Firstly a picture of the Tidy Fairies spraying something like fairy dust and who requested a photo of themselves on this blog doing the tidying . The pic will be removed in a few days.
Secondly, the Meme. This is genuinely the book I have by my bedside, and have not picked it out to fit in with any recurring themes of this blog.
'Otherwise I keep thinking of things like Frosty Answer - which are foolish but fun.
With best wishes,
Yours sincerely
Philip Larkin
AUTHOR'S SUGGESTION FOR PART OF BLURB
A Girl in Winter centres on one day in the life of Katherine Lind, a day that as it progresses seems increasingly to sum up her present life, connect it with her past, and predict her future. She is brought up against an almost - forgotten episode that nevertheless shows how her actions then have influenced other premanently, and are still playing their part in her own life.'
You can tell this is a well-read book. I know quite a bit about Philip Larkin because he lived in Hull, and could probably organise a 'Philip Larkin City Trail', for anyone who is interested. (Probably not many) I have lived in Cottingham for a while near the house he lived in when he first came to the area, I have walked past the Church where they held his funeral many times(in fact my husband's sister was married there), I have held a pass to the library where he worked, I have been to the park many times which he used to view through his 'High Windows', and I have been to a National Childbirth Trust meeting in a house on Newland Park where he ended up living. So I follow in the footsteps of Philip Larkin (well, you could tell that from my Haikus) and is my only somewhat tenuous claim to fame. All this somehow fuels my imagination, and that is why I like reading the letters and thinking I have been to the places he is talking about.
9 comments:
Hi Bev,
This is fun ... if I ever come to Hull, I will let you be my guide!
~ Diane Clancy
www.DianeClancy.com/blog
www.YourArtMarketing.com
You're such an intellectual, Bev! I don't know if I can hang out with you any longer, you make me look all dullwitted and deficient. We really must stop meeting like this in these scholarly corners of the Internet. My lack of education is showing all over the place and I am covered in shame and disgrace.
Hah, you knew I was kidding, didn't you? You did, didn't you?
I love you, Bev!
Bev, you and Irene are sillies, it is the thing I most like about both of you, very intelligent, well-read and thoughtful people with fantastic flights of imagination - heads in the clouds - while having big heavy sensible boots to keep your feet firmly on the ground and lots of silliness. Great.
Larkin was very interesting, another strange mixture of things. I have been reading some thoughts on him by Alan Bennett - I hadn't known he was such a complex character.
He actually wasn't a very nice person, but then a lot of great artists weren't. He was horrible to the women in his life and liked dubious things, while being very sensitive in his poetry.
Yip you can give me the tour too:)
He sounds like a bit of an enigma...soft poetry but hard actions. Atleast he left books for your and others to enjoy.
The book sounds a bit dry, but perhaps not after reading these comments. We are all love to read and I've endured some pretty dry stuff for the sake of learning. Are these love letters :)
p.s. I too remember sitting on a hard bench and kneeling on the gritty rail and hating every minute of it.
No, they are not love letters, just general letters to his friends throughout his life. I find them interesting because they deal with places I know well, and because I am familiar with his poetry. I think he wrote a poem about cycling to Beverley (where Frances was born) and I too have done that (well part of the way)!
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