literature

1y

British artist, writer, poet, playwright, novelist, painter, designer of lamps, and bohemian Mina Loy died #OTD in 1966.

Loy's poetry is known for its non-traditional structure, free verse, and exploration of the female experience, such as Lunar Baedecker (1923). In 1914, while living in an expatriate community in Florence, Italy, Loy wrote her Feminist Manifesto. Loy was also a visual artist, working in painting, sculpture, and design.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mina_Loy#

#books #literature #poetry

Photograph of Mina Loy

Anonymous - Becoming Modern: The Life of Mina Loy (Introduction), carolynburke.com

Loy is typically depicted with a thoughtful, almost enigmatic expression, emphasizing her intellectual and artistic depth. Her gaze often appears direct and intense, conveying her confidence and unconventional spirit.

Loy’s attire tends to reflect her modernist aesthetics—simple yet avant-garde, blending elegance with a rejection of traditional norms.

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273d

In Praise of E. H. Shepard’s Illustrations

What makes Pooh Pooh? The answer lies not only in author A.A. Milne’s prose, but also in the quiet genius of E. H. Shepard’s original illustrations. With Shepard’s work now in the public domain, it’s the perfect opportunity to revisit how these deceptively simple drawings became cultural touchstones.

by Sterling Dudley

https://blog.archive.org/2025/12/10/e-h-shepards-illustrations/

At PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67098

#books #literature

Here's a picture of Christopher Robin, Rabbit, Rabbit's firends and relations, Piglet, some mice and even a hedgehog, all pulling together on Pooh, still stuck.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/67098/pg67098-images.html

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290d

‘He was just trying to earn a few kopecks’: how newly translated stories reveal Chekhov’s silly side

With daft jokes and experimental wordplay, the first comprehensive translations of his lesser-known stories show Anton Chekhov in a new light

By Viv Groskop

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/nov/23/he-was-just-trying-to-earn-a-few-kopecks-how-newly-translated-stories-reveal-chekhovs-silly-side

Chekhov at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/708

#books #literature

Anton Chekhov in 1893.

Chekhov stands outdoors in front of a wooden structure with ornate balusters. He is dressed in a long, light-colored overcoat and a dark hat, with a full beard and a calm, direct expression. Surrounding him are bare branches and foliage, giving the scene a slightly austere atmosphere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Chekhov#/media/File:Chekhov_ht.jpg

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288d

Scotland’s Gutenberg: William Ged & the Invention of Stereotype Printing, 1725–49

Examining the ‘non-moveable type’ productions of Edinburgh goldsmith William Ged (c.1683–1749), Dr William Zachs hypothesises the existence of a group of previously unknown stereotyped books, thus offering a revised history of book production in 18th-century Britain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMcEZ9FK6ak

#Scottish #literature #history #BookHistory #printing #bookproduction #18thcentury

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289d

‘A Tartan Belle’: Jane, Duchess of Gordon and the Romanticisation of Scottish Identity in London, c.1780–1812
25 Nov, online – free

At a time when markers of Scottish identity were still viewed with suspicion in England, Jane, Duchess of Gordon used her social influence to make Scottish culture interesting & romantic to the British elite

https://www.history.ac.uk/news-events/events/tartan-belle-jane-duchess-gordon-romanticisation-scottish-identity-london-c1780-1812

#Scottish #literature #history #culture #identity #18thcentury #romanticism

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289d

“Scottishness is not some pedigree lineage. This is a mongrel tradition!”

William McIlvanney (1936–2015) – author & poet (& provider, at a rally in Edinburgh in 1992, of our profile header, as quoted in Neal Ascherson’s 2002 book STONE VOICES) – was born #OTD, 25 November

A 🎂 🧵

@bookstodon

1/9

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #WilliamMcIlvanney #Scottishness #identity

And then, in a tone of tremendous pride, he said this. “Scottishness is not some pedigree lineage. This is a mongrel tradition!” At those words, for reasons which perhaps neither he nor they ever quite understood, the crowd broke into cheers and applause which lasted on and on.

