literature

113d

<p>"I have now attained the true art of letter-writing, which we are always told, is to express on paper exactly what one would say to the same person by word of mouth."<br>Letters of Jane Austen</p><p>Happy birthday Jane Austen, born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a> 250 years ago!!</p><p>At PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho</span><span class="invisible">r/68</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

Back-view watercolour of Jane Austen by her sister Cassandra Austen, 1804.

A 1804 watercolor by Cassandra Austen depicting her sister Jane Austen from behind, seated outdoors beneath flowering trees. Jane wears an elegant white empire-waist dress with a blue ribbon sash and bonnet, gazing toward a pastoral landscape in this tender, intimate family portrait.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen#/media/File:JaneAustenCassandraWatercolour.jpg

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1y

<p><a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a> in 1798.</p><p>Elizabeth Inchbald's Lovers' Vows (adapted from Kotzebue's Das Kind der Liebe – 1780; literally "Love Child," or "Natural Son," as it is often translated) is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London.</p><p>It was likewise successful as a print publication, though it also aroused controversy about its "levelling" politics and moral ambiguity.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovers%27_Vows" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovers%27_Vows"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovers%2</span><span class="invisible">7_Vows</span></a></p><p>Lovers' Vows at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4554" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4554</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/theatre/" rel="tag">#theatre</a></p>

Title page of Elizabeth Inchbald's Lovers' Vows (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1796)

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1y

<p>Zelda Fitzgerald on F. Scott’s Writing</p><p>Zelda’s satirical review of F. Scott’s second novel, The Beautiful and the Damned, revealed much more than her wit.</p><p>By: Emily Zarevich via @JSTOR_Daily </p><p><a href="https://daily.jstor.org/zelda-fitzgerald-on-f-scotts-writing/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="daily.jstor.org/zelda-fitzgerald-on-f-scotts-writing/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">daily.jstor.org/zelda-fitzgera</span><span class="invisible">ld-on-f-scotts-writing/</span></a></p><p>The Beautiful and the Damned at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9830" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9830</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/literarycriticism/" rel="tag">#literarycriticism</a></p>

F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald, 1923 via Wikimedia Commons

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126d

<p>Robert Louis Stevenson died <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 3 December, in 1894, aged 44. He is buried on Mt Vaea, on the island of Upolu in Samoa 🇼🇸 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿</p><p>📷 Thomas Andrew (1855–1939): Burial of Robert Louis Stevenson, 1894 / Le maliu o Tusitala i le tausaga 1894<br>🧵</p><p>1/6</p><p><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burial_and_grave_of_Robert_Louis_Stevenson_in_Samoa,_1894.jpg" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burial_and_grave_of_Robert_Louis_Stevenson_in_Samoa,_1894.jpg"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil</span><span class="invisible">e:Burial_and_grave_of_Robert_Louis_Stevenson_in_Samoa,_1894.jpg</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/victorian/" rel="tag">#Victorian</a> <a href="/tags/robertlouisstevenson/" rel="tag">#RobertLouisStevenson</a> <a href="/tags/samoa/" rel="tag">#Samoa</a> <a href="/tags/tusitala/" rel="tag">#Tusitala</a></p>

A black-and-white photograph, showing the burial of Robert Louis Stevenson. About thirty or forty people – a few are of European origin but most are Samoan – stand solemnly in a thickly wooded area around what must be Stevenson's coffin, draped in cloth and leaves.

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1y

<p><a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a> in 1923.</p><p>A production of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus at The Old Vic, directed by Robert Atkins, is the first in London since 1857. It is also the first to restore the full original text since the playwright's time.</p><p>It is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent & bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were extremely popular with audiences throughout the 16th century.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_Andronicus" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_Andronicus"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_An</span><span class="invisible">dronicus</span></a></p><p>Titus Andronicus at PG<br><a href="https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1507" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>gutenberg.org/ebooks/1507</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/theatre/" rel="tag">#theatre</a></p>

Title page of the first quarto of Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare, published 1594

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1y

<p>Irish novelist Edith Somerville died <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a> in 1949.</p><p>She wrote in collaboration with her cousin "Martin Ross" (Violet Martin) under the pseudonym "Somerville and Ross". Together they published a series of fourteen stories and novels, the most popular of which were The Real Charlotte, published in 1894, and Some Experiences of an Irish R. M., published in 1899.</p><p>Books by E. Œ. Somerville at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/5334" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/5334"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho</span><span class="invisible">r/5334</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

Somerville atop her horse Tarbush.

