Eggplant.place

197d

“To anyone reading this who is just starting out or feeling unsure, I want to say: keep going. Poetry needs your voice”

Nazaret Ranea on her journey from being one of the Scottish Poetry Library’s Young Makars to publishing her first poetry collection with Drunk Muse Press

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/2025/07/my-journey-from-scotlands-next-generation-young-makar-to-published-poet/

#Scottish #literature #poetry #writingcommunity

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197d

John Buchan: the master storyteller
4 Sept, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh – free

2025 marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of John Buchan. Ursula Buchan, John Buchan’s granddaughter & biographer, will talk about the range of his fiction & its subject matter

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/john-buchan-the-master-storyteller-tickets-1480628713339

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #JohnBuchan

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219d

The First Battle of the Somme began #OTD, 1 July, 1916. Violet Jacob’s only child, Harry, was killed in action in the battle. Jacob’s war poems are some of the most poignant & affecting works from the Home Front.

“To A.H.J.”, from MORE SONGS OF ANGUS & OTHERS (1918)

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #warpoem #warpoetry #Somme #WW1 #FirstWorldwar

Violet Jacob
“To A.H.J.”

Past life, past tears, far past the grave,‍‍
‍‍‍‍The tryst is set for me,
Since, for our all, your all you gave‍‍
‍‍‍‍On the slopes of Picardy.

On Angus, in the autumn nights,‍‍
‍‍‍‍The ice-green light shall lie.
Beyond the trees the Northern Lights‍‍
‍‍‍‍Slant on the belts of sky.

But miles on miles from Scottish soil‍‍
‍‍‍‍You sleep, past war and scaith,
Your country’s freedman, loosed from toil.‍‍
‍‍‍‍In honour and in faith.

For Angus held you in her spell,
‍‍‍‍Her Grampians, faint and blue,
Her ways, the speech you knew so well,
‍‍‍‍Were half the world to you.

Yet rest, my son; our souls are those‍‍
‍‍‍‍Nor time nor death can part,
And lie you proudly, folded close‍‍
‍‍‍‍To France’s deathless heart.

ALT

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196d

Terrifying vistas of reality

H P Lovecraft, the master of cosmic horror stories, was a philosopher who believed in the total insignificance of humanity

BY Sam Woodward

https://aeon.co/essays/the-terror-of-reality-was-the-true-horror-for-h-p-lovecraft?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=d2e8825be8-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_07_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

H.P. Lovecraft at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/34724

#Books #literature

This is a photograph of Lovecraft that was taken in 1915.

Lovecraft is dressed in a dark suit and tie, with a high starched collar. His hair is neatly combed back, and his expression is serious, reflective, and perhaps a touch distant.

Unknown author - https://www.hplovecraft.com/life/gallery.aspx?PhotoID=7

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194d

Agatha Christie’s Mysterious Disappearance

In December 1926, Christie went missing for more than a week. Where did she go, and what was she up to?

By: Emily Zarevich

https://daily.jstor.org/agatha-christies-mysterious-disappearance/

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

#Books #Literature

Daily Herald, 15 December 1926, announcing that Christie had been found. Missing for 11 days, she was found at the Swan Hydropathic Hotel in Harrogate, Yorkshire.

Unknown author - Daily Herald (London) 15 December 1926, p. 1.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatha_Christie#/media/File:Christie_at_Hydro.jpgg

ALT

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218d

A Blether and a Bevvy – Denise Mina
29 July, Aberdour. Tickets £8.83.

Aberdour Festival will feature Denise Mina in the week her latest novel THE GOOD LIAR is published. Mina will give a sneak preview of her new book, share where she finds her inspiration for her best-selling crime novels, & reveal how her Glasgow University Law degree helps with fiendishly complex plot lines.

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-blether-and-a-bevvy-denise-mina-tickets-1390633495219

#Scottish #literature #crimefiction

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196d

The Battle of Harlaw was fought #OTD, 24 July, 1411. Before the battle the Clan Donald bard Lachlann Mòr MacMhuirich composed this brosnachadh or incitement to battle. Each line contains 2 describing words, & each successive pair of lines all begin with the same letter while retaining the 7-syllable format of each line. The poet works through the entire Gaelic alphabet in sequence.

