Notre-Dame de Paris

Esmeralda and Quasimodo

Last night I watched 'Notre-Dame de Paris' on DVD ( TDK 1996). Based upon the famous nineteenth century novel by Victor Hugo, 'The Hunch-back of Notre-Dame' (1831), Hugo's story has undergone numerous adaptions in various genres throughout the centuries.

Roland Petit (1924-2011) has made a brilliant choreographic adaptation of Hugo's novel. Attracted to stories in which 'beings apart' be they wretched or hideous who fall prey to femmes fatales, the seductive face of death, as in his earliest masterpieces ' The young Man and Death', (1946) and 'Carmen (1949), it's not too surprising that Hugo's tale of love and death should attract the attention of Petit's choreographic skills.

The essentially menage-a-trois story of Esmeralda the gypsy girl, the Arch-Deacon Frollo and the hunch-back Quasimodo is given a fresh and original interpretation by the celebrated French ballet-master. First performed in 1965, Petit's ballet is a hybrid of traditional ballet and modern dance movement. In particular the hand and the many gestures its able to express is liberated by his choreography.

The part of Quasimodo is amazingly danced by Nicolas Le Riche. It requires some considerable balletic skill to dance the part of a deformed and alienated individual. It also adds to one's appreciation of how athletic and graceful the corps de ballet are. The vivid costume colours enhance the crowd scenes which are powerful and dramatic. Equally brilliant is the dancing of Isabelle Guerin as Esmeralda. The music composed by Maurice Jarre adequately supports the action without ever being original enough to be a focus in its own right. The staging at the Opera national de Paris incorporates stark but impressive sets. With a story which is set in medieval Paris, not so geographically remote from the Paris Opera House itself, Roland Petit's choreographic interpretation of Hugo's masterpiece is likely to remain in the repertoire of the National Ballet of Paris for a long time.

Oedipus Egypticus

frontispiece to Oedipus Aegyptiacus

The three door-step sized tomes of Oedipus Aegyptiacus are a triumph of printing, being over five years in completion (Rome 1652 -56). In Oedipus Aegyptiacus the Jesuit priest Athanasius Kircher sets out to explore the esoteric traditions of theosophical systems of Zoroaster, Orpheus, Pythagoras, Plato and the Chaldean and Hebrew Cabala. A good example of such comparative study can be seen in an illustrated page from Oedipus Egypticus elsewhere on this blog, of the differing cultural interpretations of the Zodiac.

In 1999 I was fortunate to attend an exhibition by the University Library of Geneva on Jorge Louis Borges. Included either as representative of Borges reading (or even his own copy I can remember no longer) was a full folio edition of Oedipus Egypticus no less. A delight to see in the flesh so to speak.The figure of Isis from Oedipus Aegyptiacus. She is holding a sistrum, an ancient form of rattle, associated with fertility rites. Her other names from comparative mythology are listed to her left.

Athanasius Kircher (1602-80) has been described as 'the supreme representative of Hermeticism within post-Reformation Europe'. He was certainly one the 17th century's most active scholars of comparative religion. Kircher was also a favourite author of Sir Thomas Browne (1605-82) his near exact contemporary. The 1711 Sales Catalogue of Browne's library includes almost all of Kircher's entire oeuvre; in chronological order he once owned -

Ars Magnesia 1631
Ars Magna Lucis & Umbrae, cum fig. Rome 1646
Obeliscus Pamphilus, cum fig. Rome 1650
Oedipus Aegyptiacus 3 tomi cum fig Rome 1650-56
Magnes sive de Arte Magnetica, cum fig Rome 1654
Iter Ecstaticum Kirceranium, ed. G. Schott 1660
Mundus Subterraneous, cum fig 2 vol. Amsterdam 1665
China Illustrata cum fig. Amsterdam 1667

The English-born musicologist Joscelyn Godwin, one-time Professor of Music at Colgate University, New York State, describes Kircher thus -

'Kircher was a Jesuit and an archaeologist, a phenomenal linguist, and at the same time an avid collector of scientific experiments and geographical exploration. He probed the secrets of the subterranean world, deciphered archaic languages, experimented with alchemy and music-therapy, optics and magnetism. Egyptian mystery wisdom, Greek, Kabbalistic and Christian philosophy met on common grounds in Kircher' s work, as he reinterpreted the history of man's scientific and artistic collaboration with God and Nature'.

There's an interesting connection between Athanasius Kircher and Browne which has been little discerned by scholars. Sir Thomas Browne's eldest son Edward (1644- 1708) was a great traveller, often to the consternation of his parents. Wherever he traveled he acted as the eyes and ears of his stay-at-home father. When Edward Browne arrived in Rome he visited Kircher who showed him his 'closett of rarieties' which included a perpetual motion machine and a talking head.

It would have been near impossible for Kircher not to have known of Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica which had been translated into several European languages. One can only wish to have been a fly-on-the-wall in the meeting between Browne's dutiful son and the Jesuit theosophist. Kircher must have given Edward Browne a warm reception had he read commending statements upon his Egyptology in Pseudodoxia such as-

And then the learned Kircherus, no man were likely to be a better Oedipus (P.E. Bk .3 ch. 11 On Griffons)

Browne's high opinion of Kircher's knowledge of hieroglyphs was such that he could declare-

But no man is likely to profound the Ocean of that Doctrine, beyond that eminent example of industrious Learning, Kircherus (P.E. Bk 1 ch. 9)

Upon Kircher's authority Browne altered many of his own speculations upon Egyptian hieroglyphics; he even conceded to Kircher's authority as regards the reason why the tarantella dance is performed, believing in the healing remedy of music if bitten by a tarantella spider, writing-

Some doubt many have of the Tarantula, or poisonous Spider of Calabria, and that magical cure of the bite thereof by Musick. But since we observe that many attest it from experience: Since the learned Kircherus hath positively averred it, and set down the songs and tunes solemnly used for it; Since some also affirm the Tarantula it self will dance upon certain stroaks, whereby they set their instruments against its poison; we shall not at all question it. (P.E. Bk 3 ch. 28)

Kircher's vast work of comparative religion must have made a considerable impression upon Browne when composing 'The Garden of Cyrus' for the copper-plate etching in Oedipus Aegyptiacus known as the Bembine Tablet of Isis, a rich source of speculative comparative religion, is alluded to twice in the Discourse.

Frontispiece Iter Exstaticum Kircherianum 1660: Kircher is about to embark upon a cosmic trip led by the angel Cosmiel.

