From billyapt at hotmail.com Mon Mar 9 07:52:28 2009 From: billyapt at hotmail.com (William Apt) Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2009 09:52:28 -0500 Subject: [ilds] Spirit of Place question In-Reply-To: <49B489C4.8010002@gmail.com> References: <49B489C4.8010002@gmail.com> Message-ID: James: Thanks so much for the detailed note! The reason I suggest what I do is because, with the exception of the surrealist pieces, a reoccuring theme prevades Spirit of Place: Durrell refers to it frequently: the notion of culture, traditions, food and wine as the spirit of the landscape manifesting itself and thus animating a place. Inclusion of the surrealist pieces would not be in keeping with the book unless they too have the same theme. And that is, of course, if there is a theme, which I can't help believe there is. If I am not mistaken the phrase "Spirit of Place" was coined by DH Lawrence who, as we know, was a believer in the same idea to which Durrell subscribes. And Durrell, like Lawrence, had a keen sense of artistic balance. To include thematically out-of-place work would upset that balance, and that just doesn't seem right. But of course this is pure speculation, and you well may be correct about Thomas seeking merely to include little known surrealist work. Billy Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 20:15:16 -0700 > From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com > To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca > Subject: Re: [ilds] Spirit of Place question > > Hello William, > > I've always found "Asylum in the Snow" and "Zero" highly engaging works > -- they're very much of that moment for Durrell, snuggled in between > /Panic Spring/ and /The Black Book/. Much of the imagery overlaps with > both novels, so their genealogy is fairly clear. > > That said, they are somewhat out of place in /Spirit of Place/. I'd > suspect that Thomas simply wanted to include fine works that were not > readily available in other editions. Probably nothing more detailed > than that... They'd appeared in /Seven/, in Durrell's own publication > on Cyprus, and also in an edition by Circle press in Berkeley, but all > of those were preciously rare. Ditto for the scene chosen from /Panic > Spring/, which is more for the sake of Thomas' desire to continue the > character in /Pied Piper of Lovers/ than any compelling 'travel' > component. There are plenty of other "place" scenes in /Panic Spring/, > so the choice points to Thomas' tastes rather than the need to assemble > a thematically cohesive volume. > > I wonder what others would think about /Spirit of Place/? I honestly > never even thought of it as "place" oriented, probably because "Asylum > in the Snow" was the first things I read... I see it as simply and > anthology of unusual materials pitched to an audience keen on consuming > more Durrell! > > As for the original appeal and generation of "Asylum," I have strong > feelings about that: the English Surrealists developing out of the 1936 > London Exhibition but not yet become the New Apocalypse or New > Romantics. A few people in Louisville already heard me drone on about > that crowd. > > That generation's influence on the soon-to-be Beats and then psychedelic > 60s would seem to be a straight line. > > Best, > James > > William Apt wrote: > > The surrealist pieces Zero, Asylum in the Snow, Solange and Down the > > Styx seem out of place in this collection, unless they were intended to > > represent the landscapes of the mind. After all, the book was likely > > assembled by Alan Thomas between 1967-1968 and was published in 1969. > > Perhaps Thomas and Durrell sought to appeal to a new generation of young > > readers: the psychedelic generation? > > > > WILLIAM APT > > Austin, Texas > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > Hotmail? is up to 70% faster. Now good news travels really fast. Find > > out more. > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > ILDS mailing list > > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds > _______________________________________________ > ILDS mailing list > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live? Groups: Create an online spot for your favorite groups to meet. http://windowslive.com/online/groups?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_groups_032009 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.uvic.ca/pipermail/ilds/attachments/20090309/a1c5ed4f/attachment.html From marcpiel at interdesign.fr Mon Mar 9 11:20:44 2009 From: marcpiel at interdesign.fr (Marc Piel) Date: Mon, 09 Mar 2009 19:20:44 +0100 Subject: [ilds] Spirit of Place question In-Reply-To: References: <49B489C4.8010002@gmail.com> Message-ID: <49B55DFC.9090603@interdesign.fr> Surely surealism is "spirit of the mind" that can be sparked of by spirit of place and therefore is quite related? Marc William Apt a ?crit : > James: > > Thanks so much for the detailed note! The reason I suggest what I do is > because, with the exception of the surrealist pieces, a reoccuring theme > prevades Spirit of Place: Durrell refers to it frequently: the notion > of culture, traditions, food and wine as the spirit of the landscape > manifesting itself and thus animating a place. Inclusion of the > surrealist pieces would not be in keeping with the book unless they too > have the same theme. And that is, of course, if there is a theme, which > I can't help believe there is. If I am not mistaken the phrase "Spirit > of Place" was coined by DH Lawrence who, as we know, was > a believer in the same idea to which Durrell subscribes. And Durrell, > like Lawrence, had a keen sense of artistic balance. To include > thematically out-of-place work would upset that balance, and that just > doesn't seem right. But of course this is pure speculation, and you well > may be correct about Thomas seeking merely to include little known > surrealist work. > > Billy > > > Date: Sun, 8 Mar 2009 20:15:16 -0700 > > From: odos.fanourios at gmail.com > > To: ilds at lists.uvic.ca > > Subject: Re: [ilds] Spirit of Place question > > > > Hello William, > > > > I've always found "Asylum in the Snow" and "Zero" highly engaging works > > -- they're very much of that moment for Durrell, snuggled in between > > /Panic Spring/ and /The Black Book/. Much of the imagery overlaps with > > both novels, so their genealogy is fairly clear. > > > > That said, they are somewhat out of place in /Spirit of Place/. I'd > > suspect that Thomas simply wanted to include fine works that were not > > readily available in other editions. Probably nothing more detailed > > than that... They'd appeared in /Seven/, in Durrell's own publication > > on Cyprus, and also in an edition by Circle press in Berkeley, but all > > of those were preciously rare. Ditto for the scene chosen from /Panic > > Spring/, which is more for the sake of Thomas' desire to continue the > > character in /Pied Piper of Lovers/ than any compelling 'travel' > > component. There are plenty of other "place" scenes in /Panic Spring/, > > so the choice points to Thomas' tastes rather than the need to assemble > > a thematically cohesive volume. > > > > I wonder what others would think about /Spirit of Place/? I honestly > > never even thought of it as "place" oriented, probably because "Asylum > > in the Snow" was the first things I read... I see it as simply and > > anthology of unusual materials pitched to an audience keen on consuming > > more Durrell! > > > > As for the original appeal and generation of "Asylum," I have strong > > feelings about that: the English Surrealists developing out of the 1936 > > London Exhibition but not yet become the New Apocalypse or New > > Romantics. A few people in Louisville already heard me drone on about > > that crowd. > > > > That generation's influence on the soon-to-be Beats and then psychedelic > > 60s would seem to be a straight line. > > > > Best, > > James > > > > William Apt wrote: > > > The surrealist pieces Zero, Asylum in the Snow, Solange and Down the > > > Styx seem out of place in this collection, unless they were > intended to > > > represent the landscapes of the mind. After all, the book was likely > > > assembled by Alan Thomas between 1967-1968 and was published in 1969. > > > Perhaps Thomas and Durrell sought to appeal to a new generation of > young > > > readers: the psychedelic generation? > > > > > > WILLIAM APT > > > Austin, Texas > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > Hotmail? is up to 70% faster. Now good news travels really fast. Find > > > out more. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > ILDS mailing list > > > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > > > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds > > _______________________________________________ > > ILDS mailing list > > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Windows Live? Groups: Create an online spot for your favorite groups to > meet. Check it out. > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > ILDS mailing list > ILDS at lists.uvic.ca > https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/ilds