Marly Youmans's Blog, page 69
March 19, 2014
Lucius Shephard, 1947-2014
Novelist and story writer and poet Lucius Shepard has died. He was a great, colorful character who lived an adventurous life, more than most writers. He wrote both speculative and mainstream fiction and bagged a lot of awards along the way. We were e-banter friends, I suppose you could say. Several years ago we chatted a good deal about his Virginia roots--someone he cared about in the family
Green men go to church--
Maddy Aldis-Evans photograph,
Exeter Cathedral, Somerset
The placement of leafy heads of green men (and the rare green woman) on cathedrals and parish churches has become what is called a "vexed subject." No document tells us precisely why a medieval sculptor would do such a thing, and writers on the subject tend to think it a wonder and mystery, though they often point to ideas of rebirth and
Exeter Cathedral, Somerset
The placement of leafy heads of green men (and the rare green woman) on cathedrals and parish churches has become what is called a "vexed subject." No document tells us precisely why a medieval sculptor would do such a thing, and writers on the subject tend to think it a wonder and mystery, though they often point to ideas of rebirth and
March 18, 2014
The Ministry of Sanctioned Words teaches our children--
MSW proclamation!
So I promise now that the newspaper and this website will not be reviewing any book which is explicitly aimed at just girls, or just boys. Nor will The Independent’s books section. And nor will the children’s books blog at Independent.co.uk.
The Ministry of Sanctioned Words continues on its mission to tell us what words are acceptable and what words are unacceptable. The
So I promise now that the newspaper and this website will not be reviewing any book which is explicitly aimed at just girls, or just boys. Nor will The Independent’s books section. And nor will the children’s books blog at Independent.co.uk.
The Ministry of Sanctioned Words continues on its mission to tell us what words are acceptable and what words are unacceptable. The
March 15, 2014
"Entertainment Weekly," loving "Catherwood"--
CATHERWOOD. Marly Youmans. A heart-stopping novel about a mother lost in the woods with her 1-year-old. It's insanity that no one's made a movie out of this. --Entertainment Weekly, p. 42. March 14, 2014
And here it is again as part of Entertainment Weekly's "10 Most Criminally Underrated Books." Click and see! And thank you very much, EW staff.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux edition
And here it is again as part of Entertainment Weekly's "10 Most Criminally Underrated Books." Click and see! And thank you very much, EW staff.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux edition
Other worlds in this--
I like this comment from John Banville so much--and like many things that a person likes, the reason is that it chimes with a particular experience so well:
Long Lankin came from the early sixties. But Ireland in the sixties wasn’t the sixties as Americans think of it. When I look back now to the sixties here it’s like looking back to the Middle Ages. It was a primitive world. But it’s good for
Long Lankin came from the early sixties. But Ireland in the sixties wasn’t the sixties as Americans think of it. When I look back now to the sixties here it’s like looking back to the Middle Ages. It was a primitive world. But it’s good for
March 14, 2014
Epiphany: gold, frankincense, and podcasts
Originally posted on January 6th, 2014.
"Puck in Spring," from The Foliate Head (Stanza Press, 2012)
"Ship of Trees," from The Foliate Head (Stanza Press, 2012)
"Clock of the Moon and Stars, from The Foliate Head (Stanza Press, 2012)
"In the Shadow of the Jasmine," from The Foliate Head (Stanza Press, 2012)
"I Heard Their Wings Like the Sound of Many Waters,"
The Foliate Head (
"Puck in Spring," from The Foliate Head (Stanza Press, 2012)
"Ship of Trees," from The Foliate Head (Stanza Press, 2012)
"Clock of the Moon and Stars, from The Foliate Head (Stanza Press, 2012)
"In the Shadow of the Jasmine," from The Foliate Head (Stanza Press, 2012)
"I Heard Their Wings Like the Sound of Many Waters,"
The Foliate Head (
March 12, 2014
Zander, Montana, and The Ministry of Sanctioned Words
As it is the clear and simple duty for poets and novelists in all times and all places to stand for absolute, wild, untrammeled freedom of speech on behalf of their narrators and characters, I draw my weird line in the sand right here in opposing the recent fracases caused by those in the academic community and elsewhere who would create and rule The Ministry of Sanctioned Words. (For the latest
Painting, cooking, alchemy--
detail, "The House Opposite," Leonora Carrington
from Susan L. Aberth, Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art.
The relation of cooking and art production, according to Chadwick, is of central concern to the artist:
The prominent place given to the cauldron in Celtic myth and Grail legend had long fascinated Carrington, as had alchemical descriptions of the gentle cooking of
from Susan L. Aberth, Leonora Carrington: Surrealism, Alchemy and Art.
The relation of cooking and art production, according to Chadwick, is of central concern to the artist:
The prominent place given to the cauldron in Celtic myth and Grail legend had long fascinated Carrington, as had alchemical descriptions of the gentle cooking of
March 11, 2014
A Sandbergian Modest Proposal
Jeanne d'Arc on campaign.
Unknown earlysixteenth-century artist.
Bossy is a word that started life referring to a swelling (as, say, a raised area on the skin) or to those nail-like studs on, say, a sixteenth-century shield. It isn't recorded as a name for a cow (round and often swollen creatures!) until the 1840's, and it didn't migrate to become a name for a domineering woman until the 1880
Unknown earlysixteenth-century artist.
Bossy is a word that started life referring to a swelling (as, say, a raised area on the skin) or to those nail-like studs on, say, a sixteenth-century shield. It isn't recorded as a name for a cow (round and often swollen creatures!) until the 1840's, and it didn't migrate to become a name for a domineering woman until the 1880
March 8, 2014
Tiger Lily proverbs
Detail, Clive Hicks-Jenkins, rear jacket of Glimmerglass.
This minotaur has flowers and lovely tiger lily spots!
Tweedly morning posts from the Twitterlands, all in one place. And this is what comes of thinking about Leonora Carrington and surrealism when one wakes up...
Fair lady goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing.
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man must go to the mountain.
Let
This minotaur has flowers and lovely tiger lily spots!
Tweedly morning posts from the Twitterlands, all in one place. And this is what comes of thinking about Leonora Carrington and surrealism when one wakes up...
Fair lady goes a-borrowing, goes a-sorrowing.
In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man must go to the mountain.
Let
