January 2017 Newsletter

Happy New Year to Everybody.

The following posts have been put on the blog since 1 December:

1) An account by Howard Norton of Denis Moriarty's talk to the society on Edward Lear.

2) Another glowing review of Jonty Driver's latest book, Some Schools.

The 2017 speakers and dates of our Friday Meetings can be found in the panel on the right of the screen.

Book Group choices have not yet been finalised. The January meeting on Wednesday 18 January will discuss "Murder on the Strike of Five" introduced by the author, M P Peacock. The Rye Bookshop still has some copies and the book can be bought on-line from Amazon, or downloaded on to a Kindle. Maddy Coelho (aka M P Peacock/2) has some copies for sale price £8.00, and she can be contacted by e-mail at maddycoelho@hotmail.com

Please let me have items for February before the last week in January.

Denis Moriarty's talk on Edward Lear, 9 December

Thanks to Robbie Gooders for supplying the above picture by Edward Lear.

Many thanks  also to Howard Norton for the following write-up of our latest meeting:

Denis Moriarty’s  talk on Edward Lear at the December meeting on Literary Society introduced us to one of the most extraordinary literary figures of the nineteenth century.  Holbrook Jackson, in his introduction to the Complete Nonsense Rhymes, writes, ‘There was something preposterous about Edward Lear, amiably preposterous’.

Denis did ample justice to his subject’s amiable eccentricity: his talk was laced with humour throughout which made it a perfect appetiser for Christmas.  Like all good speakers, Denis didn’t hesitate to explore alluring cul-de-sacs.  For example, how many of us knew that snooker was invented at the hill station of Ootacamund (Ooty)?  Another characteristic of an effective presentation is that it encourages the listener to explore further.  Denis certainly did that:  he left so many fascinating questions unanswered.  (In this regard, can I recommend Vivien Noakes’ splendid book, ‘Edward Lear The Life of a Wanderer’) 

Would Lear have become a Royal Academician if he had been less prolific?  In reality, that wasn’t an option.  Lear’s past forced him to be a ‘pictorial merchant’.  As in the cases of Dickens and Trollope and so many other famous Victorians, his father had been in a debtor’s prison and, as he had sired twentyone children, perhaps one should not be surprised. 

Would Lear have been the brilliant humourist he was if he had not been a melancholic cursed with frequent bouts of depression to the extent that ‘he would walk around a room with his face streaming with tears of loneliness?.  One wonders, if he had lived in a more permissive era, whether he would  have attempted suicide.

Would Lear have been a happier, albeit less creative figure, if he had had a stable marriage?  His emotional homosexuality and fear of commitment prevented that and most of his relationships ended in frustration so that, at the end of his life, this most clubbable of men had to rely on his cat, ‘Old Foss’, for companionship.  In a similar way Tennyson postponed his marriage because he was fearful of passing on Lear’s demon, epilepsy, to future generations.

What exactly were Lear’s feelings for his estranged friend’s wife, Emily Tennyson?  They must have been fairly intense for him to have named his house in San Remo after her.

Finally, how did Lear interact with the young Queen Victoria as he taught her to draw?  He certainly had ambivalent feelings towards the monarchy.  One would like to have been a fly on the  wall.

As Denis continued, we were amazed by the range of Lear’s interests and his versatility: ornithologist, painter in watercolours and oils, scintillating diarist and letter-writer, teacher and accomplished tenor who once reduced an audience to tears as he rendered several of Tennyson’s poems which he had set to music himself.  But above all, he will be remembered as a comic rhymester of genius whose nonsense delighted his contemporaries.  Incidentally, how astonishing that an age of grim religiosity should have produced the two greatest masters on comic verse in the English language; Lewis Carroll and Edward Lear. 

For all his tortured creativity, Lear remained a marginal figure who never quite became an eminent Victorian, whereas Lewis Carroll did.  Perhaps history has been a little unkind to Edward Lear.

