An evocative painting in the romantic style of the French painter Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy Trioson, “The Burial of Atala” depicts a scene from novelistRené Chateaubriand 1801 “Atala.” The setting of the novel is North America and the southern Natchez people, but the painting is infused with medievalism and exoticism. The hooded figure burying the young heroine is a French missionary, but the painter presents him as a hermit. Among web sites are: http://cgfa.sunsite.dk/g/p-girodet5.htm and http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=836.
India tree hermit
“Man lives in tree after domestic spat” is a quirky story on why one man has become a hermit living in a tree near Orissa, India. URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4643678.stm. Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary.
“Genoveva in the Forest Seclusion”
Adrian Ludwig Richter, nineteenth-century German painter, is known for his romantic and idyllic painting, Genoveva in the Forest Seclusion. The work is a modest depiction of a setting rich in symbol and lore: the forest seclusion is a peaceful, gentle habitation for animals, trees, and humans — even the rock crags are solicitously preserving the serenity of the landscape.
URL: http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/r/richtera/seclusio.html.
“The Stigma of Solitude”
“The Stigma of Solitude” by Daniel Cline is a short reflective essay in The Bard Observer (from Bard College) that begins with an anecdote and then explores the concept of solitude in philosophy, society, and the popular mind. URL: http://observer.bard.edu/articles/opinions/182.
Kenny Salway, Wisconsin hermit & river rat
Kenny Salway lived the hermit life of a “river rat” on a swampy Mississippi River floodplain in Wisconsin. His story became a BBC/Discovery Channel documentary film screened earlier in 2005. Wisconsin Public Radio interviewed Salway in June. He is promoting a new collection of his adventures and also appealing for environmental educational programs. URLs: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/state/minnesota/13316344.htm and http://www.wpr.org/hereonearth/archive_050611j.cfm.