Another book by Kircher owned by Browne was Iter Ecstaticum Kirceranium (1660) edited by Kircher's devoted pupil Gaspar Schott. One of the strangest of all Kircher's books, it describes how, after listening to three lute-players, the German Jesuit was transported in an ecstatic journey through the planetary spheres. Iter Ecstaticum records Kircher's 'soul-journey' as he is led by the spirit Cosmiel through a cosmic ascent. It also refers to soul-journeys of antiquity such as Plato's Myth of Er and Cicero's 'Dream of Scipio', in which the cosmic voyager hears the heavenly music of the spheres, a cosmic harmony which Sir T.B. was also partial to hearing.

Kircher remained a firm fixture of Browne's reading throughout his life. When compiling an inventory of lost, rumoured and imaginary books, pictures and objects, his Museum Clausum sometime in the 1670's, it's the Jesuit theosophist who fires his imagination adding the pictorial item of-

Large Submarine Pieces, well delineating the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the Praerie or large Sea-meadow upon the Coast of Provence, the Coral Fishing, the gathering of Sponges, the Mountains, Valleys and Deserts, the Subterraneous Vents and Passages at the bottom of that Sea ; the passage of Kircherus in his Iter Submarinus when he went down about Egypt, and rose again in the Red Sea. Together with a lively Draught of Cola Pesce, or the famous Sicilian Swimmer, diving into the Voragos and broken Rocks by Charybdis, to fetch up the golden Cup, which Frederick, King of Sicily, had purposely thrown into that Sea.

Books on Kircher

* Athanasius Kircher - The last man who knew everything ed. Paula Findlen 2004 Routledge

* Athanasius Kircher - A Renaissance Man and the quest for lost knowledge Joscelyn Godwin 1979 Thames and Hudson

Vanessa Atalanta

The first Red Admiral (Vanessa Atalanta) spotted in the garden this morning. 

A little early in the season to arrive from their migration I would have thought, usually associating this butterfly with the month of September more than late June. However upon reference it is described as, 'a strong migrant, spreading northwards from the Mediterranean region each summer to breed. Adults hibernate and a few survive the winter in Britain'. It would have to be a strong insect to have survived last winter, the coldest for several decades!

Butterflies flit across the pages of 'The Garden of Cyrus', Browne, the keen lepidopterist observing, that the colour of the Caterpillar will shew again in the Butterfly, with some latitude is allowable. Nor can he omit the enquiry how Butterflies and breezes move their four wings from his speculations, even likening butterflies to flowers in the form of the Butterfly bloomes of leguminous plants.

It's also of interest to note that the Ancient Greek word for "butterfly" is ψυχή (psychē), which translates as 'soul', but also as 'mind'. There is of course a wealth of symbolism in literature throughout the world, both ancient and modern which alludes to the transitory, migratory nature of the butterfly, or as it was known as in the seventeenth century, the 'breeze-fly', being likened to the soul.

The Piano

Last night as part of my continuing comparative study between the film of the book , I watched 'The Piano' (1993). Jane Campion, (b.1954), the director of the film, is also author of the novella, 'The Piano'. Her novella, written after the film's making (1994), is in this case more of a development than an adaptation, adding new insights into the character's past history.

'The Piano' is a great triumph for several reasons. Most notably the combination of director Jane Campion's ten years dedication spent writing the story, and the actress Holly Hunter's portrayal of the emotions of the central character, Ada MacGrath, a role which consolidated Holly Hunter's acting career. She plays the part of Scottish pianist and mute, who arrives in New Zealand for an arranged marriage, little more than a mail-order bride. It's no small achievement to act a non-speaking role throughout an entire film and yet still be extremely expressive. The picture of the beautiful and broody Ms. Hunter wearing a Victorian bonnet is one of the film's great images. In addition to the fine acting of Holly Hunter which won her an Academy award, the supporting roles of Ada's frustrated husband and her lover are admirably realized by Sam O'Neill and Harvey Keitel respectively. The role of Ada's nine-year old daughter, Flora, earned Anna Paquin an award for supporting actress, the second youngest ever actress to win win such an award. The film is further enhanced by the lyrical music score of the composer Michael Nyman.

The triangular relationship between Ada, her husband Alisdair Stewart, and George Baines, is set against a backdrop of early colonial New Zealand, one of mud, deforestation and the indigenous Maori population. The film's plot is in essence an evolving love story which is propelled by two short scenes of sex and violence. There's also a good deal of subtle eroticism in the scenes which involve Ada and Baines in their negotiations over ownership of the piano, which itself is no minor 'character' .

Having also recently read the novella, 'The Piano' several interpretative points are worth mentioning. The film, unlike the book, engages in little of the book's internal dialogue other than Ada's short voice-over at its beginning and ending. The entire role of music and the emotion's which it evokes is naturally far less achievable in a novel, while the static nature of internal dialogue is less of a feature in most films. The viewer thus relies upon the acting skills of the central characters to explain why, for example, George Baines is entranced by Ada's piano-playing. But it is the near hypnotic ability of film to involve the viewer in a far greater immediate emotional response than reading can sometimes achieve, through the use of music, but also through graphic imagery, which strongly differentiates film from book.

In the case of 'The Piano' the music is an integral part of the story which further enhances empathy with the characters. The composer Michael Nyman (b. 1944) is quite simply the best of British composers, his previous collaborations with the film-maker Peter Greenaway, introduced him to a wide audience, and in fact the strong rhythmic impetus and gorgeous lyricism of his film-score has ensured that it stands as an enjoyable piano concerto in its own right.

By a curious coincidence like the film 'Respiro', which I reviewed in May 'The Piano' also involves a denouement in which the heroine is rescued and 're-born' in water surrounded by a small crowd of swimmers.

In many ways the success of the film 'The Piano' is the sum total of a harmonious artistic collaboration between director, actors and composer. It's a pity that more films are not so well constructed in direction, acting and sound-track.

Vuvuzela

Weapons of mass earsplitting destruction or harmless fun?

The vuvuleza is manufactured in a wide spectrum of colours, unlike opinion of it which is sharply divided between love and hate. It is currently receiving world-wide attention due to its contribution to the celebration of the football World Cup currently in session.

Its estimated that the one metre in length vuvuleza can emit a sound approximately 130 decibels loud; the most commonly manufactured instruments are pitched at B flat below middle C, very close to the frequency of human speech.

