City and joined the staff of the New York Evening Sun. His work as a journalist & columnist gained him national recognition. He was one of the most widely read humorists of his time.

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/559

#books #literature

Irvin S. Cobb.

An elderly man wearing a formal suit, posing for a photograph.

Cover of Cobb's Bill-of-Fare by Irvin S. Cobb.

"Cobb's Bill-of-Fare" is a collection of essays and short stories by Irvin S. Cobb, showcasing his signature humor and storytelling style. Published in 1913, this book is a delightful exploration of Cobb's thoughts on various topics, often centered around food and dining, but also touching on other aspects of everyday life.

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28d

“Despite its premise of the distillation of evil through shapeshifting, the anchoring concerns of this gothic tale are profoundly & universally human”

Robert Louis Stevenson’s STRANGE CASE OF DR JEKYLL & MR HYDE was first published #OTD, 5 Jan, 1886

🧵 1/8

https://theconversation.com/jekyll-and-hyde-a-tale-of-doubles-disguises-and-our-warring-desires-187173

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #RobertLouisStevenson #JekyllandHyde #horror #gothic

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94d

The Grey Paw (Spòg liath)

In the big church of Beauly (Eaglais mhor na manachain, i.e. of the Monastery) mysterious and unearthly sights and sounds were seen and heard at night, and none who went to watch the churchyard or burial-places within the church ever came back alive…

—from Witchcraft & Second Sight in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland (Glasgow, 1902), via @gutenberg_org

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/58894/pg58894-images.html#Page_194

#Scottish #literature #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #folklore #folktale #supernatural #Halloween

A page image of the folk tale “The Grey Paw” (“Spòg liath”). Unfortunately too long for ALT text – full text is available via the link.

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1y

Swedish author and illustrator Elsa Beskow died #OTD in 1953.

Beskow's first book, "Sagan om den lilla, lilla gumman", was published in 1897. It was followed by "Tomtebobarnen" (1910), "Pelles nya kläder" (1912) and "Tant Grön, tant Brun och tant Gredelin" (1918). In her honor, the Elsa Beskow Award was established in 1958 by the Swedish Library Association. This award is given annually to the best Swedish picture book illustrator.

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

#books #art #literature

Elsa Beskow in 1901

Image scanned from the book "Svenskt Porträttgalleri XX - Arkitekter, Bildhuggare, Målare m.fl. " ("Swedish Portrait Gallery XX - Architects, Sculptors, Painters, ") published 1901.

A vintage photo of a woman with a bun hairstyle, captured in black and white.

Elsa Beskow - Tomtebobarnen, color poster for the 3rd spread - Google Art Project

Illustration from Children of the Forest (Tomtebobarnen, 1910) by w:Elsa Beskow (1874 – 1953). ISBN 08-631-5049-7

The accompanying caption in Swedish explains that the elves (älvorna) lives behind a huge mossy boulder and come out at night to dance in the moonlight. The children of the forest (lit. the "w:tomte children") are trying to play w:seesaw with them, but the elves are so light and tender that even though they are eight and the children only two, they don't weight even.

Edited 1y ago

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1y

German poet Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock was born #OTD in 1724.

He is best known for his epic poem "Der Messias" which was heavily influenced by John Milton's "Paradise Lost" but distinguished itself with its intense emotionality and religious fervor. Klopstock also wrote numerous odes and lyric poems that celebrated themes of friendship, patriotism, nature, and spirituality. Notable collections include "Odes" and "Poetische Werke".

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/6558

#books #literature #poetry

Klopstock by Johann Caspar Füssli (1750)
Johann Caspar Füssli - Das Jahrhundert der Freundschaft. Johann Wilhelm Ludwig Gleim und seine Zeitgenossen, ed. Ute Pott (Göttingen: Wallstein, 2004), p. 25.

Image of a man with white hair and a red tie in a painting.

Titelblatt der Erstausgabe der ersten drei Gesänge des Messias (1749).