For further information on Edward Lear CLICK HERE

Another review of Jonty Driver's latest book

‘Some Schools’some man!
Jonathan Watts reviews Jonty’s latest book

Jonty Driver recalls an occasion when, as Head of Island School in Hong Kong,he took his place at the back of thelunch queue – a reflection in itself of hisegalitarian instincts and the desire to get to know pupils better. ‘Two boys ahead of me, one of whom I had recently dealt with for misbehaviour of some trivial kind, hadn’t noticed me. “He’s a bastard”the first boy asserted. His friend agreed.
Then the first boy added reflectively, “But fair.” It is through such anecdotes – some self-effacing, some purely factual, some reflecting a justifiable pride in a job well done – that Jonty provides witty, perceptive and often humorous or poignant insights into the life of a teacher and Head from the 1960s until his retirement as Master of Wellington in 2000. As an accomplished poet and novelist, he is adept at depicting his own character and thoughts with utter candour and honesty, and this entertaining and enjoyable book is suffused with his strong personality and equally strong views. His writing is superbly crafted with great subtlety: within the narrative of his career in education – and
the simultaneous changes in educational thinking and practice - Jonty includes short reflections on all sorts of relevant topics such as bullying, drugs, homosexuality, the politics of education, curricular
change, leadership and the debate over the continued existence of independent schools.
What is perhaps most illuminating is the way in which he explains through examples from his own experience how schools work, and in particular the complex relationship between teachers, heads, governors, parents and pupils: it will give anyone a far greater grasp of how their own school functioned.
Jonty is typically generous towards those dedicated and inspiring teachers with whom he has worked, highlighting the careers of particular individuals and why they deserve praise; on the other hand, he is scathing of the inadequate, inept or incompetent – often by name. He can be equally critical of schools, and it is clear that, when he took over at Wellington, it was not a happyplace. Did lawyers, I wonder, have to go through the text to avoid legal action - not something which I suspect would worry an author who, early in his life, was detained in solitary confinement for his student activism against the apartheid system in his home-country of South Africa and suffered years of statelessness as a result.
A former Prime Minister said that never in his wildest dreams could he exercise the power wielded by his own headmaster – but any political theorist will tell you that there is a big difference between power and authority. Jonty has been unafraid to use his personal authority to solve problems and,
at 6 foot 4 with an athletic physique and a suitably expressive and terse vocabulary, he was well able to put the fear of God into miscreant pupils and colleagues.
But there is nothing self-congratulatory or smug about this book which is largely about the problems which face a Head and how they can be solved – and for Jonty, any solution must be for the good of the young people in his charge. There are all sorts of apparent contradictions in this self-portrait
– the advocate of comprehensive education who ends up running an elite school; the libertarian democrat who is happy to exercise authority which might be seen as arbitrary; the doubting, introspective poet who has firmly held views of right and wrong. Yet these complexities only serve to
show how human a head can be (did any of us ever think of our school heads as human beings?); everything Jonty has undertaken has been the result of his underlying concern for humanity and ensuring that young people are brought up with the values and vision to make them effective
members of society. His description of two former colleagues applies equally well to Jonty himself: ‘intelligent, compassionate, intellectually rigorous, energetic and goodhumoured’.
Perhaps we value in others the qualities we nurture in ourselves. And beside him on this journey has been his wise and supportive wife Ann – ‘behind every great man…..’; perhaps she will tell
her story one day. ‘Some Schools’; some man!

Some Schools by CJ (Jonty) Driver is
available in hardback and paperback from
Amazon, the Rye Bookshop or direct from the
publisher (John Catt Educational Ltd)

 First published in Ewhurst & Bodiam Parish News © Jonathan Watts / Ewhurst & Bodiam Parish News

December 2016 Newsletter

MP Peacock in the Bookshop with the Wine Bottle.
Crime Writing: Upcoming free event

An open brainstorming session on 21st Century Detective Fiction

6.00pm, Saturday 3rd December 2016, Rye Bookshop

The Reverend Ronald Knox wrote his famous Ten Commandments of detective fiction in 1929:

"No ghosts, no secret passages, no identical twins and no Chinamen. No hidden clues, no last minute criminal arrivals, no obscure science or poisons. No murderous detectives. No dissembling assistants."

The golden age of detective fiction - Agatha Christie, Josephine Tey, Dorothy L Sayers and Margery Allingham - followed his rules, most of the time, for very good reason.

Do these rules still work almost 90 years later? We live in a different world of DNA testing, mobile phones and the internet.

Should they be updated to reflect modern times? Do they still retain some element of literary merit?

Next Saturday, 3rd December at the Rye Bookshop, Maddy Coelho and Paul Youlten, better known as MP Peacock, author of Murder on the Strike of Five, (for details see September Newsletter below dated 25 August) will be leading the investigation into 'Should we rewrite the rules of detective fiction?' 

