Sunday 3 September 2017

Where And When

Where and when we read a work is part of our experience of reading it even though it is not part of the reading experience as such. You and I read the same texts in different places or, alternatively, different texts in the same place. We discussed literary associations here.

I was reminded of this because:

yesterday, I reread parts of Poul Anderson's A Stone In Heaven in sight of Morecambe Bay as seen from Morecambe (see images) - probably no one else at the Vintage Festival was thinking about Dominic Flandry;

Tony, who runs the Old Pier Bookshop, reminded me that a girl in the George Lazenby James Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, claims to be from Morecambe Bay;

recently rereading that Bond novel, I found that the line about Morecambe Bay where the shrimps come from is in the text.

This line of thought has taken us from literary associations to literary geography as opposed to fictional geography - real places in fictional texts as opposed to fictional places.

Today, I will be back on the Bay, taking with me books by Poul Anderson and SM Stirling.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I knew the name George lazenby was familiar, and when I clicked on the link I found I had already commented on the similarity of the name with a long dead man named Dom George Laysinbye, a monk of Jervaulx Abbey. The latter had the courage to deny Henry VIII was "supreme head" of the Church of England.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
I would deny that either the King of England or the Bishop of Rome is supreme head of the Church but then I would deny a lot more than that in any case!
Paul.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I DO affirm that the Bishop of Rome is the Vicar of Christ on Earth, as does a billion other Christians. (Smiles)

Sean