Eggplant.place

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nudity

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In a little rainy mist of white and grey
we sat under an old tree,
drank tea toasts to the powdery mountain…

—Edwin Morgan, “The Picnic”
published in COLLECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 1990)

Today, 21 May, is International Tea Day
https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781847779656/collected-poems/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #tea #InternationalTeaDay

The Picnic
by Edwin Morgan

In a little rainy mist of white and grey
we sat under an old tree,
drank tea toasts to the powdery mountain,
undrunk got merry, played catch
with the empty flask, on the pine needles
came down to where it rolled stealthily away –
you lay
with one arm in the rain, laughing
shaking only your wet hair
loose against the grass, in that enchanted place
of tea, with curtains of a summer rain
dropped round us, for a rainy day.

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#OTD in 1816.

At the Villa Diodati, Lord Byron reads Fantasmagoriana to Percy Shelley, Mary Shelley, Claire Clairmont, and John Polidori, then challenges each to write a ghost story, culminating in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, John Polidori’s story “The Vampyre,” and Byron’s poem “Darkness.”

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

The Vampyre:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6087

Frankenstein:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/84

Darkness:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20158

#books #literature #poetry

(Left to Right):
Mary Shelley: She wears a dark gown with a bare neckline, consistent with early 19th-century fashion.

Her image likely comes from Richard Rothwell’s 1840 posthumous portrait.

John Polidori: The author of The Vampyre (1819), often considered the first modern vampire story. He appears youthful, with curly dark hair and a romantic expression.

Claire Clairmont: The stepsister of Mary Shelley and mother of Lord Byron’s daughter, Allegra. She is depicted with reddish-brown curls and wearing a modest white dress.

Percy Bysshe Shelley: The radical Romantic poet known for Prometheus Unbound and Ode to the West Wind. He is shown with intense eyes and a loosely worn open shirt and dark coat.

Lord Byron: He is shown in a contemplative pose with his hand to his face, wearing a deep red coat—this mirrors Thomas Phillips’s famous portrait of Byron.

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Archie Hind (1928–2008), author of THE DEAR GREEN PLACE (1966), was born #OTD, 3 June

“The only other 20th-century novel I know that places a writer’s struggle in an equally well-imagined city is Nabokov’s THE GIFT”
—Alasdair Gray

https://www.scotswhayhae.com/post/with-hind-s-sight-a-review-of-archie-hind-s-the-dear-green-place

#Scottish #literature #20thCentury #novel #Glasgow

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Moby-Dick doesn’t deserve the ‘difficult’ label – this sea romance was once loved by office workers, sailors and children

Early readers knew Moby-Dick for what it was: an extreme and ambitious form of popular genre fiction.

By Edward Sugden

https://theconversation.com/moby-dick-doesnt-deserve-the-difficult-label-this-sea-romance-was-once-loved-by-office-workers-sailors-and-children-252764?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20June%203%202025%20-%203399134654&utm_content=Latest%20from%20The%20Conversation%20for%20June%203%202025%20-%203399134654+CID_883bf765c02875a3531f2b057c9fd507&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=Moby-Dick%20doesnt%20deserve%20the%20difficult%20label%20%20this%20sea%20romance%20was%20once%20loved%20by%20office%20workers%20sailors%20and%20children

Moby Dick at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2701

#books #literature #literarycriticism

Illustration of the final chase of Moby-Dick in a 1902 edition.

The scene is dramatic and chaotic, set against a stormy sea. At the center is Captain Ahab, standing defiantly on the deck of the whaleboat or leaning forward with harpoon raised, his face twisted with obsession and fury.

The great white whale, Moby-Dick, dominates the composition—immense, ghostly pale, and terrifying, thrashing violently as it breaches the ocean surface.

Ahab’s ship, the Pequod, is shown in the distance or beginning to sink, impaled or struck by the whale’s massive bulk.

I. W. Taber - Moby Dick - edition: Charles Scribner's Sons, New York

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby-Dick#/media/File:Moby_Dick_final_chase.jpg

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Aonghas Dubh – Ceòl às na Briathran
The poet & writer Aonghas MacNeacail (1942–2022) was born #OTD, 7 June. This programme, originally aired on the BBC, is drawn from “Skerries, Trawlings, Tides” – a literary event celebrating Aonghas’s 80th birthday

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAb0LdDuaSk

#Scottish #literature #poetry #Gaelic #Gaidhlig

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“[Milne’s] cryogenics story, ‘Ten Thousand Years in Ice’, in which a survivor from an ancient advanced civilisation is revived in the present, unintentionally became one of science fiction’s great literary hoaxes”

