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Tag Archives: translation

Hiroo-worship

Review of Werner Herzog’s Das Dämmern der Welt – or (probably) The Twilight/Dawn (of the?) World. — For Perspective

The coast of Hisperica

i.m. Umberto Eco (1932-2016) . This frothing sea surrounds the world and beats earth’s borders with its rushing waves. Its storm-wall slams the rocky foreshore, ploughs the bed with thumping crests, strewing shingled foam in starry furrows, ever-shaken by its thunderous blast. .

Aguê the Sinister, also called Azizan

Among the Ewe people of Togo (formerly Togoland), the village of Bé lies at the foot of the Tokoin plateau, between a stagnant lagoon and a sacred wood, the meagre remnant of an ancient equatorial forest that once covered the south of the country in its entirety. Here, the animist bokonon priests and priestesses of the python cult worship the forces of […]

All fact up

Trailer for the ‘new’ and ‘improved’, all-singing-no-dancing, NEWS AT A GLANCE – coming soon to a Queen Mob’s Tea House near you! — For Queen Mob’s Tea House

Fair tradesmen

Review of a Norwegian book on loft conversions. (Standard.) — For The Spectator

The Kings and I

A festive gripe about Cornelius’s lovely ‘Three Kings‘ – and the solo I have never got to sing in it. — For The Oldie

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. One-fiftieth of the inhabitants of Spain are nobles. — The Nelson Evening Mail, October 4 1906 . The beheading of the sperm whale is a scientific anatomical feat, upon which experienced whale surgeons very much pride themselves. Great lips take hydration and balls. Pease pudding has been flagged up by airport security on more than one […]

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. All over China temples have been turned into schools with surprising alacrity. — The Nelson Evening Mail, July 26 1906 . The owl of Minerva flies only at dusk. Though rare, there have been exactly 201 documented cases of spontaneous combustion. J Sainbury plc is cutting 2000 Human Resources employees. The collective noun for brown […]

NEWS AT A GLANCE

. Only about three in every hundred amateur novel-writers find their way into print, except at their own expense. — The Nelson Evening Mail, January 22 1907 . The erection of a verandah is a useful way to extend one’s living quarters. Seven American states observe Abraham Lincoln’s birthday as a public holiday. There is only one […]

Egyptomania

Review of three books on Ancient Egypt: Egypt: People, Pharaohs, Gods, by Rose-Marie and Rainer Hagen; Egyptomania: A History of Fascination, Obsession and Fantasy, by Ronald H. Fritze; and Writings from Ancient Egypt, by Toby Wilkinson. — For The Spectator