Source book page: https://archive.org/stream/irishmemories00some/irishmemories00some#page/n218/mode/1up

In the photograph, she appears composed and elegant, sitting confidently on her horse.

Somerville is dressed in traditional 19th-century riding attire. This would typically include a riding habit—likely a long, dark-colored skirt and jacket, tailored for horseback riding.

Her hair is styled modestly, often covered by a riding hat or bonnet, suitable for outdoor activity and in keeping with the fashion of the era.

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126d

<p>Re-Tracing the Dance-Steps of the Hugboon: The Nordic Background of Orkney Folk Legends<br>5 December, online – free</p><p>In this seminar, Prof Terry Gunnell (University of Iceland) will explore the Nordic connections of Orkney legends & folklore</p><p><a href="https://llc.ed.ac.uk/celtic-scottish-studies/css-seminar-series-251205" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="llc.ed.ac.uk/celtic-scottish-studies/css-seminar-series-251205"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">llc.ed.ac.uk/celtic-scottish-s</span><span class="invisible">tudies/css-seminar-series-251205</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/legends/" rel="tag">#legends</a> <a href="/tags/folklore/" rel="tag">#folklore</a> <a href="/tags/folktales/" rel="tag">#folktales</a> <a href="/tags/norse/" rel="tag">#Norse</a> <a href="/tags/orkney/" rel="tag">#Orkney</a></p>

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111d

<p>“In story after story, epicene young men, difficult children, or wild beasts set out to shake up the stifling complacency around them”</p><p>Hector Hugh Munro (1870–1916) – Saki – was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 18 Dec, in Myanmar. Although born in the Raj & raised in England, his parents were Scots & he considered himself to be a Scot, too. Fatema Ahmed looks at his fierce, funny, & wicked fiction</p><p>@bookstodon </p><p>1/8</p><p><a href="https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/43602/untameable-saki" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/culture/43602/untameable-saki"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/cul</span><span class="invisible">ture/43602/untameable-saki</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/saki/" rel="tag">#Saki</a> <a href="/tags/shortstories/" rel="tag">#shortstories</a> <a href="/tags/humor/" rel="tag">#humor</a> <a href="/tags/humour/" rel="tag">#humour</a> <a href="/tags/horror/" rel="tag">#horror</a> <a href="/tags/edwardian/" rel="tag">#Edwardian</a></p>

Edited 111d ago

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1y

<p><a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a> in 1905.</p><p>The English actor-manager Sir Henry Irving collapses in his hotel, while playing Thomas Becket on tour in Bradford, dying soon afterwards. 'Into thy hands, O Lord, into thy hands', and though he lived for an hour or so longer he never spoke again" were his last words.</p><p>Becket and other plays by Baron Alfred Tennyson at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9162" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9162</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/theatre/" rel="tag">#theatre</a></p>

Henry Irving as Thomas Becket.

Actor-manager Henry Irving (1838-1905) played the role of Thomas Becket in Becket by Alfred Lord Tennyson at the Lyceum Theatre in 1893. Becket was Irving's last role, he performed the character in Bradford in 1905 and died an hour after leaving the stage.

Bernard Partridge (1861-1945) was a painter and illustrator who became the principal cartoonist of Punch magazine. He acted at the Lyceum in his youth, using the name Bernard Gould, and made many drawings of Irving, some of which appeared in the theatre's souvenir programmes. His work has provided both a record of costumes and scenery and of the dramatic effect of Irving's performances.

