Extract from original blog posting:
Possible snow is forecast for tonight. Deep joy. Yet it feels very
mild out right now and room temps are up to a high of 15 degrees pre
heating. With heating they struggle to make an extra degree, but we
have to ration the heating oil and have very little very dry wood - it
is still trying to dry out from last summer . . .
I
spent several very happy hours reading and note-taking on Edward
Thomas's walks and exploits. Since my husband was busy watching rugby
all Saturday afternoon, this was a pleasure even more gratefully taken.
Someone had written that he walked "on the edge of consciousness". In
my work on him, I would say that it was closer to the edge of sanity . .
. The McFarlane book "The Old Roads" is a joy. I loved
McFarlane's take on Thomas's emotional constipation and how Helen's
selfless incorruptable love brought out the worst in him - seemingly
tempting him to greater and greater emotional browbeating of her in an
attempt to break her love - since the more she loved him, the deeper the
guilt he felt. Having personally seen this in action, I know it for
its total negativity.
Dear Bovey Belle
ReplyDeleteNo criticism, but just to mention - 'In Pursuit' wasn't his last prose book - after it came 'Marlborough', 'Four and twenty Blackbirds' and 'A Literary Pilgrim in England'. And you know they weren't really living on a pittance - he earned about the equivalent of a Professor's salry - but only by working impossibly hard.