literature

1y

#OTD in 1812.

Lord Byron takes his seat in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

These parlamentary experiences inspired Byron to write political poems such as Song for the Luddites (1816) and The Landlords' Interest, Canto XIV of The Age of Bronze. Examples of poems in which he attacked his political opponents include Wellington: The Best of the Cut-Throats (1819) and The Intellectual Eunuch Castlereagh (1818).

Books by Lord Byron at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1708

#books #literature

Portrait of Byron by Richard Westall, completed in 1813.

Byron is shown in a slightly turned pose, gazing to the side with a thoughtful and introspective expression.

He wears an open-collared white shirt with a rich, red cloak or drape, which enhances his aristocratic elegance.

His hair is styled in soft, dark curls, framing his face, which was considered emblematic of beauty during the period.

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235d

Lord, when I’m speechless
when something – not just sorrow
but under that – a dull, numb, nameless dreich
about the heart I hardly seem to have…

—Diana Hendry, “Psalm 88 Blues”
Published in TWELVE LILTS (Mariscat Press, 2003)

A poem for Blue Monday – officially the most depressing day of the year…

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #BlueMonday

Psalm Eighty-Eight Blues
by Diana Hendry

Lord, when I’m speechless
when something – not just sorrow
but under that – a dull, numb, nameless dreich
about the heart I hardly seem to have,
when this afflicts me,
when hope’s been cancelled,
when the pilot light of me’s put out,
when every reflex and response
has been extinguished,

send word, snowdrop, child, light.

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223d

The Explorer Who Faked His Way Through the Hajj

Englishman Richard Burton wore several disguises, ranging from merchant to doctor to pilgrim in the holy city of Mecca.

By Kayla Johnson

https://daily.jstor.org/the-explorer-who-faked-his-way-through-the-hajj/?utm_source=mcae&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jstordaily_01302026

Richard Burton at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/898

#books #literature #history

Portrait of Captain Richard Burton, British explorer, army officer, orientalist writer and scholar, c. 1863, by Ernest Edwards, from vintage albumen print in the publication Portraits of Men of Eminence in Literature, Science, and Art, with Biographical Memoirs, Edwards, Ernest, and Lovell Reeve, State Library of New South Wales, DSM/920.042/P

Burton is dressed in Middle Eastern/Ottoman attire:
Fez or tarbush (traditional cap)
Flowing robes and kaftan
Sash around the waist
Dagger visible at his waist
Oriental setting: Seated on cushions with draped fabric and tent-like backdrop
His characteristic intense gaze and prominent mustache
A pose suggesting his famous ability to "pass" as a native in various cultures

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Edwards_Richard_Burton_1864_slnsw.jpg/960px-Edwards_Richard_Burton_1864_slnsw.jpg

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235d

Some good things have come from Davos …

“It was here that Robert Louis Stevenson overcame his writer’s block and finished Treasure Island; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle started skiing in the Alps; and Thomas Mann thought of the idea for The Magic Mountain”

1/5

https://lithub.com/a-brief-literary-history-of-davos/

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #RobertLouisStevenson #SirArthurConanDoyle #Davos #writersblock #skiing #ThomasMann

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1y

Virginia Woolf poems, written for niece and nephew, have been discovered

By Andrew Limbong

https://www.npr.org/2025/01/17/nx-s1-5260964/virginia-woolf-poems-niece-nephew

Books by Virginia Woolf at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/89

#books #literature

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1y

#OTD in 1904.

J. M. Barrie's play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up premières at the Duke of York's Theatre in London with Nina Boucicault in the title rôle and Gerald du Maurier as Captain Hook and Mr Darling; du Maurier is the uncle of the Llewellyn Davies boys, who inspired the story.

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

Peter Pan at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/16

#books #literature

Playbill for opening run in London

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1y

#OTD in 1853.

Charles Dickens gives the first of his public readings of his own works, in Birmingham Town Hall (England) to the Industrial and Literary Institute, repeated three days later to an audience of working people and including an adaptation of A Christmas Carol; these are very successful and Dickens continues public readings until the year of his death.

