news, sites, and pages of interest about hermits and solitude
Salon describes the experimental film Erēmīta, a collection of fragmented images representing the fragmented life of the pandemic. The film is a collection (here called “Anthologies”) of scenarios,reflecting the randomness, isolation, distancing, and chaotic solitude of a recent year,–all taken from cell-phones. Article includes the trailer.
URL: https://www.salon.com/2021/02/24/eremita-review-experimental-film-hermit-isolation/
Scottish hermit Jake Williams, now 70, is profiled by Daily Mail (UK). Once a science teacher, Williams moved to forested land in the 1980s, hoping to create a hippie commune, but found himself alone in a rundown cottage, since enhanced by solar panels, windmill, and other gadgets. Williams calls himself a “sociable” hermit who does not avoid people, even calling himself a “phony” and ” reluctant” hermit.
Includes a short video clip: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9189043/Reluctant-hermit-tells-Ben-Fogle-hopes-rent-caravans-propped-trees.html#v-1057422349824838438.
Part of the television series “New Lives for the Wild,” hosted by Ben Fogle.
Brief article in The Spectator titled “How to Be a Hermit,” is a summary of Lady Juliana of Norwich, famous medieval English anchorite and mystic, author of Revelations of Divine Love.
In an article titled “What We Can Learn From Solitude,” the New YorkTimes profiles Paul and Karen Fredette, who have long run the website and ministry”Raven’s Bread,” addressed to hermits and solitaries with a religious and spiritual theme.
URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/28/style/self-care/hermits-solitude.html; https://www.ravensbreadministries.com
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