Happy New Year from Kotek

He may be very sleepy, but our young Ginger Tom, Kotek, wishes everybody a Happy New Year from Eastern Poland.

Reading Thomas Hardy's 'The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid' over Christmas

Started reading this Hardy novella/short story a few days before Christmas and ended up finishing it on Christmas Day while away in Eastern Poland.  Thus, it may be officially classified as a short story, but more accurately seems to be a novella, as it takes a few readings to get through it.

After finishing this fairytale-like story, I was a little mystified as to how I could reflect on what I'd just read, but, thankfully, I came across a great Internet review of 'The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid' on a blog site called 'ProSe' which helped me to more deeply digest things.

First, it's not difficult to see that the early meetings between Margery Tucker and Baron von Xanten are laden with 'Little Red Riding Hood' and 'Cinderella'-type imagery, as Margery, while out walking to her grandmother's house, comes across the Baron in a desperate state on his Manor House land, with this occurrence probably stopping him from committing suicide.  In gratitude, he offers her a reward or special treat of her own choosing, and she tells him that she'd love to go to a Grand Evening Ball.  This is where the kind of Cinderella allusion comes into play with Margery getting changed into an elegant ball gown inside a hollow tree, while the Baron, as a kind of Prince Charming, takes her to a Ball in a dream-like carriage, and then takes her back to the hollow tree for her to get changed back into her plain milkmaid clothes.  All the while, the reader is left asking whether the Baron is the noble Prince from 'Cinderella' or the predatorial wolf from 'Little Red Riding Hood'.

The upshot of Margery's visit to the Ball, is that she starts to dream about attaining an upper-class lifestyle for herself, and starts to go off the thought of marrying her longtime fiance, Jim Hayward, a local lime kiln operator (and co-owner).  Of course, this is bringing Hardy's pre-occupation with a social mobility theme into play, especially the issue of Victorian women wanting to climb the social class ladder, often through 'marrying above themselves', to escape a life of misery and suffering.  In this sense, the ProSe blog article that I read points towards 'The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid' being a kind of trial run for 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles', especially in relation to Tess' upward-looking relationship with Angel Clare.

The Baron is a complex character, being well travelled and worldwise, but there is also a sense of morose mystery about him.  In response, Margery views the Baron in almost Godlike term, while in return, he seems to idealise her as a natural, pastoral figure of simplicity and yet great beauty (again, this seems to be prefiguring the two-way idealisation process between Tess and Angel Clare).  Here, in particular, I found the ProSe blog article extremely useful for expressing the view that nobody really falls in love in the plot of 'The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid', as it is about the idealisation of romantic love created in each of the three main characters' minds.   Regarding this, Jim believes himself to be in love with his fiance, Margery, while she appears to be mesmerised by the thought of the Baron possibly loving her.  Correspondingly, almost like a puppeteer, the Baron seems to control and enchant both Margery and Jim, while he himself appears to be caught between being attracted to Margery and morally wanting to push Margery and Jim together in marriage (again, I am indebted to the ProSe blog article here), possibly as an atonement for having come in between their courtship.  Another psychological complexity may be that while the Baron is impulsively drawn towards Margery, he also cannot help but admire Jim's prolonged commitment to her (possibly realising that he won't be able to offer the same kind of long-range commitment towards her).

Unlike many of Hardy's major novels ('Tess of the D'Urbervilles'; 'Jude the Obscure'; 'The Woodlanders'; 'The Mayor of Casterbridge'; 'The Return of the Native' etc.), 'The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid' novella/short story does actually have a happy ending.  By the skin of her teeth, Margery resists the urge to go off travelling round the world with the Baron in his magical-type yacht (a kind of 'flying machine'-type image), and the Baron keeps his word to never see or interfere with the couple again, which leaves the necessary calm and space for Margery and Jim to get married and have a child.  However, Margery obviously retains a tinge of 'what might have been' if she'd flown off with the Baron, while retaining her commitment to Jim in the Baron's absence (who knows what would've happened if the Baron had come back, of course).

Some more deeper concluding thoughts about the 'The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid'?  Well, I think the conclusion may show that Margery finally realises that the Baron is an unrealistic dream for her to aspire towards, while the Baron himself was neither Prince Charming nor a predatory wolf, but just a complex character from the upper-classes who wouldn't normally have been associating with people from the local Wessex, rustic class.  In contrast, Jim appears to be well-suited for Margery in that he aspires towards an attainable, optimal-type, upward social mobility making him worthy of her (I can see echoes of the Dick Dewy-Fancy Day relationship from 'Under the Greenwood Tree' here).  Thus, all in all, 'The Romantic Adventures of a Milkmaid' may be viewed as a much shorter, less dramatic and, of course, much happier version of 'Tess of the D'Urbervilles'.  In other words, it left me pondering:  "If only Tess had somehow settled for Alec instead of idealising Angel Clare . . ."
A couple of women I met in Hardy's Wessex two years ago, one who was working as a ranger on the heathland ('Egdon Heath') near Hardy's Higher Bockhampton childhood home, and the other working at Max Gate (Hardy's home in Dorchester), said to me that they had some sympathy for Alec and that Tess needed a kick up the backside.  In a roundabout way, I can now kind of more fully understand what they meant.

