Highgate Cemetery- The Rossetti Family

Following on from my previous post, one of the sites I was keen to see on my visit to Highgate Cemetery was the burial site of the Rossetti family.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti- Lady Lilith 

Both my mum and me are  fans of the paintings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, we went to see the exhibition of the pre-Raphaelite brothers at the Tate. Lady Lilith is a particular favourite of mine, the colours and textures are so lush. Plus, I have complete hair envy.

My main interest however is in the Rossetti women. Dante's sister, Christina was a talented poet. Her poem Goblin Market can be read here. It is a sapphic and delightfully creepy fairytale.

Dante's mistreated wife, Elizabeth 'Lizzie' Siddal, is also of interest to me. She was often overlooked, best known as a muse for the PRB, she a talented poet and painter in her own right. Her death and Dante's subsequent actions are one of the more tragic and infamous tales of Highgate Cemetery.

Highgate Cemetery- west

An oasis of tranquillity and a monument to Victorian architecture and eccentricity, Highgate Cemetery is definitely worth a visit.

It is a slightly unusual tourist destination, but it doesn't feel ghoulish or mawkish. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and the visitors were all respectful. Some of the grave sites are stunning, the symbolism was interesting and the grave markers are not only an expression of grief, but a display of status and wealth.

Egyptian avenue- Highgate Cemetery 

The Egyptian avenue was a highly sought after final resting place. The Victorians had a special affinity with the ancient Egyptians, as both cultures had elaborate funeral rites and a fascination with death and the afterlife.

 I did find the idea of above ground graves slightly disconcerting, here and in the catacombs. The avenue looks like a street of houses, with wooden doors opened with a key. Whole families are buried inside, their coffins resting on shelves. The catacombs also feel uncanny, they looked to me like a weird bookshelf of coffins lining the walls.    

More pictures after the jump:-

Kevin Powers- The Yellow Birds

My sister came over last weekend and gave me my birthday pressie, which included The Yellow Birds,. To begin with I wasn't sure it was going to be my thing, I thought it was some macho war story, but my sis delivered- this is a sensitive and moving account of soldier's psyche.

The plot:  Private Bartle, 21 years old and a veteran of the occupation of Iraq is haunted by his experiences and a promise he made to his comrade's mother. Written by a former U.S solider, the novel attempts to answer the question 'what was it like over there?'

 

When the mortars fell

"When the mortars fell, the leaves and fruit and birds were frayed like ends of rope. They lay on the ground in scattered piles, torn feathers and leaves and the rinds of broken fruit intermingling.'

-Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds 

Waterlow Park

If you're looking for a good spot to read and enjoy the hot weather in London, a good option is Waterlow Park .

 It has plenty of green space, with meadows, nature reserves, a sensory garden and ponds. If you're feeling active there is an outdoor tennis court and if you're hungry, or fancy an ice cream there is a cafe within the Park.

Plus as an added bonus it is conveniently located near to Highgate Cemetery.  

library haul

A new library has opened up round the corner from where I live, so I went to check it out this morning. If you've read this post you'll know I'm pretty passionate/opinionated about libraries, so I'm really pleased that my local council has opened a new one within walking distance.

 The library is fairly small, but as you can see from the pictures I managed to pick up quite a stack. The books are all new as well, which is awesome, there's nothing worse than turning a page of a borrowed book and getting an unpleasant waft or discovering a bogey smeared into the pages.

I may have been a little bit greedy, as the books are only on loan for 2 weeks, but I'm currently kindle-less as I lent it to my mum (such a good daughter).

 Have a look after the jump for a further look at my choices, and for photos of pretty covers on the world's wrinkliest bedsheets:-

I turned and saw Murph kneeling next to the body

'I could have gone to Murph, but I did not. I didn't want to. I didn't want to be responsible for him. I had enough to worry about. I was disintegrating, too. How was I supposed to keep us both intact?'

- Kevin Powers, The Yellow Birds  

The Chaos- G. Nolst Trenite

Below is a poem, by G Nolst Trenite all about English pronunciation. I have complete sympathy with people who have English as a second language or are trying to learn it. The poem is really interesting, it clearly shows how completed and unruly English is  

Try to read it out loud:-

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer

Just compare heart, beard, and heard, 
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.

Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Zeus now addressed the immortals:

"What a lamentable thing it is that men should blame the gods and regard us as the source of their troubles, when it is their own transgressions which bring them suffering that was not their destiny" 

- Homer, translated by E.V. Rieu,  The Odyssey

Robert Galbraith

Robert Galbraith author of The Cuckoo's Calling has recently been unmasked as the pseudonym of legendary Harry Potter writer J.K Rowling. The full story can be read here.

  

 I personally think it's a massive shame for J.K that she has been outed. She has already released one adult novel post-Harry Potter, The Casual Vacancy under her own name, and I do think the criticism and attention the book was received was influenced both positively and negatively by her fame. So I completely understand why she would to anonymously release The Cuckoo's Calling, so she could get a genuine critique writing in new genre. I won't be surprised if she sues the solicitors who leaked the story to the papers.

 It's not as if she needs the money, I think she genuinely writes as she enjoys it and I doubt she was concerned at the initially low sales of The Cuckoo's Calling. Of course now that is known that she wrote it, the book is number one of the best selling lists and signed first editions are selling for £3000. 

I think it's a shame that she used a male name as a pseudonym. Women authors are still under represented on best-selling lists  and are reviewed substantially less than their male counterparts. Also crime is a genre dominated by male authors and perceived to have a predominately male readership. J.K is a respected female author, and I think she has missed an opportunity here to promote other women authors, after all when she first wrote Harry Potter, people assumed she was a man because of her gender neutral initials.   

  

I am interested in reading The Cuckoo's Calling and admittedly probably wouldn't be so intrigued if the author wasn't J.K.              

What do you think? Will you be reading The Cuckoo's Calling? Why do you think J.K Rowling used a pseudonym?