Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Monday Papers

Portrait of the author as a young dog

I almost forgot to write this today as I had other things to do - but actually publishing this on Tuesday appears to be something of a Joy & Forgetfulness tradition.


Podcasts from the National Archives

The web is full of hidden riches and there are plenty of good things out there. I was directed to this by chum and all round good egg UberAlex.  The National Archives in the UK have a large number of podcasts available for download on a wide variety of subjects. You can find them here.

Of particular interest to readers of Joy & Forgetfulness are;

Anthony Beevor on Stalingrad
Ben McIntyre on Spying during the Second World War 
Ralph Thompson on The Post-Restoration Army 


Pen & Paper

I love paper and pens. My father is a calligrapher and while my penmanship will never be as good as his; I respect the craft. Professionally, the ability to make clear, readable notes has been invaluable - but I think perhaps one of the many gifts my father gave me was a appreciation of the care and attention required for the correct forming of letters.   I am in my way, a very 21st century man, I use 21st century tools and live a life that is only made possible for information technology that has cropped up in the last twenty years. That said, I compose most of my prose long hand, I keep a prayer notebook* and I write and receive letters.

Composing with a pen and paper enforces a certain discipline that doesn't come from typing on a keyboard. Much like life, you can't erase your mistakes and that brings with the necessity to stop, to think and to compose. This chap seems to agree with me. 

Try writing a letter or two. You might surprise yourself.


A Terrible Old Man

The Unlikely Douglas McKenzie in addition to being a man much given to puns, has a gift for the spoken world. He is a rather good reader and has been taking part in a project to read or create dramatic recordings of the public domain works of H.P. Lovecraft.

You can hear his recording of "Dagon" here.





















*If you can achieve the syllabic balance desirable in an Anglican collect in your head, I will show you a cleverer man than I.

8 comments:

  1. I like pens. I like writing. I dabbled with calligraphy some years ago and it made my writing far more legible. Unfortunately the content was more akin to Corporal Trim than William Shakespeare.

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    1. It appears to be the common run - my father tried to teach me copperplate many moons ago. It was not a success.

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  2. It's a shame - I find that I write so infrequently these days that I get cramp in my hand from clutching the pen so hard.....

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  3. PS. Having seen my handwriting (and I was called back to read aloud my final exam paper at Uni it was so illegible) my 'not writing very much' may be an unforeseen benefit of the technological age....

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    1. Perhaps - I've also found that people are often deeply suspicious of the notebook as a means of record.

      A lot less vulnerable to computer crashes too.

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  4. Real actual writing, there I novel. But he'll yes why not

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  5. A jolly good post, young Kinch. I am enjoying these digests of yours. The Mrs and I listened to Dagon last night and found it terrifically creepy. Looking forward to the history podcasts - great find, thanks. As for handwriting, I find I write less and less each year by hand. When I go back to grad school this fall it will be interesting to see if I can still take notes w pen and paper.

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