Come and help draft the new commandments.

 Former Headmaster in the Art Gallery with the Book 

Smarden Art Gallery on Thursday 15th December, 6-8 p.m. 

Jonty Driver will be reading from and answering questions about his new book, SOME SCHOOLS (available from the Rye Bookshop). There will be drinks and small eats, and a chance to see what is available in the gallery too.

Short Stories:  At its last meeting the Book Group had a lively discussion about the short story genre. We discussed two short stories by Katherine Mansfield, introduced by Gill Southgate. By chance, there was an article by Elizabeth Day on writing short stories, in the Daily Telegraph last week, prompted by the recent death of a master of the short story, William Trevor. Here is a link to the start of the article, and if you want to read the rest I can send you a cutting, kindly provided by Alan McKinna: CLICK HERE

Comic Writing: There's another interesting piece on a different literary topic, namely the work of    P G Wodehouse, in the Daily Telegraph of 29 November. This was prompted by the news that Wodehouse's literary archive has been acquired by the British Library, with the implications for the rehabilitation of this perhaps under-rated and unfairly demonised author. CLICK HERE to read the whole article. 

November Meeting, Friday 18th 7:00 for 7:30, Lower Court Hall.

The Life and Work of E F Benson, by Allan Downend

The talk will look at Fred Benson by; placing him within his family; following his education and early work; discussing his writing career; mentioning some of his friends and circle and finishing with his time in Rye. There will be some readings from his books. 

 

  

Our Speaker 

Most of Allan Downend's career was as Area Librarian for Chiswick and then after a major re-organisation he became a Heritage and Tourism Officer and did the restoration of Hogarth's House for the Tercentenary; exhibited permanently for the first time the local collection of paintings together with the restoration of several rooms at Boston Manor; conserved a local collection of C18th and early C19th books, organised Book Fairs, and began the bid to restore the museum and mansions in Gunnersbury Park. After early retirement he was Curator at Rye castle Museum until 2007. In 1985. together with others, he founded the E.F.Benson Society and ever since has been the Society's Secretary.

November 2016 Newsletter

Events at the Rye Bookshop: Thanks to Lizzie Lee for providing these details:

Our next event is Saturday 12th November at 3.30pm - we'll be welcoming Hugh Fraser (AKA Captain Hastings from TV's Poirot!) and Guy Fraser-Sampson in to sign copies of their books. Then as part of the Rye Christmas Fair on December 10th we'll host Gillian Draper from 11am-2pm, and she'll be signing copies of her book 'Rye: A History of a Sussex Cinque Port'.

The next Winchelsea Literary Society meeting is on Friday 18 November when Allan Downend will be talking about The Life & Work of E F Benson. The venue, as usual, is the Lower Court Hall, and the talk starts at 7:30 pm, with refreshments available from 7:00 pm

Book Group, 16 November Meeting

For those who want to download the two Katherine Mansfield stories ‘At the Bay’ and ‘Prelude’ they are available at:

www.KatherineMansfieldSociety.org/short-stories-by-Katherine-Mansfield

Alternatively you can just click here 

Thanks to Gillian Southgate, who choice this is, for providing this helpful information

Gillian is also our speaker at this Friday's Literary Society meeting.

She has an Honours degree and a Master of Arts in English and American Literature from the University of Kent. She taught the subject at undergraduate level at Canterbury Christ Church University until she retired. A short spell in her youth was spent training as a journalist on Warwickshire and Worcestershire Life magazine in Leamington Spa but she gave it up for the academic life.  She’s been published in academic journals, in magazines, has written literary criticism for students and bookgroups, and regularly wins prizes in The Oldie and The Spectator poetry competitions. Between 2004 and 2008, she was a Fellow of Jane Franklin Hall at the University of Tasmania and gave the Governor’s Lady Hamilton lecture in Hobart in 2005 on  the literature on the USA. Here in Winchelsea she’s spoken three times to the Literary Society on the subjects of Katherine Mansfield, The Bloomsbury Group and Geoffrey Chaucer. This Friday's talk is entitled: ‘How America found its Writing Voice.’