The BBC has received hundreds of complaints about the playing of vuvuleza spoiling viewers enjoyment of the sport, football players have requested fans to desist from its playing during the match and FIFA the organizational body co-coordinating the World Cup have decided not to ban it from matches.

There's considerable apian imagery associated with descriptions of its sound. Its constant drone being likened to having one's head thrust into a giant hive full of very angry bees.

The BBC sports commentator Farayi Mungazi stated that the sound of the horn was the "recognised sound of football in South Africa" and that it is "absolutely essential for an authentic South African footballing experience". He also said there was no point in taking the World Cup to Africa and then "trying to give it a European feel". The chief sports reporter of the Daily Telegraph Paul Kelso described critics of the vuvuleza as "killjoys" and said they should "stop moaning". South African football supporters themselves insist that the instrument is part of their national culture and claim those objecting to it are in fact being intolerant of an integral part of their national culture.

The phrase 'part of the national culture' seems to justify and vindicate all sorts of bizarre behaviour these days, from getting drunk on a Saturday night, to the waving of flags and engaging in war. Against a background of such behaviour the vuvuleza seems a harmless enough enthusiasm.

Its with some hesitation that I am filing this posting under the label of 'music', but then to some the compositions of Karlheinz Stockhausen, for example, barely equate as music. All that one can be certain of is that the world is becoming a place of highly subjective and arguementative opinion, with no centre or fulcrum upon which to establish that most elusive of human values, namely, truth, as regards this subject. One man's joyful sound is another man's irritating noise!

The Dream Life of Sukhanov

Recently I read 'The Dream life of Sukhanov' (2005) by Olga Grushin. Its the story of a man who possessing all the good things life can offer, a well-paid job as an art critic, a beautiful wife, loving children and perks such as a second home for the summer, a chauffeur-driven car and best tickets for the theatre, has to face the reality that he is neither loved, respected or valued as much as he imagines. The reader is obliged to pay close attention throughout the novel as almost imperceptibly the narrative slips between the present-day tragedy unfolding and Sukhanov's reminiscences of happier times.

Because Sukhanov has lived in Moscow throughout his life, certain places, doorways and streets, spark reminiscences. These reminiscences form a large part of the narrative, taking the reader back to earlier events in Sukhanov's life. However, there's a uncertain ambiguity writ large in the novel's title, for does Sukhanov's 'dream life' consist of the privileged, ideal life which is dissolving before his eyes, or his inability to desist from reminiscing about the past and happier times, his escapist 'dream life', when confronted with the crisis he faces .The plot drives onwards inexorably to a powerful, shocking and even slightly ambiguous denouement.

Sukhanov's great tragedy is that he takes everything for granted, toeing the party line in his art reviews by inserting commonplaces of communist aesthetics in his reviews, he has as modern parlance puts it, 'sold out'. However the novel is set in the year 1985, the year of Mikhail Gorbachov's policy of glasnost and perestroika and the dissolution of the communist old order.

There's much allusion in the novel to two 20th century painters, the exiled Russian painter Marc Chagall who died in the year the novel is set, 1985, and the surrealist painter Salvador Dali, representative of the 'decadent' art denounced by Shushkin as voice-piece of official Soviet party aesthetics. The surrealist art movement is also however representative of Shushkin's 'true' artistic creativity which he has abandoned for the trappings and prestige of official status. There's also significant allusion to Andrei Rubelev, the medieval Russian icon painter and the subject of a film by Andrei Tarkovsky.

'The Dream Life of Sukhanov' is extremely well-written in clear, concise and flowing prose. It is as the critics state, an astoundingly good first novel. Although written in English with its author now resident in America, it is utterly Russian in its theme of alienation and the role of the individual in society and history. I found it to be a deeply moving, at times funny, more often sad and ultimately challenging statement, on how the failure to face up to reality can destroy the individual's life.

Some highly recommended Russian novels

19th c.

Oblomov (1859) Ivan Goncharov
Fathers and sons (1862) Ivan Turgenev
The Idiot (1869) Fyodor Dostoevsky
Anna Karenina (1879) Leo Tolstoy
Brothers Karamazov (1881) Fyodor Dostoevsky

20th c.

The Fiery Angel (1908) Valery Bryusov
The strange life of Ivan Osokin (1915) P.D. Ouspensky
Petersburg (1916) Andre Bely
We (1921) Yevgeny Zamyatin
Heart of a dog (1925) Mikhail Bulgakov
Novel with cocaine (1934) M.A. Agev
The Master and Margarita (1940) Mikhail Bulgakov

21st century

A Hero's Daughter (1990 Eng. trans.2004) Andrei Makine

Acting Browne

Over the years I've attempted to entertain and enlighten the good citizens of Norwich with performances of Sir Thomas Browne. Blessed with a good memory (one remembers well whatever one values and loves ) I've found a number of passages in Browne's works suitable for reciting and have been received with varied degrees of appreciation. Here's yours truly, located appropriately in a Garden-Grave with recently unearthed urn, about to deliver. I've not donned my costume for a couple of years now, but may well do so during the next Lord Mayor's procession week-end in July.

         Civic performance on the occasion of  new Browne sculpture, July 2007

Pseudodoxia Epidemica 1658

I acquired this copy of Sir Thomas Browne's Pseudodoxia Epidemica: or, Enquiries into Very many Received Tenents, and commonly Presumed Truths (first edition 1646) via an ebay auction in March 2006. It cost $500, its provenance was Charleston, Carolina U.S.A. Although no first editions of Browne's 1658 Discourses Urn-Burial and The Garden of Cyrus survive, they are appended to this fourth edition of Pseudodoxia Epidemica published in 1658. It's of particular note that the running order consists of the two dedicatory epistles following each other, strong evidence that its author intended the two Discourses to be read, viewed and meditated upon as one whole.

Pseudodoxia Epidemica was in fact one of the earliest, if not the first, European encyclopedia and contributed to the 17th century scientific revolution. Although to us today with our vastly increased scientific knowledge, Pseudodoxia Epidemica can be seen to contain many errors itself, nonetheless it prepared a readership for much of the scientific journalism subsequently published in England.

Pseudodoxia Epidemica was a best-seller which found a place upon the shelves of many English households. Published in no less than six editions (1646,1650,1658 twice,1659 and 1672) it was translated into several European languages. It even found its way to America.

Included appendiced to Browne's encyclopaedia is a so-called Alphabetical Table. In all probability this index was compiled by Browne himself. It has never previously before been published in any edition of Browne's works, so is available here for the very first time.

