Three poems on flood histories in rural Ireland

This article presents three poems inspired by archival research on historical perceptions of flooding and river engineering in Galway city and its rural hinterland. Relationships between people and water, as recorded in early-20th-century minutes of a vice-regal commission on river drainage in rural Ireland and historical newspaper accounts of flooding, are explored and reimagined. The poems focus particularly on the management of flood risk and geomorphological processes (erosion and sedimentation), ‘arterial drainage,’ and individual emotional responses to traumatic floods and their impacts. Reflecting on these poems, I suggest that part of poetry’s contribution to the discipline is to provide a new and exciting way of engaging with the archive.

Download Full-text

A sick genius? The critical reception of Alexei Stanchinsky

Muzikologija ◽

10.2298/muz2130019s ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 19-33

Author(s):

Akvilė Stuart

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

Critical Reception ◽

Early 20Th Century ◽

Archival Research ◽

Russian Music ◽

Insight Into ◽

Critical Reviews

This article examines the critical reception of the Russian composer Alexei Stanchinsky (1888-1914). It focuses on the critical reviews published in Russian newspapers and musical periodicals during Stanchinsky?s lifetime. Its findings are a result of original archival research conducted in Moscow in 2019. This study shows that Stanchinsky?s work received a more mixed reception during his lifetime than previously claimed. As such, it provides a more nuanced insight into Stanchinsky?s reception, as well as the views and prejudices of early 20th century Russian music critics.

Download Full-text

Gustav Mootse’s Works in the Periodicals of St Petersburg in the Early 20th Century

Baltic Journal of Art History ◽

10.12697/bjah.2020.19.08 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 19 ◽

Author(s):

Elena S. Sonina ◽

Olga A. Lysenko

Keyword(s):

20Th Century ◽

Early 20Th Century ◽

Creative Work ◽

Archival Research ◽

Creative Evolution ◽

Progressive Growth

The article presents the under-explored St Petersburg period in the work of Gustav Mootse, famous Estonian artist, founder of Estonian book graphics and ex libris master. Upon a thorough archival research of illustrated periodicals, the authors have revealed unknown images by Mootse. Based on those, they make conclusions on stages in Mootse’s creative evolution, show a progressive growth in his standing in St Petersburg periodicals, show his search for forms and experiments, and comment on specifics of his creative work.

Download Full-text

Heteroglossic itineraries and silent spaces: the desert cartographies of Gertrude Bell and TE Lawrence

Cultural Geographies ◽

10.1177/1474474018785989 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 25 (4) ◽

pp. 589-601

Author(s):

Emma Notfors

Keyword(s):

Middle East ◽

20Th Century ◽

Travel Narratives ◽

Early Research ◽

Early 20Th Century ◽

Archival Research ◽

Central Importance ◽

Imaginative Geography ◽

Gertrude Bell ◽

The Relationship

This article advocates for the central importance of examining cartography for the understanding of literary travel narratives, focussing on accounts of travel in the deserts of the Middle East written by Gertrude Bell and TE Lawrence, both explorers, archaeologists and authors who were implicated in British activities in the Middle East before, during and after the Arab Revolt, and who travelled through the region during the early 20th century. This article seeks to explore the connections between the authors’ textual depictions and the maps that they authored, using close readings of their travel narratives and their maps to arrive at a more profound understanding of how these processes of authorship resulted in the production and mediation of ‘Arabia’ as an imaginative geography. Drawing on archival research and a range of textual sources, the development of this literary geography is traced through the early research of TE Lawrence on crusader castles in Syria and Lebanon, Gertrude Bell’s descriptions of using maps in The Desert and the Sown, Lawrence’s account of collating a map of Sinai for the War Office and the relationship between local navigational knowledges with their cartographic activities.

Download Full-text