 

Two events at the Rye Festival, reviewed by Gillian Southgate

The Martin Wimbush talk on Betjeman and Larkin took place in the Community Hall last Sunday, 25^th September. He punctuated his dramatic deliveries with readings from Bennett’s book:

Six Poets: Hardy to Larkin, quoting verbatim from Bennett’s linking pieces. It was well done, but reinforced my feeling about performance poetry. I agree with Andrew Motion that the poem and the reader make a private compact, and that a poem will always be understood individually, rather than collectively. That said, I could hear well Larkin’s debt to Hardy, and whilst I know Betjeman was a fine chronicler of his times, I liked the Larkin poetry so much more.  But that’s a personal view.  The audience seemed very pleased, and Martin Wimbush was completely professional in his delivery, and word-perfect.

Joan Bakewell, on Wednesday 27^th, talked about ageing and the up, rather than the downside, of it.  She was enormously engaging, funny, and made sure that what she said would be well received by most of the people attending. Things that got better as one aged were the availability of music, relationships with grandchildren and an awful lot more.  Things she lamented were the dying art of handwriting, the fact of small children being the total focus of family life, rather than the family unit itself, and the increasing if slow loss of hearing and eyesight. She drew in the audience very quickly, and there were a number of questions including one about her status in the BBC, which she responded to seriously and informatively. Everyone enjoyed her talk, and there was a rush to buy her book, being sold at the front by Lizzie from the Rye bookshop, and signed by Joan herself.

Newsletter, October 2016

Rye Festival: This year's festival has included several "Literary" events, including The Oldie's Literary Lunch at the George on 21 September (Speakers: Alison Weir on "Katherine of Aragon: The True Queen"; Ferdinand Mount on "English Voices"; and Wensley Clarkson on "Sexy Beasts: The Real Inside Story of the Hatton Garden Mob"), 

Talks were also given in the course of the Festival by: Bridget Keenan (Full Marks for Trying), Anna Pavord (Landskipping: Painters, Ploughmen and Places), Andreas Prindl (Henry James), David Lough (No More Champagne: Churchill and his Money), Thomas Grant (Jeremy Hutchinson's Case Histories), Anne Sebba (Les Parisiennes), Henry Jeffreys (Empire of Booze), Loyd Grossman (Benjamin West and the Struggle to be Modern), Jane Grant (In the Steps of Exceptional Women), Joan Bakewell (Stop the Clocks), Thomas Mogford (Murder in a Seaside Town).

 Other Rye Festival events with a "literary" flavour included a showing of the film of Stella Gibbons's "Cold Comfort Farm" and Martin Wimbush's celebration of John Betjeman, Philip Larkin and Alan Bennett.

If you have enjoyed any of these events, or the books talked about, why not write a short review for the blog?

Jonty Driver will be at the Rye Bookshop on 26 October, 6-8 pm talking about his new book, Some Schools. (See below in August newsletter for more details)

The October meeting of the Winchelsea Literary Society is on Friday 21 October, when Gillian Southgate will be talking about "How America Found its Writing Voice"

Monthly Newsletter; a new feature of the blog: September 2016

In future, I shall include on the blog a monthly newsletter-style post, with announcements about recent and forthcoming meetings, and other topical matters. I'll aim to post each month's issue in the last week of the previous month, so this is the September 2016 inaugural issue.

Contributions are welcome, for example news of forthcoming events or broadcasts. Next month it would be good to have some reviews of literary events at the Rye Arts Festival. Any volunteers?

 Thanks to Hilary Roome for the following announcement:

" Please can you post under events the forthcoming Lit Soc outing to the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury?  This is to see the National Theatre production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time on Thursday 9 March at 2.30pm.  I have block reserved 28 tickets and friends and family are welcome too.

People should let me know if they want a ticket. Cost £26.77, but this will rise a little if fewer people come. At present we are assuming people will make their own way, but a coach could be hired if that is the consensus. Tickets must be paid for by Christmas."

"The Good Terrorist"  On Saturday, 27 August, Channel 4 broadcast a documentary  about John Harris, the subject of Jonty Driver's book "The Man with the Suitcase" reviewed here on the blog last November.

"Murder on the Strike of Five": Recently published, in good time for the centenary of the Russian Revolution next year, this book is by two Winchelsea residents, writing under the pseudonym M P Peacock. Modesty forbids my revealing their true identities, but the book is available from Amazon for £7.99 (paperback) or £2.99 (e-book for Kindle) It is a murder mystery set mostly on a train on the Trans-Siberian Railway, against the background of the political and social upheaval going on in Russia in 1917.