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125d

<p>“What sprang forth from Carlyle’s pen was not a dry account of the French Revolution, but a book brimming with passion and philosophy, one that offered a new style of storytelling that influenced a generation of Victorian writers.”</p><p>Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881) was born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 4 Dec. His THE FRENCH REVOLUTION established him as one of the most important social & cultural commentators of his day</p><p>🧵</p><p>1/7</p><p><a href="https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2009/marchapril/feature/the-voracious-pen-thomas-carlyle" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.neh.gov/humanities/2009/marchapril/feature/the-voracious-pen-thomas-carlyle"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.neh.gov/humanities/2009/ma</span><span class="invisible">rchapril/feature/the-voracious-pen-thomas-carlyle</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/victorian/" rel="tag">#Victorian</a> <a href="/tags/19thcentury/" rel="tag">#19thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/history/" rel="tag">#history</a> <a href="/tags/thomascarlyle/" rel="tag">#ThomasCarlyle</a></p>

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9d

<p>The very first Nobel Prize in Literature in history was awarded to Sully Prudhomme in 1901.</p><p>Most people don’t know him today - which makes it even more interesting to read the man who started Nobel literary history.</p><p>Try his elegant, heartbreaking “The Broken Vase”.</p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <br><a href="/tags/bookstodon/" rel="tag">#bookstodon</a> <br><span class="h-card"><a href="https://fedigroups.social/@bookstodon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>bookstodon</span></a></span></p>

Sully Prudhomme

The Broken Vase

The vase where this verbena is dying
was cracked by a blow from a fan.
It must have barely brushed it,
for it made no sound.

But the slight wound,
biting into the crystal day by day,
surely, invisibly crept
slowly all around it.

The clear water leaked out drop by drop.
The flowers’ sap was exhausted.
Still no one suspected anything.
Don’t touch! It’s broken.

Thus often does the hand we love,
barely touching the heart, wound it.
Then the heart cracks by itself
and the flower of its love dies.

Still intact in the eyes of the world,
it feels its wound, narrow and deep,
grow and softly cry.
It’s broken. Don’t touch!

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111d

<p>Now the ice lays its smooth claws on the sill,<br>The sun looks from the hill<br>Helmed in his winter casket,<br>And sweeps his arctic sword across the sky…</p><p>—Edwin Muir, “Scotland’s Winter”<br>from ONE FOOT IN EDEN (Faber, 1956)</p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/20thcentury/" rel="tag">#20thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/edwinmuir/" rel="tag">#EdwinMuir</a> <a href="/tags/winter/" rel="tag">#winter</a></p>

Scotland’s Winter
by Edwin Muir

Now the ice lays its smooth claws on the sill,
The sun looks from the hill
Helmed in his winter casket,
And sweeps his arctic sword across the sky.
The water at the mill
Sounds more hoarse and dull.
The miller’s daughter walking by
With frozen fingers soldered to her basket
Seems to be knocking
Upon a hundred leagues of floor
With her light heels, and mocking
Percy and Douglas dead,
And Bruce on his burial bed,
Where he lies white as may
With wars and leprosy,
And all the kings before
This land was kingless,
And all the singers before
This land was songless,
This land that with its dead and living waits the Judgment Day.
But they, the powerless dead,
Listening can hear no more
Than a hard tapping on the sounding floor
A little overhead
Of common heels that do not know
Whence they come or where they go
And are content
With their poor frozen life and shallow banishment.

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91d

<p>The ratio of words written by Kafka to words written about Kafka is estimated to be about 1:10,000,000. Is anything left to say?</p><p>by Jared Marcel Pollen</p><p><a href="https://libertiesjournal.com/online-articles/kafkainc/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="libertiesjournal.com/online-articles/kafkainc/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">libertiesjournal.com/online-ar</span><span class="invisible">ticles/kafkainc/</span></a></p><p>Kafka at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1735" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1735"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho</span><span class="invisible">r/1735</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

First page of Kafka's Letter to His Father.

The document shows aged paper with a cream or beige tone, typical of early 20th-century stationery that has yellowed over time. The page appears to be standard letter-size paper with some visible wear, creases, and aging marks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Kafka#/media/File:De_Kafka_Brief_an_den_Vater_001.jpg

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1y

<p>"Were all men equal to-night, some would get the start by rising an hour earlier to-morrow."</p><p><a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a> in 1848.</p><p>Elizabeth Gaskell's first novel, Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life is published anonymously by Chapman & Hall in London in two volumes.</p><p>Gaskell was paid £100 for the novel. The publisher Edward Chapman had had the manuscript since the middle of 1847.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Barton" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Barton"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Bar</span><span class="invisible">ton</span></a></p><p>Mary Barton at PG:<br><a href="https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2153" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>gutenberg.org/ebooks/2153</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

