The Guardian presents an article on Jo Nemeth, who lives in Australia — and lives moneyless. Nemeth was partly inspired by Mark Boyle (whose book, The Moneyless Man, is reviewed by Hermitary). Byline: “Ten years ago, Jo Nemeth quit her job and closed her bank account. Today, she’s more committed than ever to her moneyless life.” Nemeth says: “I feel more secure than when I was earning.”
An essay on the subject of women and eremitism — is now ten years old: “She wants to be alone,” by Rhiann Sasseen, with byline “When even a simple stroll down the sidewalk is an exercise in self-loathing, why don’t more women run away to the woods?” The essay appearedin Aeon in 2015 and reminds a cogent and insightful reflection worth revisiting.
The author directly addresses thepremises: “If the hermit is always a man, if there’s nobility in his solitude, then what’s left for women? Old maid. Hag. There must be something wrong with her. Don’t pretend that these aren’t still true; today, we don’t burn witches, we just shame them.”
“But for those of us who want to be alone, who still crave it even after all the abuse and skepticism, there are few guides and even fewer celebrations of female solitude. Who is the female hermit? Does she exist? Who is the woman who can look out at the world and in all seriousness say: ‘I want to be alone’?”
Significant hitorical figuresare pursued: the woman hermit Mary of Egypt during the early Christian era, early Buddhist nuns who were poets and hermits, culminating inthe 17th century Buddhist nun Orgyen Chökyi, Americans Sarah Bishop (18th century) and Anne LaBastille (20th century) among others.
An important aspect of eremitism in historical China is the evolution of eremitical thought into aesthetic expression as poetry, then painting. Chinese hermit thought is embedded in the historical context of reclusion, wherein officials at court consciously left employment to seek anonymity in distant rural and mountainous settings. By the tenth century Song dynasty era, the poetics and philosophizing associated with eremitic life evolved into painting. The highlight school of painting is the “waters and mountains,” school, sometimes referred to in the West as the “rivers and mountains” school.
Shan Shui is a rich web-based resource, a semi-annual journal of essays and articles by Chinese and Western contributors. Shan Shui describes itself as “Mountain and Water Painting Magazine.” Studies of historical Chinese painting are featured, but the editorial goal is wider and more ambitious:to bring Chinese art, culture, and aesthetics into communication with Western counterparts, broadening the perspective of Chinese art to in order to address nature, philosophy, and understanding.
For more detail see Thatch entry for the same date.
The magazine Mutual Art presents an essay titled “An American Solitude: Short Stories by Edward Hopper.” Early 20th century American artist Hopper has been celebrated for insightful paintings portraying solitude in an urban sitting.
Audio segment dated 1961, from the BBC program “Voice of the People,” is titled “York’s Hermit on 30 Years of Solitude.” The BBC interviewer speaks (about 6 min.) with :
“Brother Walter Wilman, a religious recluse who has spent the past 30 years living in a tiny cell adjoined to the Church of All Saints in York.”
The “tiny cell” is what was historically called an “anchorhold.”