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289d

Nothing Better Than a Whole Lot of Books: In Praise of Bibliomania

Ed Simon Considers the Many Different Ways an Obsession Can Manifest

https://lithub.com/nothing-better-than-a-whole-lot-of-books-in-praise-of-bibliomania/

Bibliomania at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/1095

#books #literature

Engraving titled The Bibliomaniac from Navis Stultifera (The Ship of Fools) by Sebastian Brandt, 1497.

The bibliomaniac stands inside a cramped room, framed by Gothic arches and narrow windows.

It depicts a frantic, book-obsessed figure amid an exaggerated scene of literary excess. At the center, a man wearing a fool’s cap clutches several large books, his expression strained with desperation or greed. More books spill across the floor and fill the surrounding shelves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliomania#/media/File:Brief_History_of_Wood-engraving_Ship_of_Fools_Bibliomaniac.png

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288d

EXTRA TEETH: Issue Ten Launch
3 December, Portobello Bookshop, Edinburgh, & online – tickets from £0 to £12 (in-person, including a copy of the magazine)

EXTRA TEETH are back with a brand new issue packed full of brilliant writing from some of Scotland's finest writers, both emerging & established. The launch will feature an evening of readings from contributors to the magazine: Charlotte Haley, Sadie Maskery & Monica S. Park.

https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/events/extra-teeth-issue-ten-launch

#Scottish #literature #Edinburgh

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286d

From Dylan Thomas’ shopping list to a note from Sylvia Plath’s doctor: newly uncovered case files reveal the hidden lives of famous writers

Exclusive: Hardship grant applications to the Royal Literary Fund, including unseen letters by Doris Lessing and a note from James Joyce saying that he ‘gets nothing in the way of royalties’, show authors at their most vulnerable

By Ella Creamer

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2025/nov/28/from-dylan-thomas-shopping-list-to-a-note-from-sylvia-plaths-doctor-newly-uncovered-case-files-reveal-the-hidden-lives-of-famous-writers

#books #literature

Nora Summer's iconic portrait of Dylan Thomas. Taken in Blashford in 1937, it was soon to gain an international circulation.

Dylanis is wearing a distinctive thick, cable-knit cardigan with a textured pattern, and what appears to be a scarf around his neck.

He was photographed from the side, looking downward with his eyes cast down, holding a cigarette to his lips. His hair is characteristically curly and somewhat disheveled.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dylan_Thomas#/media/File:Dylan_Thomas_icon_Blashford_1937.jpg

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269d

How Robert Frost summoned a classic from life’s timeless moments

Perhaps the most famous work by the US poet Robert Frost, ‘Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening’ (1923) exemplifies his style with its vivid scenery and accessibility.

https://aeon.co/videos/how-robert-frost-summoned-a-classic-from-lifes-timeless-moments?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=a5fbf00b6b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_12_08&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

Frost at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1091

#books #literature #poetry

Robert Frost, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing forward.

From the Library of Congress collection, the image captures the young Frost during the period when he wrote some of his most celebrated poems.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stopping_by_Woods_on_a_Snowy_Evening#/media/File:Robert_Frost,_1910s.jpg

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1y

In October 1819.

In Britain, Richard Carlile is convicted of blasphemy and sent to prison for publishing Common Sense, The Rights of Man and the Age of Reason by Thomas Paine (which criticised the Church of England).

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

Books by Richard Carlile at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/39431

Books by Thomas Paine at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/91

#books #literature

A George Cruikshank cartoon attacking Paine; The caption reads: "The Age of Reason; or, the World turned Topsy-turvy exemplified in Tom Paine's Works!"

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288d

Skint, baw ragged, poackets ful eh ma
fingers, cannae afford tae burn toast an
it’s November. Christmas is close…

—William Letford, “This is it”
Published in DIRT (Carcanet, 2016)

https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784102005/dirt/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #November

This Is It
by William Letford

Skint, baw ragged, poackets ful eh ma
fingers, cannae afford tae burn toast an
it’s November. Christmas is close. Av been
away bit noo am back an ivery coarner
is a different colour cause am hame an
memories ur painted wae mischief. Am
outside Gregs eatin a macaroni pie an a
busker picks up eez guitar an plugs in eez
amplifier. The sound fae the strings is
like frost. Eez young an the dreams thit
wur boarn in eez bedroom wake me up.
Am watchin people passin an they know
thit eez good bit they don’t want tae look.
They turn thur heeds an tilt thur ears
an jog on. If a hud a spare pound
a wid throw it bit a don’t so a jist listen.
I’d like tae tell um thit this is it, this is
where the hammer hits the stane an sparks
ur made, standin oan a corner in yur hame
toon, an audience eh one radge eatin a
macaroni pie, bit singin, wee man, yur singin.