Robert Duncan Milne (1844–1899) was born #OTD, 7 June, in Cupar, Fife. He emigrated to the USA & became America’s first full-time writer of science fiction

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https://theconversation.com/remembering-the-lost-father-of-american-science-fiction-and-his-scottish-roots-78968

#Scottish #literature #sciencefiction #scifi #Victorian #19thcentury

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The Cross-Dressing Marquess Who Made Arthur Conan Doyle Turn Detective

"Henry Paget, the fifth Marquess of Anglesey, who loved expensive costumes and jewelry, turned to Arthur Conan Doyle when his jewels mysteriously disappeared"

https://www.thecollector.com/henry-paget-arthur-conan-doyle/

Books by Doyle at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/69

#history #books #literature #lgbtqia

"Photo portrait of Henry Paget, 5th Marquess of Anglesey by John Wickens" - picryl.com

He is dressed in a theatrical costume. It is a long stripped robe with an elaborate headdress. He is holding a stick with ribbons tied around it.

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Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was born #OTD, 22 May, at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh – a 🎂 🧵

On BBC Sounds: Bridget Kendall explores Conan Doyle’s life & work – the doctor & literary superstar who changed Crime fiction forever

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p054419v

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #Crimewriting #CrimeFiction #Sherlock #SherlockHolmes #SherlockHolmesDay #ArthurConanDoyle

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Twa Cats anes on a Cheese did light,
To which baith had an equal Right,
But Disputes, sic as aft arise,
Fell out at sharing of the Prize…

“The twa Cats & the Cheese”, by Allan Ramsay (1686–1758)
😾😾🧀🐵

Today, 4 June, is National Cheese Day!

https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/105690319

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #poem #poetry #18thCentury #cats #cheese #NationalCheeseDay

The Twa Cats and the Cheese
Fable IX
by Allan Ramsay

Twa Cats anes on a Cheese did light,
To which baith had an equal Right,
But Disputes, sic as aft arise,
Fell out at sharing of the Prize;
Fair Play said ane, Ye bite o’er thick
Thae Teeth of yours gang wonder quick:
Let’s part it, else lang or the Moon
Be chang’d, the Kebuck will be done.

ALT

But wha’s to do’t,—They’re Parties baith,
And ane may do the other Skaith,
Sae with Consent away they trudge,
And laid the Cheese before a Judge,
A Monkey with a campsho Face,
Clerk to a Justice of the Peace,
A Judge he seem’d in Justice skill’d,
When he his Master’s Chair fill’d;
Now Umpire chosen for Division,
Baith sware to stand by his Decision.
Demure he looks.—The Cheese he pales,—
He prives it good,—Ca’s for the Scales,
His Knife whops throw’t,—In twa it fell,
He puts ilk Haff in either Shell;
Said he, We’ll truly weigh the Case,
And strickest Justice shall have Place,
Then lifting up the Scales, he fand
The tane bang up, the ither stand;
Syne out he took the heaviest Haff,
And ate a Knoost o’t quickly aff,
And try’d it syne,—It now prov’d light,
Friend Cats, said he, We’ll do ye right.
Then to the ither Haff he fell,
And laid till’t teughly Tooth and Nail,
Till weigh’d again it lightest prov’d:
The Judge wha this sweet Process lov’d,
Still weigh’d the Case, and still ate on,
Till Clients baith were weary grown,

ALT

And tenting how the Matter went,
Cry’d, Come, come Sir, We’re baith content.
Ye Fools, quoth he, and Justice too
Maun be content as well as you.
Thus grumbled they, thus he went on,
Till baith the Haves were near hand done;
Poor Pousies now the Daffine saw
Of gawn for Nignyes to the Law:
And bill’d the Judge that he wad please
To give them the remaining Cheese:
To which his Worship grave reply’d,
The Dues of Court maun first be paid.
Now Justice pleas’d,—What’s to the Fore
Will but right scrimply clear your Score;
That’s our Decreet,—Gae Hame and Sleep,
And thank us ye’re win aff sae cheap.

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Jacobite manuscripts held in archives in Edinburgh & Glasgow
19 June, Mitchell Library, Glasgow – free

These manuscripts offer insights into the motivations & experiences of those who lived through the uprisings in often surprising ways, including the methods by which this information was recorded

Ralph McLean is Manuscripts Curator for Long 18th Century Collections at the National Library of Scotland

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/jacobite-manuscripts-held-in-archives-in-edinburgh-and-glasgow-tickets-1380390427929

#Scottish #literature #18thcentury #Jacobite #manuscripts

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Out of the fog

It’s a ‘failed painting’ that obscures the profound power of German Romanticism. Why do we love the ‘Wanderer’ so much?

