Legend & Literature in Cornwall

Cornwall, in the south-west of England, is a place which attracts tourists all the year round. It has mild weather and a spectacular coastline with beautiful bays and coves.
Not surprisingly, there are a hundred and one things for tourists to do in Cornwall. Seaside resorts like Newquay, which have wide, clean beaches, are very popular with families and also with people who like water sports, especially windsurfing and surfing. Land's End -the famous "last place" in mainland Britain- has restaurants, amusements and wonderful coastal views. People who prefer to get away from the crowds can visit one of the many fishing villages along the coast, watch the seals at Cornwall's Seal Sanctuary or go inland onto the moors where the scenery is much wilder.
History lovers will enjoy seeing the village and ruined castle of Tintagel, where they can learn about Camelot and the legend of King Arthur. Or they can visit Poldhu Cover near Mullion, where Marconi, the Italian inventor, sent the first wireless signal across the Atlantc in Canada in 1901.
Cornwall has plenty to offer those who are interested in art and literature. Many artists and writers have lived and worked there. Famous names include the sculptor Barbara Hepworth, who had her studio in St Ives, the writer Daphne du Maurier, who wrote her best selling novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn, and the poet John Betjeman. Also in St Ives there is a branch of the famous art gallery, the Tate.
Like many beautiful places in the world there is another side to Cornwall, which visitors do not always see. Cornwall is quite isolated and, apart from tourism, there is not a lot of work for local people. Mining and fishing, which were once major industries, have almost disappeared and there is a high level of unemployment. The result is that many young Cornish people move away to places where they are more likely to find jobs.
Cornwall may sound like a tourists' paradise, but local people know that life can be hard when visitors leave.

Literature & Cookies: Madeleines

A madeleine is a delicate, scallop-shaped French tea cake often served with fruit or sherbet. In its preparation, flour, eggs, and sugar are beaten with a large proportion of butter, incorporating as much air as possible; then grated lemon rind and vanilla extract, and sometimes rum, are added. After baking in the customary 12-shell tin, the pastry is served plain or dusted with confectioner’s sugar.
The origins of the madeleine are disputed, but it was brought to its acme, and thence to broad fame, in the 18th century by the pastry chefs of Commercy and Liverdun, two communes of the Lorraine region in northeastern France.

The French author Marcel Proust immortalized the madeleine in his cycle novel Remembrance of Things Past, in which a taste of the cake is said to have evoked the surge of memory and nostalgia. Madeleines are perhaps most famous outside France for their association with involuntary memory in the Marcel Proust novel À la recherche du temps perdu (Remembrance of Things Past in the first translation, more recently translated as In Search of Lost Time), in which the narrator experiences an awakening upon tasting a madeleine dipped in tea:

She sent out for one of those short, plump little cakes called petites madeleines, which look as though they had been moulded in the fluted scallop of a pilgrim's shell. And soon, mechanically, weary after a dull day with the prospect of a depressing morrow, I raised to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had soaked a morsel of the cake. No sooner had the warm liquid, and the crumbs with it, touched my palate than a shudder ran through my whole body, and I stopped, intent upon the extraordinary changes that were taking place…at once the vicissitudes of life had become indifferent to me, its disasters innocuous, its brevity illusory…

— Remembrance of Things Past, Volume 1: Swann's Way

Did you know?

Some sources say madeleines may have been named for a 19th century pastry cook, Madeleine Paulmier, but other sources have it that Madeleine Paulmier was a cook in the 18th century for Stanisław Leszczyński, whose son-in-law, Louis XV of France, named them for her.

The Poet Behind the Musical

Cats is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who wrote the music. Most of the words come from Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, which is a book of poems by T.S. Eliot. In this musical, the cats act like people and have different personalities. Many things happen in this musical, but one of the important things is that a cat is chosen to go to the "Heaviside Layer", which is like a heaven for cats.
Cats was first shown in London in 1981, with Elaine Paige first playing the role of Grizabella who sings "Memory", a memorable song in the show. It was shown on Broadway starting in 1982. The musical has since been made into many languages, and it has been shown around the world.

