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Post by weirdmonger on Dec 20, 2021 18:13:33 GMT
“The straight sunny tombstones looked sociable, fresh wreaths were laid on the breasts of the graves. You could almost see the dead sitting up holding their flowers, like invalids on a visiting-day, waiting to hear the music. Only the very new dead, under raw earth with no tombstones, lay flat in despair: on one grave a whole mass of flowers had wilted; no one had had the heart yet to put any more …” — Elizabeth Bowen From TO THE NORTH, one of her ten novels that I am re-reading and finding in them much of Aickman and Ligottian Anti-Natalism, as well as amazing Bowenesque factors… my reviews of her novels being linked here: dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2021/11/27/elizabeth-bowens-novels/
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Post by 𝘗rincess 𝘵uvstarr on Dec 20, 2021 18:56:21 GMT
“The straight sunny tombstones looked sociable, fresh wreaths were laid on the breasts of the graves. You could almost see the dead sitting up holding their flowers, like invalids on a visiting-day, waiting to hear the music. Only the very new dead, under raw earth with no tombstones, lay flat in despair: on one grave a whole mass of flowers had wilted; no one had had the heart yet to put any more …” — Elizabeth Bowen From TO THE NORTH, one of her ten novels that I am re-reading and finding in them much of Aickman and Ligottian Anti-Natalism, as well as amazing Bowenesque factors… my reviews of her novels being linked here: dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2021/11/27/elizabeth-bowens-novels/Do you have any quotes that have Chritmas or New year mentioned?
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Post by weirdmonger on Dec 20, 2021 19:04:44 GMT
“The straight sunny tombstones looked sociable, fresh wreaths were laid on the breasts of the graves. You could almost see the dead sitting up holding their flowers, like invalids on a visiting-day, waiting to hear the music. Only the very new dead, under raw earth with no tombstones, lay flat in despair: on one grave a whole mass of flowers had wilted; no one had had the heart yet to put any more …” — Elizabeth Bowen From TO THE NORTH, one of her ten novels that I am re-reading and finding in them much of Aickman and Ligottian Anti-Natalism, as well as amazing Bowenesque factors… my reviews of her novels being linked here: dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/2021/11/27/elizabeth-bowens-novels/Do you have any quotes that have Chritmas or New year mentioned? Elizabeth Bowen on Christmas I did not know how I felt: I was in turmoil. Through the tight-closed window I sent a glance up the crowded face of our town. Then, all was well. Yes, above me still burned the sentinel candles! Steadily, tier on tier, gleamed those points of light; each flame on its coloured wax stem, a symbolic heart shape. Each stood for a home! It was still Christmas, going with me, encircling me. Nothing *was* left behind. Elizabeth Bowen – From ‘Candles In The Window’ 1958====================== Peals of bells being rung from an ancient steeple mingled with the throbbing inside her head; she was dazzled by the many lights of small shops – windows a-shimmer with tinsel, slung with paper chains, cast their reflections on to the damp pavements, till she felt herself lost in a mirror maze. Good-humoured townsfolk, gathering late to talk, formed an obstruction at every corner… Elizabeth Bowen – from ‘Christmas Games’ (1954?)========================== Millie at once saw, from the light on their bedroom ceiling, that snow must have fallen during the night. As though someone had spoken, she woke from a deep, plausible dream to the unreality of this unknown spare room silently glared into by the snow. The satin pattern of the blue wallpaper glimmered, and the white door through to the dressingroom, the white mantlepiece seemed to be carved out of something solidly bright. Elizabeth Bowen – from ‘Home for Christmas’ (mid 1950s)===================== The ghost hesitated in the familiar corridor. Her visibleness, even on Christmas Eve, was not under her own control; and now she had fallen in love again her dependence upon it began to dissolve in patches. This was a concentration of every feeling of the woman prepared to sail downstairs en grande tenue. Flamboyance and agitation were both present. But between these, because of her years of death, there cut an extreme anxiety: it was not merely a matter of, how was she? but of, was she – tonight – at all? Death had left her to be her own mirror; for into no other was she able to see. Elizabeth Bowen – From ‘Green Holly’ 1944
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Post by helrunar on Dec 20, 2021 19:11:28 GMT
Extraordinary. Thanks to you, Weirdmonger, I'm resolved to read some Elizabeth Bowen stories in 2022.
