First Friday Links - Feb 2019

Ancient manuscript fragments concerning Merlin the wizard have been found in Bristol University's library. "These fragments of the story of Merlin are a wonderfully exciting find, which may have implications for the study not just of this text but also of other related and later texts that have shaped our modern understanding of the Arthurian legend."

Reading on the go has been a thing for hundreds of years. Consider the medieval book coffer. "The coffer is a remarkable item that is both utilitarian and devotional and preserves an exceptionally rare woodcut in its original context. Among other things, it shows us that our preoccupation with carrying information around with us in mobile devices – including texts and images – is nothing new."

The Catholic Herald has a review of Bright Wings Dappled Things, a new collection of Hopkins' poetry. "If this makes the volume sound like a glossy, coffee-table production, it isn’t. Fr Browne’s stark, dramatic, black and white scenes of nature, Irish landscapes and people mesh beautifully with the poet’s themes, his absorption in natural phenomena, such as revealed in Pied Beauty or Inversnaid, and his sympathy with ordinary working people, as shown in Felix Randal."

Dale Price has a useful primer on how to find old used Catholic books. "Until the turn of the 20th century, the Church in Britain, North America, and Australasia needed Bibles, catechisms, hymnals, and prayer books. Sure, the occasional high-powered Catholic convert made an impact, with the mid-19th century seeing John Henry Cardinal Newman in England and Orestes Brownson in America. Neither had trouble publishing."

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum (winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award) interviews with Image Journal. "Honestly, I often find narratives of big trauma and won triumph hard to believe, contrived. The stories I’m more invested in are those in which loss must just be lived through, and in which the change loss effects is internal, quiet, and real."