As Jorge Louis Borges once declared -'To write vast books is a laborious nonsense, much better is to offer a summary as if those books actually existed'. A quick scroll down the page of An Alphabetical Table reveals the full scope of the breadth and depth of Browne's curiosity, knowledge and scientific investigation.

An Alphabetical Table lists many of Browne's main sources under 'authors commended', it includes mention of his many experiments as well as the astronomical, historical, biblical and zoological queries which preoccupied him . Queries range from the cosmological such as 'Cosmographers, why they divide their Globe into East and West', to the theological - 'whether our B. Saviour ever laughed', to the aesthetic '-Beauty- Determined chiefly by opinion, or the several apprehensions of people', to the medical '-Drunkenness, or to be drunk once a month, whether it be healthful', to the revealing esoteric entry ,'-Philosophers Stone, not improbable to be procured' . However entries such as, 'Abilities, (scientifical especially,) ought to be improved' and 'Candle, one discharged out of a Musket through an inch board', are indicative of the empirical and Baconian nature of Browne's quest.

A Day at the Races

Champion jockey Hayley Turner aboard Collect Art

Yesterday I had a rare excursion out of the city to the sea-side race-track of Great Yarmouth. Pictured is the champion female flat jockey Hayley Turner aboard Collect Art in the Parade ring, just minutes before winning the race in a finish in which Collect Art rallied gamely to regain the lead near the line by a head. An exciting finish on a day which was a speculative financial disaster for myself. However as I've been attending the race-track on and off for 20 years now there are plenty of glory days to recollect and sustain oneself through such a bleak day.

The general mood of the day was coloured by the fact that after several hot sunny days of temperatures reaching 27 Celsius last week, this week the mercury plunged to 16 Celsius for the day. As sometimes happens due to the close proximity of the sea, a sea-fret rolled in restricting visibility to just the last 2 furlongs for several races. One of the largest off-shore wind-farms consisting of over 30 wind-turbines can be seen from the Grandstand (photo bottom page) but not on the day I attended due to the weather.

Situated on Norfolk's east coast, Great Yarmouth was once a major sea-port. It has a literary association with Charles Dickens (1812-1870) who wrote of his childhood memories when resident there in 'David Copperfield', and with the Norfolk-born naval hero, Lord Horatio Nelson (1758-1805). In fact many pubs, clubs, conference centres and hotels throughout Norfolk including the new Grandstand at Yarmouth race-track are named after the distinguished imperial pirate. There's been horse-racing at Yarmouth since 1770, primarily due to its relatively close distance to the home of thoroughbred-racing, Newmarket, Suffolk, also known simply as H.Q. (Headquarters) around the world by racing aficionado's.

Due to the current economic climate the old lamentation about the perilous state and condition of British Flat racing is wailed once more. The fact is that there is simply too much low-grade racing like today's card at Yarmouth. The big betting firms, Ladbrokes, Corals, William Hills etc. are simply milking the industry for all it's worth, not caring whether the sport survives or not, true to the colours of international capitalism which also is indifferent about the human cost of unemployment. As long as these institutions get their pound of flesh, they will remain complacent, until the corpse is placed on their door-mat. Besides, horse-racing now accounts for a lesser percentage of profit for the gambling industry, online activities such as poker and betting on football is where the big money is; its a sad state of affairs, for in many ways horse-racing was for centuries the National sport of Britain until eclipsed by the more mass-minded participation sports of cricket and football.

Ever since the 1760's when three Arabian thoroughbreds arrived in Britain, the British have engaged in genetically modifying the thoroughbred horse for the sport of racing. Historically speaking thoroughbred horse racing, for good or ill, like many other pastimes was introduced to the rest of the world by Britain.

British horse-racing has for over thirty years been greatly supported by big horse owners such as Sheik Mohammed and his brother Hamdan al Maktoum along with Prince Khalid Abdullah, (the owner of this year's Derby winner Workforce). These owners, recognizing the skill of the British trainer and the Brits love of horse-racing, have generously provided many horses for trainers for decades. Without their continued support British racing would have been considerably poorer long ago in both quality and quantity.

Della Porta

Giovanni Baptiste della Porta (1543-1615) of Naples was an aristocrat, philosopher and physician of prodigious talent. When his Magiae Naturalis (Natural Magic) was first published in 1588 it was a phenomenal success, republished and translated into many languages throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. Magiae Naturalis is a compendium of practical information upon aspects of nature which were believed to be ruled by mysterious forces at the time. It offers advice and records practical experiments in gardening and germination, house-keeping, hair-dressing, cosmetics and perfumes, cookery, brewing, fishing and hunting, the altering of metals, magnetism, optics, invisible writing and pneumatic experiments amongst other topics. A full transcription of its pages can be found at Natural Magic. Porta can be seen in the frontispiece to his celebrated work. He states his scientific credentials and justification for investigating nature's properties in 'Natural Magic' thus-

But I think Magick is nothing else but the survey of the whole course of Nature. For, while we consider the heavens, the stars, the Elements, how they are moved, and how they are changed, by this means we find out the hidden secrets of living creatures, of plants, of metals, and of their generation and corruption; so that this whole Science seems merely to depend upon the view of Nature, as later we will see more at large.

By a curious coincidence Porta's 'Natural Magic' was published in translation to English in 1658, the same year as Browne's literary diptych, 'Urn-Burial' and The Garden of Cyrus.

It's not so surprising that a Latin copy of Porta's 'Natural Magic' (1644) is recorded as once upon the groaning shelves of the library of Sir Thomas Browne for Porta was a favourite author of the Norwich physician. Several books by the Neapolitan polymath are listed in the 1711 Auction Sales Catalogue including Villa (1592) Phytognomica (1588) and Colelestis Physiogranonia (1603). But it is the authority of Porta's 'Natural Magic' which is most frequently cited in Browne's encyclopaedic endeavour, Pseudodoxia Epidemica (five editions from 1646-76).

Incidentally, it was the American scholar Jeremiah Staunton Finch in 1934 who identified large portion's of the opening chapter of Browne's Discourse 'The Garden of Cyrus' as originally belonging to Porta's gardening treatise Villa, which includes a description of the Quincunx pattern in horticulture. J.S.Finch was also the editor of the facsimile edition of the 1711 Auction Catalogue of Browne's Library.