By Gianluca Didino

https://aeon.co/essays/why-caspar-david-friedrichs-wanderer-is-a-failed-painting?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=138e1ff597-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2025_05_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-4ef8a26106-72664972

German Romanticism at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=German+Romanticism

#books #art #literature

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (c1817) by Caspar David Friedrich.

The hiker stands as a back figure in the center of the composition. He looks down on an almost impenetrable sea of fog in the midst of a rocky landscape - a metaphor for life as an ominous journey into the unknown.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog#/media/File:Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Wanderer_above_the_Sea_of_Fog.jpeg

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“The Tale of Genji:” 1,000 Years of Romance

Posted by: Neely Tucker

This Japanese work is considered the world's first novel.

https://blogs.loc.gov/loc/2025/05/the-tale-of-genji-1000-years-of-romance/

Books by Murasaki Shikibu at PG

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Murasaki+Shikibu

#books #literature

"Scenes from the Tale of Genji, late 1700s. Japan, Edo period (1615–1868). Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on gilded paper; image: 154.4 x 351.2 cm (60 13/16 x 138 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of William G. Mather 1948.124

Folding screens served as temporary dividers in traditional Japanese open-plan architectural spaces. This pair was inspired by Japan’s most celebrated work of literature, the Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu, an attendant to the empress in the early 11th-century imperial court. The novel follows the love life of the “Shining Prince” Genji and delves into the psychological states of his many companions. Distinct episodes are nestled within a matrix of golden clouds and landscape elements. Each screen includes six episodes presented in a nonlinear fashion, capturing scattered highlights of the story." - from the Internet Archive

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Hamish Henderson, Burns & Music
21 June, Dundee Central Library – free

Prof Fred Freeman of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland talks about two great songsters & poets, Hamish Henderson & Robert Burns – both of whom redefined Scottish culture & provided a national & international vision of the country

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/hamish-henderson-burns-and-music-tickets-1374121928679

#Scottish #literature #poetry #song #HamishHenderson #RobertBurns #Scots #Scotslanguage #culture #identity #Dundee

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The Secret Link Between Raymond Chandler and P.G. Wodehouse

Arvind Ethan David on the Surprising Connection Between Two Legendary Authors

https://lithub.com/the-secret-link-between-raymond-chandler-and-p-g-wodehouse/?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_id=01JVWWXN4FM4JT4W1X4BY8VY6F&_kx=3MZUehzXM-41qlWAMPUiuNZadX2p0SByuNf_t0eMLB0.U5D8ER

#books #literature #literarycriticism

American author Raymond Chandler circa 1943.

Back cover of the dust jacket of The Lady in the Lake (1943), published by Alfred A. Knopf.

This black-and-white portrait of American author Raymond Chandler, taken circa 1943, features him in a formal pose, wearing a suit and tie. His expression is composed and introspective, reflecting the cool, cerebral demeanor often attributed to his famed detective fiction.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler#/media/File:Raymond_Chandler_(Lady_in_the_Lake_portrait,_1943).jpg

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Image of the writer PG Wodehouse from 1930.

This 1930 photograph by P.G. Wodehouse shows the British author in a non-formal pose, dressed in a suit and a fitted tie. Underneath his jacket, he is wearing a V-neck sweater. His expression is calm and slightly smiling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._G._Wodehouse#/media/File:P.G._Wodehouse,_1930.jpg

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I love all films that start with rain:
rain, braiding a windowpane
or darkening a hung-out dress
or streaming down her upturned face…

—Don Paterson, “Rain”
Published in RAIN (Faber, 2010)

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/rain-2/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #rain #film #cinema

Don Paterson
Rain

I love all films that start with rain:
rain, braiding a windowpane
or darkening a hung-out dress
or streaming down her upturned face;

one big thundering downpour
right through the empty script and score
before the act, before the blame,
before the lens pulls through the frame

to where the woman sits alone
beside a silent telephone
or the dress lies ruined on the grass
or the girl walks off the overpass,

and all things flow out from that source
along their fatal watercourse.
However bad or overlong
such a film can do no wrong,

so when his native twang shows through
or when the boom dips into view
or when her speech starts to betray
its adaptation from a play,

I think to when we opened cold
on a starlit gutter, running gold
with the neon of a drugstore sign
and I’d read into its blazing line:

forget the ink, the milk, the blood –
all was washed clean with the flood
we rose up from the falling waters
the fallen rain’s own sons and daughters

and none of this, none of this matters.