Klopstock began writing "Der Messias" in 1748. This epic poem, written in unrhymed hexameters, is a religious and lyrical masterpiece that narrates the life and mission of Jesus Christ. It was heavily influenced by John Milton's "Paradise Lost" but distinguished itself with its intense emotionality and religious fervor.

The first three cantos were published in 1748, and the poem was eventually completed in 1773. The work was groundbreaking for its time, emphasizing religious devotion and the sublime rather than the rationality and order typical of Enlightenment literature.

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96d

WRITERS!

Submissions invited to NEW WRITING SCOTLAND 44! We want poetry & prose in English, #Gaelic, & #Scots from writers who are Scottish by residence, birth, or inclination. All successful contributors are paid – deadline 31 Oct!

@writingcommunity

Submit free via Submittable 👇

https://nws.submittable.com/submit

#Scottish #literature #writing #WritingCommunity #IAmWriting #poetry #shortfiction #shortstories #Scots #Scotslanguage #Gaelic #Gaidhlig

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55d

I am a human being
and I exist

a human being
and a citizen of the world

responsible to that world
– and responsible for that world

—Tom Leonard, “Being a Human Being”
First published in PN Review 32 (2005)

Today, 10 December, is Human Rights Day

https://www.un.org/en/observances/human-rights-day

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #HumanRights #HUmanRightsDay

Being a Human Being
Tom Leonard

for Mordechai Vanunu

not to be complicit
not to accept everyone else is silent it must be alright

not to keep one’s mouth shut to hold onto one’s job
not to accept public language as cover and decoy

not to put friends and family before the rest of the world
not to say I am wrong when you know the government is wrong

not to be just a bought behaviour pattern
to accept the moment and fact of choice

I am a human being
and I exist

a human being
and a citizen of the world

responsible to that world
– and responsible for that world

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28d

Off Lindisfarne
the waves shiver like monks
at their ablutions.

Under high horizontals
of ice-cloud, the sky
scrubbed clean as a dairy.

The train darts north,
hungry as a tongue…

—Alison Fell, “January, 5”
published in LIGHTYEAR (Smokestack Books, 2005)

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/january-5/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #winter

January, 5
by Alison Fell

Off Lindisfarne
the waves shiver like monks
at their ablutions.

Under high horizontals
of ice-cloud, the sky
scrubbed clean as a dairy.

The train darts north,
hungry as a tongue.

Only the exile longs for
the words to name a country:

either live it or learn,
at a bare table,

ancestral silence, like a rumble
deep in the loch’s throat,

the forgotten song
of the curling-stone,

the snow slipping like white meat
from the bones of the mountain.

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1y

American author and journalist Rebecca Harding Davis was born #OTD in 1831.

"Life in the Iron Mills" (1861): Davis´s most famous work, originally published anonymously in the Atlantic Monthly, is considered one of the earliest examples of American realism. It depicts the harsh realities of life for industrial workers and is noted for its empathetic portrayal of the working class.

Books by Rebecca Harding Davis at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/186

#books #literature

American novelist Rebecca Harding Davis.

A monochrome photograph featuring a woman with long hair, from the past.

Cover page of Life in the Iron-Mills; Or, The Korl Woman by Rebecca Harding Davis.

"Life in the Iron Mills; or, The Korl Woman" is a novella by Rebecca Harding Davis, first published in 1861 in the Atlantic Monthly. It is considered a pioneering work of American realism and is notable for its social critique and empathetic portrayal of the working class during the Industrial Revolution.

The novella is set in a dreary industrial town and revolves around the lives of Hugh Wolfe, a furnace tender in an iron mill, and his cousin Deborah, who works in a cotton mill. The story is narrated by an unnamed observer who provides a grim depiction of the industrial environment and the dehumanizing conditions faced by the workers.

"Life in the Iron Mills" remains a seminal work in American literature, celebrated for its empathetic portrayal of the working class and its pioneering role in the development of literary realism.

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96d

Victorian Horror and the Search for Truth

by Emily Erwin

https://www.wordonfire.org/articles/victorian-horror-and-the-search-for-truth/

The Woman in White at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/583

#books #literature

Walter Hartright's first encounter with 'The Woman in White'. Illustration by Thomas Eyre Macklin.