It's worth remembering that the Italian Renaissance which breathed new life into the arts and sciences throughout Europe, also revived and stimulated interest in esoteric topics. Primarily through the Florentine scholar Marsilo Ficino's translation of Plato's Timaeus , the discovery of the Hermetic Corpus, but also through Ficino's successor, Pico della Mirandola (1463-1493) with his interest in astrology, the Kabbalah and angel-conjuring. In addition to these seminal figures, the writtings of Paracelsus and John Dee also contributed to an enormous revival of study and appreciation of esoteric doctrines throughout the Renaissance period until as late as the 1670's .

Porta's own major contribution to esoterica is Colelestis Physiogranonia (Celestial Physiognomy). Porta justified the validity of physiognomy from a writing on the subject attributed to Aristotle. The study of the human face and apparent discernment of inner qualities from outer characteristics, found particular resonance with Browne the physician, perhaps as a useful diagnostic tool. Browne alludes to Porta's Colelestis Physiogranonia, in his  'The Garden of Cyrus', thus-

that Augustus had native notes on his body and belly, after the order and number in the Starres of Charles wayne, will not seem strange unto astral Physiognomy, which accordingly considereth moles in the body of man, or Physicall Observators, who from the position of moles in the face, reduce them to rule and correspondency in other parts.

Browne forms an important link in the history of physiognomy between Giovanni della Porta and one of physiognomy's greatest advocates, the German Lutheran priest and one-time friend of Goethe, Johann Kaspar Lavater (1741-1801), and in fact the German polymath Goethe stated of Della Porta -

If we could take all of his collected works together, we would see the entire century mirrored in him. 

Lavater read Browne's Religio Medici (German translation 1748) which contains several physiognomical observations and praised it. Although physiognomy is today derided as a pseudo-science, the judging of the outer appearance of the individual as reflective of inner morals qualities, is a mental activity few people are consciously capable of desisting from, whenever meeting a new person or even when viewing a photo of someone.

Porta's definition of the ideal woman sounds both erotic and modern. She is 'like a panther, both in body and spirit'. Her 'neck is long and slender, her chest formed of small ribs, her back long and her hips and thighs well covered with flesh. On her flanks and her belly she is rather flat, that is her body here does not stick out, nor is it hollow'.

It's salutary to realize that those who elected to study nature and its properties were often isolated individuals. Early scientists such as Giovanni della Porta and later Browne, were often misunderstood or obliged to steer a perilous path of conformity to secure status and reputation; sometimes they were harassed and challenged by powerful authorities such as the Church; nonetheless they held firmly onto the validity of their enquiries, guided by inner lights. In effect these early scientists were the midwives to the scientific revolution, officially sanctioned in England with the establishment of the Royal Society in 1660.

Honeysuckle

This posting seems an apt follow-up to the preceding one on smell and the nose. I'm fairly confident that Sir Thomas Browne would have delighted in the sweet aroma of honeysuckle currently saturating my garden and would have waxed lyrical upon its 'delectable odour' and 'noble scent'; something which as of yet a computer is unable to convey!

Awara

I recently viewed the Hindi film 'Awara' (1951). Directed by Raj Kapoor who also stars as the central character, 'Awara' is the film which announced that Hindi film had arrived on the World-stage. Even today it is consistently listed in the top three of all-time great Hindi films.

The film concerns the consequences of a wealthy judge's decision (acted by Raj Kapoor's real-life father) to abandon his wife after she is kidnapped by a gang of criminals. His wife gives birth to his son; struggling in abject poverty, she brings up the young Raj who leaves school to become a petty thief. The only bright spot in the child Raj's impoverished life is his childhood sweet-heart, Rita. When Raj and Rita (now the Judge's ward) meet again as adults, the plot develops to a highly dramatic conclusion.

Not wanting to post spoilers to the plot's resolution I can tell you that in essence 'Awara' debates upon the inequalities of Indian society and how social status markedly affects the individual's success in Indian society. The sharp contrast between the privileged minority and the great impoverished majority of Indian society is depicted. The film's message in essence is that nuture, not nature shapes individual destiny.

Watching 'Awara' one becomes conscious of the deep imprint of British Rule upon India .Although India achieved independence from Britain in 1948, traffic scenes featuring double-Decker Routemaster buses, speech peppered with colloquial English phrases including the singing of 'For she's a jolly good fellow', to the whole-scale structure of police, the judicial court and legal system, provide evidence of the strong imprint of British Rule in transport, customs, language and Law in Indian culture.

Raj Kapoor quite deliberately models himself as a Chaplinesque tramp in the film. Like Chaplin Kapoor's agenda is one of criticism of society's values and prejudices. His song 'Awara Hoon' (I am a homeless tramp) was, like the film itself, a big hit in both the U.S.S.R. and China.

Among the many remarkable features of 'Awara' is the depiction of the beautiful actress Nargis Dutt in a swim-suit, a first in Hindi film and a lengthy dream sequence. Although Alfred Hitchcock had already attempted a cinematic dream sequence in Spellbound (1945), Kapoor's own attempt to portray the psyche's unconscious in film was made without the assistance of the surrealist painter Salvador Dali.

'Awara' sets the template for much of future Hindi or Bollywood film. Clocking in at twice the length of many Hollywood films (195 minutes) serving up a generous helping of high quality songs and dances, with a tendency towards melodrama and romantic fantasy, adhering to State censorship, yet able to debate social issues, 'Awara' is a film equal to, if not superior to ,anything produced in the same era by Hollywood.

Book consulted
100 Bollywood films by Rachel Dwyer pub. B.F.I. 2005

Gnomes

With the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower show on at present, I thought it time to reveal my own installation for the Royal show. Here's an extremely rare photo of a quartet of gnome operators in participatione mystique, caught in celebratory mood having succeeded in performing the alchemical feat of palingenesis. From left to right their identities are believed to be -Arthur an English gardener, Christofini, an Italian shepherd, Ivor a Siberian woodsman and Albrecht an Austrian mountain-guide.

Gnomes have in fact been banned for 19 years from the Chelsea Flower Show, deemed as vulgar or unbecoming to gardens. A press clipping from the Times newspaper May 19th 2009 highlights the present controversy.

'They spoke of little else on the opening day of the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show. The issue? Is it time for the world's premier horticultural event to lift its 19-year ban on garden gnomes. The question has opened a schism in the high command of the gardening fraternity after one of the most respected exhibitors smuggled her “lucky” gnome into the central Grand Pavilion and put him on display. Officially Jekka McVicar, who is on the ruling council of the Royal Horticultural Society is in flagrant breach of the rules by placing her gnome called Borage amid her gorgeous array of organic medicinal and culinary herbs. They clearly state that any “brightly coloured creatures” are out of order and will result in disqualification.