"Some Schools"  Jonty Driver's new book about his experiences as a schoolteacher and headmaster is due out on 1 September, and can be preordered from Amazon. Here is a review by Sir Anthony Seldon, one of Jonty's successors as Master of Wellington College.:

"I followed Jonty's career closely over subsequent years, years he describes with such poignancy in the pages of this book. He writes beautifully about schools, a subject that fascinates all of us, but which is rarely written about well. His range of experience is mind-boggling. After working at Sevenoaks, an independent school, he went to what was then South Humberside to be head of sixth form at a pioneering state school. He subsequently became head of three very different schools: the Island School in Hong Kong, serving predominantly ex-pats, then back to the UK to become Head of Graham Greene's old school, Berkhamsted, and finally, Master of Wellington College. Jonty has written an important book which should be read by all who care about schools. No one else has had such a combined impact on politics, schools and literature. It is a remarkable story."

For further details, click HERE

The Tidal Zone, by Sarah Moss

The recently published novel by one of this year's Literary Society speakers has received a lot of critical attention. A particularly favourable review appeared in The Observer (click here to read it') The Tidal Zone was also discussed on the Radio 4 Saturday evening Arts programme, which you can reach on BBC  Radio iPlayer at the following link (click here)  Make sure your computer's volume control is turned up. The discussion runs for about eight minutes, starting about eight and a half minutes into the programme.

"Why India Matters to Us All" by Sir Mark Tully

On Friday 15 July our meeting was held in the hall of St Thomas'  School in Winchelsea, since it was correctly anticipated that we would have a large audience for this talk. Sir Mark Tully, who was born in India but educated in England, including studying theology at Cambridge, now lives in New Delhi. For many years he was the BBC's "Man in India" and he is well known for his many radio broadcasts, including the popular series, "Something Understood".  His fascinating talk ranged over many aspects of the relationship of Britain and India, including shared history, different attitudes to spirituality and diversity, economic challenges and conflicts between the development of a major country with the desire to restrict man-made climate change. A lively discussion followed Sir Mark's talk, and the large audience appreciated our speaker's fluent and stimulating style.

Jonty Driver Poetry Reading

On Sunday 10th July at 4-00 p.m., in the church of Sr Mary, St Mary in the Marsh, as part of the John Armitage Memorial (JAM) Festival in the Romney Marshes, C.J. (“Jonty”) Driver read his sequence of poems called BEFORE:  22 poems about his African childhood and young manhood, including the five weeks he was held by the security police in solitary confinement in South Africa in 1964.  In between some of the poems in the sequence, Peter Fields played on the violin a variety of pieces - some classical, some folk, some popular.

This recital was a continuation of the very successful recital of 2015, also in St Mary in the Marsh, when Jonty read the sequence of poems called REQUIEM and Peter played a transposition of Bach’s Cello Suite No 2. BEFORE has been published so far only in a South African literary magazine in 2013, though a printed version of the sequence was available at the recital for those who like to read as well as listen.

Here is a link to a review of this event: click here

Easy Peelers, by Gillian Southgate

Here is Gillian Southgate's winning entry for the literary competition published in the July issue of The Oldie. The subject set was "Easy Peelers"

Salome shed her seven veils (a slow seduction never fails)

And Mata Hari’s sultry shape peeled elegantly, like a grape.

But Mother Nature shows the way in putting on the best display.

The snake is a commanding case; it sheds its skin with easy grace;

The caterpillar does the same. The dragonfly of river fame

Presents a stained glass window wing. The frog and lizard also fling

Their skins away, and look like new; the grasshopper can do it too.

 The red deer buck casts off his coat and opens his imperious throat,

The maple with its paperbark will grace the meanest public park.

 The willow strips, the eucalypts peel off without a hint of fuss,

Quite different from the rest of us. Except for politicians.

They appear to do it every day.

CHARLESTON FESTIVAL, FIRLE, 2016 by Gillian Southgate

The Charleston Festival takes place at Firle in East Sussex, and this year features the usual galaxy of star-studded names.  I went on Saturday May 20th, to see Joanna Trollope interviewing Juliet Nicholson, Nicolette Jones interviewing both Flora Fraser and Daisy Hay, and Dame Julia Neuberger interviewing Julian Bell, the painter.