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

Christmas Carol at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46

#books #literature

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. With Illustrations by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First edition. Title page.

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1h

At times I think what makes us who we are
is neither kinship nor our given states
but something lost between the world we own
and what we dream about behind the names
on days like this

—John Burnside, “History – St Andrews: West Sands; September 2001”
published in SELECTED POEMS (Jonathan Cape, 2006)

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/389400/selected-poems-by-burnside-john/9780224078030

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #September11 #911anniversary #JohnBurnside

John Burnside
HISTORY

St Andrews: West Sands; September 2001

Today
as we flew the kites
– the sand spinning off in ribbons along the beach
and that gasoline smell from Leuchars gusting across
the golf links;
the tide far out
and quail-grey in the distance;
people
jogging, or stopping to watch
as the war planes cambered and turned
in the morning light –

today
– with the news in my mind, and the muffled dread
of what may come –

I knelt down in the sand
with Lucas
gathering shells
and pebbles
finding evidence of life in all this
driftwork:
snail shells; shreds of razorfish;
smudges of weed and flesh on tideworn stone.

At times I think what makes us who we are
is neither kinship nor our given states
but something lost between the world we own
and what we dream about behind the names
on days like this

our lines raised in the wind
our bodies fixed and anchored to the shore

and though we are confined by property
what tethers us to gravity and light
has most to do with distance and the shapes
we find in water
reading from the book
of silt and tides
the rose or petrol blue
of jellyfish and sea anemone
combining with a child’s
first nakedness.

Sometimes I am dizzy with the fear
of losing everything – the sea, the sky,
all living creatures, forests, estuaries:
we trade so much to know the virtual
we scarcely register the drift and tug
of other bodies
scarcely apprehend
the moment as it happens: shifts of light
and weather
and the quiet, local forms
of history: the fish lodged in the tide
beyond the sands;
the long insomnia
of ornamental carp in public parks
captive and bright
and hung in their own
slow-burning
transitive gold;
jamjars of spawn
and sticklebacks
or goldfish carried home

from fairgrounds
to the hum of radio

but this is the problem: how to be alive
in all this gazed-upon and cherished world
and do no harm

a toddler on a beach
sifting wood and dried weed from the sand
and puzzled by the pattern on a shell

his parents on the dune slacks with a kite
plugged into the sky
all nerve and line

patient; afraid; but still, through everything
attentive to the irredeemable.

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1h

Robin Jenkins (1912–2005) – “the best-kept secret in modern British literature” & one of Scotland’s most prolific 20th-century novelists – was born #OTD, 11 Sep. Dr Linden Bicket argues that Jenkins anticipates the urban realist fictions of Galloway, Kelman & Welsh

A 🎂🧵

1/5

https://asls.org.uk/robin-jenkins-a-centenary-celebration/

#Scottish #literature #novel #20thcentury #RobinJenkins

Robin Jenkins, 1912–2005. Writer. By Jennifer McRae. Oil on canvas, Scottish National Portrait Gallery

Robin Jenkins faces the viewer. A window behind him seems to overlook a blue sea. He is wearing a dark jacket and light-coloured trousers, and he has white hair and spectacles. His hands are interlaced on his lap.

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1y

"Didn't I tell you, Don Quixote, sir, to turn back, for they were not armies you were going to attack, but flocks of sheep?"

#OTD in 1605.

The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One) by Miguel de Cervantes is published in Madrid, Spain. It was originally published in two parts, in 1605 and 1615.

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

Don Quixote at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/996
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2000
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/42524
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/35181

#books #literature

Cover image of Don Quixote de la Mancha (first edition, 1605).

Don Quixote de la Mancha and Sancho Panza, 1863, by Gustave Doré.

Don Quixote, the idealistic and gaunt knight, is depicted riding his thin, weary horse, Rocinante. He appears tall, with a determined yet distant expression, embodying his chivalric delusions.

