Kirjahaku

For most of his life Martin Ferguson Smith (born 1940) has been closely engaged with the teachings of the Greek philosopher Epicurus (341-270 BC). Epicurus adopted and adapted the atomic theory developed by Democritus, but regarded scientific knowledge as subservient to the moral end, which is pleasure, specifically absence of pain in the body and absence of trouble in the mind. Martin has a particular interest in two of Epicurus' followers, each of whom regarded his master as the saviour of humanity. One is the Roman poet Lucretius (first century BC), author of On the Nature of Things, which Martin has translated and edited. The other is Diogenes of Oinoanda (second century AD), who displayed his exposition of Epicureanism in a gigantic Greek inscription, the longest one known from antiquity, in his upland home city in southwest Turkey. Diogenes addresses not only the people of Oinoanda, but also so-called foreigners who are actually fellow citizens in a world which is one country for humanity. Since 1968 Martin has been involved in Oinoanda's exploration, first independently, later in collaboration, and has seen the number of known pieces of Diogenes' work more than tripled. The new texts are among the most remarkable classical finds to have been made anywhere in the last two centuries, and the inscription has the fascination of an unfinished jigsaw puzzle. Martin was educated at Shrewsbury School, alongside John Peel, and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was a foundation scholar, took a "first" in Classics, and wrote a postgraduate dissertation on Lucretius. After service as professor of Classics in Bangor and Durham and adventures not only in Turkey, but also in communist Albania and Romania, he moved to the remote island of Foula in Shetland. There he has lived in contented isolation for thirty years, without a shop, television, or smart phone. Alongside his classical work, he has written four "modern" books: Dearest Jean (2011); Madeleine Symons (2017); In and Out of Bloomsbury (2021); and The Artist Helen Coombe (2023). Of particular relevance to Martin the Epicurean is his Urbi et Orbi: The Epicurean Inscription and Prescription of Diogenes of Oinoanda (2026), Open Access and paperback.

These highly original essays illuminate Virginia Woolf and a selection of other twentieth-century writers and artists. Based on detailed research and presenting previously unpublished texts, pictures, and photographs, they are notable feats of scholarly detective work. Six of them focus on four pivotal members of the Bloomsbury Group – Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Clive Bell, and Roger Fry. Prominent ingredients of their story include art, writing, friendship, love, sex, mental illness, and Greek travel. The five ‘out of Bloomsbury’ essays are about the ‘new’ letters from the novelist Rose Macaulay to the Irish poet Katharine Tynan; the prodigious teenage talents of Dorothy L. Sayers; the remarkable story of Tolkien’s schoolmaster R. W. Reynolds; and the artist Tristram Hillier in Portugal. The collection creates a richly varied and entertaining picture of British culture in the first half of the twentieth century.Longlisted for the William M.B. Berger Prize for British Art History 2022

These highly original essays illuminate Virginia Woolf and a selection of other twentieth-century writers and artists. Based on detailed research and presenting previously unpublished texts, pictures, and photographs, they are notable feats of scholarly detective work. Six of them focus on four pivotal members of the Bloomsbury Group – Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell, Clive Bell, and Roger Fry. Prominent ingredients of their story include art, writing, friendship, love, sex, mental illness, and Greek travel. The five ‘out of Bloomsbury’ essays are about the ‘new’ letters from the novelist Rose Macaulay to the Irish poet Katharine Tynan; the prodigious teenage talents of Dorothy L. Sayers; the remarkable story of Tolkien’s schoolmaster R. W. Reynolds; and the artist Tristram Hillier in Portugal. The collection creates a richly varied and entertaining picture of British culture in the first half of the twentieth century.Longlisted for the William M.B. Berger Prize for British Art History 2022

Madeleine Symons (1895-1957) was a brilliantly effective women's trade union officer during and after the First World War. In years when she was still not qualified to vote, she served on the executive committee of the Labour Party, as a Justice of the Peace, and on a Royal Commission. Her union career was abruptly ended in 1926 by pregnancy and unmarried motherhood. Later she worked tirelessly as a juvenile magistrate in London and for social justice and penal reform everywhere. Her story, told for the first time on the sixtieth anniversary of her death, is of historical and human interest and has lessons for society today.

This fascinating book presents the ?rst biography of Helen Coombe, a woman admired not only for her artistic skill, but also for her intellect, personality and wit. It reveals her family background and education, her place in the Arts and Crafts Movement and her outstanding artistic output.