The Bluestocking 414: Zoophagy and the creative cliff

the worst thing was a mole, that was utterly horrible

Happy Friday!

I haven’t read much of the internet this week, because I have been frolicking with sealions. The Galapagos islands were incredible; my only complaint—as with Cornwall—is that they are a bit far from London. I’m now writing up the experience, but please have a taste of the wildlife and landscapes in the meantime:

The author with various animals

Relatedly, I just published my What I Read In April and it’s, er, pretty Darwin-heavy. My favourite discovery was that Darwin’s contemporary, the clergyman-scientist William Buckland, declared a very Victorian desire to eat one of every animal. “One of his passions was zoophagy,” writes Darwin’s biograper AN Wilson. “He ‘used to say that he had eaten his way straight through the whole animal creation, and that the worst thing was a mole, that was utterly horrible’. He had eaten bluebottle flies, panthers, crocodiles and mice. At Nuneham, when presented with the heart of Louis XIV in a silver casket he exclaimed, ‘I have eaten many strange things, but have never eaten the heart of a king before’ – and down Buckland’s gullet it went.”¹

Until next week,

Helen

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me when my neighbours have an argument

Theatre recommendations: I just had one of my periodic binges of buying theatre tickets. Here are my tips for the next year:

• Michael Sheen and Callum Scott Howells (the nice one from It’s A Sin) in Amadeus, first in Wales and then transferring to London next summer.

• Ben Whishaw in Eurotrash (the novel adaptation, sadly not a dramatisation of Antoine de Caunes and that German guy who thought he was a penguin) at the Young Vic.

• All-female Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet, at the Old Vic.

• Luke Thompson, Keira Knightley and Stephen Dillane in Robert Icke’s adaptation of The Lives of Others in the West End.

• Mass at the Donmar Warehouse, about a mass shooting in a school.

• Pride at the National Theatre, an adaptation of the film by Stephen Beresford.

• Do I like Jonathan Groff enough to schlep to Stratford-Upon-Avon in the autumn? Maaaaaybe. He’s doing As You Like It. The play also has Fisayo Akinade—who I think is a great and under-rated actor—as Celia.

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Quick Links

1. “Grace was deeply perturbed by the key ring, which she felt was intended to send a message that whoever had attached it had access to her keys, her bag, her workplace, her home. They knew where she had been, where her family had been and what was happening in her life. If she was being surveilled, she had no idea if it had any connection to the case or not. Nonetheless she entered a phase of being hypervigilant and stopped walking anywhere alone. The police did not investigate the apparent attempted break-in at Grace’s home or the appearance of the key ring.” Grim look at the reality of being a sexual assault complainant, from Madison Marriage (FT, £)

2. “You will be hard-pressed to find any part of day-to-day modern life that has changed more in the last half-century than the way today’s parents—and fathers, in particular—spend their time.” Why are dads spending so much more time with their children? Maybe they enjoy it, suggests Aziz Sunderji (Substack).

3. “We all often fixate on our first idea, even though it isn’t usually our best. (The “creative cliff illusion” is named for the idea that we think our best creative ideas come first, and we’re usually wrong.)” David Epstein follows the Pixar “three pitches” rule when writing: try three different intros. I’m going to give this a go! (Substack).

See you next time! I’m talking about genius on Sunday at Guernsey literary festival and on June 23 to Rachel Parris at Backstory in Balham. Tickets for my appearance at Swindon Literary Festival on May 6 are available here.

Plus: May 20th, a PPF screening of Goodnight and Good Luck with David Runciman; May 27, Page 94 Live at Hay; May 28th, chairing an Atlantic discussion at Hay.

1. The heart story is apocryphal, so take it with a pinch of salt. As indeed Buckland should have done.