Sancho Panza, his loyal and pragmatic squire, follows beside him on his stout donkey, Dapple. His figure contrasts Quixote’s—shorter, rounder, and more grounded in reality.

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1y

In January 1864.

Anthony Trollope's Can You Forgive Her?, the first of his Palliser novels, begins to appear in monthly parts in London. Trollope completes it on April 28 and the first volume is published as a book in September by Chapman & Hall. In April, The Small House at Allington concludes publication in the Cornhill Magazine and is published in book form by George Smith.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Can_You_Forgive_Her%3F

Can You Forgive Her? at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/19500

#books #literature

First edition title page.
Anthony Trollope/Chapman and Hall - Can You Forgive Her?

At the top, the title Can You Forgive Her? is prominently displayed in bold serif type, drawing immediate attention.

Below the title, the author's name, Anthony Trollope, appears in a slightly smaller but still significant font size, emphasizing his established reputation as a novelist.

The publisher’s details, Chapman and Hall, are printed near the bottom, marking the book’s London publication.

The design is minimalistic, without elaborate ornamentation, focusing on clarity and readability.

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223d

A lesson in coexistence

The 17th-century town Cacheu was a hub of West African and European cultures, languages and beliefs (and run by women)

by Toby Green

https://aeon.co/essays/lessons-in-pluralism-from-a-17th-century-african-town?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=e74e74a2cc-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_01_13_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

Guinea at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=guinea

#books #literature #history #anthropology

A well in Cacheu, circa 1900

The photograph shows:
A communal well or fountain ("uma fonte") in the outskirts ("arredores") of Cacheu
Multiple people, mostly women and children, gathered to collect water
Water vessels: Various pots, jars, and containers being filled or carried
Landscape: Tropical vegetation with palm trees in the background
Daily life scene: Documenting the essential task of water collection
The image is labeled in both Portuguese ("Cacheu. Arredores - Uma fonte.") and French ("Cacheo. Environs - une fontaine.")

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cacheu#/media/File:DC_-_Cacheu._Arredores_-_Uma_fonte.jpg

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234d

I saw the dead upon St Laurence Wake
Sailing in beautiful Brimvald. They were young,
Younger than death and life, with a sweet tongue
I have heard in my blood before…

—“The Vikings”, by Olive Fraser (1909–1977) – born #OTD, 20 Jan, & a poet whose work was sadly neglected in her lifetime. A 🎂 🧵

1/6

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #womenwriters #OliveFraser #Vikings

Olive Fraser
1909-77

THE VIKINGS

King Haro's navy met on St Laurence Wake in 1263 at Ronaldsvo under the leadership of his great ship Brimvald

I saw the dead upon St Laurence Wake
Sailing in beautiful Brimvald. They were young,
Younger than death and life, with a sweet tongue
I have heard in my blood before,
Dreaming it was the wild gannets that make
Their comment upon Sulna-stapa shore.
I creid upon the dead, 'Why is your face
So beautiful in the regretless place?

'Surely among the dead there is no will
For dragon-necks of gold and for straight sails,
And Brimvald with the silver bitterns' tails
Is quiet under dark skerries now.'
'O we are loved among the living still,
We are forgiven among the dead. We plough
In the old narrows of the spirit. We
Have woven our wealth into your mystery.'

And I remembered words that I had heard
And never heard. And vessels that I knew
And thought were visions. The mute swans that flew
Over grey islands were like these
And yet were nothing. Once at Herlesferd
I saw a ship whose path on the green seas
Made joy to brindled sea-birds, and my breath
Was dangerous and scant, bitter like death.

'O if you died upon St Laurence Wake
Why are you beautiful and young,' I cried
'Like dreams of you I saw on a great tide
Lovelier and more young than I?
Even when I heard the wild white eagles take
Over the earth with their cruel minstrelsy
You were more light than I have ever been.'
They said, 'We are your Soul that you have seen.'

