Pears

Ripening Pears first appear in late summer only to disappear early winter.

The current World recession has resulted in economic hardship and unemployment for many. However, the suffering engendered by natural disasters such as the Haiti earthquake earlier this year, the floods in Pakistan and China in which millions of people face enormous challenges of survival are quite simply beyond the imagination and endurance of much of Western society. Such natural disasters firmly place mere economic hardship into perspective.

One wonders how many individuals in Western society who continue to enjoy a comfortable life-style could ever begin to cope with the suffering faced by those experiencing natural disaster. And yet our comfortable life-styles are often maintained by exploitation, inflicting great suffering upon innocent fellow humans, even if geographically remote, in the form of Warfare, military occupation of land and unfair trading conditions.

The Renaissance physician and alchemist Paracelsus possessed a deep insight into human nature. He was not only a radical doctor but also a theologian as profound as Luther; even though much of his writings remain untranslated from an obsolete Middle German dialect; nevertheless Paracelsus made important observations upon human nature worthy of contemplation.

The following quotation is exemplary of Biblical and alchemical notions of the trial of metals being likened to the testing of the human soul.

It is in extremis, things reveal their nature and become visible; then we can say: he is an upright man, a steadfast man, he manifests his inner being.....One man reveals more traits of loyalty and less of disloyalty; one man is to a large extent this, another man that. Therefore we should keep an eye on the outward characteristics which nature gives a man by shaping him in a certain way. For nature shapes the anatomy of a pear in such a way that the pear develops into a pear tree; and she creates a medlar's anatomy, in such a way that it develops into a medlar bush; and the same is true of silver and of gold. Nature also forges man, now a gold man, now a silver man, now a fig man, now a bean man.



Quotation from -Parcelsus Selected Writings ed. Jolande Jacobi Princeton Uni. Press 1951

The Kingdom of this World

I've just finished reading the El reino de este mundo, 'The Kingdom of this World' (1949) by Alejo Carpentier. 

Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980) was a Cuban writer and musicologist who lived in Europe from 1928-38. He returned to Cuba in 1939 to marry but disliking its political atmosphere chose to live in Venezuela instead. When the Cuban revolution occurred in 1959 he returned to become Vice-President of the National Council of Culture, Professor of the History of Culture and eventually Director of the Cuban State publishing House.

Carpentier's novella (112 pp.) is set in Haiti at the end of the eighteenth century. It describes the events in which African slaves fought French colonists for their freedom and human rights to establish a short-lived Black Republic. It's written from the perspective of the protagonist Ti Noel, a black slave who witnesses the events in Haiti first-hand.

Although Haiti achieved independence in 1804, the protagonist Ti Noel realizes that the newly-formed Republic is in some ways even worse than colonial rule, 'for the colonists... had at least been careful not to kill their slaves, for dead slaves were money out of their pockets'. Whereas in the new Black Republic the death of a slave is seen as an easily replaceable commodity, the high-birth rate ensuring a constant supply of new slaves. Thus as it ever was, the cry to defeat tyranny with freedom is replaced by the new ruling elite's justification of a new form of tyranny.

Alejo Carpentier's left-wing viewpoint on the human condition argues that-

....a man never knows for whom he suffers and hopes. He suffers and hopes and toils for people he will never know, and for who, in turn, will suffer and hope and toil for others who will not be happy either, for man always seeks a happiness far beyond that which is meted out to him. But man's greatness consists in the very fact of wanting to be better than what he is. In laying duties upon himself. In the Kingdom of Heaven there is no grandeur to be won, inasmuch as there all is an established hierarchy, the unknown is revealed, existence is infinite, there is no possibility of sacrifice, all is rest and joy. For this reason, bowed down by suffering and duties, beautiful in the midst of his misery, capable of loving in the face of afflictions and trials, man finds his greatness, his fullest measure, only in the Kingdom of This World.

Carpentier is credited with coining the term lo real maravilloso (roughly the "marvelous reality") in the prologue to 'The Kingdom of this World' and the novella is often cited as one of the very earliest examples of the genre of 'magic realism', in which reality and elements of fantasy are mixed to produce a cocktail of highly imaginative literature. Carpentier's familiarity with the Surrealist movement while living in Paris, his admiration of the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, his left-wing politics, interest in Voodoo and ethnicity, all amalgamate in 'The Kingdom of this World' to produce what is seen by many as one of the earliest examples of 'magical realism' writing.

The Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges is credited as one of the key innovators of 'magic realism' writing in which aspects of reality are blurred with magical elements. The Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel 'One hundred years of solitude' (1967) is also often cited as a seminal example of this genre. However, although 'magic realism' is frequently associated with the literature of South America, the human imagination transcends national boundaries.

