Wicked Uncles and Haunted Cellars

It is many years since I first read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and I still remember rolling about with laughter at the sketch of the gothic heroine’s adventures as painted by hero Henry Tilney. Curiously, I had not read any truly gothic narratives at that hour of my life. But as a creature of the film and television age, I recognised all of the motifs that storytellers and movie directors use to hook an audience, the uncertain young woman arriving at the unfamiliar house (or mansion or castle) – to work, to live, whatever – who happens upon an unspeakable secret and ends up fighting, possibly for her life and/or those of others. The genre had been initiated by Horace Walpole, who penned his seminal novel, The Castle of Otranto . This ignited an insatiable readership for tales of innocent maidens in peril, of mysterious documents begging to be deciphered, frantic journeys across unfamiliar terrain, coffins in the crypts and bats in the belfries of rambling, ruined castles. In the late 1700s, writers such as Ann Radcliffe and Clara Reeve seized upon the seed sown by Walpole and produced novels that were eagerly bought by a newly-literate female readership. Why did Walpole write his novel and what were the reasons for the proliferation of its successors? And why did Jane Austen pour such vitriol upon it? It is in an attempt to answer these and other questions that I wrote my book, Wicked Uncles and Haunted Cellars: What the Gothic Heroine Tells Us Today . It has just been published by Greenwich Exchange https://greenex.co.uk/home/p/wicked-uncles-and-haunted-cellars Over the coming months, I take an alternative look at gothic motifs, black cats, skeletons, etc. – or you can just read the book. In the meantime, check out this picture of the ghost of Horace as he works.

Shine on, Harvest Moon

What is it about the harvest moon? What is it about the cosmic body that rolls perpetually about the earth, reflecting the light of the sun and causing the tides to swell and recede? Whatever it is, it always seems more potent at this time of year. It is partly geological, of course. It seems that at or near the eqinoxes, the moon appears larger in the sky because day and night are supposedly of equal length. No, I don’t understand why either. But I recognise a glorious beacon of light when I see one. But why has the spring moon, the one of six months’ earlier, not risen to the occasion and inspired not one but two great songs titled Springtime Moon, as in Harvest Moon?
The delectable later Harvest Moon, released by Neil Young in 1998 is still routinely played at weddings. The lyrics of the earlier version, redolent of ragtime bands and crooning vocalists “snow time is no time to go outside and spoon” seem rather odd today. But the song is ever evocative of lazy, sleepy late summer and early autumn. Before the advent of artificial lighting, the harvest moon may indeed have seemed magical, enabling workers to toil late into the evening, taking home those final stooks of grain before the autumnal rains set in. What with granaries groaning and barns bursting with food for the forthcoming winter, it was time to feast and dance, to hang out and make love, to reflect the heat and warmth absorbed in the days of the now-dying summer. From that point of view, the spring moon, though it is the same beacon that shines, does not have the same potency. Whenever, I’ll be out to greet the harvest moon when she arrives. So, shine on, harvest moon, oh shine on...

Fishing for Sturgeon Moon

Soon, with the summer fading swiftly away, the sturgeon moon will rise in the sky. Already, the brilliant greens in evidence at the height of the season are giving way to tans and golds and yellows, while proto blackberries are on the bramble bushes – ah, why is it that even the promise of autumn brings out the poet in a body? No wonder the fame of poor, short-lived Keats has endured so long: “And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep/ Steady thy laden head across a brook;/ Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,/ Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.” Nor have I ever seen Autumn keeping his laden head steady as he crosses a brook, or looking patiently at a cider press ooozing with juice. In fact, I’ve never even seen a cider press in use. But it all makes for wonderful imaginings, which is why the thought of sturgeon fish convening in rivers and streams to mate and lay spawn is so endearing. Yes, this is the time of year they do it, and who said romance is dead? Just think, the moolight filtering the water while all those little fishy mouths meet and fall for each other and...what happens next is probably best left to the imagination (except for graduate naturalists and David Attenborough). But I do assure you, all over the land, underwater debutante balls are taking place, and love unions are forged to ensure the next generation of sturgeon - and where would we be without such fishy goings-on?
Enjoy the rest of summer.

