Humanity has always felt the lure of the solitary life - living in
a remote spot in the desert or mountains, growing one's own food,
communing only with God and nature. It is an ideal that has
remained remarkably constant over thousands of years. When Isabel
Colegate discovered the remains of an 18th-century hermitage on the
land near her house, she too became fascinated with the idea, and
set out to research the hermit lifestyle from China in the third
millennium BC to present-day America. In this enjoyable and
beautifully written book, Colegate brings together the lives of
many different solitaries, whether religious, misanthropic or just
eccentric. She has collected a remarkable array of examples, each
with their own idiosyncrasy. St Simeon Stylites lived for many
years on top of a 60-foot pillar in fifth-century Syria. Although
his avowed intention was to escape the world, in fact he became a
popular tourist attraction, judging local disputes over property
between his prayers. Some English Parliamentarians who signed
Charles I's death warrant fled to America on Charles II's
accession, and lived for years in a cave in Connecticut, whereas
Czar Alexander I of Russia is widely supposed to have faked his
death in 1825 to become a wandering monk. Most interesting perhaps
is the 18th-century fashion for hermits, inspired by Rousseau's
rhapsodies on the joys of returning to nature. Many British
landowners built ornamental hermitages - such as the one near
Colegate's house - and some advertised for occupants. To have one's
own hermit was regarded as the very peak of rural elegance, and one
landowner even persuaded his brother to take up the position.
Colegate has a sharp eye for incongruities, and although most of
her book evokes the strange joys of solitude, she never misses the
occasions when recluses were less than high-minded in pursuit of
it. Of Rilke she writes, 'He felt it extremely important to protect
his poetic ego from too many outside demands; luckily a succession
of charming and interesting and rich women were prepared to help
him do so.' This is a fascinating, insightful and highly evocative
survey; by the end, even the most gregarious readers will be
dreaming of a little hut of their own, set in a quiet wooded valley
with no company but the birds and the creatures of the forest.
(Kirkus UK)
In A Pelican in the Wilderness, Isabel Colegate casts through time and place to uncover tales of human solitude.
The quest for solitude – whether for social, religious, personal or intellectual reasons – dates back to ancient times. As a spiritual phenomenon it has its roots in Chinese, Hindu and Western philosophies; from the mystical Desert Fathers – the most famous of which was St Jerome – who cast themselves out into deserts and wastelands in search of spiritual revelation, to the Celts on Iona and Lindisfarne (who arrived with only onions to live on). Rousseau found solitaries inspirational, (but declared that he would die of boredom if he had to become a hermit himself, a view possibly shared by St Jerome who only managed to stay in the desert for two years).
Hermits and hermitages even used to be a feature of rural and urban England. Sir John Soane had a hermit's cell installed in his house in Lincolns' Inn. At Hawkstone in Shropshire in the 1780s it was reported that a live hermit was seen gazing at a human skull. And in the eighteenth-century it was seen as highly fashionable to place a hermitage in landscaped gardens; an advert would then be placed for a hermit, specifying particular requirements such as a promise not to cut hair, nails or beard. In return the hermit would receive food and a small gratuity. One hermit in Painshill, Surrey was sacked for drinking beer in the village inn.
But of course, recluses, solitaries, hermits, anchoresses (female solitaries) and 'loners' continue to exist to this day, quietly opting to live outside society or living in complete seclusion in wildernesses. Isabel Colegate examines their lives, motivations, self-reflections, writings and the thoughts of present-day urban and rural hermits.
Those who love Colegate's fiction will find all of its virtues here: historical imagination, quicksilver characterization, understated wit, and an eye for the bizarre matched by a power to evoke the sublime.
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