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119d

Guide to the classics: ‘all for one, and one for all’ – the enduring appeal of The Three Musketeers

by Darius von Guttner Sporzynski

https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-all-for-one-and-one-for-all-the-enduring-appeal-of-the-three-musketeers-279455

All available editions (in several languages) of The Three Musketers are available at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1257
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13951
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/56054
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58211
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40169
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/37885
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60641

#Books #Literature

Aramis, Athos, d'Artagnan, and Porthos, arm in arm, after crossing swords with the Cardinal's Guards at the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites.
Colored engraving by Jules Huyot after a drawing by Maurice Leloir (Paris: Calmann-Lévy, 1894).

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dartagnan-musketeers_-_Maurice_Leloir.jpg

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287d

52 Years Later, Agatha Christie’s Forgotten Final Book Remains Untouched

By Florencia Aberastury

https://www.cbr.com/agatha-christie-postern-of-fate-deserves-adaptation/

Agatha Christie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/451

#books #literature

Illustration by Arthur Ferrier of Tommy and Tuppence from the December 1923 issue of The Grand Magazine and the first-known image of the characters.

The drawing shows a stylish young couple in early-1920s fashion. Tommy stands on the left, dressed in a neat suit with a bow tie, his posture upright and confident. Tuppence stands beside him, slightly angled toward him, wearing a fashionable cloche hat and a long, elegant coat. Her expression is lively and self-assured.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_and_Tuppence#/media/File:T&T1923.jpg

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285d

I would like to tell her not to wear such flimsy shoes,
that rubble contains the whole spectrum of knowable
and unknowable dangers…

—Marjorie Lotfi, “Picture of Girl and Small Boy (Burij, Gaza, 2014)”
published in THE WRONG PERSON TO ASK (Bloodaxe Books, 2023)

https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Gaza #Palestine #PalestineSolidarity

Picture of Girl and Small Boy (Burij, Gaza, 2014)
Marjorie Lotfi

I would like to tell her not to wear such flimsy shoes,
that rubble contains the whole spectrum of knowable
and unknowable dangers: sheets of metal ripped
to knife edge, live wires, bloated arms reaching

for light. Her hair, scraped back into a ponytail,
is open to sky; remnants of buildings filter down
one concrete chunk at a time, and the midday bells
of rockets ring out above her. She carries a boy

on her still narrow hips, his legs entwined around
her yellow dungarees. Like a rodeo rider, his left arm
grips her shoulder to steady himself, or her,
while his torso reels back and away; his body

is asking to slow down, to turn back. Instead,
her eyes comb the ground for a next step, fingers
of her free hand curled into a claw, as if
to frighten off what she somehow sees ahead.

A Palestinian girl carries a child across rubble from a building that police said was destroyed by an Israeli air strike, in the Burij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, August 1, 2014. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly. Marjorie Lotfi's poem describes the picture in detail:

Picture of Girl and Small Boy (Burij, Gaza, 2014)
Marjorie Lotfi

I would like to tell her not to wear such flimsy shoes,
that rubble contains the whole spectrum of knowable
and unknowable dangers: sheets of metal ripped
to knife edge, live wires, bloated arms reaching

for light. Her hair, scraped back into a ponytail,
is open to sky; remnants of buildings filter down
one concrete chunk at a time, and the midday bells
of rockets ring out above her. She carries a boy

on her still narrow hips, his legs entwined around
her yellow dungarees. Like a rodeo rider, his left arm
grips her shoulder to steady himself, or her,
while his torso reels back and away; his body

is asking to slow down, to turn back. Instead,
her eyes comb the ground for a next step, fingers
of her free hand curled into a claw, as if
to frighten off what she somehow sees ahead.

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1y

"...beneath the rule of men entirely great, the pen is mightier than the sword..."

#OTD in 1856.

English actor Henry Irving makes his stage début at Sunderland as Gaston, Duke of Orleans, in Bulwer Lytton's play Richelieu.

