In the Labyrinth

What Is Your Library Saying? Forbidden Journeys

Oh delightful! Another pair of sorted book titles providing a brief ode to the illusive fantastic and a cautionary poem about the perils of the fairy tale path. These two images come from Ink Gypsy who runs Once upon A Time -- and while her blog has been on a hiatus (been there and done that!) I do hope she finds the time to return. Her blog plays close attention to the use of fairy tales in popular media like film and dance -- and even the archived posts are fascinating.

 

You can see more of the "What Is Your Library Saying?" series here. And if you feel inspired, please don't hesitate to send your images to me at the email above. Thanks!

Oh the Bliss of Maddie On Things!

I think many people have been celebrating Maddie and her owner/photographer Theron Humphrey on their cross-country journey to photograph the elegant coonhound Maddie, balanced on all manner of "things" -- from signs, tires, a scantily clad drunk St. Patrick's-day goer (in my old home town of Madison, WI), stoplights, trees, and just about every surface you can image. Here is the trailer for the new book Maddie on Things -- which will kick off the tour. I hope they come through Tucson! And if you haven't seen Maddie before, go here to see 33 photographs of Maddie delicately (and quite serenely) balanced on things.

Rabbits on the Hill, Rabbits in the Hill

A new favorite site of mine is the Medieval Animal Data Network which finds gorgeous images like these rabbits from the marginalia of medieval manuscripts. The image above is from The Luttrell Psalter, created for Sir Geoffrey Luttrell of Irnham in Lincolnshire in circa 1325 and 1335. The manuscript is at the British Library, Ms. Add. 42130, fol. 176v. (Click to see larger versions of the images.)

Here is another wonderful image of a rabbit transporting puppies from the pontifical of Guillaume Durand, created in Avignon before 1390. Paris, Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève, Ms. 143, fol. 174.

And here is humorous bit of discarded marginalia that resembles to the modern eye rabbits on their cell phones -- wonder who they are calling? This image is from the Gorleston Psalter, England 14th century. British Library, Add 49622, fol. 107v

Murdered Sailors, A Paradise On the Moon, And Other Hoaxes

Lately, I have been discovering new online journals that have introduced me to terrific and strange fiction -- and even stranger nonfiction. If you are feeling adventurous, stop by and fall into this serialized offering from Christopher Heaney, a doctoral student at the University of Texas, Austin and an interesting new writer.

Death of a Sailor: A Novel History of Murder in 1830s New York, War and Forbidden Love in the Age of Napoleon, and Captivity and Freedom in the Last Days of the Atlantic Slave Trade; in many, many Parts.

I have read part 1 and part 2, and I am eagerly awaiting the rest of the "many, many" parts which will be published monthly. The story's literary style has a detached and noirish flavor with tantalizing bits of fiction mingled with even more astonishing bits of historical fact. At times it reads like a deposition for a criminal trial, where the answers to questions tease out the increasingly complex narrative in suspenseful morsels. Part 2 adds additional layers of intertwined stories of hoaxes, mysteries, and the inexplicable impulses of humanity.

For example, part 2 reveals that in 1835, amidst riots against the abolitionists, Richard Adams Locke, a reporter for The New York Sun, fabricates a hoax about an astronomer who with the aid of a powerful lens, discovers a paradise on the moon, filled with man-bats. The story so captures the imagination of the rioters, that they stop rioting to await the newspaper's promised installments of more sensational information. (see the image above Leopoldo Galluzzo Altre scoverte fatte nella luna dal Sigr. Herschel , 1836). But there are still murders to be plumbed and solved, and I am certain the cross hatching of old and new murders, of characters engaged in hoaxes and discovery is bound to multiply in wondrous fashion.

Heaney takes the reader on a ride, leaving one uncertain as to what is real and what is fiction, and it is fitting that the series is being published in The Appendix: A New Journal of Narrative and Experimental History , a terrific highly interstitial journal, that combines in a unique fashion history and narrative. And on a side note -- go here to see all of the incredible images of the moon's paradise, the planned exhibition with helium balloons, and of course the Bat Men and delightful ladies printed in 1836.

Returning To The Armless Maiden

Today I offer another one of my essays, "The Armless Maiden and The Hero's Journey." This is a body of stories I return to often for they illuminate a visceral, particularly female form of transformation, and one that is not limited to the rites of passage of adolescents. And while I love the robust tales of powerful women such as the beastly brides in The Monkey Girl and The Swan Maiden -- I feel deeply, tenderly for the complicated journey of the Armless Maiden whose courage to confront the brutality of change and whose creative power to restore wholeness to herself gives us all hope.