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1y

#OTD in 1817.

English painter Benjamin Haydon introduces John Keats to William Wordsworth and Charles Lamb at a dinner in London to celebrate progress on his painting Christ's Entry into Jerusalem, in which all feature.

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

Book about Benjamin Hydon at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6756

#books #literature #art #painting

Ppainting titled "Christ's Entry into Jerusalem" by Benjamin Robert Haydon. The artwork depicts the biblical event of Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey, celebrated as Palm Sunday in Christian tradition.

Jesus at the center, highlighted with a serene and divine presence, seated on a donkey, symbolizing humility and peace.
A crowd surrounding Jesus, expressing a range of emotions, from reverence and awe to excitement and devotion. Some individuals are laying down cloaks and branches, an act of homage.

Dynamic composition, with figures in various poses and expressive gestures, adding drama and movement to the scene.

Rich colors and dramatic lighting, which emphasize the spiritual significance and emotional intensity of the event.

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234d

The Life and Legacy of Natsume Sōseki, Modern Japan’s Greatest Novelist

"A celebrated literary figure, Natsume Sōseki was widely credited for pioneering modern Japanese literature in the late 19th and early 20th century."

https://www.thecollector.com/natsume-soseki/

Books by Sōseki at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2905

#books #literature

Photograph of Natsume Sōseki

Edited 234d ago

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234d

Creative Conversations: Rachelle Atalla
20 January, University of Glasgow & online – free

Rachelle Atalla is a Scottish-Egyptian novelist, short story writer & screenwriter. Her first novel, THE PHARMACIST, is now in development for film with Compact Pictures & the BFI. THIRSTY ANIMALS is her second novel & has been optioned by STV. Her most recent book is THE SALT FLATS

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-conversations-rachelle-atalla-tickets-1977613863301

#Scottish #literature #writing #screenwriting #dystopia #dystopianfiction

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1y

"Welcome, O life! I go to encounter for the millionth time the reality of experience and to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race."

#OTD in 1916.

James Joyce's semi-autobiographical novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is first published complete in book form, in New York by B. W. Huebsch.

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

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/4217

#books #literature

Front cover of the first edition, published by B. W. Huebsch in 1916

Edited 1y ago

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234d

How Edgar Allan Poe Became Our Era’s Premier Storyteller

Fans of the mystery writer have no shortage of ways to pay homage to the scribe behind “The Raven” and so much more

by Michael Capuzzo (from the archives)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/edgar-allan-poe-became-era-premier-storyteller-180971001/?utm_source=smithsoniandaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&lctg=93133550

Edgar Allan Poe at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/481

#books #literature

An 1875 illustration of Poe by French impressionist Édouard Manet for the Stéphane Mallarmé translation of "The Raven"

The image captures the haunting, psychological atmosphere of Poe's famous poem through Manet's bold, sketchy style:

Upper portion: A bust or statue (likely representing Pallas Athena, mentioned in the poem: "perched upon a bust of Pallas")
The raven: Suggested by the dark, dramatic shading and atmospheric mood
Lower portion: A figure (the narrator) slumped or reading, overwhelmed by grief and the supernatural visitor
The door: Geometric lines suggesting the chamber door at which someone came "rapping"

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/14082/pg14082-images.html

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131d

This Week in Literary History: Edna St. Vincent Millay Loses Her Manuscript in a Hotel Fire

Did She Ever Truly Recover?

https://lithub.com/this-week-in-literary-history-edna-st-vincent-millay-loses-her-manuscript-in-a-hotel-fire/

Her works at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/70

#books #literature #poetry

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1y

What Role Did Women Play in the Scientific Revolution?

The Scientific Revolution was characterized by a major shift in the way of thinking. Historically, women’s contributions, however, were largely overlooked.

By Mike Cohen

https://www.thecollector.com/role-of-women-in-scientific-revolution/

#books #history #literature #womeninStem

Gabrielle Émilie du Châtelet at Her Work Table, by Maurice Quentin de La Tour, 18th century.