Other novelists who have utilized elements of 'magic realism' in their writing include (and this inventory is far from inclusive) the Australian novelist Peter Carey's 'Illywhacker' (1985), Salman Rushdie's 'The Satanic Verses' (1988), Patrick Suskind's 'Perfume' (1985), Gunther Grass' 'The Tin Drum'(1959) and not least, the supreme worlk of Russian magical realism, if not the 20th century, Mikhail Bulgakov's 'The Master Margarita' (1940).

But in fact the employment of 'magical' or 'fantastic' elements in modern Literature, in particular English Literature can be traced as far back as Jonathan Swift's' 'Gulliver's Travels' (1735). 'Fantastic' or fantasy elements pervade English literary works, especially literature loved by children and adults alike, including Lewis Carroll's 'Alice in Wonderland' (1865), and Kenneth Grahame's 'The Wind in the Willows' (1908) .

Personally, dare I propose it, one of the greatest of all 'magical realism' writings is by an author whom Jorge Borges was a great admirer of, Sir Thomas Browne's 'The Garden of Cyrus' (1658). As T. S. Eliot long ago realized, 'Mankind cannot bear very much reality'.

Bus in a Hole

1988 - A surprise stop for the passengers of the number 26.
No-one was hurt.

Perhaps I should not have mentioned the other day that geologically Norfolk is predominantly composed of chalk, (Aug 7th post) because a new hole has now appeared in a Norwich road some 9 feet deep! Memories from 1988 when a double-Decker bus fell into a hole have now resurfaced. This world-famous image of an extraordinary event is well worth seeing again aS visible proof that living in Norwich can sometimes be exciting!

Norwich in fact  is renowned for having subsidence problems. Not only does it have many chalk mines, but also a network of tunnels underneath its streets and buildings, including more undercrofts than any other UK city.

It's possible that the chalk mines of Norwich date from as early as the 11th Century. Chalk was mined underneath the City and extracted in great quantities to burn into lime for mortar. Flint was also mined and used as stone for building. Mining tunnels known to exist under medieval Norwich can be found between 12 and 90 feet under the surface . They vary in size from 6 to 16 feet in height and from 6 to 12 feet in width . These tunnels and mines are often arranged in a grid-like pattern. City engineers have to regularly inspect these tunnels in order to determine their condition and to prevent any further collapses.

The most investigated system of these tunnels is a 1600-feet-square grid maze of tunnels beneath Earlham Road. It was re-discovered in 1823; coloured lights were fitted and some of the large passageways were given attractive names such as Beehive Lane, Bacchus Street and Royal Arch. They were once a popular attraction for tourists and local courting couples to wander through.

A full history and record of the extensive underground passages, undercrofts and mines in Norwich has yet to be written.

The Supper at Emmaeus

Here's another painting Sir Thomas Browne may have viewed. 'The Supper at Emmaus' by Cornelis Engelsz (1575-1650).

Its a great example of the Dutch 'Golden Age', of painting, combining two of the most popular of all Dutch genres, Biblical scenes and still-life. The detail of the various supper items depicted in the foreground, bread, fish and meat is exceptionally realistic. The central message of the picture is in the stark contrast between the very public, lavish and earthy supper in the foreground, to the private, frugal and heavenly supper depicted in the dimly-lit background. The Resurrected Christ, having broken bread has just revealed his identity to two of his disciples. (Luke 24 verses 13-35).

'The Supper at Emmaeus' (1612) was owned by the lawyer and MP Nathaniel Bacon (1550 - 1622) who was knighted in 1604. He was the uncle of Nicolas Bacon (1623-1666) also of Gillingham Hall. As Browne was a friend and visitor of Nicolas, even dedicating his Discourse 'The Garden of Cyrus' to him. it's highly possible he could have viewed this painting when visiting Gillingham Hall. The painting was subsequently purchased from the Bacon family by Norwich Castle Museum in 2004.

Hydrangea

Hydrangea thrive upon chalky soil of which there's plenty throughout the low-laying county of Norfolk.

The large hydrangea shrub in my garden is certainly over thirty years old, maybe as old as my plum and pear tree, planted when the houses and gardens of Woodlands Estate were first established early in the 1950's. I personally associate the large flowering heads with happy summer days spent with my grandmother as a child.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines hydrangea as - a shrub with flowering heads of white, blue or pink florets, native to Asia and America. Origin, mod. L. from Gk hudro -'water' + angeion 'vessel' (from the cup shape of its seed capsules).