The play has become best known for its line "The pen is mightier than the sword", spoken by the Cardinal in Act II, Scene II.

Books by Edward Bulwer Lytton at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/761

#books #literature #theatre

Published by Saunders and Otley - https://archive.org/details/richelieuorconsp00lyttiala

Richelieu by Lytton, 1st edition title page

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273d

“No Extra Words“ – The Scottish Poet Norman MacCaig (1910–1996)
16 Dec, free online

Anette Degott looks at the life & work of Norman MacCaig
via Scotland HUB at Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz

@litstudies

https://www.scotland.uni-mainz.de/reading-scotland/

#Scottish #literature #poetry #20thcentury #NormanMacCaig

Reading Scotland with Anette Degott

“No Extra Words“ – The Scottish Poet Norman MacCaig (1910–1996)

Tuesday, 16th December 2025
6.00–7.30 pm (German time) on MS Teams

www.scotland.uni-mainz.de

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286d

Mirror, mirror on the wall
show me in succession all
my faces, that I may view
and choose which I would like as true…

—“Through the Looking Glass”, by Veronica Forrest-Thomson (1947–1975) – born #OTD, 28 Nov

published in COLLECTED POEMS (Shearsman Books, 2008)

1/3

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/143680/through-the-looking-glass

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #WomenWriters #postmodern

Through the Looking Glass
by Veronica Forrest-Thomson

Mirror, mirror on the wall
show me in succession all
my faces, that I may view
and choose which I would like as true.

Teach me skill to disguise
what’s not pleasing to the eyes,
with faith, that life obeys the rules,
in man or God or football pools.

Always keep me well content
to decorate attitude and event
so that somehow behind the scene
I may believe my actions mean;

that one can exercise control
in playing out a chosen role;
rub clouded glass and then,
at will, write self on it again.

But if, in some unlucky glance,
I should glimpse naked circumstance
in all its nowhere-going-to,
may you crack before I do.

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286d

“[P]ay attention to the moments of contradiction and uncertainty threaded through character dialogue and self-reflection […] Watch his tone. Watch his humour. For me, that’s where the sharpest lessons are.”

—Bethany Jacobs on the worldbuilding of Iain M. Banks

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2506129-why-sci-fi-novelist-iain-m-banks-was-an-astounding-world-builder/

#Scottish #literature #IainBanks #IainMBanks #TheCulture #ScienceFiction #Scifi #worldbuilding

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269d

jollymerry
hollyberry
jollyberry
merryholly
happyjolly
jollyjelly
jellybelly
bellymerry
hollyheppy
jollyMolly
marryJerry
merryHarry
hoppyBarry
heppyJarry
bobbyheppy
berryjorry…

—Edwin Morgan, “The Computer’s First Christmas Card”
first published in THE SECOND LIFE (Edinburgh University Press, 1968)

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #concretepoetry #20thcentury #EdwinMorgan #Christmas #ChristmasCard #computer

(written in bright green text, in a monospaced font on a black background, to emulate an old CRT computer monitor)

The Computer's First Christmas Card
by Edwin Morgan

jollymerry
hollyberry
jollyberry
merryholly
happyjolly
jollyjelly
jellybelly
bellymerry
hollyheppy
jollyMolly
marryJerry
merryHarry
hoppyBarry
heppyJarry
bobbyheppy
berryjorry
jorryjolly
moppyjelly
Mollymerry
Jerryjolly
bellyboppy
jorryhoppy
hollymoppy
Barrymerry
Jarryhappy
happyboppy
boppyjolly
jollymerry
merrymerry
merrymerry
merryChris
ammerryasa
Chrismerry
asMERRYCHR
YSANTHEMUM

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286d

Oot behind a lorry,
Peyin nae heed,
Ablow a doubledecker,
A poor wean deid…

—James Copeland (1918–2002), “Black Friday”

Actor & writer James Gordon Copeland’s much anthologised poem “Black Friday” packs tragedy, compassion, & a sense of close community into nine short verses

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #Glasgow #Scots #Scotslanguage

Black Friday
James Copeland

Oot behind a lorry,
Peyin nae heed,
Ablow a doubledecker,
A poor wean deid.