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Gaelic & Scots: Cultural Connections & Inspirations in the 20th Century

Talks form the FRLSU’s May 6 webinar are now online, looking at

▶️ George Campbell Hay | Deòrsa Mac Iain Dheòrsa
▶️ William Neill | Uilleam Nèill
▶️ Douglas Young
▶️ translations between Gaelic & Scots
▶️ Derick Thomson | Ruaraidh MacThòmais & GAIRM

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvLWE-AoQoGZ7NF6Vt2oYlKn74u0_TKsW

#Scottish #literature #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #Scots #Scotslanguage #translation #minoritylanguages #20thcentury

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In favoured summers
These islands have the sun all to themselves
And light a toy to play with, weeks on end…

—Edwin Muir, “The Northern Islands”
published in The Complete Poems of Edwin Muir, ed. Peter H. Butter (ASLS, 1999)

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Orkney #summer #EdwinMuir

Edwin Muir
The Northern Islands

In favoured summers
These islands have the sun all to themselves
And light a toy to play with, weeks on end.
The empty sky and waters are a shell
Endlessly turning, turning the wheel of light,
While the tranced waves run wavering up the sand.
The beasts sleep when they can, midnight or midday,
Slumbering on into unending brightness.
The green, green fields give too much, are too rank,
With beautiful beasts for breeding or for slaughter.
The horses, glorious useless race, are leaving.
Have the old ways left with them, and the faith,
Lost in this dream too comfortable and goodly
To make room for a blessing? Where can it fall?
The old ways change in the turning, turning light,
Taking and giving life to life from life.

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THE Q&A: AMBROSE PARRY

Married pair Marisa Haetzman & Christopher Brookmyre write historical crime fiction as “Ambrose Parry”. In The List’s Q&A they muse on the benefits of apple corers, being a gay panda, & putting your hands in the air like you just don’t care

https://list.co.uk/news/the-qa-ambrose-parry-46686

#Scottish #literature #crimefiction #historicalfiction

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How Ancient Greece Shaped Ovid, Rome’s Master Poet

By Nick Kampouris

https://greekreporter.com/2025/05/23/ancient-greece-shape-ovid-rome-poet/

Ovid at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2868

#books #literature

Delacroix, Ovid among the Scythians, 1859. National Gallery (London).

This painting by Eugène Delacroix depicts the Roman poet Ovid in exile among the Scythians, a nomadic people.

Ovid, draped in classical robes and seated at the center, appears fragile and contemplative, contrasting with the rugged, curious Scythians surrounding him.

The barren landscape, accented by horses and distant hills, enhances the sense of isolation and the meeting of two vastly different worlds—civilized Rome and untamed steppes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovid#/media/File:Eug%C3%A8ne_Delacroix_-_Ovide_chez_les_Scythes_(1859).jpg

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Lesya Ukrainka: Ukraine’s Beloved Writer and Activist

“Lesya Ukrainka” was a carefully considered pseudonym for a writer who left behind a legacy of poems, plays, essays and activism for the Ukrainian language.

By: Emily Zarevich from the archives

https://daily.jstor.org/lesya-ukrainka-ukraines-beloved-writer-and-activist/

Ukraine at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=ukraine

#books #literature

Lesya Ukrainka, 1896.

Photo taken at the studio of photographer Heinrich Lazowski in Kyiv.

Taken in the Kyiv studio of photographer Heinrich Lazowski, this portrait shows Ukrainian poet and playwright Lesya Ukrainka at age 25. She sits in a composed and dignified posture, wearing a high-collared, embroidered blouse and a dark shawl. Her gaze is direct and introspective.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9B%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%8F_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B0.2.jpg

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Translating Alasdair Gray

Recorded at the Alasdair Gray Archive on 23 May: a conversation between Professor Enrico Terrinoni (translator of Gray’s work in Italian) & Dr Rodge Glass (Gray’s biographer).

https://youtu.be/fXaiJeJE33k?si=0UG58FFH5DiiMgAP

#Scottish #literature #AlasdairGray #translation #literarytranslation #Italian

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Val McDermid – A Kick Up the Arts Live Podcast Recording
9 July, Portobello Bookshop, Edinburgh. Online & in person, tickets £0–£8.99

Join Val McDermid and Nicola Meighan for a special live recording of the Scottish Arts & Culture Podcast, A Kick Up the Arts, to celebrate the paperback publication of Val’s latest book, QUEEN MACBETH.

https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/events/val-mcdermid-with-nicola-meighan-queen-macbeth

#Scottish #literature #podcast #Edinburgh #ValMcDermid #historicalfiction

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What Scotsman was caught up in a civil war before the age of twenty? Wrote a book that became the inspiration for an Oscar-winning film? Met a runaway teenager in Paris and married her against the wishes of his family? Lost his ranch to raiding Apaches?

Buckle up – it’s going to be a long, wild 🧵 …

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