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https://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/inverurie/battleofharlaw/index.html

#Scottish #literature #poetry #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #medieval #history #battle

Brostughadh-catha Chlann-Domhnaill, Là Chatha Gharbhaich
Lachlann Mòr MacMhuirich

A Chlanna Cuinn, cuimhnichibh
Cruas an am na h-iorghaile:
Gu h-àirneach, gu h-arranta,
Gu h-athlamh, gu h-allanta,
Gu beòdha, gu barramhail,
Gu brìoghmhor, gu buan-fheargach,
Gu calma, gu curanta,
Gu cròdha, gu cath-bhuadhach,
Gu dùr is gu dàsannach,
Gu dian is gu deagh-fhulang,
Gu h-èasgaidh, gu h-eaghnamhach,
Gu h-éidith’, gu h-eireachdail,
Gu fortail, gu furachail,
Gu frithir, gu forniata,
Gu gruamach, gu gràineamhail,
Gu gleusta, gu gaisgeamhail,
Gu h-ullamh, gu h-iorghaileach,
Gu h-olla-bhorb, gu h-àibheiseach,
Gu h-innill, gu h-inntinneach,
Gu h-iomdha, gu h-iomghonach,
Gu laomsgar, gu làn-athlamh,
Gu làidir, gu luath-bhuilleach,
Gu mearghanta, gu mór-chneadhach,
Gu meanmnach, gu mìleanta,
Gu neimhneach, gu naimhdeamhail,
Gu niatach, gu neimh-eaglach,
Gu h-obann, gu h-olla-ghnìomhach,
Gu h-oirdheirc, gu h-oirbheartach,
Gu prap is gu prìomh-ullamh,
Gu prosta, gu prionnsamhail,
Gu ruaimneach, gu ro-dhàna,

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194d

Let us now give thanks
for these salt-blown

wind-burned pastures
where oatgrass and timothy
shrink from the harrow of the sea…

—John Glenday, “A Westray Prayer”
in SELECTED POEMS (Picador 2020)

John Glenday reads this poem on the Poetry Archive:

https://poetryarchive.org/poem/westray-prayer/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry

John Glenday
A Westray Prayer

in memoriam Mike and Barbara Heasman

Let us now give thanks
for these salt-blown

wind-burned pastures
where oatgrass and timothy
shrink from the harrow of the sea

where Scotland at long last
wearies of muttering its own name
where we may begin

to believe we have always known
what someone in his wisdom
must have meant

when he gave us everything
and told us nothing.

ALT

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218d

It clamps itself to a rock, like a limpet,
And creeps up and down in a tide of people,
Hardly ever stranded in a tideless sabbath:
A pilgrimage place where all hymns are jubilant…

—Norman MacCaig, “A.K.’s Summer Hut”
published in THE POEMS OF NORMAN MACCAIG (Birlinn, 2009)

https://birlinn.co.uk/product/the-poems-of-norman-maccaig/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #NormanMacCaig

A.K.’s summer hut
Norman MacCaig

It clamps itself to a rock, like a limpet,
And creeps up and down in a tide of people,
Hardly ever stranded in a tideless sabbath:
A pilgrimage place where all hymns are jubilant.

The starry revolutions around it,
The deer circling in new foundations
Of old worlds, the immortal noise
Of the river ghosted with salmon - these

Are a bloodstream it’s a blood-drop in.
Such sharing. Such giving. See, at the window,
That silly chaffinch, practically talking Gaelic,
And the eiders domestic as farmyard ducks

And the lady gull yacking for her breakfast.
If I were a bethlehemish star I’d stand fixed
Over that roof, knowing there’d be born there
No wars, no tortures, no savage crucifixions.

But a rare, an extraordinary thing –
An exhilaration of peace, a sounding
Grace with trinities galore – if only
Those three collared doves in the rowan tree.

ALT

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196d

Miscarriage

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196d

What Are You Reading?

I’m at the car dealership this morning for some maintenance. What are you reading? For me it is The Fall by Albert Camus. Here’s an early excerpt from the book: “Anyone who has considerably meditated on man, by profession or vocation, is led to feel nostalgia for the primates. They at least don’t have any ulterior motives.”

#WhatAreYouReading #Reading #Books #Literature #Camus #Primates #Anthropology

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194d

#OTD in 1856 playwright George Bernard Shaw was born.