Eastern Poland: The Small Crucifix

Here is my last shot from a cemetery in Eastern Poland this Christmas.

It shows a small crucifix that has probably become detached from a grave being treated with the utmost respect, as it is has been placed at the bottom of the cemetery church wall and surrounded by a few candles.

This kind of subtle religious devotion just caught my eye.

Eastern Poland: The Cemetery Church

A couple of shots of a cemetery church at Christmas in Eastern Poland:

What was weird was the autumn (almost spring) like weather at Christmas this year in Eastern Poland.

Eastern Poland: The Good Shepherd

Love this statue of Christ, the Good Shepherd which I saw on top of a grave inside a cemetery in Eastern Poland.

My Favourite Christmas Card

Think I'm safe in saying that thus far, this is easily my favourite Christmas card of the year.

Yeah, it's a real Christmas card with a picture of the Madonna and Christ Child on the front and a 'Merry Christmas' message inside.

What I especially like about this Christmas card is that it was sent from Britain which seems to show that real Christmas cards can still somehow get past the politically-'correct' (cultural marxist), anti-Christian forms of censorship that are often enforced in many parts of modern-day Western Europe.

Warsaw: The Gingerbread Angel

Received this wonderful Christmas present, a gingerbread angel, from a student.

Kotek Waiting for Christmas

Here's a couple of nice shots of Kotek lying on the window sill (with a bit of snow in the background) waiting for Christmas.
 

My 2017 Gig Review: Warsaw and Elsewhere

A quick recap of my gigs of the year here.  January to May was a bit on the quiet side, although I did get to see Epica (above); Powerwolf; Trentemoller; Between the Buried and Me; Leprous; Blonde Redhead; Neal Morse; and Lisa Hannigan, a nice variety of music with all these gigs being in Warsaw.

Things started really hotting up in late June when I went over to my hometown of Bury, Lancashire, to see Blue Oyster Cult at Manchester Academy:

 

Blue Oyster Cult was probably my standout gig of the year, as the band did the whole of their first album and many other fine tunes in a 20+ song set (BOC are one of my favourite bands).  Below, the band are doing 'Workshop of the Telescopes' from their first album:

A few days after seeing BOC at Manchester Academy, I got to see Cheap Trick at the same place, so it was really like going down memory lane (I saw a lot of gigs in Manchester in the 1980s and 1990s).

After the venture into England, which included a week-long trip to Thomas Hardy's Wessex (mainly Dorset), I flew over to Ireland to see a good friend and we went to see Hothouse Flowers at Killarney INEC which was great (loved the traditional Irish tune below):

From here, my friend I flew over to Germany to go to the 'Night of the Prog' Festival at Loreley (in the Rhine Valley) to see Marillion; Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman; Crippled Black Phoenix; Gong etc.  The highlight of this trip for us had to be the David Cross Band who had ex-Van der Graaf Generator saxophonist, David Jackson, up on stage with them:

Back in Warsaw in August, I got to see the first 'Prog in the Park' Festival which was wonderful with Opeth; Riverside; Solstafir; Blindead; and Lion Shepherd.  Enjoyed all of these bands, especially Blindead (below) who I saw for the first time:

Then in September, I got to see The Pineapple Thief and Sisters of Mercy (below), both at the Progresja in Warsaw:

The beginning of October, it was the turn of the dreamscape-type sound of Slowdive at Warsaw Palladium:

And, also in October, a gig that truly amazed me for both its wonderful musical and visual impact was Polish Medieval-type band, Percival, at Warsaw Stodola:

This gig also had an incredible theatrical dimension:

In late October, it was the turn of Canadian electronica band, Austra, at the Cafe Niebo in Warsaw, the first time I'd visited this place:

In November, I got to see, amongst others, Mastodon; Russian Circles; and W.A.S.P.  Also visited the Cafe Niebo again, this time to see the Polish Jazz/Trip-Hop band Mikromusic:

November is always a great month for gigs in Warsaw (kind of signalling the end of autumn) and my favourite gig of this month this year was probably Public Service Broadcasting at the Hydrozagadka in Warsaw:

And finally, I got to see a couple of gigs in early December, starting with Icelandic band, Mammut, again at the Hydrozogadka:

And then the Polish Folk/World Music band, Dikanda, at Warsaw Progresja:

Must say that during this year of live music, I really enjoyed seeing so many different kinds of music.  As can be seen, I have an eclectic taste in music.