Illustration for The Woman in White, a lithograph by Thomas Eyre Macklin RBA (1867–1943), a British artist, illustrator and sculptor.

It depicts the haunting nighttime meeting between the young drawing master Walter Hartright and the mysterious woman dressed entirely in white, from The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.

The scene shows the two figures standing on a dimly lit country road. Walter, dressed in formal Victorian attire with a tall hat and cloak, looks toward the woman with a mix of surprise and concern. The woman in white, her expression anxious and imploring, gestures toward the distance as she asks, “Is that the road to London?” Her light gown and bonnet stand out against the shadowed background and cloudy night sky, enhancing her spectral presence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Woman_in_White_(novel)#/media/File:Illustration_by_Thomas_Eyre_Macklin_for_The_Woman_in_White_(1).jpg

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28d

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@scotlit/115842616105911298

“The killer is never assumed to be a local East Ender… He’s always judged to be a man out of place, flipping between high society by day & the dark & dirty streets of Whitechapel by night”

Lucy Worsley on how Robert Louis Stevenson’s JEKYLL & HYDE influenced the legend of Jack the Ripper

https://www.salon.com/2014/10/18/jack_the_rippers_long_shadow_from_sherlock_holmes_to_jekyll_hyde/

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #RobertLouisStevenson #JekyllandHyde #horror #gothic #JacktheRipper

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95d

Rubbing a glistening circle
on the steamed-up window I framed
a pheasant in a field of mist…

—Edwin Morgan, “Aberdeen Train”
published in CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2020)

https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781784109967

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #ChineseArt #EdwinMorgan #autumn #October

Edwin Morgan
Aberdeen Train

Rubbing a glistening circle
on the steamed-up window I framed
a pheasant in a field of mist.
The sun was a great red thing somewhere low,
struggling with the milky scene. In the furrows
a piece of glass winked into life,
hypnotized the silly dandy; we
hooted past him with his head cocked,
contemplating a bottle-end,
and this was the last of October,
a Chinese moment in the Mearns.

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95d

He telt us his wife had run aff wi Super Mario.
Noo, he wis dinin on the dustbins, dwinin awa
for want o a pouer pill and a braw sheenie cherry…

—Amy Jo Philip, “Pac-Man’s Last Stand”
in DOUBLE BILL (Red Squirrel Press 2014)
🟡 🍒 👻

Happy 45th birthday to Pac-Man!

https://www.redsquirrelpress.com/product-page/double-bill-andy-jackson

#Scottish #literature #PacMan #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #gaming #retrogaming #GoogleDoodle

Pac-Man’s Last Stand
Amy Jo Philip

We funt him dossin in a piss-scented close
oot the back o a defunct arcade,
his canary coupon dulled fae dool and stour
tae say naething o the bargain booze he swallied
fae a bottle happed in a broun paper poke.

He telt us his wife had run aff wi Super Mario.
Noo, he wis dinin on the dustbins, dwinin awa
for want o a pouer pill and a braw sheenie cherry;
in a constant, feartie, blootered dwam
o Inky, Blinky, Pinky and even Clyde closin in

for the kill. Haurdly a shaddae o his auld sel.
The worst o it wis, every time he yawned
his gub wid gant that wee tait wider till it seemed
he’d fauld in on hissel and the air aroun him growe
shairp wi they twa wirds ilka gamer dreids.

Naiturally, we taen him hame wi’s and fed him up
on spare fou stops, Morellos and tartrazine.
Man, ye shuid hae seen thon appetite!
The trouble stairted wi a toattie bite taen out
the sofa. Afore lang, the living room was a guddle

o sawdust, torn swatches and chowed wires. Im gey feart
he’ll soon hae eaten us oot o hous and hauld.
And that’s whaur youse come in. A puckle wee ghosties
dinnae fleg me, but yon yellae golach’s anither story.
The doors and windaes is aw locked. He’ll no suspect a thing.