Literature: The Bloomsbury Group

Portrait of Virginia Woolf painted by the writer's sister, the celebrated artist Vanessa Bell.

The Bloomsbury group was the name given to a literary group that made the Bloomsbury area of London the centre of its activities from 1904 to World War II. It included Virginia Woolf , Leonard Woolf (Virginia’s husband), E. M. Forster , Vita Sackville-West (Virginia’s friend and lover), Roger Fry , Vanessa Bell (Virginia’s sister), Clive Bell (Virginia’s brother-in-law) , Adrian Stephen (Virginia as Vanessa’s brother) John Maynard Keynes, and Lytton Strachey, to name only a few. The “Bloomsberries”, as the members of the group were called, often met to talk about their own writing, other people’s writing, painting, love, politics… They also helped each other with their work.
Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) was a British writer who was an important member of the Bloosmbury Group and is admired by feminists. Her novels, such as To the Lighthouse and The Waves, use the style called Stream of Consciousness, and she is regarded as one of the most important English writers of the 20th century.

(Giles) Lytton Strachey (1880-1932), by Dora Carrington, 1916.

Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) was a British writer who was a member of the Bloosmbury Group and is known especially for his book Eminent Victorians, which describes the lives of four famous 19th century country people in a humorous and not very respectful way.
It must be acknowledged that the Bloomsbury Group has often been more admired for non-literary reasons; indeed, the Bloomsberries shared the desire to challenge the strict Victorian social norms, and demonstrated a sexual freedom that was ahead of their time. Some members had bisexual tendencies, such as Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, who were lovers.
The Bloomsbury Group was rather elitist and exclusive. It has been highly criticized for its snobbishness and selfishness. The group was also reproached with its pacifism during the First World War.
Despite the numerous critics that were aimed at it, the Bloomsbury Group has had a wide-ranging influence, both in art and in society, even though that influence remains highly controversial. The Bloomsberries did play a significant part in the advent of a new modern world.

Names from Books: Pollyanna

Pollyanna is the main character in the Book Pollyanna (1913) by Eleanor Porter, who is a young girl who always believes something good will happen. People sometimes use her name to describe someone who is always cheerful and always expects good things to happen, especially when they have not had much experience of the world.

Literary Subgenres: Bodice Rippers

A bodice ripper is a sexually explicit romantic novel; usually in a historical setting and always with a plot involving the seduction of the heroine. This popular modern variety of romantic are peopled by pirates, highwaymen, wenches etc. A classic example is Kathleen Winsor's best selling romance, Forever Amber (1944).
Origin
These books owe much in style to the work of English romantic novelists like Jane Austen and Emily Bronte. Nevertheless, the term itself is American. Its first reference in print is from The New York Times, in December 1980.
It soon caught on and appears numerous times in the US press from that date onward. The genre is commercially highly successful, but isn't taken seriously by most literary critics. Most examples are judged by more base criteria than the classic works of Austen or the Brontes. Bodice Rippers are strictly formulaic and the plot usually involves a vulnerable heroine faced with a richer and more powerful male character, whom she initially dislikes. Later, she succumbs to lust and falls into his arms. The plot device usually includes seduction scenes happening at frequent intervals. Depending on the author or publishing house style, the principal characters must marry. It is virtually obligatory for the cover picture to show the swooning, ample-bosomed heroine.

Agatha Christie's Murders by Poisoning

Murder by poisoning was the theme of more than half of Agatha Christie's novels, plays and short stories. She once said "Give me a decent bottle of poison and I’ll construct the perfect crime". Arsenic was her favourite poison. It is a semi-metallic element (or metalloid) with the atomic number 33 in the periodic table. Arsenic used to be easily obtained from fly papers and rat poison, thus it was a very popular choice for poisoners in the past. It is said to have been the favourite poison of the Borgias as well.

