Hermits around the web – Hermitary
news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
The Tablet, a Catholic UK publication, recently offered a useful article on women hermits, authoritatively written by author and commentator Sara Maitland, author of A Book of Silence and How to be Alone. The title is “Palladius mentions 2,975 women living as hermits in the Egyptian desert.” (Full article available to registered users).
URL: https://www.thetablet.co.uk/columnists/3/21026/palladius-mentions-2-975-women-living-as-hermits-in-the-egyptian-desert
The byline for the Daily Philosophy website and blog is “Philosophy for life. Every day.” The site covers philosophical topics applied to non-philosophers, that is, intelligent readers seeking intelligent discussion of issues and angles to everyday questions, with series of themes a frequent and useful feature.
Of special interest to Hermitary readers is a series of articles under the category of hermits. Some articles and essays (so far) include:
By David E. Cooper: “Huts, Homelessness and Heimat: Chomei and Heidegger” and “The Rhetoric of Refuge: on the wish to retreat from the world”;
By Andreas Mattias, Daily Philosophy editor: “The Hermit of Suwarrow: the adventures of Tom Neale;” One Hundred Days in a Hermit’s Hut: Jane Dobisz on living alone in the woods”
“Hermits and Happiness: the long tradition of leaving it all behind.”
We are happy to welcome Professor Matthius as a friend of Hermitary and look forward to featuring his website in the future!
A pseudonymous Baron Otto von Tu (in real life, humorist Doug Skinner) is the author of the Club Recluse handbook, the “club” being fellow-hermits. The little 1997 pamphlet published by Vaudevisual Press of New York City is described thusly on the Printed Matter website:
“The Club Recluse Handbook is a guide manual for living alone and enjoying it. Created by Baron Otto von Tu for himself in 1997 who finally gave in to sharing it with the public, stating “I ask only that you make no attempt to contact me; that you do not send me a copy; and that I receive 70% of all profits.
“The book is dedicated to those thousands of staunch hermits who have embellished human history – particularly those who were so reclusive that their names have not come down to us.
“Sections include how to make a living through antisocial employments, solo entertainment, and a New Year’s Eve kit for celebrating alone. Members are not solicited, and, once enrolled, never hear from the club again or meet fellow members.”
URLs: https://www.printedmatter.org/catalog/56786/ and http://www.dougskinner.net/?s=club+recluse
Connecticut Public Radio’s Colin McEnroe Show pursues the topic of “Solitude and Hermits” in a program featuring Buddhist writer Stephen Batchelor, Lucinda Mosher of the Hartford Seminary, and Karen Karper Fredette, author of Consider the Ravens: On Contemporary Hermit Life and co-editor with her husband Paul of Raven’s Bread.
The British Catholic publication The Tablet offers a consideration of modern Carmelites as “hermits in community,” the title of the blog entry. The focus is on the order of Carmelite nuns, founded by the Spanish mystic St.Teresa of Avila.
URL: https://www.thetablet.co.uk/blogs/1/1393/hermits-in-community