Elizabeth Welsh
Literary Pilgrimages
Mansfield stalking…
I found Katherine Mansfield’s blue plaque in Hampstead Heath. There was much excitement on my part. Doesn’t she pop up everywhere?
Literary Graves – A fig for William Blake
I have yet to visit a literary grave through my own volition. That said, when I first arrived in London, way back in the heat of the summer, I was going to a work meeting in Old Street, and I had some time on my hands before the meeting. So I popped into the nearby … Continue reading
‘The Newberry Story’ – a short film
One of my literary travel ‘pilgrimages’ involves visiting the Newberry Library in Chicago at some point in my life (obviously, the desire is for sooner, rather than later). The list is long, but incredibly exciting, and keeps my travel schedules jam-packed! So far, the libraries that I have visited and that stand out are the … Continue reading
Literary tourism – Oscar Wilde’s Kisses
For those who enjoy indulging in some literary tourism, sadly, Oscar Wilde’s tombstone in the Cemetery of Pere-Lachaise can now only be seen from afar – precisely, through a seven-foot plate glass wall. The recent ‘cleaning’ of all the lipstick marks from ardent admirers of the aesthete and the installation of the glass barrier has … Continue reading
Tuesday Poem – To a Friend who sent me some Roses (Keats)
I recently undertook that very fraught act of visiting a literary heritage site – in short, Keats’ house in Hampstead Heath. I feel utterly compelled to view, to touch, to experience the houses and gardens of literary forebears that I admire and, yet, in so many ways, these places feel fraught and often empty of … Continue reading