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96d

Meet the Real Dr. Frankenstein

The Italian scientist who sparked an electric revolution that led to the beloved horror story—and the battery

By Molly Glick

https://nautil.us/meet-the-real-dr-frankenstein-1245010/

Galvani and Frankenstein at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/27281
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/84

#books #literature #science

Luigi Galvani - De viribus electricitatis in motu musculari commentarius, Tav. 1

Luigi Galvani experiment on frogs legs.

In this 18th-century scientific engraving, Galvani demonstrates how electricity can cause muscular movement in a dissected frog’s legs. The scene typically shows frog limbs connected by metal wires to an electrical source or to a metal arc, producing visible contractions when the circuit is completed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luigi_Galvani#/media/File:Luigi_Galvani_Experiment.jpeg

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95d

R.B. & Gabriela Cunninghame Graham: International Travel, Domestic Reality
28 November, University of Glasgow – free

A symposium exploring the cultural & political significance of Robert Bontine Cunninghame Graham’s travels & travel-writing; the question of his wife Gabriela’s identity & his collusion in the deception at its heart; his writing about women & the equality of the sexes.

https://wegottickets.com/event/677550

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #travel #travelwriting #equality

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96d

“That’s Why We Become Witches”: Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes (1926)

"A novel about a woman who throws off the yoke of patriarchy to become a witch."

https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/lolly-willowes/

The book at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/72223

#witches #supernatural #books #literature

Halloween: illustration shows a witch riding on a broom with a black cat.

Edited 96d ago

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95d

The Uncanny Scot

To get you in the mood for Halloween, this back issue of The Bottle Imp pursues the spectre of the Scottish Gothic – including HP Lovecraft’s favourite Scots word …

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggity beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

🎃
(the absence of a neep emoji is cultural imperialism at its worst)

https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2009/11/editorial-the-uncanny-scot-scottish-gothic/

#Scottish #literature #horror #gothic #halloween #Lovecraft #HPLovecraft

The Uncanny Scot
By The Unreliable Narrator

Readers of a nervous disposition, turn away! This issue of The Bottle Imp pursues the spectre of the Gothic. Naught but ruined towers, blasted heaths, and cold wastes lie within.

Horror seeps in to this our waking world from the margins, and the marginalised. Scotland lies on Britain’s edge, a ragged, ancient fringe. The very rocks beneath our feet are primeval: they count their years in billions, and were old past knowing when first things sneaked and scuttled from out the slime. The skin is thinner here, stretched more tightly over the bones of the Earth.

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54d

George MacDonald (1824–1905) was born #OTD, 10 Dec. One of the earliest theorists of the fantastic, & grandfather of modern fantasy literature, he was read & admired by CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien & Madeleine L’Engle, among others

@litstudies

🎨 : Cecilia Harrison (1863–1941)

🧵 1/5

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/3082

#Scottish #literature #Victorian #19thCentury #fantasty #childrenslit #CSLewis #Tolkien

“George Macdonald, 1824–1905. Poet and novelist”, by Cecilia Harrison (1863–1941). Oil on canvas.

A portrait of an elderly man with a full white beard, wearing a brown jacket and a deep crimson-coloured cap. His pale grey-blue eyes look down and to the left of the painting, as he sits with his head resting on his right hand.

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54d

#OTD in 1905, O. Henry’s short story “The Gift of the Magi” is first published in The New York Sunday World.

The story at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7256

#books #literature

Photograph of O. Henry

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28d

Wordsworth Revolutionized Poetry But His Life Was Equally Interesting

"Who was William Wordsworth, and what made his poetry so revolutionary? Read about the life and works of this major Romantic poet."

https://www.thecollector.com/william-wordsworth/

Books by Wordsworth at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2879

#books #literature #poetry

Portrait of William Wordsworth, by William Shuter, 1798.

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93d

The Distributed Proofreaders' blog this month is about another Edgar Allan Poe book at PG: "The Poems of Edgar Allan Poe."

https://blog.pgdp.net/2025/11/01/nevermore/

#books #literature #poetry

Portrait of Edgar Allan Poe from 1849.

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