Comments for Hope Mirrlees on the Web

Comment on Paris: a Poem by Mike Tortorello

Mike Tortorello — Tue, 17 May 2011 14:10:42 +0000

Dear Erin,

Quite some time ago I began letterpress printing Paris with the assistance of your scan and have finished. May I send you a free presentation copy of it for your enjoyment ? It is my hope that you might post it on the website and let fans know it’s available. The edition is limited to fifty numbered copies and is printed on french paper and hand bound. It includes a new gallery of hand inked images and an afterword. I’ve listed the edition on abebooks. Many thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Mike Tortorello
Pegana Press

Comment on About This Site by Alan Piper

Alan Piper — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 18:43:00 +0000

“Life and death ! Life and death ! They are the dyes in which I work. Are my hands stained?” Endymion Leer
What I loved about ‘Lud in the Mist’ was the ambiguity of the characters particularily Endymion Leer. Good? Evil? Other? It’s a while since I read Lud but if fairy fruit aren’t simply a metaphor and the story just about the freedom to think and to imagine, the strength to dream – then the significance of fairy fruit as a explicit reference tp psychoactive drugs needs to be addressed. Paris and the lost generation were a hot-bed of drug experimentation in which for example Yeats at least dabbled. “The Violet Apple” by David Lindsay [written 1924 but which never found a publisher in the author's lifetime] is a contemporary example of a novel clearly exploring the significance of what would now be called psychedelic experience. If you don’t address the significance of Bohemian drug culture of the 1920s in connection with fairy fruit I believe you’ll be ignoring the elephant in the room. Lud, Lindsay’s ‘Voyage to Arcturus’ and other turn of the century fantasy were re-published by Ballantine against the background of the 1960′s psychedelic culture and many a well thumbed copy adorned hippy pads. In view of Mirrlees relationship with Jane Harrison, the role of altered states and almost certain use of psychoactive drugs in Graeco-Roman mystery religions may be relevant.

Comment on Jane Ellen Harrison on Ritual by Richard Mills

Richard Mills — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:01:38 +0000

You are going to find the following improbable, but I believe it will be of interest to you. I stumbled across your Hope Mirrlees Web site, and having very fond memories of the book, I scanned through the site. Since it appears that very little is known or has been written about Mirrlees, I would like to share details about my interactions with her. These occurred almost 40 years ago, so some of the details will be fuzzy.

I first became aware of Mirrlees when I read the American paperback edition published by Lin Carter. This prompted me to purchase a copy of “A Fly in Amber.” Since that book was in print, and Carter had written that he was unable to trace Mirrlees, sometime in the early 1970s I wrote a letter to the publisher of “Amber,” asking if there was any way to contact Mirrlees. In response, Mirrlees either contacted me directly, or did so after the publisher gave her address to me. She was unaware of the paperback edition. I believe I wrote to Carter, but in any event the two of them established contact and presumably a payment was made to Mirrlees. I think Carter wrote a brief note to me to this effect.

Subsequently I received a few letters from Mirrlees. I do not have any exact memory of their content, but think they were more autobiographical in nature rather than concerned with her literary efforts. She also sent a copy of one of her poetry collections to me. I do not recall the title.

These letters, including the note from Carter, should still be in my possession. I thought they were in a collection of letters I have received from various authors, but that is not the case. Therefore they must be kept in the envelope that the volume of poetry was sent in. All of this material should be in one of the many boxes of books in my basement, which were put into storage four years ago when I moved. I will try to find them, but this will take a few months, as I am preparing to leave the country for a trip abroad this month.

Good luck with your thesis!

Sincerely,

Richard Mills

Comment on Welcome! by liz milner

liz milner — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 19:10:16 +0000

Erin:
Your site is beautiful and a very worthy tribute to Ms. Mirrlees. I think you do me an injustice though your description of my review. My intent was not to show that “Mirrlees was insufficiently Tolkienian” (whatever that means). I wanted to convey my sense of wonder at the fact that Tolkien and Mirrlees invented imaginary worlds that were remarkably similar in many respects though the two had never met or read each others’ writings. I was also intrigued by the main difference between the two. While Tolkien would have jumped feet-first into Middle-earth and never looked back, Mirrlees conveyed a sense of distrust toward her fantasy land.

Comment on About This Site by Janet

Janet — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 04:12:19 +0000

I was delighted to find your site about Hope Mirrlees. Back in 1993, I processed a small collection of her papers for the University of Maryland’s Department of Special Collections. I remember it being VERY difficult to track down information about her, especially since it was the pre-Internet era. I read some of her works at the time, and confess that I found her friendships more interesting than her writing. However, she was a fascinating woman and she does deserve to be plucked from obscurity.

Comment on About This Site by Mike Tortorello

Mike Tortorello — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 15:20:24 +0000

Hello Erin,

I can be reached at peganapress@live.com. I’ve still had no success getting permission to reprint Paris. Sent a registered letter to Dr. John Saunders, one of the executors of Hope’s estate and was undeliverable. Am trying to reach Mrs. Eliot through her agent but have met with no success so far. Nevertheless, I have printed the first two pages of the poem following the spacing from your scan very laboriously. Can see how this must have driven Virginia Woolfe over the edge. Anyway, any help you might give would be appreciated. I’m determined to see this through and get Paris printed.

Mike

Comment on Welcome! by Al Simms

Al Simms — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:35:08 +0000

Hi,

I don’t know if you are aware of this but there is film in existence of Hope Mirrlees. Sometime here in the UK last year BBC4 showed a documentary about T S Eliot and about halfway through I was amazed to see a short extract of an interview with Ms Mirrlees in which she spoke briefly about her memories of Eliot. I think it said the interview was recorded in the early 1970s.

Comment on Paris: a Poem by Juliet

Juliet — Sun, 16 May 2010 22:51:56 +0000

Hi Erin– I’m happy to link you to my paper on Paris, which I presented in 2003: http://www3.telus.net/sargassosea/wim.html

Comment on New in Mirrlees Resources by R. Bernard

R. Bernard — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 23:59:30 +0000

If you would have an interest in seeing or possible posting the DJ for the first American edition of Lud-In-The-Mist, I could send a scan from my copy. It has a fairly large chip from the top of the spine, and smaller one at the bottom of the spine, but the front is still nice as is the rest of the jacket. If you are interested, please send the email address I should send the scan to. I could do the front cover, or the full jacket if you prefer.

Comment on Madeleine Meets the Web by margaret ellison

margaret ellison — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:03:27 +0000

I learned in the past 2 years that Hope Mirrlees is a distant cousin of mine via the Moncrieff and Pattison families. We bought a copy of “Lud in the Mist” because I wanted to read the writing of a relative I had never met. I am immensely proud of her scholarship and efforts at writing but I must say I did not care for her book in the least. As an American reader, perhaps it is something English to admire this fantasy novel. I don’t like it and I wonder what the hoopla is all about. Perhaps I just don’t care for the style of her writing. And I am still so proud of all she did in her lifetime. Wish I had known about her and could have met her and talked with her about her unique life