Reading 'Thomas Hardy's Shorter Fiction: A Critical Study' by Sophie Gilmartin and Rod Mengham

I'm currently reading this great (Edinburgh University Press) book about Thomas Hardy's four anthologies of short stories:  'Wessex Tales'; 'A Group of Noble Dames'; 'Life's Little Ironies'; and 'A Changed Man'.

Having read these four anthologies over the past 18 months or so, I needed to get hold of some literary criticism on them, and, thus far, 'Thomas Hardy's Shorter Fiction: A Critical Study' by Sophie Gilmartin and Rod Mengham has not disappointed me.

So far, I've read the first chapter on 'Wessex Tales' and I'm now just starting the following chapter on a 'A Group of Noble Dames'.  Despite not being too far through the book, I believe that I've already become more sensitised to many thematic, stylistic and sociological concerns in Hardy's writing which include points about:

* Hardy's cinematic-type writing style (telescopic-type view of the world) often focusing on minute details through an intermittent zooming in on and away from central characters, action, and settings

* 'The Withered Arm' giving a sense of what unfenced existence was like in pre-Enclosure England/ Britain (Hardy's vision of Wessex does not recognise the boundaries of the six counties that lie within it, of course)

* 'The Three Strangers' and 'The Withered Arm' allowing the modern reader to glimpse the ghoulish ritualistic nature of the pre-1868 'Hang Fairs', and the macabre prestige that accompanied the hangman's occupation

* 'The Three Strangers' in particular being set at a time of political awakening in 19th century England/Britain (the Tolpuddle Martyrs; Chartism etc. - Tolpuddle only being a few miles from where Hardy was raised at Higher Bockhampton, of course)

* Rhoda Brook's dark, mystical, witch-like control over and deep jealousy of Gertrude Lodge (in 'The Withered Arm') being obviously caused by Farmer Lodge's betrayal, with the latter resulting in Rhoda recognising that she has lost the sexual gaze of a man or even men in general (which amounts to her sensing the loss of her personal beauty) and her and her son becoming poverty-stricken outcasts

* Gertrude's mysterious withered arm (from Rhoda in a dream) symbolically representing Rhoda's impoverished state being passed onto Gertrude

* Hardy's work often raising an interesting contrast between characters attempting to become socially mobile through a rise in social class and education, and poor, agricultural people feeling empowered through an ongoing adherence to folk-type superstition

* Hardy's technique of a 3rd person "frame narrator" handing the narrative over to an old, rural 1st person narrator in 'A Tradition of 1804' which offers a real sense of local Wessex people recalling their fear of the threat of invasion during Napoleonic times (this reflects Hardy's love of recording local culture which is in danger of disappearing from living memory)

* 'The Melancholy Hussar' also reflecting Hardy's desire to resuscitate old oral stories in a bid to stop local culture from getting lost in time

* Phyllis Grove from 'The Melancholy Hussar' and Marty South from 'The Woodlanders' (one of my favourite Hardy novels) sharing the same status of being devotees at the gravesides of their deceased loved ones

* Hardy's recurring theme of humans intermittently experiencing magical interludes (interstices of the sublime) that appear (almost) outside time and break up more frequent periods of personal suffering, but which are inevitably destroyed by harsh and/or hum-drum reality (this kind of thinking is pivotal to understanding Hardy's tragic, fatalistic view of life, I think)

* Barnet showing great nobility of character (in 'Fellow Townsmen') when accepting his alloted path in life (the ultra-quick loss of a profound interlude from reality due to his friend getting to marry the woman Barnet loved and very briefly expected to marry)

* Barnet representing a common theme in Hardy's work of a character stoically withdrawing from any meaningful emotional life (of passion and suffering) after the death of a magical interlude that had temporarily offered more from life

* The loss of the Barnet name in Port-Bredy representing Hardy's common thematic concern with the loss of human trace in historical time (of course, this is a central concern in 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles')

* Hardy's common thematic focus on sexual rivalry between women having been prompted by the mid-19th century situation in England/Britain where more women were available for marriage than men, which also produced the stigma of unmarried women having to work and fend for themselves under harsh conditions

* Hardy often situating sexual rivalry between women in remote, rural places where men of higher social class (who are to be aspired towards) are scarce in number

* Sally Hall's refusual to take part in female sexual rivalry (in 'Interlopers at the Knap') making her a kind of heroic figure, as she expresses unique female individuality in rejecting Farmer Darton's offer of marriage because she is happy as she is (not being married, gaining gradual social mobility through the merit of her own expanding dairy business)

* Lizzy Newberry's passion for her smuggling lifestyle being greater than her love for the Methodist preacher, Stockdale (in 'The Distracted Preacher') as this profession is in her blood, in her living instincts

* The cultural identity of Hardy's Wessex folk in 'Wessex Tales' (and many other pieces of his fiction) being distinctly separate from a more mainstream identity found in Victorian England, with this unique Wessex way of life having been second nature to them


Having briefly reflected on what I've become (more) aware of concerning 'Wessex Tales' and the general nature of Hardy's writing through reading the 1st chapter of 'Thomas Hardy's Shorter Fiction: A Critical Study', I must stress that I can't wait to dig further into this book.