cheers, Hel
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Post by weirdmonger on Mar 23, 2022 15:50:29 GMT
Aickman relevant… After about a year, I have finally finished my detailed review of all Elizabeth Bowen’s fiction! All her ten novels are special in different ways. As to her 108 stories, I recommend them all. Many are in her Vintage collected stories volume, cheaply obtainable. The ones that I consider the nearest to ROBERT AICKMAN: LOVE, HAND IN GLOVE, THE DEMON LOVER, THE INHERITED CLOCK, MYSTERIOUS KÔR, THE APPLE TREE, THE DANCING MISTRESS, NO. 16, GREEN HOLLY, THE EVIL THAT MEN DO, FOOTHOLD, A WALK IN THE WOODS, THE DISINHERITED, RECENT PHOTOGRAPH, HUMAN HABITATION, CHARITY, ANN LEE’S, DEAD MABELLE, FLOWERS WILL DO, LOOK AT ALL THOSE ROSES, GONE AWAY, THE CLAIMANT, THE PARROT, THE CHEERY SOUL, THE SHADOWY THIRD, MRS MOYSEY, PINK MAY, THE STORM, HER TABLE SPREAD. No mystery that Prothero reviews things like I do, and his name rhymes with elbow. The Zeno’s Paradox /Time syndrome, Ghosts, Shadows, Psychological Furniture, Apple Trees, Anti-Natalism, Triangulations, double negatives, mid to late life crises, Aickman synergy, Bowen herself. Fractured, if not bruised. My long Bowen /\ Aickman journey of reviewing her fiction has now ended — posing myself as the shadowy third side to complete the triangle out of the two-sided elbow or circumflex or Kôrner? Or just another meddling middling finger in Francis’s finger-BOWL? Eva Trout, already reviewed by me, the final consolation. I don’t think anyone before has mapped out this gestalt of themes in Bowen fiction, particularly the Elbow Syndrome as such a hugely predominating one and the Aickman synergy. Unless you know different? Links to my Bowen reviews: dflewisreviews.wordpress.com/31260-2/
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Post by Knygathin on Jul 31, 2022 12:10:09 GMT
Is he Aickman? The man in the middle of the picture? Finding the picture in connection to an article about Aickman, I quickly deduced it must be Aickman. He is not all unlike him, but having a closer look now, I think I may have been wrong all these years. He doesn't seem to exude quite the same flair as Aickman.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 31, 2022 12:59:04 GMT
No. That photo is taken from photo-journalist Ian Berry's The English (1978). It shows tourists visiting Whitby Abbey. You can see it around the 9:48 mark in this video:
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Post by Knygathin on Jul 31, 2022 14:03:35 GMT
I see. Thank you. Interesting video.
Unsure why they used that particular photo in connection to Aickman. I guess it was the atmosphere of the gravestones at Whitby and the classical horror literature background of Dracula.
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Post by Dr Strange on Jul 31, 2022 14:14:57 GMT
Unsure why they used that particular photo in connection to Aickman. I guess it was the atmosphere of the gravestones at Whitby and the classical horror literature background of Dracula. Probably. There are more photos from The English here - www.exibartstreet.com/news/the-english-exploring-the-work-of-ian-berry/. The first one is also Whitby, looking down on the harbour from the Abbey grounds.
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Post by Knygathin on Jul 31, 2022 14:24:16 GMT
Remarkable photographer! From a spook perspective I like the picture of the old toothless lady with hat.
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Post by weirdmonger on Sept 7, 2022 13:03:49 GMT
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Post by weirdmonger on Mar 18, 2023 10:00:40 GMT
aiCKMAN ? The bed outside aiCKMAN’s Hospice symbolises the sick car in which Maybury arrived and the bedroom shenanigans inside ?? You can see the pictures more clearly here: etepsed.wordpress.com/2023/03/18/a-few-of-my-praiternats/The title of this old thread seemed predetermined for this topic!
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Post by weirdmonger on Mar 18, 2023 10:22:41 GMT
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Post by weirdmonger on Nov 16, 2023 10:20:22 GMT
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