Hermits around the web – Hermitary
news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
Manchester (England) Museum is looking for an ornamental hermit, but with a twist: the solitary resident for a two month stint in the museum’s tower should have an arts or performance background, get to know the collection ahead of time, and produce something that communicates what the museum is all about.
URL: http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART63681.html
Perley: the True Story of a New Hampshire Hermit is a new book written by Shiela Swett Thompson, granddaughter of Perley Swett, a hermit of Cheshire County. The book is published by the county’s historical society.
Interview article in Scotland on Sunday about Scottish writer Sara Maitland’s semi-autobiographical book A Book of Silence. Maitland, an established novelist and convert to Catholicism, moved to a remote area of Scotland where silence permeates the isolation and her daily life. The interviewer David Ross pursues Maitland’s motives and influences at this stage of her life (she is 58); there are trenchant observations on solitude and death.
URL: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/spectrum/All-quiet-on-the-western.4669789.jp
Brief newspaper item from The Gazette (Montreal) about Cynthia Bourgeault, “author, lecturer, workshop leader, Episcopal (Anglican) priest, grandmother … and a hermit.” Bourgeault lives on an island off the coast of Maine. The article notes her home, surroundings, and the role of solitude and silence in her teaching and books.
URL: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=f642ec80-5331-4c59-8ec1-cae387c7b349
Other websites about Cynthia Bourgeault:
Biography and audio: http://www.contemplative.org/cynthia.html
Sample article “Silence is God’s First Language”: http://www.beliefnet.com/Faiths/Faith-Tools/Meditation/2004/11/Silence-Is-Gods-First-Language.aspx
This item from the China Daily website, is reprinted in full because such news items often disappear from the web:
Elderly hermit enjoying life in mountain graves
(China Daily) Updated: 2008-10-28 09:02A 75-year-old man has been living in open graves for about 23 years in Xinzhou, Hubei province.
Tao Shaotang left his village after quarreling with a neighbor who he suspected of stealing his money in 1984.
Tao remained homeless until 1986 when he built four rooms in unused coffin pits he found on Dahou Mountain.
With tireless effort, Tao transformed a barren hill into a fruit garden after planting scores of peach and Chinese chestnut trees. He has supplemented this income by raising bees.
Tao said he is now accustomed to living alone in the coffin pits and has refused requests of local villagers to move back with them.
(Chutian Jinbao News)
URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-10/28/content_7148260.htm