In a short Independent (UK) article in the PsychoGeography series, entitled “When Hermits Walked the Earth,” author Will Self reminisces about hermits he has known and speculates on how modern life both created and eliminated hermits. URL: http://argument.independent.co.uk/regular_columnists/will_self/story.jsp?story=490658. The complete article requires a paid subscription.
Bill Porter (Red Pine)
A Seattle Times article about Bill Porter (also known as Red Pine), translator of ancient Chinese hermit-poets Cold Mountain and Stonehouse, author of Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits. URL: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/books/2001845874_redpine29.html
Two immigrant hermits
Australia: The curious story of Valerio Recitti, an Italian immigrant who became a hermit in Australia. The site includes a couple of photos of the restored cave that was his dwelling. URL:
http://www.griffith.nsw.gov.au/GriffithVisitorsCentreAttractionsHermitsCave.htm
Massachusetts: The Scottish-born John Smith emigrated to Erving, Massachusetts, in the late nineteenth-century and took up residence in a cave behind a so-called castle, where he promoted himself but also lived a self-sufficient life. Both sites include a photo of Smith. URL:
http://www.nentc.com/johnsmith.htm and
http://www.ervingmass.org/Public_Documents/ErvingMA_WebDocs/hermit.
Hermits in Art: Nesterov
Russian painter Mikhail Nesterov’s traditional-styled portrait entitled “Hermit” (circa 1889) is available at URL: http://www.abcgallery.com/N/nesterov/nesterov3.html
Hermits in Art: Waterloo
Add to the September 22, 2003 entry on Flemish and Dutch engravers Anthonie Waterloo’s etching “Two Hermits” (circa 1640); available at URL: http://www.wfu.edu/academics/art/pc/pc-waterloo.html.