(no description)

Edited 1y ago

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112d

<p>Some December midnight<br>Christ, lord, lie warm in our byre.<br>Here are stars, an ox, poverty enough.</p><p>—George Mackay Brown, “A Child’s Calendar”<br>published in FISHERMEN WITH PLOUGHS (Hogarth Press 1971)</p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/20thcentury/" rel="tag">#20thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/christmas/" rel="tag">#Christmas</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/orkney/" rel="tag">#Orkney</a></p>

A Child's Calendar
George Mackay Brown

No visitors in January.
A snowman smokes a cold pipe in the yard.

They stand about like ancient women,
The February hills.
They have seen many a coming and going, the hills.

In March Moorfea is littered
With knock-kneed lambs.

Daffodils at the door in April,
Three shawled Marys.
A lark splurges in galilees of sky.

And in May
A russet stallion shoulders the hill apart.
The mares tremble.

The June bee
Bumps in the pane with a heavy bag of plunder.

Strangers swarm in July
With cameras, binoculars, bird books.

He thumped the crag in August,
A blind blue whale.

September crofts get wrecked in blond surges.
They struggle, the harvesters.
They drag loaf and ale-kirn into winter.

In October the fishmonger
Argues, pleads, threatens at the shore.

Nothing in November
But tinkers at the door, keening, with cans.

Some December midnight
Christ, lord, lie warm in our byre.
Here are stars, an ox, poverty enough.

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112d

<p>CFP: GIFCon 2026 – The Technologies of the Fantastic<br>Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations<br>13–15 May, online</p><p>GIFCon invites the consideration of the technologies of fantasy. The organisers are particularly interested in submissions from PG & early career researchers, & welcome proposals from researchers whose work focuses on marginalised communities & subjects</p><p>@litstudies </p><p><a href="https://fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2025/12/15/gifcon-2026-the-technologies-of-the-fantastic-call-for-papers/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2025/12/15/gifcon-2026-the-technologies-of-the-fantastic-call-for-papers/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">fantasy.glasgow.ac.uk/index.ph</span><span class="invisible">p/2025/12/15/gifcon-2026-the-technologies-of-the-fantastic-call-for-papers/</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/fantasy/" rel="tag">#fantasy</a> <a href="/tags/sff/" rel="tag">#SFF</a> <a href="/tags/callforpapers/" rel="tag">#callforpapers</a></p>

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91d

<p>it wis January<br>and a gey dreich day<br>the first day Ah went to the school…</p><p>—Liz Lochhead, “Kidspoem/Bairnsang”<br>published in A CHOOSING: The Selected Poems of Liz Lochhead (Polygon, 2017)</p><p><a href="https://birlinn.co.uk/product/a-choosing/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="birlinn.co.uk/product/a-choosing/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">birlinn.co.uk/product/a-choosi</span><span class="invisible">ng/</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/scots/" rel="tag">#scots</a> <a href="/tags/language/" rel="tag">#language</a> <a href="/tags/minoritylanguages/" rel="tag">#MinorityLanguages</a></p>

Kidspoem/Bairnsang
Liz Lochhead

it wis January
and a gey dreich day
the first day Ah went to the school
so my Mum happed me up in ma
good navy-blue napp coat wi the rid tartan hood
birled a scarf aroon ma neck
pu’ed oan ma pixie an my pawkies
it wis that bitter
said noo ye’ll no starve
gie’d me a wee kiss and a kid-oan skelp oan the bum
and sent me aff across the playground
tae the place Ah’d learn to say
it was January
and a really dismal day
the first day I went to school
so my mother wrapped me up in my
best navy-blue top coat with the red tartan hood
twirled a scarf around my neck
pulled on my bobble-hat and mittens
it was so bitterly cold
said now you won’t freeze to death
gave me a little kiss and a pretend slap on the bottom
and sent me off across the playground
to the place I’d learn to forget to say
it wis January
and a gey dreich day
the first day Ah went to the school
so my Mum happed me up in ma
good navy-blue napp coat wi the rid tartan hood
birled a scarf aroon ma neck
pu’ed oan ma pixie an ma pawkies
it wis that bitter.

