The January-February 2005 issue of Utne magazine has a short article entitled “A Hut of One’s Own,” on the hermit hut. Includes a picture of a modern-styled hut you can build from design plans (plans not included in the article). Mentions Thoreau and others but especially Kamo no Chomei. The online edition gives you paragraph one only. URL: http://www.utne.com/pub/2005_127/cover_story/11506-1.html.
Hermit orders
A friend of Hermitary suggests the following web sites for information about some contemporary hermit orders: Community of the Servants of the Will of God (http://orders.anglican.org/arcyb/cswg.html), Heartsong Hermitage (http://www.prayer4you.org), Franciscan Missionary Hermits of St. Joseph (http://www.medugorje.com/fmhj), and International Fellowship of St. Bruno/St. Bruno Lay Contemplatives (http://www.laycarthusians.homestead.com), with pages on the Community of Hermits of St. Bruno (http://http://www.laycarthusians.homestead.com/CHSB.html) and the Hermits of Bethlehem (http://www.laycarthusians.homestead.com/Lit1.html) founded by the popular priest and writer Eugene Romano.
Horgan on Steindl-Rast
John Horgan is a science journalist, skeptical about spiritual topics but intrigued enough to pursue what he calls (and titles his latest book) “rational mysticism.” So his pursuit of the Catholic lay brother, writer and part-time hermit David Steindl-Rast (now at Sky Farm Hermitage), is interesting for what it reveals about Steindl-Rast’s eclectic spirituality and how his eremiticism is a part of his personality and thinking. The essay is “A Modern Catholic Mystic” at John Horgan’s own web site. URL: http://www.johnhorgan.org/work6.htm.
Hermit’s hut dissertation
The Hermit’s Hut: a Study in Asceticism and Architecture by Kazi Khaleed Ashraf is a 2002 dissertation from the University of Pennsylvania. A preview is available on the Web; the dissertation itself can be purchased. The first sentence of the abstract begins: “The ascetic’s dwelling forms a distinctive genre among various meditations on the elemental hut …” The focus is India. URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/dissertations/preview_all/3043847.
Le Recours aux forêts
The French-language web site Le Recours aux forêts offers articles on the philosophy of forests, the art of making a forest cabin (i.e., hermit hut), about tree houses and wilderness shelters, vagabonding, Thoreau, Ernest Junger and much more. URL: http://www.lerecoursauxforets.org. Thanks to a friend of Hermitary for pointing out this interesting site.