"Ted Hughes's wife, Sylvia Plath, famously killed herself. But what of his mistress, who four years later did the same?" 'Written out of history', The Guardian, 19 October 2006.

For the reading list: A Lover of Unreason: The Biography of Assia Wevill by Yehuda Koren and Eilat Negev. Published by Robson Books, price £20.00.

"But the novelties come thick and fast, beginning (so far as I was concerned) with the suggestion on page 10 that Dante and other poets he associated with in Florence as a young man might have given their visionary and dreamlike imaginings a boost with the stimulus of love-potions. These herbal stimulants, cannabis perhaps, may, it turns out later, be what Dante is referring to in the comparison, near the start of Paradiso, between his own “trans-human” experience and what Glaucus felt “on tasting of the herb” (nel gustar dell’erba) which made him into a sea-god. As Reynolds explains at greater length when she comes to the final vision of the Godhead, mystics did often use drugs of one kind or another in conjunction with fasting and meditation in their pursuit of visionary illumination. There is no reason, she argues, why Dante should not have done so too."
'Dante on drugs' by Peter Hainsworth, reviewing Dante: the poet, the political thinker, the man, Shaw (ed.), Tauris, 2006. Times Literary Supplement, 18 October 2006.

"Female crime writers should give thanks that [Agatha Christie] vanished, even if it's really no mystery at all" 'Agatha, we all owe you' by Frances Fyfield, The Guardian, 17 October 2006.

Pete Doherty's favourite poets:
''Emily Dickinson? She's hardcore'', The Guardian, 3 October 2006.

'Robert Frost Poem Discovered Tucked Away in Book' by Andrea Seabrook, NPR, 1 October 2006.

'How lust shaped the art of Rodin' by Richard Dorment, The Telegraph, 19 September 2006 - includes slideshow and podcast.

'Ted Hughes, the domestic tyrant ' by David Smith. The Observer, 10 September 2006.

'Isolated grave for "Treasure Island" author' by Iain Lundy. The Scotsman, 5 September 2006.

'Million Little Pieces may cost publishers millions in refunds' by Dan Glaister, The Guardian, 8 September 2006.

Light Magic: The life and work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (iToors.com).

'British Library acquires 'outstanding' Coleridge family archive' by Richard Lea, Guardian Unlimited, 21 August 2006.

'Coleridge's descendants sell papers that reveal family's views on a maverick poet', by Louise Jury, The Independent, 21 August 2006.

One life: Walt Whitman, a kosmos - new minisite from the Smithsonian.

'New research indicates Johnson gave up on his dictionary' by Maev Kennedy. The Guardian, 3 August 2006.

Good to know that even Johnson struggled with his deadlines.

Mina Loy links

poets.org entry.

'Mina Loy feature'. Jacket5, October 1988.

Becoming Mina Loy website.

Lunar Baedecker by Mina Loy (.doc file)

Boop Reads a Folk Tale (Cute Overload)

The Beatrix Potter Collections (V&A).

The Illustrators Project: Helen Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) (University of Pittsburgh).

Peter Rabbit and Friends

Michael Bond is eighty today. The BBC website includes a videoclip of his appearance at Paddington Station, and a magazine article and slide show, 'Elevenses with Mr Paddington.'

Sir John Soane was born today in 1753 in Goring, Oxfordshire. Most famous today for his museum in Lincoln's Inn Fields, he was Surveyor and Architect of the Bank of England for 45 years, from 1788, and Architect of the Dulwich Picture Gallery.

An article in today's Guardian discusses the ongoing tourist industry based on Jane Austen, her life and works. Includes a brief list of places to visit:
'A literary sensibility that makes solid financial sense' by Steven Morris. Guardian, Saturday 3 September 2005.

"A public library in Holland has been swamped with queries after unveiling plans to "lend out" living people, including homosexuals, drug addicts, asylum seekers, gipsies and the physically handicapped.

The volunteers will be borrowed by users of the library, in Almelo, who can take them to a cafeteria, and ask them any questions they like for up to an hour, in a scheme designed to break down barriers and combat prejudice.

Under the scheme, photographs and short biographies of the volunteers will appear in the library, and on its website. Library users who wish to take a person out can apply for an appointment. Mr Krol said he had not cleared the scheme with his municipal bosses." ('Library that lets you take out people who are left on the shelf' by David Rennie. The Daily Telegraph, 25 August 2005).

Radio 4's This Morning drew attention to a study that has applied automated textual analysis to three of Iris Murdoch's novels, including her last, and found interesting evidence of the presence and sequence of decline during her well-known development of Alzheimer's Disease.

~ This Morning interviw with the study's lead scientist and with John Baylis, Murdoch's widower (Realplayer file).

~ Article on the study in Nature.

~ Abstract of the study's report in Brain, with link to full-text for subscribers (and appropriate Athens users).