Oh saying it was one thing
but when it came to writing it
in black and white
the way it had to be said
was as if you were posh, grown-up, male, English and dead.

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1y

<p><a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a> in 1926.</p><p>The children's book Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne first appears, published by Methuen in London.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh_(book)#" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-the-Pooh_(book)#"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnie-t</span><span class="invisible">he-Pooh_(book)#</span></a></p><p>Winnie-the-Pooh's entrance into the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2022 was noted by several news publications, generally in the context of a greater Public Domain Day article.</p><p><a href="https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2022/#fn6text" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdomainday/2022/#fn6text"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">web.law.duke.edu/cspd/publicdo</span><span class="invisible">mainday/2022/#fn6text</span></a></p><p>Winnie-the-Pooh at PG:<br><a href="https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/67098" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>gutenberg.org/ebooks/67098</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

First edition cover

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111d

<p>The ecstatic swoon</p><p>As Stendhal knew, the reason for art is to make you feel. Do not try to grasp the artwork: allow it to grasp you instead</p><p>by Robert D Zaretsky</p><p><a href="https://aeon.co/essays/what-stendhal-says-about-the-purpose-and-promise-of-art?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=048e2ed722-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_12_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="aeon.co/essays/what-stendhal-says-about-the-purpose-and-promise-of-art?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=048e2ed722-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_12_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">aeon.co/essays/what-stendhal-s</span><span class="invisible">ays-about-the-purpose-and-promise-of-art?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=048e2ed722-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_12_16&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/art/" rel="tag">#art</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

Portrait de Stendhal par Ducis, 1835, Bibliothèque Sormani, Milan. Portrait mélancolique.

An 1835 oil portrait of French writer Stendhal by Johan-Nepomuk Ender (attributed to Ducis), housed at the Bibliothèque Sormani in Milan. The melancholic portrait shows the author of "The Red and the Black" in dark formal attire against a muted green background, holding an elegant walking stick, capturing his contemplative demeanor during his mature years.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Stendhal_par_Ducis.jpg

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108d

<p>“You are standing in a high, dim stone vault. There is a thick soundlessness, as in a recording studio, or a strongroom.”</p><p>—Kathleen Jamie visits Maeshowe chambered cairn at midwinter, for the London Review of Books, 2003</p><p>1/5</p><p><a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v25/n24/kathleen-jamie/into-the-dark" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v25/n24/kathleen-jamie/into-the-dark"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v25/n2</span><span class="invisible">4/kathleen-jamie/into-the-dark</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/midwinter/" rel="tag">#midwinter</a> <a href="/tags/solstice/" rel="tag">#solstice</a> <a href="/tags/orkney/" rel="tag">#Orkney</a> <a href="/tags/archaeology/" rel="tag">#archaeology</a> <a href="/tags/prehistory/" rel="tag">#prehistory</a> <a href="/tags/neolithic/" rel="tag">#neolithic</a></p>

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1y

<p>"Call me Ishmael."</p><p><a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a> in 1851.</p><p>Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is first published as The Whale by Richard Bentley of London.</p><p>In the October 1851 issue of Harper's New Monthly Magazine "The Town Ho's Story" was published, with a footnote reading: "From 'The Whale'. The title of a new work by Mr. Melville, in the press of Harper and Brothers, and now publishing in London by Mr. Bentley."</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dic</span><span class="invisible">k</span></a></p><p>Moby-Dick at PG:<br><a href="https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/15" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>gutenberg.org/ebooks/15</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

The whale or Moby Dick (half-title page), Herman Melville, 1851

Herman Melville and one more author - State Library of New South Wales, [https://collection.sl.nsw.gov.au/record/74VK2oZrBwKZ/l3gXqDvw8yl0N DSM/813.3/M531/2A1

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108d

<p>He has gone down into darkness at the wrecked end of the year<br>And is lying, gaberlunzie, in the needled nest of frost… </p><p>—Gerry Cambridge, “Processional at the Winter Solstice”<br>published in Notes for Lighting a Fire (HappenStance Press 2012)</p><p><a href="https://happenstancepress.com/index.php/shop/product/4-notes-for-lighting-a-fire-gerry-cambridge/category_pathway-12" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="happenstancepress.com/index.php/shop/product/4-notes-for-lighting-a-fire-gerry-cambridge/category_pathway-12"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">happenstancepress.com/index.ph</span><span class="invisible">p/shop/product/4-notes-for-lighting-a-fire-gerry-cambridge/category_pathway-12</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/midwinter/" rel="tag">#midwinter</a> <a href="/tags/solstice/" rel="tag">#solstice</a></p>

