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Author Archives: admin
Authors as Statues
On April 23rd this year of lockdown, I celebrated Shakespeare’s Birthday by standing outside the Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon. Henley Street, which would usually have been filled with flags, processing dignitaries, onlookers, and living statues was almost deserted. So I … Continue reading
Belated birthday wishes for Shakespeare
As I walked past Shakespeare’s deserted Birthplace on April 23 this year, I thought back to past celebrations of Shakespeare’s birthday… Over the past … Continue reading
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Tagged Shakespeare, Shakespeare Clubs, Shakespeare's Birthday, Stratford-Upon-Avon
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Virtual landscapes
Looking into my files, I find this, written just on a year ago… May 2020. Lockdown. Luckily I am not confined to a parlour with only a dead lover and a pot plant on the windowsill for company like Keats’ … Continue reading
Literary Tourist Under Lockdown
17 May 2021 marks a further easing of lockdown restrictions. It hasn’t made that much difference to my life which looks as though it is going to continue pretty home-bound for the foreseeable. January 2020 I was hosting a very … Continue reading
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My Favourite Writer’s House
There’s currently a boom in the making of writer’s house museums across the world, and twenty-first century culture bids fair to produce more and more writer’s house museums. The internet revolution continues to … Continue reading
Exit Through the Gift Shop: Taking Things
In my last few posts I’ve talked about what it was that romantic and Victorian visitors brought with them, and left behind, when visiting writers homes and haunts. Today we shall explore the third and final part of this trilogy: … Continue reading
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Tagged Abbotsford, Alexander Pope, Alfred Tennyson, Alloway, Anne Hathaway’s cottage, Ayrshire; Dumfries, ‘To a Nightingale’, Chalfont St Giles, Charles Dickens, Coniston, Dove Cottage, Felicia Hemans, Gad’s Hill, George Eliot, Hampstead, history of reading, Horace Walpole, John Bunyan, John Keats, John Milton, John Ruskin, Kenilworth, Keswick, literary landmark, literary landscape, literary museums, literary pilgrimage, literary tourism, literary tourist, Loch Katrine, Lord Byron, love of literature, Melrose Abbey, Mrs Emma Shay, Newstead Abbey, Nicola Watson The Author's Effects, Olney, Poet’s Corner, Robert Burns, Robert Southey, Rydal Mount, Shakespeare, Shakespeare Gardens, Sir Walter Scott, Stoke Poges, Stratford-Upon-Avon, Strawberry Hill, Thomas Gray, Tintern Abbey, Twickenham, Westminster Abbey, William Cowper, William Wordsworth
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Exit through the Gift Shop: Leaving things
In my last post I discussed the Victorian practice of bringing books to read in the authors’ homes and haunts. Today, I will be turning from what visitors brought to writers’ homes, to what they left behind. These two things … Continue reading
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Tagged An Account of the Principal Pleasure Tours of England and Wales, history of reading, literary landmark, literary landscape, literary museums, literary pilgrimage, literary tourism, literary tourist, love of literature, Nicola Watson The Author's Effects, Stratford-Upon-Avon, William Shakespeare
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Exit through the Gift Shop: Bringing Things
If my endless accounts of literary stalking have inspired you to embark on your own visit to a writer’s house, there is one vital item that you’ll need to squeeze into your suitcase, if you’ve not done so already. … Continue reading
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Tagged A Handbook for Travellers in Switzerland and the Alps of Savoy and Piedmont, Edward Gibbon, Germaine de Staël, history of reading, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, literary landmark, literary landscape, literary museums, literary pilgrimage, literary tourism, literary tourist, Lord Byron, love of literature, Nicola Watson The Author's Effects, Voltaire
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Shakespeare’s New Place
Let me fast-forward two centuries from my last post, fly back across the Atlantic, and transport you to Shakespeare’s Stratford-upon-Avon. The redevelopment of New Place commemorating Shakespeare’s death in 2016 offers a test of the extent to which the idea … Continue reading
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Tagged history of reading, literary landmark, literary landscape, literary museums, literary pilgrimage, literary tourism, literary tourist, love of literature, New Place, Nicola Watson The Author's Effects, Romantic Shakespeare, Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, Sir John Soane, The Tempest, Tim O’Brien, University of Birmingham, William Shakespeare
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Irving’s Sunnyside
From a tower in Kent to a country retreat in upstate New York: today’s destination is Washington Irving’s ‘Sunnyside’, founding site of American literature.
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Tagged Abbotsford, ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow’, history of reading, literary landmark, literary landscape, literary museums, literary pilgrimage, literary tourism, literary tourist, love of literature, Nicola Watson The Author's Effects, Sir Walter Scott, Sunnyside, The Sketchbook, Washington Irving
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