Extract:

"... One of the most infuriating things about Bond is that, time and again, only he stands between the civilised world and a catastrophic assault on its values and existence, but he still finds the leisure to demonstrate his adroitness with bra-straps. Some may call it multi-tasking – I call it unprofessional. Looked at in a historical context, though, what he is displaying is a key quality in the Renaissance hero – sprezzatura. This is the art of exhibiting versatility without the appearance of effort. A gentleman could not be, or be seen to be, an anorak or a swot. You breezed adaptably through life, at home equally in the council-chamber, the battle-field, the casino and the boudoir...."

 

 

FULL CONTENTS OF WOOL-GATHERER 3:

‘Hi-ho, Hi-ho, it’s off to t’Workhouse we go’: early model factories in literature – John Dyer and Thomas Deloney.

‘The Universal Dartboard’: Heaven as a series of concentric circles – Andreas Capellanus, Dante and the Monk of Evesham.

‘They Bisect Horses, Don’t They?’: from Sir Ywain to Baron Munchausen to Alice in Wonderland...

‘The Cricket Test’: observations on a poem by Christine Evans.

‘Universal Export: Still a Good Investment?’: James Bond examined; cheating at cards down the ages.

‘Always Read the Wrapping Paper...’: new discoveries in a poem by Sappho.

‘It’s the Way they Tell em’: the connection between Sherlock Holmes, Les Dawson and modern inarticulacy.

‘Chez Nous’: Shakespeare’s problem with an invasion of England in King Lear.

‘Treating those Two Impostors Just the Same?’: Tom Stoppard’s Professional Foul and the changing British psyche.

‘Oh no, Miss, not The Waste Land again’: problems of literature syllabuses in schools.



To purchase WOOL-GATHERER 3, please send a cheque for £2.50 (UK destinations – for overseas postage rates please enquire) to:

D.H. Parry
Bryniau
Uwchmynydd
Pwllheli
Gwynedd LL53 8BY

Visit the homepage to see contents of other WOOL-GATHERERS and miscellaneous pamphlets.