tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post107606582183086599..comments2015-04-30T17:35:59.510+01:00Comments on The Bard's Nest: Sword at Sunset - Rosemary SutcliffBethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05976355211484202185noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post-90191577842258453952012-04-16T12:16:03.984+01:002012-04-16T12:16:03.984+01:00Not sure about the local library, but I'll giv...Not sure about the local library, but I'll give Bristol Central a try, as if anyone's likely to have it round here, I think it'd be them. Thanks for the suggestion. :)Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05976355211484202185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post-74231649068215573272012-04-15T18:33:42.550+01:002012-04-15T18:33:42.550+01:00Might be worth asking your local library if they h...Might be worth asking your local library if they happen to carry it; you never know :-)Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post-58144004902455763552012-04-14T17:20:53.130+01:002012-04-14T17:20:53.130+01:00Yes, Roquefort, and of course our own home-grown C...Yes, Roquefort, and of course our own home-grown Cheddar, too. I like the idea of using the cheese store as a bolt hole. Thanks for looking up the article...pity I missed it - I remember looking at the magazine when it came out, but never bought it. Tut.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05976355211484202185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post-23227396711470536412012-04-13T11:29:13.032+01:002012-04-13T11:29:13.032+01:00It may well have been. I was reading an article r...It may well have been. I was reading an article recently in Current Archaeology about souterrains as escape tunnels in Ireland. I'll see if I can find the reference. Cool storage for maturing cheese sounds entirely likely. Isn't Roquefort cheese still matured in caves now? I reckon cheese would have been a key protein source for the winter, so effective cheese storage would probably have been just as crucial to survival as an escape tunnel, albeit rather more mundane :-) The theories aren't necessarily mutually exclusive; there's no reason why an escape tunnel or refuge shouldn't be used to store provisions, and no reason why people wouldn't hide in the cheese cellar in the event of attack, and even escape through it if it happened to have been built with two entrances to ensure a through draught for air circulation.<br /><br />Edit: found the Current Archaeology article, it was in the February 2012 issue and is about souterrains in Ireland in the Viking period.Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post-73832235785333574522012-04-12T20:32:53.865+01:002012-04-12T20:32:53.865+01:00I do like the fact that Sutcliff is continuing a t...I do like the fact that Sutcliff is continuing a tradition begun in at least the 12th century, with some Norwegian referring to the Picts living in small houses underground. Perhaps that's the souterrain connection? I hadn't come across the theory that souterrains could have been used as escape tunnels, but I do recall that Jacqui Wood's 'Prehistoric Cooking' book suggested their use for storing and maturing cheese. Which, being fond of cheese, I feel is as interesting as their being 'Pictish houses' - if rather less romantic.Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05976355211484202185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post-20447394530922258412012-04-12T16:55:33.409+01:002012-04-12T16:55:33.409+01:00Yes, Sword at Sunset sets the bar for Arthurian fi...Yes, Sword at Sunset sets the bar for Arthurian fiction very high indeed. I always think of Rosemary Sutcliff's Artos now.<br /><br />Well, there are lots of traditions about pixies and elves and <br />leprechauns and the like, and I can see how Rosemary Sutcliff's 'Little Dark People' could fit in to those traditions. I have a vague recollection that souterrains (underground tunnels) were once thought to be Pictish houses built for very small people, so that may be another thread. I think the tendency now is to see souterrains as a cross between underground storage and refuges/escape tunnels in the event of attack.Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post-65076380487152820922012-04-12T10:24:18.137+01:002012-04-12T10:24:18.137+01:00And a belated thank you for stopping by, Carla. (I...And a belated thank you for stopping by, Carla. (I really shouldn't post these comments so late; I forget half of what I'm supposed to say!)Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05976355211484202185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post-86318415887836938862012-04-11T21:49:14.192+01:002012-04-11T21:49:14.192+01:00I can see I'll probably be rereading it often,...I can see I'll probably be rereading it often, too, and I think it's fair to say that it's set a very high standard for Arthurian fiction for me! I agree, the idea that the Picts may have had Brittonic connections (at least some sort of Brittonic-based language) is fascinating, but not quite so much their being a slightly 'exotic' pre-Indo-European survival. You can see why people liked such a theory. I had no idea of the tradition of portraying the Picts as small, even elf-like beings until I read Sutcliff's novel, though!Bethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05976355211484202185noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3764746103180404118.post-14967319198575501012012-04-11T19:37:06.090+01:002012-04-11T19:37:06.090+01:00Sword at Sunset is wonderful. It's one of my ...Sword at Sunset is wonderful. It's one of my favourite retellings of the Arthurian legend, and a book I can read again and again and never get tired of. <br />There used to be a romantic theory that the Picts spoke a non-Indo-European language, with a further theory that they were therefore some sort of remnant of a pre-Celtic culture that had been lost everywhere else in Europe, and were somehow therefore 'a people apart', uniquely mysterious. Rosemary Sutcliff may have been drawing on ideas like that when she developed the 'Little Dark People'. I think the tendency now is to view the Picts much more as a society on a par with their neighbours, which is probably more realistic but a good deal less romantic.Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.com