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

George Bernard Shaw books at PG

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/467

#plays #literature #books

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218d

James Hogg & Mikhail Bulgakov

In the latest London Review of Books podcast, Marina Warner & Adam Thirlwell look at how James Hogg’s JUSTIFIED SINNER & Bulgakov’s THE MASTER & MARGARITA represent fanaticism, be it Calvinism or Bolshevism, & consider why both writers used the fantastical to test reality

@litstudies

https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/the-lrb-podcast/close-readings-james-hogg-and-mikhail-bulgakov

#Scottish #Russian #Soviet #literature #JamesHogg #MikhailBulgakov #gothic #horror #fanaticism #Calvinism #Bolshevism #fantasy

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193d

I am pulled to the river by the hook in
my teeth. Swans, herring gulls, flick
of a cormorant, a bridge in lunular arch:
write down each…

—Siobhan Mulligan, “Salmon Run”
published in The Last Good Year: New Writing Scotland 38 (ASL, 2020)

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws38/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #naturewriting

Siobhan Mulligan
SALMON RUN

I am pulled to the river by the hook in
my teeth. Swans, herring gulls, flick
of a cormorant, a bridge in lunular arch:
write down each. No vein of iron, no piston
to pump. My grandmother
would have avoided this. Her lungs
would swallow smoke as

salmon swallowed sewage, slag and
oil, steel and cistern smell, home settling
in choking gills. Years combed the water
into river again, but cycles stalled.
Rewilding required.
Now they swarm in shattered
patterns, fins glinting like
slicked stone.

Taste calls them on the currents:
the delicate peat of their hatching stream.
Generations flick past like calendar pages:
salt, smoke, citrus scent, calling me
like a dream.

ALT

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217d

#Literature
#Exploring

So I decided to pull some older works from @gutenberg_org and see what I can learn.

I need to reread some of Shakespeare and maybe take advantage of the library to read some older philosophical works.

Need to read more in general.

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195d

What Is an Artist According to Sigmund Freud?

According to Freud, artists have a unique quality of sublimating their desires into creative fantasies and sharing them with their audience.

by Anastasiia Kirpalov

https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-artist-according-sigmund-freud/

Books about Freud -- Views on art at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/10788

#Art #Books #Literature

Oedipus and the Sphinx, 1808–27, oil on canvas, 189 x 144 cm, Louvre

Oedipus stands nude, youthful, and muscular, confronting the crouching Sphinx. He is caught mid-answer, confidently gesturing toward her, symbolizing human intellect in defiance of fate and mystery. His poised figure, bathed in sharp light, contrasts with the shadowy, contorted body of the Sphinx—part lion, part woman—whose claws and piercing gaze intensify the psychological tension of the scene.

The background features a rocky cliff and a distant landscape, subtly alluding to the myth’s journey motif. The lifeless body of a previous victim lies at Oedipus’s feet, underscoring the high stakes of this mythical encounter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus_and_the_Sphinx_(Ingres)#/media/File:%C5%92dipe_explique_l'%C3%A9nigme_du_sphinx_-_Jean-Auguste_Dominique_Ingres_-_Mus%C3%A9e_du_Louvre_Peintures_RF_218.jpg

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217d

Transmission #28 – From the Head of Sericulture
Transmission from: Briony Ash, Head of Sericulture, Luxembourg Base, Copernicus D Crater, Moon
Earth Received Time: 12 June 2045, 10:13:49 UT

The latest report from Project Abeona, a small group of poets living off-world in a speculative future

(Transmission #28 by Pippa Goldschmidt)

https://projectabeonapoetry.substack.com/p/transmission-28-from-the-head-of

#Scottish #literature #poem #prosepoem #scifi #sciencefiction #speculativefiction

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194d

Yee-haw, 26 July is #CowboyDay 🤠…

Bud Neill’s newspaper comic strips (1949–1956) are one of Scotland’s most notable contributions to cowboy fiction, featuring Lobey Dosser, the sheriff of Calton Creek; his 2-legged horse El Fideldo; & resident masked villain Rank Bajin

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lobey-dosser

#Scottish #literature #comics #comicstrips #Glasgow #20thcentury #lobeydosser #publicart #cowboy #cowboys

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217d

Pan-Asianism Redux, or Why We Think Japan Is Special

Observers have long hailed Japan’s aptitude for cultural synthesis. Is this characterization warranted, or does it reflect a collective fantasy about exceptionalism?

By: Waiyee Loh

https://daily.jstor.org/pan-asianism-redux-or-why-we-think-japan-is-special/

Japanese literature at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=japanese+literature

#Books #Literature #History #Japan

Okakura, Kakuzo, 1862-1913

The book of tea : a Japanese harmony of art culture and the simple life

The cover of The Book of Tea:
Often adorned with traditional Japanese motifs, such as tea leaves.

