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Category Archives: Blogs
Beware, dear Countess, of sailors bearing tales from Toulon
To the Vicomtesse de Turenne, palais des Papes, Avignon, as Epiphany approaches, in the year of Our Lord, 1348. My dear Countess, I write to you as one much changed, whose day is filled with labour and singing the offices faithfully to Our Lord. I have found refuge in this harsh order, with its fierce rule of silence. Here, our hands do… Read More
Long View of London from Bankside by Wenceslaus Hollar
The most famous view of London is by Wenceslaus Hollar, titled “Long View of London From Bankside”, which shows the dense tapestry of buildings on either side of the Thames. The view stretches from the Globe Theatre, at the left (west) to the Tower of London on the right (east). I made good use of a huge print of this… Read More
John Donne’s Island and the Brexit Perplex
No one more worthy of being quoted on the Brexit issue than the great English priest and poet, John Donne: No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory… Read More
Muse included in “Ambitious Novels That Offer Original Perspectives on History”
One of the pluses of this millennium is the ease of doing research on-line. When I taught literature, I was sceptical about my students using Wikipedia, but I have made my peace with it and couldn’t live without it now. Other wikis have emerged as finding-tools for information that used to reside in reference books and encylopedias. A few years… Read More
A Tour of the Maritimes
Ten years ago, in January 2009, I hopped an Airbus in Vancouver wearing new snow boots and carrying a down coat with a hood. I was heading to Saint John to read from my novel Conceit (Doubleday 2007) in the hugely successful Lorenzo Series, organized by poet-in-residence Anne Compton, the tastemaker of the Maritimes. Anne had arranged to bring me in a… Read More
Valentine’s Day and the San Miguel Writers’ Conference
February is shaping up to be an enjoyable month. Éditions Hurtubise is hosting a Valentine’s Day promotion for the French e-book/pdf of Muse for the very attractive price of $9.00. As they say, «Pour la Saint-Valentin, offrez-vous une histoire d’amour!» Guess where I’m going to be spending Valentine’s Day? In Mexico! In a few days, I’ll escape rainy Vancouver on… Read More
Another Film About Art Repatriation Misfires
I’ve just seen another film on the popular subject of art repatriation, along the lines of the Hollywood “comedy-drama” Monuments Men. The latest is the disappointing Woman in Gold, starring a horribly miscast Helen Mirren, about the fate of the Klimt painting of Adele Bloch-Bauer. This made me think about the superb Edmund de Waal book, The Hare with Amber… Read More
36 Hours in Arles and Avignon
The New York Times has just featured Arles and Avignon in its spectacular “36 Hours” series, which I have been following for several years. How exciting to see Avignon, the setting for my novel Muse, featured! “Just 20 minutes apart by train, the Roman-era town of Arles and the medieval walled city of Avignon enfold a dense mix of architectural beauty, world-class… Read More
Re-enactment of John Donne’s Gunpowder Sermon, 1622
On November 5, 1622, the Dean of Saint Paul’s Cathedral, John Donne (the main subject of my novel, Conceit), preached a sermon in St Paul’s yard for Gunpowder Day. A brilliant digital re-creation of this sermon, which includes elaborate models, diagrams, videos, and acoustic files, gives us the amazing opportunity to be part of the large crowd listening to John Donne on… Read More
London Before the Great Fire of 1666
What did London look like before the Great Fire of 1666 that destroyed the old Saint Paul’s Cathedral? Six students from De Montfort University in Leicester “have turned a historic map into a realistic and detailed 3D animation of Tudor London,” says The Telegraph. “The video shows the area around Pudding Lane in the City of London before the Great… Read More