Agatha Christie learned a lot about poisons from her work as a dispenser in a hospital pharmacy during the First World War so naturally the plot of her first book involved murder by poison. The poison she employed in "The Mysterious Affair at Styles" was strychinine.
"The Mysterious Affair at Styles" was published in 1920. In her autobiography, Agatha Christie wrote "since I was surrounded by poisons, perhaps it was natural that death by poisoning should be the method I selected". Her first victim, Emily Inglethorpe, died a very painful death – "The convulsions were of a peculiar violence, Dr Wilkins...they were quite tetanic in character". Strychnine is a poisonous alkaloid obtained from the seeds of the nux vomica tree. The symptoms include agonising convulsions and death is usually due to asphyxiation resulting from continuous spasms of the respiratory muscles.

In "A Pocketful of Rye", Rex Fortescue died of taxine poisoning which was administered to him at breakfast in his marmalade. Taxine is a poisonous alkaloid found in the foliage and berries of the yew tree, which grows in England.
Rex Fortescue lived at Yewtree Lodge, a house with "large numbers of clipped yew hedges", the source of the poison. "… she didn’t mean to murder anybody, but she put the taxine in the marmalade. She didn’t think it was poison, of course" (Miss Marple).

Rex Fortescue wasn’t the only victim in "A Pocketful of Rye". His second wife, Adele, was also poisoned, not by taxine, but by another poison which can also be obtained from plants. The murderer slipped which cyanide into her tea.
"Mrs Fortescue was still sitting on the sofa, dead. Beside her was a tea cup a quarter full and in the dregs of it was potassium cyanide." Cyanide can be obtained from the seeds of certain stone fruits such as apricots and wild cherries and the seeds of fruits of some members of the apple family.

Ella Zielinsky, actress Marina Gregg's social secretary, in "The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side", died by inhalation of prussic acid.
Prussic acid is also known as hydrocyanic acid (a derivative of cyanide). Ella Zielinsky suffered from allergies and used a nasal spray for relief. "She inserted the nozzle into one nostril and squeezed. The warning came a second too late … her brain recognised the unfamiliar odour of bitter almonds … but not in time to paralyse the squeezing fingers …"

In "The Pale Horse", a very unusual form of poisoning (thallium) was employed. The symptoms of this type of metallic poisoning include nervous and gastrointestinal disorders and rapid loss of hair.
According to Dew’s Agatha Christie Mystery website, readers of "The Pale Horse" have subsequently recognised the symptoms of thallium poisoning, resulting in the saving of at least two lives. In one case, a nurse recognised the symptoms in time to save the life of an infant. In another case, a man was prevented from trying to kill his wife. This website also cites the case of a detective who realised thallium was the cause of the mysterious deaths of six other men. He subsequently identified the murderer, who later confessed to the crimes.

Another unusual form of poisoning was used in "Death in the Air" (also known as "Death in the Clouds"). While on a short flight, Madame Giselle, a French moneylender, is murdered by a poisoned thorn. Madame Giselle (also known as Marie Angelique Morisot) was poisoned by a thorn dipped in the venom of the South African boomslang snake. The venom of the boomslang is more potent than that of the cobra and causes death by haemorrhage. "The woman’s head lolled over sideways. There was a minute puncture mark on the side of her throat".

It is possible that many readers cheered when the nasty, sadistic Mrs Boynton was poisoned in "Appointment with Death". She was poisoned with an overdose of the heart medication known as digitoxin.
Digitalis is a substance obtained from the dried leaves of the common foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and used as a drug that strengthens contractions of the heart muscle for patients suffering congestive heart failure. Digitoxin and digitalin are among the most commonly prescribed forms of digitalis. It must be prescribed and monitored with great care because there is not much leeway between the effective dose and a lethal dose. "And Mrs Boynton already suffered from heart trouble?" "Yes, as a matter of fact, she was actually taking a medicine containing digitalin." … "D'you mean … that her death might have been attributed to an overdose of her own medicine?"

