I’m a bit of a Mitford nerd (adapted Love in a Cold Climate and Pursuit of Love in 2002) although recently I have had enough and I am not sure I’ll even watch the UKTV biography series, but I quibble with Jessica being the most respected Mitford. In America yes but there is affection and respect for Debo in the UK who made herself so available publicly and became a sort of People’s Aristo.
Agreed - even when Debo wrote about wearing diamond tiaras to parties she still seemed fairly lovable. Whereas Decca's crusading and alcoholism feel a bit exhausting.
I didnt realise that was you, I listened to the whole podcast going "who's this new woman on the podcast?"
Anyway the conversation about sadism on Strong Message Here made me think about when Greta Thunberg said "put them against the wall", which was misinterpreted because in Swedish it's an expression for something a lot milder, it's an expression for holding someone to account, like saying "putting someone in the hot seat" or "backing them into a corner"... not lining then up for execution. That could be a concept for an episode - political mistranslations in language or cultural context
I thought I saw you across the tables. As Baillie Gifford judge, I can heartily recommend Sue Prideaux’s Wild Thing. Truly excellent and you will look afresh on Paul Gauguin.
You see, that was my assumption about a lot of, maybe most of popular novelists and their international “research,” that it’s a pleasant way to dodge taxes. That’s what led Thomas Harris astray writing “Hannibal” (Martin Amis’s savagely funny takedown of that novel cannot be forgotten.) after “Silence of the Lambs.”
Osman’s efforts struck me as products of focus groups; his encyclopedic knowledge of and devotion to game shows - on unstinting display in “The Rest is Entertainment” podcast - convinces me that his imagination is largely corporate. And I have apologized to Mick Herron for my briefly divided attention.
Couldn't agree more about modern art. If a piece of art requires an essay to tell me what to think or feel about it then it isn't art.
I remember many years ago when I was studying philosophy I wrote an essay about aesthetics where I differentiated between decoration and art (I had a 2 x 2 matrix comparing creativity and craft).
A potentially demarcating question is: does the artwork, as a physical artefact, add anything to the caption? If the answer is 'no', then I suspect the artwork will struggle to make a case for itself as being a piece of communication in tangible form (just there, of course, I smuggle in an implicit definition).
For example, I can write 'imagine a tank of formaldehyde containing a now-dead shark'. I can construct a mental picture of that which seems adequate to the intentions. I haven't been in the physical presence of that object, but I'd be surprised to discover that being there added much. Of course, there is respectable creativity in describing a particular arresting image, but that's creative writing, not plastic art.
Shame you had a dispiriting time in Riga. I had a few days there in warmer weather and found it fascinating. Not because there was anything exceptional to see or do (or eat and drink - local liqueur Black Balsam is as disgusting as it sounds), but because despite the staggeringly horrible series of relatively recent invasions it seems to have reconstituted itself to become safe, clean, and boringly charming.
First occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 (atrocities, deportations, repression) then “liberated” by the Nazis from 1941-44 (atrocities on Jews and others), then reconquered by the Soviets again, with atrocities, deportations and repression of pretty much anyone the Germans hadn’t targeted, on the basis that they must be Nazis.
Latvia achieved independence only 35 years ago, with less than half of the population being native Latvians, and yet Riga now feels very much at peace with itself and its place in the EU. Who knows how fragile that will prove to be, sharing a border with Russia… but it’s worth a short city break.
The food was actually great! We had a lovely meal at a place called 3 Chefs where I drank some local blackcurrant wine in the hope of soothing my throat / making the walk back less cold.
Always been fascinated by this family. I've read most of the books written by them and about them. In some ways, it all ended so tragically and yet they were so privileged!
I adored Jessica Mitford’s “Making of a Muckraker” - a collection of her investigative pieces for various outlets. For an aspiring journalist it was both a guide to doing things and a pinnacle to aspire to.
Meanwhile I did find myself thinking Helen Has A Cold on the p94 podcast and realising the Strong Message Here pod must have been recorded well before.
I read I Am Dynamite on your recommendation and I LOVED it. I then devoured her books on Strindberg and Munch which are also excellent, although Munch’s life was extremely bleak. Thank you for mentioning Sue Prideaux as I would never have picked up a big fat biography of Nietzsche ordinarily.
The Nietzsche biography is very good. He had an unusual personality and developed neurosyphyllis which caused his final collapse - his final work was probably written at a time when his mind was unravelling under its influence. Wagner was quite the narcissist and pretty emotionally unstable. Interesting articles not so keen on your use of the word "nutter" though! I have Sue Prideaux's Munch biography sitting on my shelf waiting to be read too.
Many years ago I visited Plotenzee Prison. Beyond knowing its history I felt absolutely nothing. However when I visited Tilbury Fort with a friend both of us had a really uncomfortable feeling of being watched.
I’m also a bit of a Mitford nerd, despite them being virtually unknown in Poland - I only discovered them once I began to read in English. Nancy Mitford’s novels have only been translated into Polish nearly a century after they were first published. Pursuit of Love and Love in Cold Climate are among my favourite novels, while Jessica’s Hons and Rebels one of my favourite memoirs, something I have in common with JK Rowling, who named her eldest daughter Jessica.
I’m a bit of a Mitford nerd (adapted Love in a Cold Climate and Pursuit of Love in 2002) although recently I have had enough and I am not sure I’ll even watch the UKTV biography series, but I quibble with Jessica being the most respected Mitford. In America yes but there is affection and respect for Debo in the UK who made herself so available publicly and became a sort of People’s Aristo.
