At the end of August I caught myself watching the first yellowing leaves
fall from the old linden tree planted in the English garden at Ludwig II’s Linderhof
palace: the only asymmetrical detail in what is otherwise a perfect
copy of Rococo landscape and building design. I had promised myself that I
would start this blog again once the summer had ended after having spent most
of the past few weeks attempting to finish The Bright Labyrinth, my new book
for Strange Attractor Press. As of this moment, I am approximately 5,000 words from
completion and am staring to find once again that events and obligations are
catching up with me – including the resumption of this blog. I have a lot of
material for posting over the coming weeks, plus some new features and themes
to explore. There will also be a couple of events and some publications to look
at, plus some stuff that has been around for a while but which is still worthy
of your consideration. Blogs, like rococo palaces and English gardens, shouldn’t
be around just for the immediate pleasure they can bring – they should also be reminding
us of events that might perhaps have escaped our notice. Despite being designed
and built in the late 19th century, all of Linderhof’s statuary celebrates
either ancient gods or the next best thing of this earth: the divine personages
of Louis XIV and XV of France and their royal concubines. In the constant
circulation of information facilitated by the network, everything is happening ‘now’
and only ‘now’ – which is one of the reasons why I love discovering blogs that
have been suspended or discontinued and websites that have never been updated
(mine included). In the meantime this blog will continue in its onward path to ‘now’.
Pictured above: Some views of Ludwig II
’s palace at Linderhof and its more immediate grounds – August 2012. The old linden tree can plainly be seen at the left in the bottom photograph. A
more detailed site report on Linderhof and the amazing Venusberg Grotto will
appear in due course.
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