The Royal Horticultural Society, which runs the Chelsea Flower Show, clearly states in its rules that gnomes or any "brightly coloured creatures" are out of bounds at the exhibition, as well as balloons, bunting and flags. The official explanation is that these items may "distract" from the garden designs, but critics suggest the real reason for the exclusion of gnomes is that they have been deemed too tacky for the illustrious flower show.

Dr Lane Fox supported the ban, calling the garden gnome a hideous creation that did not belong in the garden show. Ignoring an interjection by the Today presenter, saying: "That's snobbery", he added: "They [garden gnomes] are kitsch... There's no way we want mass produced gnomes or toadstools." But Mr Rumball objected to the ban, claiming it was sheer snobbery that kept gnomes out. He pointed out that garden gnomes were the pride of 19th-century aristocratic gardens before they fell from grace, and that high-quality antique gnomes were sold for substantial sums to collectors around the world. He said he feared the Chelsea Flower Show was limiting creativity through banning what it deemed to be in bad taste. "Chelsea is all about class. That's why it has banned them. The show is terrific and great fun but one of the reasons why people aspire to Chelsea's pinnacle of gardening is because everyone talks with plums in their mouths, ladies wear lovely clothes and the Queen goes along. All of these things make Chelsea something to aspire to. I'm a great believer in letting people do what they want with their gardens. I would not want gnomes in my garden, but everyone to their own. I don't think what they are putting on at the moment is significantly different from gnomes".

I wonders if all of this really is snobbery. After all snobbery is not a very British trait is it ?If Damien Hurst were to create a diamond-encrusted gnome I bet it would be allowed pride of place at the Chelsea Flower Show! Perhaps the organizers merely object to the commercial success of companies such as Zeho of Coburg, Austria, exporter of millions of mass-made plastic gnomes.

Whether one considers Gnomes to be vulgar, kitsch or merely harmless fun, they were in fact introduced into modern consciousness by the Renaissance physician-alchemist Paracelsus who proposed that a particular spirit resided over each element. Nymphs to rule the water, the Salamander fire, Sylphides the air and Gnomes the earth. Citing Germanic folk-lore Paracelsus claimed that deep in the earth there exists a race of dwarf- like Earth-spirits which he named Gnomes. Ever fond of word-play Paracelsus may have named them from the Greek of genomus or 'earth-dweller'. Alternatively the word Gnome may have originated from the Greek word gnome meaning knowledge and intelligence. According to Paracelsus these little people were the guardians of the earth who knew where precious metals and hidden treasure were buried. He describes them thus-

The gnomes have minds, but no souls, and so are incapable of spiritual development. They stand about two feet tall, but can expand themselves to huge size at will, and live in underground houses and palaces. Adapted to their element, they can breathe, see and move as easily underground as fish do in water. Gnomes have bodies of flesh and blood, they speak and reason, they eat and sleep and propagate their species, fall ill and die. They sometimes take a liking to a human being and enter his service, but are generally hostile to humans.

As ever there is a Sir Thomas Browne connection here. In his vast encyclopaedia Pseudodoxia Epidemica which sets out to refute popular misconceptions and errors, Browne wrangles with the idea as to whether pygmies actually exist (Book 4 chapter 11). He concludes thus-

and wise men may think there is as much reality in the Pigmies of Paracelsus; that is, his non-Adamical men, or middle natures betwixt men and spirits.

The footnote to this chapter reveals Browne as one well-acquainted with the writings of the Swiss alchemist-physician-

By Pigmies intending Fairies and other spirits about the earth, as by Nymphs and Salamanders, spirits of fire and water. Lib. de Pigmæis, Nymphis, etc.

The first time the actual word 'gnome' occurs in English literature is in Alexander Pope's poem, The Rape of the Lock (1712). An aural depiction of a gnome can be heard in the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky's Piano suite, Pictures at an Exhibition a musical work better-known through Ravel's imaginative orchestration of 1922.

Balloon

A certain sign that the weather's fine. While in the garden the first hot-air balloon of the season floated overhead. I seem to be living on some kind of flight-path for balloons with prevailing wind. I've always been fascinated by hot-air balloons, great symbols of independence and the Aquarian spirit that they are. It's a real Vulcan at his forge sound hearing the roar of the burner flame ignited to increase altitude. Really pleased with this shot, but that's part of taking a good photo, being lucky at the right time and place with camera ready.

Notebooks of Don Rigoberto

Paperback jacket cover of 'The notebooks of Don Rigoberto' Rolla 1878 by Henri Gervex

I recently read the novel 'The notebooks of Don Rigoberto' (Eng. trans 1998) by the Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa (b.1936). It's an extremely funny and at times erotic work which is centred upon three principal characters -Don Rigobetro, an insurance executive by day and hedonist and erotomaniac by night, Dona Lucrecia, his estranged lover and the Don's precocious adolescent son Fonchito. The lesser character of the maid to Lucrecia, Justiniana, features as a kind of sane and neutral chorus in her observations upon the antics of the trio throughout the story.


The scant plot set in modern-day Lima, Peru, involves the efforts of the son Fonchito to reconcile his father the Don to Lucrecia by the subterfuge of anonymous letters, which Lucrecia believes to be from the Don. Of equal interest other than the various voyeuristic erotic scenario's which the Don schemes for Lucrecia, are extracts from the Don's notebooks. These feature a diatribe against modern mass-man's fanaticism for sport, various aesthetic observations including an anti-Rotarian rant and an exaltation and defense of phobias.


By far the most interesting character in the novel is the bright, at turns naive and wise to the world of human sexuality, teenage son, Fonchita. Fonchita is near obsessed with the life and paintings of the Viennese decadent artist Egon Schiele. His knowledge of almost every aspect and detail of the painter's short biography and art-works borders upon the pathological. He talks of little else to the extreme concern of Dona Lucrecia, but in fact exhibits the self-same traits of his father who is also a dedicated aesthete and follower of the arts. The following lines, although a little rude, made me burst out laughing at his ambiguous naivete.

After a while she heard him saying, in a different tone of voice, "You too, Stepmama?" "What?" "You're touching my backside too, just like my papa's friends and the priests at school.Golly! Why is everybody so interested in my bottom?"