Perra worn sannies,
Wee durrty knees,
Heh, erra polis,
Stand back please!

Lookit the conductriss.
Face as white as chalk,
Heh, see the driver but
Cannae even talk.

Anyone a witness?
Na, we niver saw.
Glad ah’m no the polis
Goin tae tell its maw.

Weemen windae-hingin
Herts in their mooth,
It’s no oor close, Lizzie
Oh Gawdstrewth!

Screams on the landin,
Twa closes doon,
It’s no wee Hughie!
Poor Nellie Broon.

Phone up the shipyard.
Oh, what a shame!
Yes, we'll inform him,
Please repeat the name.

See Big Hughie,
Jokin wi the squad,
Better knock off, Heug,
Oh dear God.

Whit – no his laddie?
Aw, bloody hell!
D’ye see Hughie’s face but,
He’s just a boy himsel.

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288d

Arthur Conan Doyle explored men’s mental health through his Sherlock Holmes stories

Many of Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories examine male characters facing emotional catastrophe, betrayal and moral dilemmas.

by Emma Linford

https://theconversation.com/arthur-conan-doyle-explored-mens-mental-health-through-his-sherlock-holmes-stories-246728?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20November%2026%202025%20-%203594036692&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20November%2026%202025%20-%203594036692+CID_fa1700c951d65f231bfdf9e15bf4362e&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=Arthur%20Conan%20Doyle%20explored%20mens%20mental%20health%20through%20his%20Sherlock%20Holmes%20stories

Conan Doyle at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/69

#books #literature

Arthur Conan Doyle in 1914

by Walter Benington

Conan Doyle is seen from the chest up, seated and angled slightly to his left while looking directly at the camera.

He wears a dark suit with a high-collared shirt and tie, and his neatly groomed mustache is prominent. His hair is combed back, and the lighting highlights the contours of his face.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Conan_Doyle#/media/File:Arthur_Conan_Doyle_by_Walter_Benington,_1914.png

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147d

The battle of Culloden – the last pitched battle fought on British soil – took place 280 years ago #OTD, 16 April 1746. A major turning point in Scottish, British, European & indeed world history, it has, unsurprisingly, left a significant imprint in the literature & culture of Scotland. A 🧵

1/10

https://www.ambaile.org.uk/asset/9514/

#Scottish #literature #history #18thcentury #Culloden #Jacobites

A black and white photograph of the Memorial cairn, Culloden battlefield, by Mary Ethel Muir Donaldson (1876–1958). The photo dates from the 1920s–1930s. On the left, a tall cylindrical stone cairn stands behind an iron fence. A bush is growing out of the top of it. Culloden moor stretches, low and level, into the distance. A few dark trees are on the right.

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1y

#OTD in 1914.

Arthur Machen's short story "The Bowmen" is published in The Evening News (London).

In this story, written and published during World War I, the ghosts of archers from the battle of Agincourt, led by Saint George, come to the aid of British troops. This is cited as the origin of the Angels of Mons legend.

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

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

The Angels of Mons: The Bowmen and Other Legends of the War at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14044

#books #literature

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286d

“From Scotland to the World”: The Poetry of Hope Mirrlees, Helen Adam, Muriel Spark, & Veronica Forrest-Thomson
—Dorothy McMillan, HUMANITIES 8/4, 2019

Dorothy McMillan discusses four 20th-century women writers “poised… between Scotland and Modernism”

@litstudies

https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/8/4/184

#Scottish #literature #poetry #20thcentury #womenwriters #modernism

Abstract

The four poets that provide the material for this chapter did not know each other and they probably did not know each other’s work. However, they had important formative experiences in common: They were all educated in Scotland and they all left Scotland after that early education. Yet, they all retained special, although different, ties to that country, to its history, and its writing. They were all “modern” in their poetry, sometimes bizarrely so: Of each of them it could be said, “There was no one like her.” This strangeness they also share, as they share a willingness, even desire, to shock, a muddling of contemporary and archaic, of real and legendary. Veronica Forrest-Thomson’s “Hold on to your seat-belt Persephone” is an indicative phrase. I aim to show that these serially inimitable modern writers have complicated and intertwined Scottish and international connections.

Keywords: Scotland; ballads; kaleidoscope; Charles Bernstein; Edwin Morgan

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