Émilie du Châtelet is depicted seated at a richly adorned table, engaged in her work, likely involving mathematical or scientific writings.

She wears an opulent yet tasteful gown with delicate lace and fine fabrics, reflecting both her aristocratic status and the refined elegance of the Rococo period.

She is holding a compass, a tool for drawing, measuring, and copying accurate circles.

Edited 1y ago

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35d

The Case for Aesthetic Education

Why Friedrich Schiller believed art belongs at the heart of education—and why it matters for equal opportunity today.

By: Marco Elvis Joven Domínguez

https://daily.jstor.org/the-case-for-aesthetic-education/

Books by Friedrich Schiller at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/289

#books #literature #pedagogy

Still Life with Apples by Paul Cézanne.

A green ceramic jar, a wine bottle wrapped in wicker, a wicker-wrapped jug, a small floral-patterned sugar bowl, and a bowl of red and yellow apples, all arranged on a table draped with a patterned blue cloth and white fabric.

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109d

Sit down & strap in: it’s going to be a long, wild Scottish literature 🧵…

What 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotsman was caught up in a South American civil war before he was 20? Wrote a book that inspired an Oscar-winning film? Met a runaway teenager in Paris & married her against the wishes of his family? Lost his ranch to raiding Apaches?

1/18

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #20thcentury #Victorian #Edwardian

A still from THE MISSION (1986). Robert De Niro, with a black beard and swept-back dark hair, stands in a haze of smoke in a jungle scene. He is dressed in a black shirt, and is holding a rapier out in front of him in his right hand. His left is on his hip, in a fencer's fighting stance. He looks unsmilingly along the length of his sword to whatever faces him.

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145d

Meaning beyond definition

In science our concepts have neat, hard edges. In poetry our concepts stretch and expand. Both are necessary for knowledge

by James Camien McGuiggan

https://aeon.co/essays/in-poetry-clarity-comes-through-ambiguity-not-definitions?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=765c91975b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2026_04_17&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

Poetry & Knowledge at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=poetry+%2B+knowledge

#books #literature #poetry #knowledge

Transcription:

003—La cravate et la montre

[cravate]

la cravate douloureuse que tu portes et qui t'orne ô civilisé ôte-la
si tu veux bien respirer
[montre, remontoir]

comme l'on s'amuse bien
[bord droit de la montre]

la beauté de la vie passe la douleur de mourir
[heures]

mon cœur
les yeux
l'enfant
Agla
la main
Tircis
semaine
l'infini redressé par un fous de philosophe
les Muses aux portes de ton corps
le bel inconnu
et le vers dantesque luisant et cadavérique
les heures
[aiguilles]

Il est – 5
Et tout sera fini

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/55569/pg55569-images.html

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1y

"Prose is a museum, where all the old weapons of poetry are kept."

In January 1909.

T. E. Hulme's poems "Autumn" and "A City Sunset" are included in the Poets' Club anthology For Christmas MDCCCCVIII, as the first examples of Imagism.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._E._Hulme

Canzoni & Ripostes at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39783

#books #literature #poetry

T.E. Hulme in 1912.

Hulme is shown in formal attire, such as a suit, with neatly combed hair.

His expression is typically stern or contemplative, aligning with his reputation as a rigorous thinker and a key figure in early modernist movements, particularly Imagism.

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1y

From January till September 1905.

L. Frank Baum's Animal Fairy Tales appear in The Delineator magazine.

For several decades in the twentieth century, the collection was a "lost" book by Baum; it resurfaced when the International Wizard of Oz Club published the stories in one volume in 1969.

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

The Animal Fairy Tales at Delineator:
https://reader.library.cornell.edu/docviewer/digital?id=hearth1891092_64_2#page/106/mode/1up

#books #literature

Animal Fairy Tales published in Vol. 64, No. 2, August, 1905: The Delineator.

Drawings by Charles Livinstone Bull.

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