Carcanet Press - Distance and Memory

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'There are still larks on the Laverock Hill, so many even now that sometimes the cold sky above the farm road seems full of them. And from the far end of the footpath through the castle wood you can see the shadow line which the slope of the hill throws across Ardinn in the next valley to the south… In so many senses this secret landscape and its past lie in the shadow half of things.'

This is a book about remoteness: a memoir of places observed in solitude, of the texture of life through the quiet course of the seasons in the far north of Scotland. It is a book grounded in the singularity of one place – a house in northern Aberdeenshire – and threaded through with an unshowy commitment to the lost and the forgotten. In these painterly essays Davidson reflects on art, place, history and landscape. Distance and Memory is his testament to the cold, clear beauty of the north.

Foreword by Robert Macfarlane

Prologue

The Green Evenings

Secret Hills

SPRING

Orkney

Northern Waters

Spar Boxes, Northern England

SUMMER

Summer in the North

The Rich Boys of Bygdøy and other fragments of a summer

A Northward Journey and a Summer Storm

HARVEST

Bringing Home a Portrait by Cosmo Alexander

Painting Northern Scotland

The Food of the North (with Jane Stevenson)

THE BACK END OF THE YEAR

Visits in Autumn

A Letter from Copenhagen

The Grim Consolations of the North

The Aesthetics of Remoteness and the North

WINTER

Winter in the North

Epilogue: The Snow over Madrid

Acknowledgements

Peter Davidson was born in Scotland in 1957. He is currently Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Aberdeen. Peter has edited the Clarendon Poems and Translations of Sir Richard Fanshawe (Vol I, 1998; II, 1999); the Clarendon anthology of seventeenth-century English poetry, Poetry and Revolution (1998), and (with Jane ... read more

'Peter Davidson's profoundly civilised and lyrical book is [...] shot through with exquisite poignancies. These have as much to do with the nature of the place - the nature of extreme northerliness - as with the author's finely trained eye. [...] he knows how to see into things, and not only the simply visible, but also the rituals, the inner structures, and music - Lieder and ballad at the piano - of a sequestered, professorial life in rural Aberdeenshire. [...] The stuff and pace of poetry underwrites Prof Davidson's nights and days. He has written a most remarkable book in the same class of accomplishment as the work of Robert Macfarlane, who introduces it.'
Andrew McNeillie, Country Life 'This is a poet's book, his mind wide open to the cultures of the world, especially of the north, specifically Aberdeenshire. The language is luscious, musical and precise, rich with quotation and the cultures of, especially, northern Europe, from minerology and industry to poetry, painting, music [...] The book glows with moments of light, on a city, a river, in a room.'
Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales 'Peter Davidson has written a remarkable and unusual book - I have started the book but want to make it last the summer. It is a sustained prose poem, very moving in its effect... I am savouring it, reading it slowly, hoping to prolong the pleasure of these exquisite essays through the summer. It is, I think, one of the most beautiful books to be written in Scotland for many decades.'
Alexander McCall Smith

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Distance and Memory Peter Davidson Foreword by Robert Macfarlane RRP: GBP 14.95 Discount: 10% You Save: GBP 1.50 Price: GBP 13.45 Available This title is available for academic inspection (paperback only). Paperback ISBN: 978 1 847771 55 1 Categories: 21st Century, British, Scottish Imprint: Lives and Letters Published: June 2013 213 x 135 x 18 mm 320 pages Publisher: Carcanet Press Also available in: eBook (EPUB), eBook (Kindle) Digital access available through Exact Editions Description Excerpt Author Contents Reviews 'There are still larks on the Laverock Hill, so many even now that sometimes the cold sky above the farm road seems full of them. And from the far end of the footpath through the castle wood you can see the shadow line which the slope of the hill throws across Ardinn in the next valley to the south… In so many senses this secret landscape and its past lie in the shadow half of things.' This is a book about remoteness: a memoir of places observed in solitude, of the texture of life through the quiet course of the seasons in the far north of Scotland. It is a book grounded in the singularity of one place – a house in northern Aberdeenshire – and threaded through with an unshowy commitment to the lost and the forgotten. In these painterly essays Davidson reflects on art, place, history and landscape. Distance and Memory is his testament to the cold, clear beauty of the north. Foreword by Robert Macfarlane Prologue The Green Evenings Secret Hills SPRING Orkney Northern Waters Spar Boxes, Northern England SUMMER Summer in the North The Rich Boys of Bygdøy and other fragments of a summer A Northward Journey and a Summer Storm HARVEST Bringing Home a Portrait by Cosmo Alexander Painting Northern Scotland The Food of the North (with Jane Stevenson) THE BACK END OF THE YEAR Visits in Autumn A Letter from Copenhagen The Grim Consolations of the North The Aesthetics of Remoteness and the North WINTER Winter in the North Epilogue: The Snow over Madrid Acknowledgements Peter Davidson was born in Scotland in 1957. He is currently Professor of Renaissance Studies at the University of Aberdeen. Peter has edited the Clarendon Poems and Translations of Sir Richard Fanshawe (Vol I, 1998; II, 1999); the Clarendon anthology of seventeenth-century English poetry, Poetry and Revolution (1998), and (with Jane ... read more 'Peter Davidson's profoundly civilised and lyrical book is [...] shot through with exquisite poignancies. These have as much to do with the nature of the place - the nature of extreme northerliness - as with the author's finely trained eye. [...] he knows how to see into things, and not only the simply visible, but also the rituals, the inner structures, and music - Lieder and ballad at the piano - of a sequestered, professorial life in rural Aberdeenshire. [...] The stuff and pace of poetry underwrites Prof Davidson's nights and days. He has written a most remarkable book in the same class of accomplishment as the work of Robert Macfarlane, who introduces it.' Andrew McNeillie, Country Life 'This is a poet's book, his mind wide open to the cultures of the world, especially of the north, specifically Aberdeenshire. The language is luscious, musical and precise, rich with quotation and the cultures of, especially, northern Europe, from minerology and industry to poetry, painting, music [...] The book glows with moments of light, on a city, a river, in a room.' Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales 'Peter Davidson has written a remarkable and unusual book - I have started the book but want to make it last the summer. It is a sustained prose poem, very moving in its effect... I am savouring it, reading it slowly, hoping to prolong the pleasure of these exquisite essays through the summer. It is, I think, one of the most beautiful books to be written in Scotland for many decades.' Alexander McCall Smith You might also be interested in: Ice Gillian Clarke The Shepherd's Calendar John Clare, Edited by Tim Chilcott Then Alison Brackenbury	Share this... Quick Links Anvil Press Poetry Aspects of Portugal Audio Books Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Carcanet Poetry FyfieldBooks Lintott Press Lives and Letters OxfordPoets PN Review Sheep Meadow Press The Carcanet Blog Chris Beckett: Ethopian Literature Festival read more Gallop Blog Brackenbury read more 'Disciplines of Experiment': John Wilkinson read more PN Review 245: Editorial read more Setting Sally's Songs read more Nina Bogin: 'Thousandfold' read more
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