tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post7908025111031991104..comments2024-03-27T16:48:21.039-05:00Comments on Wuthering <br>Expectations: It is just a small ordinary town, my birthplace, set on a flat treeless coastal plain, and its houses are old and grey.Amateur Reader (Tom)http://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-30154858731667629892013-07-17T16:07:25.770-05:002013-07-17T16:07:25.770-05:00Similar, yet different enough that I am ready to v...Similar, yet different enough that I am ready to visit them - you have got me looking at maps and photos. The strange flat hallig islands are unique to the northern area, while the coast near Holland has something more like barrier islands (the northern part has a couple of those, too).Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-9610564580088959142013-07-17T15:45:36.635-05:002013-07-17T15:45:36.635-05:00You're right - Childers has his characters sai...You're right - Childers has his characters sail over on the Baltic side, but I thought there was also a part in which they make it over towards the west side of the peninsula. In any case, I imagine the tidal effects are not dissimilar between the Dutch Frisian isles and the German ones. <br /><br />I don't recall what was on the escritoire either. It did make me want to write standing up, though. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-88553019027228439762013-07-17T15:43:45.140-05:002013-07-17T15:43:45.140-05:00That's a good example. It more or less is the...That's a good example. It more or less is the thing it is meant to represent, yes? There is the real thing, the imagined thing - imagined by Montgomery, and imagined by her readers, and the restored thing, as imagined by someone else, all occupying the same space. <br /><br />One of the useful elements of wandering around Husum - similar to what you mention about the PEI landscape - was understanding the scale of everything, the positioning.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-59908621942614896872013-07-17T15:12:21.175-05:002013-07-17T15:12:21.175-05:00I marveled at Green Gables. Not because Montgomer...I marveled at Green Gables. Not because Montgomery sat there (because she didn't), but because Anne did, which doesn't quite work because Anne is fictional, but impressed me none the less. Montgomery desrcibes the immediate lanscape well enough that the parks people could create it so that I could look at it and think, "Oh, the birch path went that way? I always envisioned it going away from the sea" and adjust my re-reading accordingly.<br />The greater landscape, the whole of PEI, I thought I understood from the books, but I didn't get the juxtaposition of spruce forests, potato fields and sea until I saw it.Sparkling Squirrelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10899640164757220074noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-18099189073282186032013-07-17T12:49:16.309-05:002013-07-17T12:49:16.309-05:00Based on keyword searches in the Gutenberg text, w...Based on keyword searches in the Gutenberg text, where I could easily have missed something, the Childers characters turn east before getting to the area I was in, taking the Eider and its canal over to Kiel and then sailing around the <i>Baltic</i> coast of Schleswig-Holstein. In other words, missing Storm's tidal flats completely.<br /><br />The desk at the Hugo house has the advantage that it is actually signed by Hugo, giving me something to look at. I do not remember the exact inscription or which book he had just finished. One of the big poetry books, <i>Les Contemplations</i> maybe? <br /><br />The Hugo house was a good one.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-57694838069606942562013-07-17T12:21:03.610-05:002013-07-17T12:21:03.610-05:00Mostly the other Frisian islands, but Childers doe...<i>Mostly</i> the other Frisian islands, but Childers does manage to sail around a bit in Schleswig-Holstein as well. That book has mind-boggling descriptions of water currents and mud. <br /><br />In the Victor Hugo house in Paris, the docent let us linger in Hugo's bedroom; I stood for a long time at that escritoire where Hugo would stand and write after getting up as much as 20 times a night. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-11940065863252126842013-07-17T09:46:19.910-05:002013-07-17T09:46:19.910-05:00Brian, I am mostly quite skeptical of the value of...Brian, I am mostly quite skeptical of the value of visiting writer's homes, not that my skepticism stops me or that I will not write about them when I do visit. "Here, upon this very desk, was written the immortal words" and so on, yet I am looking at an old desk.<br /><br />Besides, many of these houses are more or less phony - reconstructions of some kind. The Poe house in Philadelphia is one of those, as is the Buddenbrooks House.<br /><br />The exceptions must be those where the landscape really matters, not the house. Storm, Hardy, Jewett's Maine coast, Sebald's East Anglian coast. Does crossing the Mississippi at some wide point help with <i>Huckleberry Finn</i>? It must.<br /><br />The Husum mud is famous. People go on mudwalks at low tide, from island to island, looking for crabs and bizarre seaworms. Squish squish. It was too dang cold while we were there, though.<br /><br />No kidding about Childers - I did not know that. I see the relevant islands are the <i>other</i> Frisian islands, though, the ones by Holland. Well, I want to visit those, too.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-57803551382337528412013-07-17T09:20:29.047-05:002013-07-17T09:20:29.047-05:00What a lovely trip. I read some Storm last year bu...What a lovely trip. I read some Storm last year but will join Tony this November to read more. <br /><br />Have you read Erskine Childer's <i>The Riddle of the Sands</i>? If you're interested in the mud flats of the Frisian islands, it's an absolute must. seraillonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17654593356535433945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-56597304564865263992013-07-17T03:40:30.329-05:002013-07-17T03:40:30.329-05:00I really like to visit literary places such as the...I really like to visit literary places such as the birthplaces, homes, etc. of poets and authors. Sometimes, such visits really help me to connect with the author's works.Brian Josephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15139559400312336791noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-42473424996081305512013-07-17T03:24:07.143-05:002013-07-17T03:24:07.143-05:00P.S. All this talk of Storm has me eyeing off a t...P.S. All this talk of Storm has me eyeing off a two-volume 'Collected Works' (2200 pages in total) as an early birthday present to myself. I'd just like to be sure first though that the font is easy on the eye...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-6765432624396504982013-07-17T01:55:18.800-05:002013-07-17T01:55:18.800-05:00Mud... hmmm. I think I'll stick to the litera...Mud... hmmm. I think I'll stick to the literary descriptions and keep my shoes clean ;)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-54880040029474445062013-07-16T23:51:44.046-05:002013-07-16T23:51:44.046-05:00More in November, that would be great. I have rea...More in November, that would be great. I have read some minor Storm amid the masterpieces, but no duds, nothing close to a dud.<br /><br />I would love to go back to Husum, although what I really want is to spend more time on the islands and halligen. More time out in the mud.Amateur Reader (Tom)https://www.blogger.com/profile/13675275555757408496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3383938214852108244.post-45418570040387067652013-07-16T23:34:59.011-05:002013-07-16T23:34:59.011-05:00Another great writer - and a nice place to while a...Another great writer - and a nice place to while away some time :) I read a fair few of Storm's stories and novellas a couple of years back. Perhaps I'll be doing more of that in November...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07546287562521628467noreply@blogger.com