Juliet Nicholson spoke movingly of her relationship with her mother, Phillipa, her grandmother Vita, and (at second-hand) her great-grandmother Pepita, a Spanish flamenco dancer, who had seven children by Lionel Sackville West. She also when prompted, spoke of how reliance on alcohol was a feature of all three of these lives, and indeed of her own at one point. She was a charming, vulnerable speaker. She promoted and signed copies of her book ‘A House full of Daughters’ which was recently the book of the week on Radio 4. Joanna Trollope did a sensitive and magisterially-managed interview which the audience much appreciated.

Flora Fraser and Daisy Hay spoke in turns about their subjects, in Flora Fraser’s case the wife of George Washington, whom he married because she was rich. But he became very fond of her. Daisy Hay similarly spoke about Mary Anne, the wife of Disraeli. She and Disraeli sent letters on a regular basis, which seem to indicate their great fondness for each other. Both writers were promoting their books. Flora Fraser is the daughter of Antonia and Sir Hugh Fraser.  Daisy Hay teaches English at Exeter University and is a regular contributor to the Times Literary Supplement. The audience was swelled by a contingent of fans from Charleston, Virginia, during this particular talk.

And Julian Bell has painted the book of Genesis having been struck by the pictorial prose of the King James version, as he read about the Creation, the founding fathers of the Jewish nation, and so on. Julia Neuberger talked about the Jewish faith and some of the stories in the Old Testament Julian had painted – Jacob wrestling with the Angel, The Garden of Eden and others. He exhibits locally at the St. Anne’s Gallery in Lewes. Very interesting, especially to discover that in terms of biblical interpretation, Jews are keen on the letter of the law. A very spirited conversation between these two speakers.

Tickets fly off the shelves for the Festival, so it helps to become a Friend. Otherwise, it’s possible to queue for late tickets or returns or you can book by phone. Most tickets are about £14 each per talk. The environs are lovely, and the atmosphere very relaxed, with the opportunity to buy lunch or to sit at picnic tables and drink champagne, a la Glyndebourne, if the mood takes you.  It makes for the kind of day out Lit.Soc members would very much enjoy.

Book Group, November meeting

For those who want to download the two Katherine Mansfield stories ‘At the Bay’ and ‘Prelude’ they are available at:

www.KatherineMansfieldSociety.org/short-stories-by-Katherine-Mansfield

Alternatively you can just click here 

I'll repeat this post nearer the date 

Thanks to Gillian Southgate for providing this helpful information

Samantha Harvey

 

Our next meeting, on Friday 13 May, takes the form of an interview with the author Samantha Harvey by Jonty Driver, with participation by other members encouraged. To get some background, here are some useful links about our guest and her books: 

Samantha Harvey website

Review in The New Yorker

Interview in The Scotsman 


 Samantha Harvey is the author of three novels, The Wilderness, All Is Song and most recently Dear Thief, which was published in September 2014.  She been shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and won the AMI Literature Award and the Betty Trask Prize.  She was named by The Culture Show as one of the 12 Best New British novelists.  This year Dear Thief was longlisted for the Baileys Prize and the Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2015 James Tait Black Memorial Prize.  She lives in Bath, UK, and teaches creative writing at Bath Spa University.

A chance to hear our very own poet in action

On Sunday 10th July at 4-00 p.m., in the church of Sr Mary, St Mary in the Marsh, as part of the John Armitage Memorial (JAM) Festival in the Romney Marshes, C.J. (“Jonty”) Driver will be reading his sequence of poems called BEFORE:  22 poems about his African childhood and young manhood, including the five weeks he was held by the security police in solitary confinement in South Africa in 1964.  In between some of the poems in the sequence, Peter Fields will be playing on the violin a variety of pieces - some classical, some folk, some popular.

This recital is a continuation of the very successful recital of 2015, also in St Mary in the Marsh, when Jonty read the sequence of poems called REQUIEM and Peter played a transposition of Bach’s Cello Suite No 2. BEFORE has been published so far only in a South African literary magazine in 2013, though a printed version of the sequence will be available at the recital for those who like to read as well as listen

Here is an example of what Jonty will be reading: 

 Number IV of XXII.

Odd that anyone should love a landscape

Most where he has never lived for long:

The greys and blueish greens, the flecks of white

Which pass as blossom on the bush, the twist 

Of twig and threat of thorn, the succulent 

Spread out to catch the slightest drop of dew,

The red-brown earth and slate-grey shale, the haze

Which makes the colours smear themselves like paint.