Covers often use soft, earthy tones mirroring the tranquil spirit of the tea ceremony.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_book_of_tea_-_a_Japanese_harmony_of_art_culture_and_the_simple_life_(IA_bookofteajapanes00okakrich).pdf

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217d

I had a holiday from awkwardness. Can you have sex? was solved. Most people have been or known a doubled self like us…

—Nuala Watt, “Pregnant & Squint”
from The Department of Work & Pensions Assesses a Jade Fish (Blue Diode, 2024)

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https://www.bluediode.co.uk/product-page/the-department-of-work-and-pensions-assesses-a-jade-fish-by-nuala-watt

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #disability #pregnant #pregnancy #motherhood

Nuala Watt
Pregnant and Squint

I had a holiday from awkwardness. Can you have sex? was solved. Most people have been or known a doubled self like us. Briefly my conditions were disabled.

Test to term I never had to console a passer-by spooked by my movement. People knew what to say. When are you due? Do you know what you’re having? Yes, a break.

We were disconcertingly well. Nothing Abnormal Detected said midwives’ scribbles. Just before childbirth, everyone’s disabled. For me, same old, same old. I had cohabited with fatigue for years; my balance was dreadful; I already leaked.

Suddenly I had twice the rights on buses. I could be the belly, if I liked, or the girl balanced on a semi-circle. I qualified for both the reserved seats.

I liked the quaint but truthful phrase ‘with child’.

The government forced me to list what I couldn’t do. I had to excise you from my answers. Whilst I described the most disastrous days, the falls, the fits, the faff, the time I collapsed while trying to use a tampon, my oddly capable body made your kidneys.

ALT

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195d

Elizabeth Hamilton (1756?–1816) was (probably) born #OTD, 25 July. We republished her 1808 novel THE COTTAGERS OF GLENBURNIE, edited by Pam Perkins: an entertaining & skilful dissection of 18th-century class issues, British imperialism, & war

@litstudies

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https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/glenburnie/

#Scottish #literature #18thcentury #19thcentury #womenwriters

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189d

Feersum Endjinn by Iain M. Banks

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12015.Feersum_Endjinn

1 of thi moust entataynink syfy reeds ov ol, hooj recomindayshn :)

#books #amreading #reading #kindle #literature #booktoot #book #knihy #scifi #sciencefiction @bookstodon @scifi @knihy

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217d

#OTD in 1883, Franz Kafka is born

Books by Kafka at PG

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1735

Cover of Der Prozess (German version of The Trial)

#literature #books

Edited 217d ago

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192d

“Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye’re sleeping.”

—The Laird of Dumbiedikes, on his death-bed, to his son (in THE HEART OF MIDLOTHIAN, by Walter Scott)

28 July is World Conservation Day. Here’s “Dumbiedikes”, by James Robertson – you can listen to him read the poem online here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z2ZrMu__OY

#Scottish #literature #poetry #poem #Scots #Scotslanguage #WalterScott #WorldConservationDay #environment

Dumbiedikes
James Robertson

“Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, ye may be aye sticking in a tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye’re sleeping."
—The Laird of Dumbiedikes, on his death-bed, to his son
(The Heart of Midlothian, by Sir Walter Scott)

Hoo mony trees tae prent a thoosan buiks?
Hoo mony buiks tae pulp a thoosan trees?
Hoo mony trees tae launch a thoosan boats?
Hoo mony boats tae sink a thoosan trees?
Hoo mony trees tae licht a thoosan fires?
Hoo mony fires tae smoor a thoosan trees?
Hoo mony trees tae mak a thoosan kists?
Hoo mony kists tae yird a thoosan trees?
Jock, when I’m awa, dae this for me –
howk oot a hole and in it stick a tree.
I carena gin it’s birk, beech, aik or rowan,
Sae be’t when ye’re sleepin, Jock, it’s growin.
Its canopy will spreid, its seeds will faw;
it micht be hame tae mavis, merle or craw;
speeders will hing their brigs on it, I doot,
and peerie-weerie beasties venture oot
upon the mappa mundi o its bark,
while kail-worms mak a denner o its sark.
Amang its ruits the glunchin taid will rest,
the frettin, fykie yird-moose bigg her nest,
and dentylions and puddock-stools upheeze…
In sair times, Jock, we’re sair in need o trees.
Stick in a tree, stick in a thoosan mair,
and mind o me when I’m nae langer there.
Hoo mony daiths afore the planet dees?
Tae gie the planet braith, hoo mony trees?

ALT

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192d

Call for papers:
(Un)natural Stevenson: Wild transgressions across literature, ecology, science & gender
Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, 11–12 May 2026

This conference aims to explore the concept of nature/natural in Robert Louis Stevenson’s work, & to investigate Stevenson both as a writer of dichotomies/dualisms & of their wild transgressions

@litstudies

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EoselkYayxzSXzW36aDZTbZv_SQt8cCG/

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #RobertLouisStevenson #LiteraryStudies #ecology #science #gender

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