tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post5356019495156066575..comments2024-03-27T06:42:26.250-07:00Comments on Seven Miles of Steel Thistles: Desiring DragonsKatherine Langrishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-53715919001348686892013-04-04T08:50:20.172-07:002013-04-04T08:50:20.172-07:00Thankyou, Kate - and as for the Wild Girl, I can h...Thankyou, Kate - and as for the Wild Girl, I can hardly wait to read it!Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-77646312436155576342013-04-02T17:46:43.495-07:002013-04-02T17:46:43.495-07:00I just loved this post so much - it says exactly t...I just loved this post so much - it says exactly the things I keep striving to say. Kath, you'll be interested to know I used the motif of the blue flower and some of Novalis's poems in 'The Wild Girl'. I'll send you a copy when it comes out in the UK later this year. Thanks so much for this blog post - I'll be sharing widely. Kate Forsythhttp://www.kateforsyth.com.aunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-62735575698159326172013-03-24T03:54:45.401-07:002013-03-24T03:54:45.401-07:00You're right, Christie. But I still want to kn...You're right, Christie. But I still want to know - knowing I never shall!Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-21922997931985841252013-03-23T07:31:37.074-07:002013-03-23T07:31:37.074-07:00But there's something wonderful in the not-kno...But there's something wonderful in the not-knowing too, isn't there? In the lack of satisfaction? To be satisfied is to cease to be, in a way. I think we need the mysteries to live. Stonehenge would be less sacred to me if I knew what it was for. c:Christie @ Spinning Straw into Goldhttp://spinstrawintogold.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-11779272192478743462013-03-21T00:31:47.808-07:002013-03-21T00:31:47.808-07:00I'm wordless and peaceful....thank you, and pl...I'm wordless and peaceful....thank you, and please forgive me for mercilessly re-blogging the Robert Graves clip....just beautiful!!THE OLD BURROWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06113082266484981373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-79534306740599565812013-03-18T12:04:54.891-07:002013-03-18T12:04:54.891-07:00Gosh, what a fabulous dish in this ongoing feast o...Gosh, what a fabulous dish in this ongoing feast of desiring dragons!Mo Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09004208849028911104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-21157791159905135512013-03-16T14:06:06.629-07:002013-03-16T14:06:06.629-07:00Gorgeous post, Kath!Gorgeous post, Kath!Sue Purkisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09084528571944803477noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-24965331667065390142013-03-16T03:50:02.558-07:002013-03-16T03:50:02.558-07:00Something that generates real "sensawunda&quo...Something that generates real "sensawunda" for me is knowing we still have small feathered dinosaurs around us and that those sharks, crocodiles and even jellyfish we see ave been around a lot longer than we have. The magic and dragons have never really gone away!<br /><br />Thanks Katherine, I'll go back to Gutenberg and see what I can find. I finally found The Secret Commonwealth as a low-priced ebook on iBooks, after failing to find it in Gutenberg, but there is, as you say, always Abebooks!Sue Bursztynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-87578324873352740322013-03-16T03:26:14.066-07:002013-03-16T03:26:14.066-07:00I never got on all that well with Tolkein, but I r...I never got on all that well with Tolkein, but I remember being pulled up short by that line about 'desiring dragons with a profound desire' - because it so exactly summed up my own feelings as a child. That profound desire hurt. I wanted my mother's ornaments to come to life and talk, as they did in Andersen. I wanted to know what they thought of things. And I wasn't QUITE certain that they didn't come to life when no one was watching.<br />Wonderful blog, Kath - as ever!Susan Pricehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07738737493756183909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-78707962781456148532013-03-16T03:22:37.145-07:002013-03-16T03:22:37.145-07:00Nick and Katherine, thanks for commenting! I do ...Nick and Katherine, thanks for commenting! I do agree this green earth of ours has generated 'dragons' in the past: but don't you think myth has made more of them? The dragon, which can be sly, greedy, cunning, powerful, dangerous and beautiful all at once, is another way of looking at ourselves in a mirror? <br /><br />Do you know, Katherine, I've never read anything by Anne McCaffery! I don't know why, she's just somehow a gap in my education. Which would you recommend, to begin with?<br /><br />Sue, you can find some of Flecker's poems here at Gutenberg:<br />http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3039<br />but for the rest it's best to try abebooks.com for old copies. Try looking for 'The Old Ships' or 'The Golden Journey To Samarkand' - good luck! Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-50301721248619099982013-03-15T14:42:08.506-07:002013-03-15T14:42:08.506-07:00A lovely description of why we love science fictio...A lovely description of why we love science fiction and fantasy - the SF term for it is "sensawunda" ( sense of wonder). It's in our bones. By the way, I have been hunting for James Elroy Flecker's work ever since I read a few snippets in a Kerry Greenwood novel. She got hers from a book published in 1920. I can't even find it on line. Maybe I'm just looking in the wrong places?Sue Bursztynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-57816363778278036832013-03-15T09:45:43.757-07:002013-03-15T09:45:43.757-07:00I've been in love with dragons ever since I re...I've been in love with dragons ever since I read Anne McCaffrey's wonderful Pern books. That's probably why I see them more as fabulous creatures and friends rather than monsters to be slain... though I do like a bit of dragon slaying from time to time!Katherine Robertshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-9159397479901223332013-03-15T06:21:55.802-07:002013-03-15T06:21:55.802-07:00It's helpful to remember that dragons really d...It's helpful to remember that dragons really did exist - that they were living, breathing, flying, swimming, devouring beasts. Only now we call them dinosaurs, not dragons.<br /><br />And once we really did share our ancient world with elves and dwarves, other people like us yet not, only now we call them Neanderthals and other complicated Latin names.<br /><br />As we move towards a greater rational understanding of our world, it is indeed vital not to lose the sense of wonder that lay behind those original names. Because just calling them 'dinosaurs' and 'Neanderthals' does not explain them away or make them somehow 'ordinary' and mundane. Rather the opposite: it should remind us that every single aspect of the world we live in is a miraculous wonderland of the highest order.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08191176209084540085noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-46457630139478028332013-03-15T05:17:14.418-07:002013-03-15T05:17:14.418-07:00And I adore your story about hurling yourselves at...And I adore your story about hurling yourselves at that wall! I remember feeling the same way, but never put it to quite that much of a test.Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-51414925299712286142013-03-15T05:08:32.202-07:002013-03-15T05:08:32.202-07:00Glad to meet another Flecker fan, Celia! Thankyou...Glad to meet another Flecker fan, Celia! Thankyou for stopping by!Katherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-66211669062360627972013-03-15T03:02:10.794-07:002013-03-15T03:02:10.794-07:00Kath - I was bowled over by this post. Not only do...Kath - I was bowled over by this post. Not only do I feel exactly the same about the fertile soil of myth and magic, but James Elroy Flecker got into my blood when I found an old book of his poems in my grammar school library at the age of 13 and feel in love with the Golden Road to Samarcand - and even more, with the Gates of Damascus ('I had not told ye, fools, so much, save that I heard your singing man'...). No one ever knows who he his when I mention him!! Plus the Warning to Children (Robert Graves) is also one of my favourite poems. As a child, the longing I had to get 'beyond' the visible world was huge - I, also, had a desire for dragons... When I do book talks I usually tell the story of how, when I was about 10, I persuaded my best friend that if we just hurled ourselves at the wall of the playground, we might get through it to Narnia. Needless to say, we just got rather bruised!<br /><br />Lovely post - thanks!<br /><br />Celia <br /><br />(previous deleted post was me - but accidentally signed in as my daghter, so reposted as myself!)C.J.Busbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12288574235370421625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-8364159535263266792013-03-15T02:59:29.721-07:002013-03-15T02:59:29.721-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Zoe Karbonopsinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01273437588389310106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-54694217406563428392013-03-15T02:17:46.268-07:002013-03-15T02:17:46.268-07:00Now that's the third time you've made my d...Now that's the third time you've made my day in 24hrs - I don't know if I can cope!<br /><br />Having read your very much more lucid, congruent and elegant writing here, I do think I might have to go back and re-write that essay, however. <br /><br />But yes, in a sense, they do sit side by side in terms of the substance if not the style.<br /><br />Thanks. Maybe one day we'll share a pot of tea or coffee somewhere along the way. :)Austin Hackneyhttp://www.omniscrit.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-42951111874260238232013-03-15T02:07:46.213-07:002013-03-15T02:07:46.213-07:00Thankyou, Austin - and I read your essay last nigh...Thankyou, Austin - and I read your essay last night too, and felt exactly the same! I'll put your link here, as it's almost the companion piece to this...<br />http://www.omniscrit.com/2013/02/desiring-dragons-on-facts-and.htmlKatherine Langrishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12529700103932422873noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4950999049789394042.post-62514245588608654282013-03-15T01:52:46.608-07:002013-03-15T01:52:46.608-07:00Good gods, Katherine, that is one of the most beau...Good gods, Katherine, that is one of the most beautiful things I have read for a while.<br /><br />That is exactly it. So precisely does that mirror my own thoughts and feelings that it is uncanny. I suppose it is that recognition that charges the experience with emotion.<br /><br />Perhaps, that is also one function of myth, of story: that despite being essentially alone in an unseeing universe, in myths we experience echoes over that vast untravelable distance, of voices, hearts and minds that are like our own and have known life as we have.<br /><br />That's the second time you've made my day in less than 24 hours!Austin Hackneyhttp://www.omniscrit.comnoreply@blogger.com