The Children's Book

I am about half-way through A.S. Byatt's latest, the Booker-shortlisted The Children's Book. It touches on the nature of art in several ways; perhaps most interesting for this blog is the portrayal of the potter Benedict Fludd, who (it has been suggested) bears some resemblance to Eric Gill.

It has attracted a good few reviews, helpfully listed at www.complete-review.com. The review by James Wood in the LRB I found most interesting.

Letters of T.S. Eliot

I note the recent appearance of the second volume in the correspondence of T.S. Eliot, covering the period 1923-25. Although Eliot was writing little new poetry in this period, there appears to be much there on more general questions of learned publishing, the circulation of ideas and Eliot's view of what The Criterion was to do. Several reviews have appeared, the most extended of which is by Stefan Collini in the Guardian. Collini has of course written on Eliot in his Absent Minds. Michael Wood in the LRB draws out some traces of Eliot's emerging religious thinking on the importance of suffering and sacrifice.

Ruth Duckworth

I note a recent obituary of the sculptor Ruth Duckworth, in the Guardian. There is some useful biographical and catalogue information here.

Of most interest for this blog are her Stations of the Cross, for St. Joseph's Church, New Malden (R.C.). There is a very full set of photos at the church's own site.

C.S. Lewis and the planets

There is an interesting and very favourable review by Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, in a recent TLS of Planet Narnia, a new book on C.S.Lewis, and in particular the symbolism of the planets embedded in the Narnia series. It argues that themes that are explicit in The Discarded Image and That Hideous Strength can be used as a method of understanding the seven books of the Narnia series.
The author, Michael Ward, has put together a website dedicated to the book. It is available online (to subscribers) at Oxford Scholarship Online.

Peter Boorman

I spot a recent obituary of Peter Boorman, organist of St Davids. It is of chief interest here for the fact that Boorman was perhaps the first organist to introduce girls' voices into a cathedral choir, in an emergency in 1963, and on a permanent basis from 1966. He seems also to have had some involvement in developments that were eventually to issue in Songs of Praise.

The Pope and the artist

I note with interest the recent appeal of the Pope for a new relationship with artists, beginning with an event at the Vatican in November, although it isn't clear what the agenda for that meeting is. (See the National Catholic Reporter of Sept 11th.) This seems to pick up some of the themes of John Paul II's Letter to Artists of 1999.

Myfanwy Piper

I note a recent piece by Frances Spalding on Myfanwy Piper in the Guardian, in advance of her forthcoming OUP book on the two Pipers. More information on Spalding may be found on her pages at Newcastle University, including further references on Piper and Coventry Cathedral.

Antonio Pacitti

I note obituaries of the sculptor Antonio Pacitti in the Times and the Church Times. He is of note here for a number of religious works, including a Madonna and Child for the new church of St Thomas More in Patcham, East Sussex, in 1964. Helpful lists of his works and exhibitions are available at churchart.co.uk

Leonie Cohn

I note another obituary, this time of the radio producer Leonie Cohn, who worked on numerous programmes on the arts for the Third Programme in the Fifties and Sixties.

Noel Vincent

I note a recent obituary of Canon Noel Vincent: he was of most interest for the purposes of this blog in his work as producer of Songs of Praise, from the mid 1970s until his retirement.