'The notebooks of Don Rigoberto' has an interesting affinity to the grandfather of all world literature, namely Cervantes 'Don Quixote' (1605) . Just as Don Quixote indulges in idealized love, adoration and worship of Dulcinea, so too Rigoberto adores Lucrecia with absolute devotion, placing her in all kinds of erotic scenario's, real and imagined, often of a voyeuristic nature, only in order to come to her rescue.

Extremely well written by a grand master of South American literature, the aestheticism of Don Rigoberto reminds me of another novel in which the protagonist is at war with the banality of society, absorbed and indulging in his sensuality, namely the character Des Esseintes in Joris-Karl Huysman's 1884 novel A Rebours. 

Postscript: On October 7th Mario Vargas Llosa was awarded the Nobel prize for Literature.

The Paston Treasure

As promised, here's an oil painting which I believe Sir Thomas Browne may have viewed.

Among the many "honoured and worthy" Norfolk gentry whom Browne was acquainted with were the wealthy landowning family of the Pastons, Sir William Paston (1610-62) and Sir Robert Paston (1631-83) of Oxnead Hall, Buxton in Norfolk. It's entirely possible that Browne when visiting the Pastons, either socially or professionally as a medical doctor could have viewed the canvas known as The Paston Treasure. Commissioned by Sir Robert circa 1665, the large painting is no longer believed to be the work of the travelling Dutch master, Franciscus Gysbrech. It records the Paston's family treasures as owners of a- "world of curiosities and some very rich ones, as cabinets and juells".

The Paston Treasure depicts a black servant and a blonde girl holding a bloom of roses, a strombus shell, a silver-gilt flagon, a shell-flask and two nautilus cups. The painting also shows many musical instruments including a lute, bass viol and a cornet. The Paston Treasure is a good example of symbolism in Dutch and Flemish still-life painting. The theme of Vanitas and the passing of time are represented in the painting by an hour glass, a watch, a clock, and a guttering candle.The painting features artefacts which represent a microcosm of the known world in the mid-17th century, as hinted by the prominent position of a globe. These include - a packet of tobacco from America, a boy and parrot from Africa and a porcelain dish from Asia. Sculptures and gems, gold, silver and enamel, as well as natural history specimens, along with music instruments including a bass viol, sackbut, violin and a lute can also be seen.

The peaches, grapes and oranges, along with lobster, suggest a luxurious lifestyle. The young African servant boy is also an exotic addition to the picture. He is the earliest known portrait of an African in Norfolk by almost 200 years. The girl, is most likely Robert Paston's daughter Mary, who died of smallpox in 1676. The inclusion of parrot and monkey is suggestive of domesticated creatures possessing faculties imitative to humans, but in contrast, lacking in reason. Both are depicted as disruptive, the monkey as if jumping onto servant's shoulder, and parrot interrupting girl from her reading of song-book music.

The collection was sold shortly after the painting was finished because of the Paston's failing finances. The objects were to spread around the world again.

''The Paston Treasure'' functions as a work of art on several levels. Firstly, as a ''schatzkammer'' (cabinet of treasures) or ''Wunderkammer'' displaying the Paston family's wealth and learning. Secondly, as an example of the tradition of Dutch Golden Age Pronkstilleven painting, in which objects refer to the transience and emptiness of wealth and possessions, and the ultimate extinction and emptiness of earthly life. This thematic concern is developed further in a near comprehensive inventory of Vanitas symbols with its allusions to the fragility of life, the passing of time and the inevitability of death, represented here by ephemeral roses and fruit, a clock, hourglass and an extinguished candle.The nautilus shell behind the globe is in the Prinsenhof Museum in Delft and the flask held by the boy is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The silver gilt flagon, with a visible date-mark for 1597-8 is one of a pair in the Untermeyer Collection, New York and the silver nautilus cup with the seated stem figure is now at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

With its crowded inventory and moralistic symbolism, the Paston Treasure would have appealed to Browne's artistic sensibility. Indeed in his spiritual and artistic testament Religio Medici, Browne humorously confessed of his fondness for the visual arts thus-

I can look a whole day with delight upon a handsome picture, though it be but of an Horse. (Religio Medici Part 2 paragraph 9)

A much brighter reproduction of the recently cleaned and restored canvas. A vast improvement and testimony to  restoring skills and expertise.

Postscript 2015

In his 2015 book on Sir Thomas Browne Hugh Aldersey-Williams discusses this painting, but does not state how or when he arrived at the idea that Browne possibly viewed it.

'Men are still content to plume themselves with other's feathers', as Browne phrases it.

Cactus

This morning I woke to find that once again my 25 year old cactus has burst into flower. Not that it was totally unexpected because during the past week, two large stalks have rocketed forth from it, ready to bloom into quite enormous flowers, which sadly only last a few days at most. The stems of the flowers are about 20 centimetres and the diameter of the flowers some 10 centimetres, really enormous. Quite how this miracle of nature always flowers at either the new or full moon I don't know. I took these photo's a year or two ago, sometimes there are just two flowers, sometimes as many as five. But in any event a true miracle of nature, reminding us that things are not always what they seem, and that from the apparently mundane something extraordinary can occur beyond human power.

Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich 1906-1975

Last night I attended a concert at Saint Andrew's Hall, Norwich. The Moscow State Symphony Orchestra performed the following - Borodin Polovtsian Dances, Philip Glass violin Concerto and Shostakovich Symphony no. 10 in E minor.

The Borodin Polovtsian Dance's were electric and boded well for the rest of the programme. One catches an aural glimpse in its vibrant savagery of another musical work also set in early Rus, namely Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. As for the Concerto well to be honest, although I've been a keen follower of the music of Philip Glass for over 20 years, i don't consider his violin concerto (1988) to be the best or most representative composition of his unique style. The young violinist Chloe Hanslip did her best, but still felt obliged to add a couple of solo encores to prove her undoubted virtuosity. Nor did one feel that the Russian orchestra felt completely at home or responsive to Glass's composition, but this may be just an erroneous perception of mine.

Onto more solid interpretative ground. The second half on the concert consisted of Shostakovitch's symphony no. 10. A vast and mostly gloomy work composed in 1953 soon after Stalin's death. It's only in the last movement that the composer lets his hair down for some jollity. How many times in varied ways does the motif D-S-C-H occur throughout the score? The composer used this musical motif throughout his artistic career to represent himself, the notes being the first letter of his name and first three of his surname in Russian musical notation. The playing throughout the symphony was committed and impassioned, a real tour-de-force. I'm always amazed at the virtuosity of Russian brass and woodwind playing and how united the string section are.

