Writing Britain

[Edward Flaherty]

Dear Readers,

This “Writing Britain” exhibit is about landscape.  It is an exploration of the roots of landscape culture, the roots of our landscape profession.  11May-25Sept2012 at the British Library, London.

“From William Blake to the 21st-century suburban hinterlands of J G Ballard, Writing Britain examines how the landscapes of Britain permeate great literary works. It will allow visitors to read between the lines of great works of English literature, discovering the secrets and stories surrounding the works’ creation, shedding new light on how they speak to the country today.

Over 150 literary works, including many first-time loans from overseas and directly from authors: sound recordings, videos, letters, photographs, maps, song lyrics and drawings – as well as manuscripts and printed editions.”

There is also a dedicated web site, interactive presence and blog online.

Links:

http://www.bl.uk/writingbritain

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17995119

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/may/04/writing-britain-blake-morrison

Edward Flaherty

[Trace One]

Wow! I have wanted to do a course on this  topic for years – perhaps assign students to draw  literary landscapes in plan…

thanks for posting this!!!!

[Tosh K]

This is awesome – when doing my thesis (looking at collective memory, meaning, and perception) a few of my advisers had me read Faulkner and Twain (I was looking at a city on the Mississippi).  It is very informative and enriching to read literary description (as they often permeate through the public better than any academic texts); maybe we should encourage regional literary exhibits on this side of the pond too!

[Les Ballard]

I think we have said before, in effect, what we have read and learned makes us the individuals we are and different sources will shape different people different ways.  Listening to Kate Bush go on about Cathy and Heathcliff on the Yorkshire moors. or alternatively reading the novel Wuthering Heights, may give different people a similar perspective on the moor landscape, the waving grass and bleakness, rain and bone numbing cold maybe, but how useful this would be to an LA in Brazil is indeterminate.  Similarly, watching the film Picnic with William Holden, or reading some novel like Wise Blood, may give me appreciations of the Kansas landscape or what it was like to be in the Southern USA at a certain time, but these do not alone prepare me to help with a scheme there or elsewhere – suburban Australia maybe.  It is a conglomeration of knowledge, appreciation of history and anthropology, as well as seeing a flat vista of grain silos and everything/where else that has made the total me and the more we can take in of everything, the richer the basket of goodies we can bring to the party and there is as much room for a person of a certain set of experiences as another.  With a willingness to research a project properly, it is the reason we can look up to an ancient LA in your town or a student across the world.  So yes, gobble up this resource if you wish or lust after the landscapes of Teletubbies but, whatever, keep gobbling! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlNMk4SD6gA&feature=related

[Edward Flaherty]

Teletubbies…now that is a landscape of good times!

🙂

Landscapes and gardens that make us smile?  How does that work?

🙂

[Trace One]

Ed Bye talked about that years ago – he used Mondo Grass clumps as his example of humor in the landscape…

[Author]

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