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