In "Three Act Tragedy" (also known as "Murder in Three Acts"), Reverend Stephen Babbington, Sir Bartholomew Strange and Margaret De Rushbridger are all dispatched by a poisonous alkaloid derived from the leaf of a plant. The poison employed was nicotine.
Nicotine is found throughout the tobacco plant, particularly in the leaves. Depending upon the amount consumed, nicotine can cause nausea and vomiting, headache, stomach pains, convulsions, paralysis and death. "My goodness … I’ve only just realized it. That rascal, with his poisoned cocktail! Anyone might have drunk it. It might have been me". "There is an even more terrible possibility that you have not considered", said Poirot … "it might have been ME".

Coco Courtenay’s death was caused by a fatal dose of the addictive cocaine in "The Affair at the Victory Ball".
Cocaine is a white, crystalline alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant (Erythroxylum coca). When taken in small amounts, cocaine produces feelings of well-being and euphoria, along with a decreased appetite and increased mental alertness. When taken in larger amounts, and with repeated use, it can produce anxiety, depression, irritability, insomnia, chronic fatigue, mental confusion, paranoia, and convulsions that can cause death. "Her maid … admitted that Miss Courtenay was a confirmed taker of the drug and a verdict of accidental death was returned". Of course it wasn’t - but the murderer was not as clever as Poirot!

Beatrix Potter and her Magical World

Helen Beatrix Potter (28 July 1866 – 22 December 1943) was an English writer and illustrator. She is famous for writing children's books with animal characters such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit.
Potter's family was quite rich. She was educated by governesses. She did not have many friends, but she had many pets, including Benjamin and Peter, two rabbits. She spent her holidays in Scotland and the Lake District. There, she began to learn to love nature, plants, and animals, which she carefully painted.
When she was around 30, Potter published The Tale of Peter Rabbit. It was very popular. She also became engaged to her publisher Norman Warne. Her parents became angry and separated with her because of this. They did not like her to marry someone who was socially lower than her. However, Warne died before he and Potter could marry.
Potter began writing and illustrating children's books full time. She did not have to ask her parents for money anymore because she had money from her books. In time, she bought Hill Top Farm and more land. In her forties, she married William Heelis, a local solicitor. She also began raising sheep and became a farmer, though she continued writing. She published 23 books.
Potter died on 22 December 1943. Almost all of her money was left to the National Trust. Her books continue to sell well around the world, in many different languages. Her stories have been retold in various formats including a ballet, films, and in animation. In 1936, Walt Disney wanted to make a film about Peter Rabbit, but Potter refused. In 2006, Miss Potter, a biographical film starring Renée Zellweger was released.

Did you know?

The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction is situated in the centre of Bowness-on-Windermere, in the heart of the English Lake District A visit to the World of Beatrix Potter Attraction takes you on a journey through the life and work of Beatrix Potter. The Attraction is in six parts and it takes around 45 minutes to one hour to explore them all. Here is the link:
The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction

A Complex Character: Lady Macbeth

When Lady Macbeth uttered the famous phrase in literature "Out, damn'd spot", she wasn't talking about a coffee stain but about blood. One motif of Macbeth is how tough it is to wash, scrub, or soak out nasty bloodstains. Macbeth had said that even the ocean couldn't wash his hands clean of Duncan's blood; Lady Macbeth, who scorned him then, now finds the blood dyed into her conscience.
Lady Macbeth is one of the most striking female figures in literature. She has been simultaneously viewed as an anti-mother character and as a witch. This link explains the complexity of her nature.

Cool link from Wikipedia:
Lady Macbeth

Roses and their Symbolic Meaning in Literature

In literature, roses often symbolize love and beauty; therefore, they represent ladies, also. Roses are a frequently used flower symbol. From a Christian perspective, a rose is a symbol of heaven and harmony in the world. Furthermore, the rose is considered the flower of the Virgin Mary.