Hunting the Buck Moon

Ah, Buck Moon, the very name puts me in mind of a guy dressed in a baseball cap and checked shirt in the US tradition, a guy as adept at lounging in a bar as he is handy at the rifle range. Actually, buck moon is the traditional name for the July lunar body, since this is the time of year when male antlers are in full velvet and their owners are ready for mating. The twinning of the moon and deer is not as unlikely as it seems. In many Native American traditions, the buck is seen as a symbol of strength, virility, and the connection between the spirit world and the earthly realm. In Greek mythology, deer were sacred to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and wilderness, representing grace, swiftness, and independence. In Celtic religions,  the stag was a symbol for the god Cernunnos, “The Horned One”. He was often portrayed with antlers himself, and was a god of the forest and wild animals. In Norse mythology, deer were among the most divine animals. Many people believe that deer are good omens. A peaceful, happy dream of a deer could indicate that your troubles are ending soon, and good fortune is a-coming. Actual deer crossing your path is a positive omen, a sign that you should be open to new ideas and opportunities in life. Ultimately, deer represent gentleness and emotional intelligence, something for the real Buck Moon’s of this world to remember when they go out hunting.

Strawberry moon...bite it to the pips!

The moon in June is known as the strawberry moon, most obviously because it is the time of year those delicious, nutritious scarlet berries come tumbling onto market stalls and into stores. The moon doesn’t actually turn into a giant strawberry though – rather a pity, in my book. However, it may take on a reddish tint as it ascends the horizon around the summer solstice – 20, 21, 22 – June. Actual strawberries attract all kinds of romantic associations, the only dark narrative being their part in Shakespeare’s Othello, when the titular character gives the ill-fated Desdemona a handkerchief embroidered with the berries, which leads her to incrimination and death. A bad moon rising, indeed. But I suspect the true emotion behind all of those luscious, lunar song lyrics (Blue Moon, Light of the Silvery Moon, Moonlight and Roses, et al) is the anticipation of the summer to come. You know, the longer, warmer days, the scent of flowers and cut grass, the taste of ripe summer berries, the days free of school, vacations at home and abroad, the long, lazy afternoons and star-studded nights...ah! Whatever ever the berry, I’ll bite the June moon to the pips.

Art, Sweet Art

Liquorice allsorts, super-sweet, vibrant and precision-cut, have always been a favourite candy of mine, those tongue-tingling cubes, discs and cylinders the result of 20th-century advances in food colouring and flavouring, the liquorice spirals inspired by the Watson and Crick discovery of DNA in the 1950’s, perhaps? On any day of the week, I can dive into a plastic pocket of the lovely things and ENJOY. It all begs the question: how came the liquorice allsort about? Liquorice is a gummy by-product of Glycyrrhiza Glabra, a type of flowering bean plant, native to Africa, Asia and southern Europe. The flavour is the result of the addition of anise or aniseed, to the sweet gum. Legend has it that in 1899, a Bassett's sales representative tripped over and dropped a tray of sweet samples he was showing a client. In his haste to re-sort them, the client was intrigued by the idea of a mixture of sweets and the Bassett company began to produce a variety of allsorts, liquorice among them. Possibly a food historian somewhere has charted the exact route from these ignominious beginnings to the varieties of LA we know today? Redolent of the colour-palettes and brushwork of Kandinsky and Mondrian, the functional forms of Bauhaus furniture and Lloyd-Wright architecture, these were truly the candies for the new century, as far from twee, lavender-scented Victoriana as Westminster is from the moon. By the 1930’s, advertising copywriter Frank Regan had created Bertie Bassett, a smiling, child-friendly version of writer Karel Capek’s machine man, ready to woo the kids of the 1900’s with. Whatever, all these thoughts of sweets has set my mouth a-watering, so I am off the purchase today’s plastic pocket and ENJOY.

April, the true honey moon

To me, the expression “flower moon” is laden with dubious notions of youths with long hair and fringed waistcoats, a la 1960’s, whiling the night away in narcotic-induced trances. But April has longed been known as the flower moon, most likely because it is the time of year when, following the Stygian winter months, the flowers appear. Again, it is all notional; because of our ever-erratic climate, those lovely pale pink and white blossoms that define early spring have already appeared and vanished from the trees near where I dwell, ditto the daffodils in the park. A pity, but at least it is a sign of the roses and gladioli and lavender flowers to come. No wonder that in ancient Rome, the Sabine people dedicated the month of April to Flora, goddess of flowers. In her honour, “courtesans” were encouraged to participate in the Floralia, games held in her honour. As a gesture, Flora gave mankind the gift of honey. And us lunar-ticks have another reason to be jubiliant: on this very day, April 8, lucky denizens of certain areas of North America, are about to witness a total solar eclipse, brought about by a hiatus in the position of the moon....cool! To those of you who can, enjoy.