|k| clippings: 2015-09-29 — a long way from the home that never was

Somehow I missed the celebration, but it’s not too late to enjoy Little-Known Punctuation Marks for National Punctuation Day!

WORK

“I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth.”

—Emily Brontë
—from Wuthering Heights

An OuLiPian version, substituting each noun from the seventh noun following it in the Random House Unabridged Dictionary:

“I lingered round them, under that benign skyflower; watched the Mother Gooses fluttering among the heathenesse and haircots; listened to the soft windcheater breathing though the grasshopper; and wondered how anyone could imagine unquiet slurs, for the sleaaping chairs in that quiet earthiness.”

Another version, substituting nouns, verbs and adjectives from Harrap’s Shorter English-French Dictionary:

“I lived round them, under that bestial slacker, wove the motorcades following among them the hecatomb and harlots, lobbed to the sorrowful windrow brimming through the grave; and wrangled how anyone could immolate unreceipted slynesses, for the slickers in that quotable easement.”

—OuLiPian versions from Word Recreations: Games and Diversions from “Word Ways”
—A. Ross Eckler (Ed)

WORD(S)

hiraeth /HEER-IYəTH/. noun. A Welsh word often portrayed as one of the mythical “untranslatables” that invokes a deep, nostalgic homesickness—sadness and longing—for a time, place and feeling in the past one cannot return to…or that never was. See also: sehnsucht and saudade.

“Well, with my pay in my pocket, and 500 pounds at my back, I thought I would enjoy myself as much as I could, and smother the hiraeth that was so strong upon me, the longing to go home to see Morva…” (Allen Raine)

“It’s pronounced ‘here-eyeth’ (roll the ‘r’) and it’s a Welsh word. It has no exact cognate in English. The best we can do is ‘homesickness,’ but that’s like the difference between hardwood and laminate. Homesickness is hiraeth-lite.” (Pamela Petro)

“…in other parts of the world those of us self-diagnosed with ‘Hiraeth’ oscillate between belonging to the home we’ve created in our heads…” (Lara Atallah)

WEB

1. Another in a long line of efforts that is, at best misguided, at worst…well… → A Facelift for Shakespeare

2. Where Do Languages Go to Die?

3. "Here you can see the pages from the original manuscript ‘Alice’s Adventures under Ground’ … The drawings are of his own hand.

4. First Line, Last Line, a blog of the first and last lines of many books.

5. Today in 1930, British crime novelist Colin Dexter—creator of the iconic Inspector Morse—is born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England. Forced to resign from teaching due to progressive hearing issues, Dexter, a Cambridge graduate, worked as an administrator at Oxford for more than 20 years. During this time he started publishing his famous Inspector Morse novels, including Last Bus to Woodstock, the first novel in the series (and the first piece of fiction Dexter ever wrote). He would go on to write 13 novels from which a 33-episode BBC series was produced (not to mention an ongoing prequel series and spinoff). You might enjoy this interview with Dexter and seeing a few handwritten pages from the first Morse novel.

WATCH/WITNESS

“I spent 6 months and $1500 to completely make a sandwich from scratch. Including growing my own vegetables, making my own salt from ocean water, milking a cow to make cheese, grinding my own flour from wheat, collecting my own honey, and killing a chicken myself.”

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader B. writes: “That’s one doom-laden quote from F Stop Fitzgerald. A too-nice summary of writer’s block. ¶ Re: audio theater, I know it’s bad form to damn something before taking it in. And I will listen to the hour-long podcast as soon as I can. But podcasting is one decade old. People have been doing tons of creative digital audio work before NPR listeners caught on.” — ‘F Stop Fitzgerald’ … heh.

• Reader C. sends some love: “concīs is fantastic! The simple layout fits the premise and the editorial vision and selection is a step or three above the pack.”

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