The 10th symphony remains one of the more accessible of Shostakovich's symphonies with a quite distinctive tonality, perhaps because it is in the remote key of E minor. Gloomy as it is a cathartic redemption is arrived at, otherwise such works would never be performed in the Concert-Hall, the audience leaving more depressed than when they arrived!

In some ways Shostakovich's music has finally arrived on the world-stage now that he can be listened to without any political coloration. I've been acquainted with the 10th symphony since I was 14, partly due to a reactionary passion to listen to 'the enemies' music during the 1970's cold war. A music teacher used to discreetly place records such as Shostakovich Symphony no. 5 on the turn-table while the school chess team played. A captive listening audience if ever there was, Chess enjoying something of a Renaissance among school-boys, it was after all during the great tournament between U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. in 1972 between the maverick Bobby Fischer and Spassky! The 5th symphony soon became a firm favourite of mine, but I also remember hearing the World premiere of the 15th symphony albeit on a tinny transistor radio.

Although Shostakovich grew up under the Soviet regime and is easily the most representative composer of the Soviet era, for a hardened atheist there are a remarkable number of mystical or numinous passages to be found in his music. One of the most extraordinary of all his symphonic output is the mysterious percussive scherzo to the 15th Symphony.

Here's a link to read more about Shostakovich

Portrait of Browne

Why o why is this superb oil painting of Sir Thomas Browne hidden away from the gaze of the general public in the vestry of Saint Peter Mancroft? The Gunton portrait of a very red-haired,slightly older Browne is on display in a wing of the church of Saint Peter Mancroft along with other Browne memorabilia, and to be fair, if one requests nicely, it's possible to obtain a viewing of this portrait. But only if one requests so. Why?

But perhaps with the rise of the internet this portrait has the potential to be better known than any volume of visitor's traipsing into the vestry at Saint Peters'.

Browne attended service at Saint Peter's whenever his profession allowed, but it's his miscellaneous tract Repertorium,  an inventory of artefacts in Norwich Cathedral, which displays his knowledge of the history of the Church of England best.

As ever the city of Norwich is v. slow to proclaim its cultural heritage, probably because, in Browne's case, there's no-one able to mak an articulate statement upon him; perhaps, because somehow, in the imagination of the historically naive, he's wrongly assessed as a non-PC fellow.

Tulips

This troop of tulips spotted in a garden by one of the busiest inner-road junctions in the City. Nevertheless standing proud against the noise and fumes.

A certain seventeenth century medical undergraduate was in Holland during the height of 'Tulipmania' (1630-34) when vast fortunes were speculated and exchanged upon the sale of rare Tulip-bulbs. I just love the story of one speculator who having spent a small fortune on a rare bulb, when arriving at the docks to collect his expensive bulb, saw to his horror a workman tucking into a sandwich, adding to it what he believed to be an onion. The poor unfortunate was prosecuted heavily for his mistaken error.

There's an allusion to tulip-mania in the dedicatory epistle to Sir Thomas Browne's 'The Garden of Cyrus';  a mirthful and tongue-in-cheek observation upon the extremes some gardeners have gone to in their horticultural passion.

Some commendably affected Plantations of venemous Vegetables, some confined their delights unto single plants, and Cato seemed to dote upon Cabbage; While the Ingenuous delight of Tulipists, stands saluted with hard language, even by their own Professors.'

There's also the botanical query in 'The Garden of Cyrus'-

How the triangular capp in the stemme or stylus of Tuleps doth constantly point at three outward leaves.

I remember cycling in '83 through the vast industrial-sized fields of tulips cultivated in Holland. A truly eye-watering optical experience.

Hebrew Zodiac

Mosaic on the floor of the 6th Century (CE) synagogue at Bet Alfa, Israel.

More incontrovertible evidence of the syncretic nature of religious beliefs. The long time spent in exile by the Jews in Babylon resulted in the adoption of aspects of Babylonian astrological symbolism. This is most clearly evident in Ezekiel's vision of the Tetramorph which was later adopted by Christianity to symbolize the various attributes of the four Gospel authors. The quaternary of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John corresponding to the 'Fixed Cross' of astrology, Aquarius, Taurus, Leo and Scorpio. Clearly no taint or impurity of religious belief was felt by such syncretic association, even after almost a thousand years post Babylonian exile.

New Government

Well we shall see how comfortable these two bed-fellows Nick and Dave really are together and for how long they can sing from the same hymn-sheet. It's all a bit Alice in Wonderland politics to me, indicative of the deep financial deficit crisis. Real Wonderland stuff! The Brits as ever pioneered the way in political satire and children's book illustrations; genres which the artist Sir John Tenniel (1820-1914) (above illustration) realized are not so remote from each other.

Bluebell woods

Only a minute's walk from my door there's a chalk ridge woodland of beech and chestnut trees standing high upon the brow of the river Wensum valley. It's probably survived because it's hilly and undulating, therefore difficult to deforest and 'develop'. Better still some good conservation work has been done to it, clearing the woodland floor of brambles, allowing a large area of bluebells to colonize . A small secluded sanctuary in an increasingly volatile world.

Respiro

Last night I watched 'Respiro' (2002) by Emanuele Crialese (b.1965). Set in southern Sicily on the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, Crialese's warm and moving story of a young woman, Grazia, who behaves unconventionally, to the annoyance of the tight-knitted community, is a wonderful film. Crilese states of Grazia, the central character of the film-

"We have this weird tendency as human beings to look for the black sheep...they're the ones who get the blame, but it's through their sacrifice that we understand more about ourselves."

'Respiro's main attractions are equally, the great performance of Valerio Golino as the rebellious mother, the poor but supportive fishing community, and the spectacular coast-line, all of which are beautifully photographed throughout. The film concludes wordlessly, with a highly atmospheric piece of music which accompanys a collective swim and the reconciliation of runaway mother to husband and children .

Mum

Vivienne Yvonne Poppy

Happy birthday Mum! Looking every part the British 1950's matinee idol!
You're the one from whom from the womb I've inherited dark hair and eyes, a highly-strung disposition and a love of music!

The first day of May is also the anniversary of Sir Thomas Browne's 1658 Discourses. Its date is noted at the end of the dedicatory epistle to both 'Urn-Burial' and 'The Garden of Cyrus'.