Hermits around the web – Hermitary
news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
“Hermit Wanted” by British writer Mick Jackson is a short story about an ornamental hermit in a contemporary setting. The Guardian offers a downloadable podcast reading by Prunella Scales (22:16). Summary from the website:
When Giles and Virginia buy a big old house in the country, they decide to run it in grand style, complete with deer park, follies and peacocks strutting on the croquet lawn. Mick Jackson tells how the discovery of a cave in the woods leaves them with a situation vacant
The website English Russia offers many fascinating photos of Agafya Lykov, who lived with her family in isolation in the Siberian taiga. The family went to Siberia in 1937 and was “discovered” in 1978, as described in the book Lost in the Taiga by Vassily Peskov, reviewed by Hermitary. The family of Old Believers fled persecution and remained deliberately isolated and quite self-sufficient. Agafya is now alone and aging, but has relatives nearby.
URL: http://englishrussia.com/index.php/2010/11/21/russian-hermits-of-the-21st-century/
This brief (1 and a half minute) BBC video report, “Monk’s Search for Solitude on Georgia Hilltop,” describes 55-year old Orthodox monk Fr. Maxime Kavtaradze’s efforts to rebuild and move into a stark hilltop skete to live alone as a hermit.
A monk in a remote part of Georgia has decided to seek extra solitude on a rocky outcrop which will soon be completely cut off from civilisation.
The English painter Peter de Wint (1784-1849) depicted landscapes in the romantic style of the era: wide expanses full of air, sky, and a salt breeze. “Landscape With Lightning and a Hermit” is a rugged vista of a hermit in a wild landscape, its scale reminiscent of a Chinese painting. Housed at the Victoria & Albert Museum; its website offers this summary:
Hermits, living in the wilderness, apart from society, were a popular theme with 18th-century landscape painters. Most of De Wint’s pictures are calm and even. This more dramatic work is reminiscent of the Neapolitan master Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), who was popular with English collectors.
URL: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O80680/oil-painting-landscape-with-lightning-and-a/
“Shh! Sound health in 8 steps” is a interesting and helpful 7+ minute TED presentation by Julian Treasure on the effects of sound: physiological, auditory, mental and physical health. (One recommendation: minimum 5 minutes of birdsong daily.)
URL: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/julian_treasure_shh_sound_health_in_8_steps.html