Fair point! I guess Debo also lived so very long that — like Liz II — she became a symbol of lost England.
Agreed - even when Debo wrote about wearing diamond tiaras to parties she still seemed fairly lovable. Whereas Decca's crusading and alcoholism feel a bit exhausting.
I didnt realise that was you, I listened to the whole podcast going "who's this new woman on the podcast?"
Anyway the conversation about sadism on Strong Message Here made me think about when Greta Thunberg said "put them against the wall", which was misinterpreted because in Swedish it's an expression for something a lot milder, it's an expression for holding someone to account, like saying "putting someone in the hot seat" or "backing them into a corner"... not lining then up for execution. That could be a concept for an episode - political mistranslations in language or cultural context
Interesting idea — thank you!
Or like when Khrushchev said "we will bury you!" which was interpreted as a threat but was meant as "it's your funeral"?
I thought I saw you across the tables. As Baillie Gifford judge, I can heartily recommend Sue Prideaux’s Wild Thing. Truly excellent and you will look afresh on Paul Gauguin.
You see, that was my assumption about a lot of, maybe most of popular novelists and their international “research,” that it’s a pleasant way to dodge taxes. That’s what led Thomas Harris astray writing “Hannibal” (Martin Amis’s savagely funny takedown of that novel cannot be forgotten.) after “Silence of the Lambs.”
Osman’s efforts struck me as products of focus groups; his encyclopedic knowledge of and devotion to game shows - on unstinting display in “The Rest is Entertainment” podcast - convinces me that his imagination is largely corporate. And I have apologized to Mick Herron for my briefly divided attention.
Couldn't agree more about modern art. If a piece of art requires an essay to tell me what to think or feel about it then it isn't art.
I remember many years ago when I was studying philosophy I wrote an essay about aesthetics where I differentiated between decoration and art (I had a 2 x 2 matrix comparing creativity and craft).
A potentially demarcating question is: does the artwork, as a physical artefact, add anything to the caption? If the answer is 'no', then I suspect the artwork will struggle to make a case for itself as being a piece of communication in tangible form (just there, of course, I smuggle in an implicit definition).
For example, I can write 'imagine a tank of formaldehyde containing a now-dead shark'. I can construct a mental picture of that which seems adequate to the intentions. I haven't been in the physical presence of that object, but I'd be surprised to discover that being there added much. Of course, there is respectable creativity in describing a particular arresting image, but that's creative writing, not plastic art.
My definition of art is 1) it took some skill/effort and 2) depicts hands somewhere
Landscapes are therefore "design". Can't be helped.
Shame you had a dispiriting time in Riga. I had a few days there in warmer weather and found it fascinating. Not because there was anything exceptional to see or do (or eat and drink - local liqueur Black Balsam is as disgusting as it sounds), but because despite the staggeringly horrible series of relatively recent invasions it seems to have reconstituted itself to become safe, clean, and boringly charming.
First occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940 (atrocities, deportations, repression) then “liberated” by the Nazis from 1941-44 (atrocities on Jews and others), then reconquered by the Soviets again, with atrocities, deportations and repression of pretty much anyone the Germans hadn’t targeted, on the basis that they must be Nazis.
Latvia achieved independence only 35 years ago, with less than half of the population being native Latvians, and yet Riga now feels very much at peace with itself and its place in the EU. Who knows how fragile that will prove to be, sharing a border with Russia… but it’s worth a short city break.
The food was actually great! We had a lovely meal at a place called 3 Chefs where I drank some local blackcurrant wine in the hope of soothing my throat / making the walk back less cold.
Always been fascinated by this family. I've read most of the books written by them and about them. In some ways, it all ended so tragically and yet they were so privileged!
I adored Jessica Mitford’s “Making of a Muckraker” - a collection of her investigative pieces for various outlets. For an aspiring journalist it was both a guide to doing things and a pinnacle to aspire to.
Meanwhile I did find myself thinking Helen Has A Cold on the p94 podcast and realising the Strong Message Here pod must have been recorded well before.
I read I Am Dynamite on your recommendation and I LOVED it. I then devoured her books on Strindberg and Munch which are also excellent, although Munch’s life was extremely bleak. Thank you for mentioning Sue Prideaux as I would never have picked up a big fat biography of Nietzsche ordinarily.
Yes, it was a chunky lad even for me. I read it on a holiday where Jonathan read Nine Perfect Strangers. We’re very gender non conforming.
I did a self guided tour of the Art Nouveau architecture in Riga and loved all the restored detail. I hope you managed to catch some of that too!
The Nietzsche biography is very good. He had an unusual personality and developed neurosyphyllis which caused his final collapse - his final work was probably written at a time when his mind was unravelling under its influence. Wagner was quite the narcissist and pretty emotionally unstable. Interesting articles not so keen on your use of the word "nutter" though! I have Sue Prideaux's Munch biography sitting on my shelf waiting to be read too.
Many years ago I visited Plotenzee Prison. Beyond knowing its history I felt absolutely nothing. However when I visited Tilbury Fort with a friend both of us had a really uncomfortable feeling of being watched.
I’m also a bit of a Mitford nerd, despite them being virtually unknown in Poland - I only discovered them once I began to read in English. Nancy Mitford’s novels have only been translated into Polish nearly a century after they were first published. Pursuit of Love and Love in Cold Climate are among my favourite novels, while Jessica’s Hons and Rebels one of my favourite memoirs, something I have in common with JK Rowling, who named her eldest daughter Jessica.
I was in Riga about the same time as you, did you make it down to the coast? Grey and cold but all rather fun.
Too ill! I’m sure it’s lovely in summer.