Hermits around the web – Hermitary
news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
Audio segment dated 1961, from the BBC program “Voice of the People,” is titled “York’s Hermit on 30 Years of Solitude.” The BBC interviewer speaks (about 6 min.) with :
“Brother Walter Wilman, a religious recluse who has spent the past 30 years living in a tiny cell adjoined to the Church of All Saints in York.”
The “tiny cell” is what was historically called an “anchorhold.”
The Sri Lankan Guardian offers a succinct essay about the British-born Harold Musson, who became the Sri Lankan Buddhist hermit Nanavira Thera and prolific writer on the intersection of Buddhism and modern existentialism. Was his life and death anomalous tragedy? “Nanavira likely saw the situation differently,” notes the author.
URL: https://slguardian.org/buddhism-nanavira-thera-the-hermit-of-bundala/
See also the Hermitary review of the book The Hermit of Bundala by Hiriko Nansuci.
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Smithsonian magazine offers a summary of the topic: “Ornamental Hermits Were 18th-Century England’s Must-Have Garden Accessory.” Includes many illustrations and a short video of Gordon Campbell’s comments.
This fall, University of Oxford’s Social Sciences departments presented a series of educational programs for “family-friendly audiences,” that included a program titled “Life as a Hermit,” presented by faculty of the Schoool of Archaeology.
From the website: “Hermits are people living in solitude. How does your life differ to theirs?In this activity, inspired by findings from Byzantine hermitages in Cyprus, enter our ‘cave’ to experience life as a hermit! You will ‘meet’ a male and a female hermit, handle objects used by hermits, explore why people chose to live as hermits, and challenge some stereotypes.”
British musician Richard Dawson is described as composing and performing “prog folk” or progressive folk. His music treats and exhausts the traditional English folk devices, melodies, and textures, adding touches of more familiar “prog rock” or progressive rock elements overlapped with psychedelia. His recent (2022) The Ruby Cord includes a 40-minute section titled “The Hermit.”