Processional at the Winter Solstice
by Gerry Cambridge

He has gone down into darkness at the wrecked end of the year
And is lying, gaberlunzie, in the needled nest of frost.
The arctic thrushes call for him although he cannot hear,

And the worm too understands him in the chilled grip of its dark,
And the ptarmigan in blizzards where no thought is worth a crumb,
And treecreepers in shivering puffs in Wellingtonias’ bark.

Shop windows glint in city lights like ice and sky, but still
No tinsel gifts can touch him, freed to silence like a stone’s;
His face is white as paper’s white in miles-high midnight chill.

He lies as plain as frost-dust where those starving thrushes call,
And his lime and ray-struck armoury could hardly be less small
On the anvil of beginnings in the sun’s gate on the wall.

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108d

<p><a href="/tags/sundaysentence/" rel="tag">#sundaySentence</a> <span class="h-card"><a href="https://fedigroups.social/@bookstodon" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>bookstodon</span></a></span> <a href="/tags/reading/" rel="tag">#reading</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/bookstodon/" rel="tag">#bookstodon</a> </p><p>“…each and every one of us carries with us a wholly uncharted world that reveals itself to us only on occasion, in unfathomable states of perception, and may not such rich mental states, this secret reality, the life that exists in the remotest depths of the soul, be represented in literature too?”</p><p>Karl Ove Knausgaard</p>

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110d

<p>Virginia Woolf Thought Katharine Mansfield Stank Like a “Civet Cat Taken to Streetwalking”</p><p>Gerri Kimber on the Literary Legacy of an Early Master of the Short Form</p><p><a href="https://lithub.com/virginia-woolf-thought-katharine-mansfield-stank-like-a-civet-cat-taken-to-streetwalking/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="lithub.com/virginia-woolf-thought-katharine-mansfield-stank-like-a-civet-cat-taken-to-streetwalking/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">lithub.com/virginia-woolf-thou</span><span class="invisible">ght-katharine-mansfield-stank-like-a-civet-cat-taken-to-streetwalking/</span></a></p><p>Mansfield & Woolf at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/631" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/631"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho</span><span class="invisible">r/631</span></a><br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho</span><span class="invisible">r/89</span></a></p><p>#<a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

Katherine Mansfield, a New Zealand-writer of short stories. Picture taken 1912.

A 1912 photograph of Katherine Mansfield, the acclaimed New Zealand short story writer. The formal portrait shows Mansfield during her early literary career, before she became one of the modernist movement's most influential voices in short fiction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katherine_Mansfield#/media/File:Mansfield1.jpg

Portrait of Virginia Woolf (January 25, 1882 – March 28, 1941), a British author and feminist, with her chignon. By George Charles Beresford.

The 1902 portrait by George Charles Beresford captures Virginia striking image, with her famous chignon, reflecting her distinctive style and the aesthetics of the time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Woolf#/media/File:George_Charles_Beresford_-_Virginia_Woolf_in_1902_-_Restoration.jpg

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110d

<p>Rare public display for Mary Queen of Scots' final letter</p><p>The public are to be given a rare chance to see the last letter by Mary Queen of Scots, which was written just hours before she was beheaded.</p><p>by Cara Berkley</p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4nzy3r5zyo" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg4nzy3r5zyo"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg</span><span class="invisible">4nzy3r5zyo</span></a></p><p>Mary Queen of Scots at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=Mary+Queen+of+Scots" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=Mary+Queen+of+Scots"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje</span><span class="invisible">cts/search/?query=Mary+Queen+of+Scots</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

La mort de Marie Stuart, 19th-century painting by Abel de Pujol

The painting is centered around Mary, who is portrayed with an expression of a mix of resignation and strength.

The painting reflects the tragic fate of Mary, who was executed in 1587 after being imprisoned for years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Queen_of_Scots#/media/File:Execution-of-Mary-Queen-of-Scots.jpg

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