Farewell Tony Soper
This post is by way of a tribute to Tony Soper, who died on Wednesday 18th September. He was a star of my childhood TV viewing, very unflappable and a complete natural as a natural history TV presenter. He was also closely involved with The Minack Theatre about which I’m currently working hard to finish the draft of a creative non-fiction book, extended from my MA dissertation. You can read his impressive CV here and The Guardian’s obituary here.
Gannets are go!
I was delighted to read that Rebecca (@betweentwoseas) Hooper’s poem about gannets has received a Best of the Net award nomination, although when she described the gannet as a ‘small creature’, it’s probably a bit relative. I expect when a gannet explodes from a vertical dive into a bunch of sardines or mackerel, it seems a bit bigger than ‘small’.
I was lucky enough to be introduced to translator Olivia Troot not long ago. She speaks ‘Gannet’ or ‘Gannesche’ as the birds themselves call their own language. You used to hear that spoken all over the cliffs of Cornwall, but not so much today, sadly. Here is one of the poems she translated for her anthology of seabird poetry ‘Splash!’
Gsnachesh Scoyt Zan Vanta
Aver narf thee, kip yas gogglers! Ouz zase cruncheons, Zase cropouts, zaf dondylond. Wayzair, sporch yaz freets. Ephne, ephne… Fidge! Voig! Voig! Voig!
Translation
The Gannet Discusses the View
Translated from the original Gannesche by Olivia Troot1
Look over there! Keep your eyes skinned! There are inland coastal waters, Those rocks, that dangerous cliff. You there, stop complaining. I told you, I told you… Fish! Dive! Dive! Dive!
Enough of the mise en abyme, already!
I’ve had some interesting comments of my peregrinations around mise en abyme, but some of you have obviously been finding it as obtuse as the Orcadian versification of the Solan goose. Many had the flavour of the following, ‘I have’t a clue what you’re talking about’, and ‘Eh?’, and ‘Not sure I understand all/any of your mise en abyme!!!’ I felt some were a bit harsh, in particular ‘elitist academic bollocks’ but it was from a Mr Garage of Clacton.
Those of you who need a break from it all, or just a bit more time to understand what the hell I’m going on about, will be glad to know I’m taking a (roughly) seven week break from Substacking while I work hard to finish the draft of my book about Rowena Cade, Katharine Burdekin and The Minack Theatre.
So for the time being here is a wonderful (copyright) image from Nick White, who’s really entered into the spirit of mise en abyme in a big way and who should be starting this own Substack anytime soon - about something completely different, you’ll be glad to know.
See you in November and in the meantime, best wishes and I hope nothing unpleasant lands on you from your patch of sky, a gannet included!
Translator’s note:
cruncheons which takes the typical –eons ending in Gannesche of an object of directed attention, is very difficult to render into English. Literally it means salt lake but since gannets do not now live on salt lakes, if they ever have, I opted for the vaguer term ‘inland coastal waters’, suggesting a sea area that reaches someway inland.