The colour of the rose is often significant.

red for romantic love
white for purity, charm, silence, "You are heavenly", reverence, humility, youthfulness, innocence
pink for youth, early love
yellow for friendship
black for death, twisted relationships (Black Rose)
blue for fantasy, something unattainable

Like other plants, a rose, especially one that is still alive, can also carry overtones of growth, renewal. Roses have thorns which represent the pain or hurt hidden in the beauty, as in "love hurts". Rose bushes can also provide a barrier

The Rose is an important symbol in English literature, especially in romantic love literature. Christianity introduced the rose symbol. But later it assumed secular connotations. In the Elizabethan age, poets in their innumerable lyrics and sonnets used the rose symbol from multiple points of view.
Like the sun, the 'Rose' is an important symbol in literature. Long ago Robert Burns sang : 'My luve's like a red, red rose'. Since then the rose is an integral part of romantic love literature. Chirstina Rossetti wrote about the wonderful rose in the ever poetic style of her own : O Rose , thou flower of flowers, thou fragrant wonder'. The Rose was deep in Yeats' heart. Who can ever forget O.Henry's 'The Rose of Dixie'?

Cool Link: The Bennet Sisters

All about the five Bennet sisters that the book Pride and Prejudice immortalized:
Pride & Prejudice - The Bennet Sisters

Book Reviews: The Vampire's Rose

Title of the Book:
An Unseen Society: The Vampire's Rose

Author:
Jason Curley

Paperback: 316 pages

Publisher: AuthorHouse (October 24, 2005)

Language: English


About the Book

The Vampire's Rose is the first book in a series that depict the lives and problems for a unique group of people, Vampires. These men and women live in the shadows of society, forced to keep what they really are a secret from the rest of mankind. Like every other group of people in the world, some Vampires are good while others are evil. The story revolves around Katherine, a kind hearted vampire who makes her living as a master thief. The recent loss of her husband has left her without a partner. Yet Jason, a vampire she sometimes works for, has a plan. It is a dangerous heist to steal a priceless work of art from a ruthless vampire. The job will pay well if she can do it. Maybe well enough to retire, but there is a problem. Jason's plan rests on the shoulders of a mere mortal. He is a simple construction worker named Dustin, which knows nothing about being a criminal, art or Vampires.

About the Author

Jason Curley first started to entertain his friends and family with his stories back when he was 14 years old. All through out his life he has brought smiles to those around him with his delightful or devious characters. Now after 17 years of refining his craft Jason has written his first novel, The Vampire's Rose.

Language, Literature & Daggers

A dagger is a short pointed knife used as a weapon, especially formerly.
He sheathed his dagger again.
Two English expressions link daggers with literature:

* Cloak and dagger

Cloak and dagger is a term sometimes used to refer to situations involving intrigue, secrecy, espionage, or mystery.
The phrase has two possible origins. One dates from the early 19th century and is a translation from the French de cape et d'épée and Spanish de capa y espada (literally "of cloak and sword"). These phrases referred to a genre of drama in which the main characters literally wore these items. In 1840, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, "In the afternoon read La Dama Duende of Calderón - a very good comedy of 'cloak and sword'." Charles Dickens subsequently used the phrase "cloak and dagger" a year later. The imagery of these two items became associated with the archetypical spy or assassin: the cloak, worn to hide one's identity or remain hidden from view, and the dagger, a concealable and silent weapon.

* Is this a dagger which I see before me?

This is one of the best-known lines from Shakespeare's Macbeth, 1605. Shakespeare used the image of a dagger in many of his plays. In fact there are few of his plays that don't have a reference to daggers in some form - most commonly deployed as symbolic of treachery. In the Scottish play, Macbeth has a vision of a dagger with blood on it in the air in front of him, pointing toward the King Duncan's chamber and perhaps indicating that he should use it to follow through on his and Lady Macbeth's plan of murdering the King.

