A short, reflective essay entitled “The Freedom of Solitude” by Gerald May, late Senior Fellow in Contemplative Theology and Psychology at the Shalem ecumical community outside Washington, DC. Brought to our attention by a friend of Hermitary. URL: http://www.shalem.org/sn/16.3gm.html.
Sister Wendy, hermit
Not a prototype hermit, of course, but Sister Wendy Beckett, the BBC popularizer of art history in the 1990’s, lives as a hermit on the grounds of a Carmelite convent, taking morning Mass at the convent and spending her days — when not granting interviews — pursuing her “real life, which is a life of silence and solitude.” Article at the website AD2000; URL: http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2004/may2004p12_1616.html.
Florida island hermit
Joe Dickman, an Ohio-born man in the depression era 1930s, moved to Kice Island, a small undeveloped southwest Florida island, where he lived as a hermit. From the compiler of the story of Ed Seely, one of the Everglades hermits. URL: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2256&dept_id=457701&newsid=14336309&PAG=461&rfi=9.
Contemporary Chinese hermit
Here is a cryptically brief news item entitled “Man Prefers Simple Life Alone in Wild,” from the Beijing China Daily web site. URL: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-04/06/content_431689.htm. It is short enough to reproduce in full here.
Man prefers simple life alone in wild
A 58-year-old man in Tonglian County of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has enjoyed life as castaway in the mountains for nine years, the Nanguo Morning News reports.
The recluse began his way of life when he discovered that his long absence in the village made the village authorities forget his existence.
Yang Genlin decided to live in the remote mountains, eating wild vegetables and mushrooms at a small paddy in the woods.
Yang said being alone both at home and in the woods is preferable to him. He’d rather continue his life in the mountains befriending birds in the trees and frogs in the bourn.
Tree-planting India hermit
Brief article from Orissa, India, about a real-life equivalent of Elzéard Bouffier, the protagonist of Jean Giono’s The Man Who Planted Trees. Pandaba Charan Das is a hermit who has single-handedly reforested a barren hillside over some thirty years. URL: http://www.newkerala.com/news-daily/news/features.php?action=fullnews&id=88868.