In Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic he wrote […]this reading of many different authors and books of every description. You should be extending your stay among writers whose genius is unquestionable, deriving constant nourishment from them if you wish to gain anything from your reading that will find a lasting place in your mind. To…
Author: femi oyebode
Icelandic Sagas- ways of living and dying
I don’t know whether you know about Nkisi nkodi. It is a Kongo nailed figure, a container or statue of forces directed at an end. It is one of the most potent figures of African art. The nails are hammered into the wood whilst ritual curses are spoken. Each object may have dozens of these…
Continue reading ➞ Icelandic Sagas- ways of living and dying
Scott Fitzgerald’s Connecticut and Manhattan
In Scott Fitzgerald's "The Rich Boy" the action moves from New York Fifth Avenue where "young women were already gliding along Fifth Avenue in electric "mobiles"' to a "big estate in northern Connecticut". This was a Fifth Avenue where "there was a patient flowing of cleaning water along the ghostly pavement...and the shadows of two…
Continue reading ➞ Scott Fitzgerald’s Connecticut and Manhattan
In search of Bernie Gunther
I am standing in front of Hotel Adlon in Berlin. I’m here in search of Bernie Gunther. After Bernie was forced to resign from the Berlin Criminal Police he worked as house detective at the Adlon. The hotel is exactly as I imagined it on Unter den Linden. I am standing with my back to…
Wub, swibble & pizzled- neologisms and meaning
I've cycled to Quarteira from Vilamoura, distance of just under 5 miles. It's a very warm morning. The sun is a strong even searing midday brightness glistening and bouncing off the sea. Even I with my dark eyes, have to squint. This is November but it could easily be midsummer. The restaurants are…
Continue reading ➞ Wub, swibble & pizzled- neologisms and meaning
Variegation, difference and other matters
It is now decidedly Autumn. The leaves are about all turned or already fallen off their branches. The pavements have that irritating layer of sodden, rotting leaves. Our back garden has the wonderful show of brown and reddish yellow, of mustard and red pepper, of berries and the yet to be plucked speckled apples. It…
Continue reading ➞ Variegation, difference and other matters
Neruda at St Brides
Source: Neruda at St Brides
Neruda at St Brides
I have been re-reading Pablo Neruda, in a collection that Jan bought for me in the USA in July 1982. We were married later in October of that year. The trip to Philadelphia, Washington and New York followed a successful trip to the West of Ireland. At the time I was still obsessed with…
Slovenia in late summer
In my father's generation there was a lot of talk about "the Golden Fleece". This symbolised the reward of a quest for education in Europe. In a sense it valorised education to mythic proportions, equating it with Jason's exploits and achievements, all against the odds. In the same breath, alongside this talk of "the Golden…
Hadrian’s Wall
We walked from Brocotia to Limestone Corner. It was the rarest day for the North East, warm, bright and even the breeze was not bracing! This was my first time walking any part of Hadrian's Wall. Looking north towards Scotland, the Cheviots about forty miles away, rose gently in the background. The land rose and…
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