"The armless maiden continues to haunt the imaginations of modern storytellers, but as something much more than a girl caught in a complex rite of passage to adulthood and marriage. She stands as an icon for the perils of change, the threat of violence that surrounds women's lives, and our own occasional resistance to undertaking the labor of transformation. Whether we chose it for ourselves or have it thrust upon us by circumstances, change demands both an act of undoing, a severing of the past, and an act of reaching, sometimes with little more than faith, for an imagined future."

And while I am at it -- here is a translation of the essay into Italian by Sabrina Abeni who edits the blog Gotico-Visionaria which features articles on myth, folklore, and magical realism.

Art: Sculpture by Alberto Giacometti

Celebrations

I spent the best (early) Mother's Day ever watching my daughter Taiko graduate with a Masters degree in Spanish and Portuguese from the University of Colorado, Boulder (and get accepted into a doctoral program at the same University.) So excited for her and proud of her accomplishments. And now that summer is here and she has a bit more time on her hands, I am also looking forward to more intriguing posts at Band of Wild Petticoats and the reports from Brazil when she travels there this summer for research.

And I also want to wish a Happy Mother's day to my mother Jeannette, who despite her battles with cancer is still stubbornly, intensely in this world. She is trying to finish updating a research paper on Tibetan riddling songs because she is the only remaining researcher alive who worked with Tibetans in the 60's collecting and annotating the songs. The tradition has been dying out and there are very few sources that can match her research for the breadth and volume of collected material along with primary source commentary from Tibetans. I pray for her continued fragile health. And I pray for many more of those long phone calls filled with talk of books, anthropology, epics, and art.

 

Belatedly, I have discovered that the ability to wear bright red lipstick well skips a generation among the women of my family.

Off For A Few Days

Taking a road trip for a few days so I most likely won't be back on the blog until Monday. So I leave you with this peculiar and strangely entrancing frog-finger game. I suppose we make toes into piggies, why not fingers into froggies.

What Is Your Library Saying About Fairy Tales?

I am happy to post up more "What is Your Library Saying?" images of friends' book titles, re-arranged to offer strange and wonderful literary moments. Today's offerings are two, fairy tale themed images from Bri Saussy, owner of Milagro Roots, a lovely shop of sacred oils, candles, and creative inspirations, and Heidi Anne Heiner, the mistress of all things fairy tale at the Surlalune Blog.

 

Bri Saussy -- whose own work with flowers, herbs, and alchemy make this more true than fanciful!

 

Heidi Anne Heiner strikes a humorous "noir" note with this terse Cinderella drama.

This series here was prompted by the Sorted Books Project from artist Nina Katchadourian. Since most writers, readers and artists I know have groaning library shelves, I thought it might be fun for the rest of us to join in. You can find early posts under the catagory "What's Your Library Saying?" Got one you want to share? Just email me at the address above in the right hand sidebar.

Top Art: Marginalia from a six-volume Gradual, tempera + gold leaf + ink on parchment, Italian, circa 1460-1480 (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, ms. Ludwig VI 2).

Past Lives Can Be Scary and Entertaining.

How can I resist passing this along on the internet? A huge fan of Game of Thrones, it was pretty astonishing to see this bit of exceptional casting of Joffrey Baratheon as a Caligula-look-a-like. Or perhaps it was Caligula channeling his way up from the underworld through the young Jack Gleeson.

More on Buzzfeed.

Visual Nutrition: What Does a Rennaisance Man Wear?

Even a fantasy set in a historical time period requires research -- and as I am working through Zizola's novel (the sequel to The Innamorati) I am delighted to come across research like this -- which just provides so much wonderful visual information. Plus, it's also very cool to have such dedicated historians going through the process of recreating -- as was once done -- the clothing of the time.

 

 

The source of this material as Dr. Rublack discusses in the video (and about which a good deal more can read here) is all from one man, a 16th century German accountant and Renaissance sartorialist, Matthäus Schwarz, who succeeded in moving up the social circles in part by knowing the latest fashions and dressing well. He produced carefully drawn and painted portraits of all of his significant clothes throughout his life -- giving historians a remarkable close up on the well dressed man during different ages and stations of his life. Plus, the art is really rather lovely. To see more, check out this other terrific article on Schwarz (at Res Obscura) with many images of his journal of clothing.