I note the detail first, and then the whole

Expanse of plain and upland to the edge

Of what a human eye can see. And though

Horizon is the limit of our sense

Beyond that feeble distance still there lies      

Horizon yet again, which stretches on

And on as if we couldn’t ever rest,

As if the distance called us farther still,

Beyond the edge, then to the edge again.

I raise my eyes, and wish that I could climb

This hill, and then the next, and so beyond,

Or walk that river-bed, or track that line

Of green and golden shrubs. If spirits walk,

It’s here that I shall hope to find myself,

A lanky ghost in old khaki, my shirt

Untucked to catch the breeze, my boots well-laced

And stout enough to deal with thorns, a stick

In case there are still snakes in paradise.

I’ll walk beyond the dam, beyond the sound

Of windmill clanking round and round, the splash

Of water on the upward stroke, the lap

Of ripples on the edge, to where korhaan

Crank-crank alarm as I get near their nest

And then towards the koppies far away.

I’ll pause to count the springbuck on the slopes,

To mark the way erosion shapes the hills,

And note the level heights where spirits dance

When all the sounding stones reverberate -

And then I’ll walk, and walk, to what I hope
May after all still turn to endless light.

Poetry and "Literary" Magazines.

There's an article by Gary Dexter in this week's Spectator (2 April, p 18) about his unusual way of making a living, earning about £12 an hour, by offering  to recite by heart to passers-by a piece of poetry selected by them. He has a repertoire of about 150  poems. He decided which to memorise by asking people what their favourite poem was. Any poem mentioned three times would get on to his list. The Spectator has a good book review section, and also runs a weekly literary competition. This all set me thinking how we could each extend our reading by circulating magazines we have fnished with. If anyone else has any interest in this idea, please send me an e-mail* saying which magazines you can contribute for circulation, and which you would be interested in reading. To kick off, I subscribe to the Spectator and The Oldie, which also has good reviews and a literary competition, (in which our very own Gillian Southgate has had some success). I used to see Jonty Driver's old New York Review of Books copies, that often had very interesting articles of general interest in the area of politics, international relations, history, economics and science, as well as the arts, usually in the form of long reviews of a book or group of books. I now get the NYRB on line, to read on my iPad, so don't have a paper copy to contribute. I'd be interested in seeing The London Review of Books, The New Statesman, and other publications of this sort. Get in touch if you are interested. The Winchelsea Gardeners already ciculate  a Gardening magazine.

* lyoulten@aol.com

Meeting on 18 March "A Terrible Beauty Is Born." Dublin 1916, Talk by William Doherty

  

This was William Butler Yeats's conclusion in his poem "Easter 1916" on the insurrection in Dublin and its aftermath. Writing within a few months of the rebellion he reveals an ambivalence towards it rather than the laudatory account that might have been expected from an unofficial national bard with early cultural roots in Gaelic revivalism.   

The importance of the Rising in Irish history is still disputed although it was undeniably a step on a path leading to dramatic shifts in political power, guerrilla warfare, a bloody civil war, separation and the emergence of an Irish Free State which was a disappointment to many of the actors in the drama.   

Famous for constantly rewriting his work even after publication, Yeats later ruminated on his possible contribution to the revolt       

                                         "That play of mind sent out  

                                          Certain men the English shot"      

and his own doubts about the nascent Free State  

                                                                         "That is not," I say,  

                                        "The dead Ireland of my youth,but an Ireland  

                                         The poets have imagined, terrible and gay."   

In this talk I propose to consider some of the formative literary and cultural influences on the Rising and the subsequent literature it shaped.     

Gillian Southgate: prize winner in The Oldie literary competition

Congratulations to Gillian whose entry for The Oldie's monthly literary competition is published in the April issue, now out. The brief was to write a poem called "First Time in the Country" Here is her prize-winning poem:

First Time in the Country

So this was Australia. There was so much light

I thought the sky had rinsed itself away.  There were cockatoos

In the eucalypts, yellow legged and crested. They might

Have known me; they watched with heads on side

As if they would impart a secret. And like a bride

The oleanders flowered white in tumbled tiers.

A Christmas beetle, iridescent green, banged his small hide

Against a window; the blue

Of sapphires clothed the vault of sky.

The red gums blossomed, sweet and redolent

Of an old land, from whence my people came.

The birds looked down. One of them spoke my name.