What I also really like about the 1st chapter of this book is that it not only deals with 'Wessex Tales' but also relates some of the thematic and sociological concerns of this anthology to Hardy's novels (sometimes, the monumental ones like 'Tess' and 'The Mayor of Casterbridge').  

My Mental Jukebox Part 7

Here's a song that is currently in the process of embedding itself into my mental jukebox: 'We Tried Love' by the Icelandic band, Mammut, who I had the honour of seeing in Warsaw less than two weeks ago.  Love the beautiful melodies that build up and take over especially the second half of this song.

Warsaw: The Camp inside the Bushes

As the snow came and went quickly, and the temperature thankfully rose a little for a while, I was able to get a clearer view of the small camp made by the men who live in the bushes.

As can be seen, they seem to be sleeping inside homemade, tent-like structures made from soft plastic sheeting. 

Unfortunately, the temperature has fallen again to about zero so I hope that the men who have been living in the bushes have already moved somewhere warmer for winter.

Two More Good Polish Beers

Two more good Polish beers that I've tried recently.

The one above, Braniewo Chmielone, is from northern Poland, and, as the name suggests, is a hoppy-tasting lager (which is right up my street).

In contrast, the lager below is lighter (in colour, strength and taste) from the Bieszczady Mountain area of south-east Poland:

Warsaw: The Arkadia Christmas Tree

Caught my first sight of the Arkadia (shopping centre) Christmas Tree today.

A few more Christmas decorations seem to have gone up inside Arkadia too:
 

Dikanda Live at Warsaw Progresja 3rd December 2017

Really glad I got to see the Polish Folk/World Music group, Dikanda, last night:

Came across Dikanda while searching for new music on Youtube a few months ago.  Through this, I knew that the music would be excellent and the atmosphere electrifying last night (and I wasn't disappointed).

Also enjoyed the part when the band's friend and guest musician, Mustafa El Boudani, joined the band on stage:

It just gave a nice change of dynamic, a soothing part to the proceedings.

And then it was back on with the electrifying, at times, mesmeric stuff:

For some time, I was wondering where the wonderful guitar work was coming from, and then I found out:

My favourite tune of the night was probably always going to be 'Jokoriste Czarno':

Find this tune beautifully melodic and full of feeling, followed by some wonderful improvisation.  With the great trumpet play, Dikanda kind of remind me of Calexico at times.

Also really liked the anthemic-type 'Usti Usti Baba':

Think that the two female vocalists, Ania Witczak and Katarzyna Bogusz, sing wonderfully well in tandem together.

And, of course, the band and their guest musicians were always going to get a great ovation after a rousing two-hour or so set.

So glad I got out to see Dikanda last night.  Don't really like gigs on Sunday because they make me feel shattered for the upcoming working week, but seeing Dikanda last night was well worth the effort.  Two hours or so of musical magic went by as if in a shot.

Warsaw: Klub Hydrozagadka Mural

Couldn't help but notice this mural outside the Klub Hydrozagadka.  For me, it looks something like a cross between an alien cat, the Wizard of Oz scarecrow, and a malevolent-looking duck.

Broen Live at Warsaw Hydrozagadka 1st December 2017

Glad I got to the Hydrozagadka early last night to catch Norwegian band, Broen, opening for (Icelandic band) Mammut.

Despite not being exactly my kind of music, I found Broen interesting and melodic enough.

Didn't even know if anybody was opening for Mammut last night, so Broen were a nice surprise.

Here's a tune from Broen last night:

Mammut Live at Warsaw Hydrozagadka 1st December 2017

Really enjoyed Mammut at the Hydrozagadka (a small club) in Warsaw last night:

Discovered Mammut on KEXP (I think) about a year ago while looking at 'new bands' on Youtube, and instantly liked their (kind of indefineable) music.  Then, a few months ago, I saw that the band would be playing Warsaw and had to go and see them.

Last night, Mammut came on with 'Breathe Into Me' which is a wonderful psychaedelic-type tune, one of my two favourite Mammut songs:

The band also did my favourite other tune of theirs, 'Salt':

To be honest, the whole of the 75-80 minute or so set was wonderful.

The small crowd who braved the cold weather to watch the concert, got a gem of a gig.  Really hope I get to see Mammut again.