Other language expressions with the word dagger are:

at daggers drawn with somebody
About to or ready to fight, as in Are Felix and Oscar still at daggers drawn over the rent? Although daggers today are rarely if ever used to avenge an insult or issue a challenge to a duel, this idiom remains current. Its figurative use dates from about 1800.

look daggers
Glare, stare fiercely, as in When she started to discuss their finances, he looked daggers at her. This metaphoric term, likening an angry expression to a dagger's thrust, dates from ancient times and has appeared in English since about 1600.

Holden Caulfield: His Story in Images

Goldfish. This is important because Holden's brother wrote a book called The Secret Goldfish. He wrote this before he sold out to Hollywood. This was a time when Holden was really proud of his brother. Now he considers his brother a phony for selling out to Hollywood.

Red hunting hat. This is Holden's favourite hat. He bought this hat in New York after a fencing match. He bought the hat for a dollar. This hat has ear flaps that keep him warm when he decides to leave Pency early and go home. Instead of going home, however, he stays in New York. This hat is sort of his trademark thing.

Ducks on the pond in Central Park. He starts thinking about where the ducks go when the pond freezes over when Mr.Spencer is talking to him about what he should do with his life. He asks a lot of people where the ducks go in the winter. He has many theories about this. He even goes down to the pond just to see if they were there. What started out as a random thought turned into an obsession.

The travelling nuns. Holden thinks about them when he is upset at times. He really liked them because they didn't judge him. He was also glad because they really seemed to be into what they were doing. He gave them ten dollars for their collection basket.

Jazz. The type of music Holden might have listened to at this time. He does the jitterbug which is a jazzy type of dance. The piano player at Holden's favourite club would have played a kind of music that is overly showy and not played very well.

Allie Caufield. Holden thinks about him when he is depressed. Holden got really upset when Allie died. He punched the windows out of his parent's car and now he can't make a fist anymore. He had to be physcoanalyzed after that happened and he has never been the same person since. He writes a composition for Stradlater about Allie's baseball mitt with all of his poem's written on it. Stradlater is very unappreciative. Holden seems hurt by this, but he chooses to rip the composition up instead of saying anything about it.

James Castle's Suicide. Castle committed suicide when Holden was in the shower. Holden didn't know that he had committed suicide: he had thought that maybe the radio had fallen out of the window. When he got out of the shower, he saw James's body at the bottom dead on the stone. Mr. Antolini grabbed up his body and took him in to the infirmary. James was a quiet boy and Holden kind of liked him as a person. When Holden is depressed sometimes he thinks about James.

Alcohol. Holden drinks alcohol when he is depressed. This is a really bad habit because he gets drunk one night and has trouble getting around. He tries to flirt with his ex girlfriend when he was drunk. He uses drinking as an outlet for his depression. This is very common, and this is another indicator that Holden needs help with his depression.

Alcohol. Holden drinks alcohol when he is depressed. This is a really bad habit because he gets drunk one night and has trouble getting around. He tries to flirt with his ex girlfriend when he was drunk. He uses drinking as an outlet for his depression. This is very common, and this is another indicator that Holden needs help with his depression.

Cool Links: Writings on Writers

Two cool Literature links in English:

Great English Writers and the Places They Lived

Women Writers from a to Z

Fiction for Women: Mills & Boon

Mills and Boon is a publishing company that produces very popular romantic novels, bought especially by women. The typical Mills and Boon story is about the romance between a young beautiful woman and a good-looking man who usually get married after many difficulties. The hero of a Mills and Boon story is usually a tall, rich and handsome man.

Mills and Boon also produces medical romances (contemporary romances set against the background of the medical profession) and historical romances (romances set in a specific historical time and place, for example 1920s New York).

No Women Allowed: Gentlemen's Clubs

A gentleman's club is a club which does not usually allow women members. It is often old, well-established, and in a pleasant part of the city. Gentlemen's clubs usually have a library, a bar and a restaurant. Gentlemen's clubs are associated especially with upper-class men.
The three most famous in Regency times being Whites (established in 1693), Brooks's (1764), and Boodles (1762). There was also Watiers, which was started by the Prince Regent and named for his chef, who ran it, and the Cocoa Tree Club, (whose chocolate house origin is obvious) and many others. Whites' was so exclusive that it was claimed that when an heir to a great family was born, the child's name was put down for membership at Whites before his birth was even was registered. Its members have included Beau Brummel and Baron Alvanley, Horace Walpole Edward VII, David Niven and the current Prince of Wales.
In the United States the term "gentlemen's club" is frequently used as a euphemism for strip clubs — a trend also increasingly common in the United Kingdom, with chains such as Stringfellows and Spearmint Rhino using the term in this way.
The Sherlock Holmes series featured the following fictional gentlemen's clubs which were the creation of Arthur Conan Doyle:
* The Bagatelle Card Club - One of Colonel Sebastian Moran's clubs in a Sherlock Holmes story The Adventure of the Empty House
* Diogenes Club – Mycroft Holmes's club in the Sherlock Holmes stories.
* The Tankerville Club - Featured in two Sherlock Holmes stories.
There are amny other examples of fictional gentlemen's clubs in literature: P.G. Wodehouse invented the Drones Club, where Bertie Wooster popped in to avoid Aunts and other undesirables, and the Junior Ganymede Club which was for gentlemen's gentlemen (valets). Dorothy Sayers invented the Egotists Club and Evelyn Waugh created Brats Club, featured in A Handful of Dust.
An increasing number of clubs were characterised by their members' interest in politics, literature, sport, art, automobiles, travel, particular countries, or some other pursuit. In practice many gentlemen would be members of a number of clubs, and it was not simply for gambling that men gathered there. A man's club was a home away from home, a place where he could escape his wife, his mistress, and his creditors, where he could while away the evening in convivial company, and get a good plain dinner and a comfortable bed for the night. Many of the early clubs began life as coffee and chocolate-drinking houses in the 17th century, over time becoming meeting places for people of similar political ideas, and at various times were regarded as hotbed of political sedition; indeed the Cocoa Tree was once considered the headquarters of the Jacobite Party.
In the early years of the 20th century women's clubs were established and many still exist today. Membership is restricted to women graduates and other women who have distinguished themselves in art, music, literature, philanthropy or public service.

Geography & Literature: Dublin Writers

Dublin is the capital of the Repubic of Ireland. It is on the east coast, on the river Liffey. Dublin was the home of several famous Irish writers, such as Jonathan Swift, Geroge Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde and James Joyce.
The Dublin Writers Museum was opened in 1991 at No 18, Parnell Square, Dublin, Ireland.
The Museum displays a wide collection of Irish literature. It complements the smaller, more detailed museums devoted to individuals like James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats and Patrick Pearse. It functions as a place where people can come from Dublin, Ireland and abroad to experience the phenomenon of Irish writing both as history and as actuality. The museum also includes portraits of Irish writers, including fine originals by artists such as Patrick Swift, Reginald Gray, Edward McGuire and Harry Kernoff.
There are many well-known songs about Dublin, including a song called "Molly Malone" (also known as "Cockles and Mussels" or "In Dublin's Fair City"), which has become the unofficial anthem of Dublin City.

A Novel in Images: Rebecca

Author
Daphne du Maurier
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Genre(s)
Crime, Gothic, Mystery, Romance
Publication date
1938

The narrator meets Maxim de Winter for the first time

They fall in love and they get married

She begins living in Manderley

She meets Mrs Danvers

She tries to be friendly to her...

but the ghost of Rebecca still lives in her house...

and her bedroom... and Mrs Danvers is loyal to Rebecca!

Will she be able to fight

Rebecca's memory?

To find out more about the novel click here:
Rebecca (Daphne du Maurier)

A Short-Story in Images: The Landlady

a boy in a strange city...

an inviting notice...

a lady opening the door

like a jack-in-the-box...

a cosy living-room with a warm fire and...

animals which looked ALIVE

a lady with red fingernails and

a particularly STRANGE habit...

two MISSING boys

A CUP OF TEA

can you guess...

THE END?

To read the complete short story click here
The Landlady - Roald Dahl